The Cross

Oswald Chambers, YMCA chaplain to the British Army during WWI, once said:  “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ and all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.”  While it is true that many wish to ignore the cross, the cross demands a choice, it demands a decision, and even ignoring it is a choice.   The tragedy of ignoring the cross is that in doing so, you are ignoring the power of God available to make changes in your life. The cross is seen by the world to be foolishness or defeat.  The world does not understand the victory that comes as a result of Christ’s sacrifice.  The cross is the power of God for our salvation.  We are all born in sin and guilty of sin throughout our lives.   Scripture tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.  Jesus’ death on the cross makes it possible for God to be both just and loving.  He can be just because our sin debt is paid and thus forgiven, and He can be forgiving because He is the one who paid our debt with Christ’s death on the cross.  The cross is not only the power of our salvation it is also the power of our identity.  I Corinthians 6:17 says that “…the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him…”  We are joined together with Christ.  We become one with His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.  Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life.  The newness of life, in which we walk, is His life in us.  The cross gives us the power to live in victory.  The three enemies of our soul that are identified in God’s Word are “…the world, the flesh and the devil…”  James 3.  The world is the pressures and influence that the world exerts on us.   The flesh is the old programming, influences, habits, feelings, values, patterns of behavior or thinking that are not Godly, or God controlled, that are left over from our old life after we are saved and made new.  The devil is Satan himself or demonic influences in and around us.  These three enemies have been defeated by the cross of Jesus Christ.  They have no power over us.  They cannot win in the battle for influence in our lives, UNLESS, we allow them to.  That is the tragedy in most of our lives.  The sin we commit has already been defeated at the cross.  It has no power that cannot be defeated.  It comes into our lives simply because we allow it to.  None of the victories that have been given to us mean that we won’t be tempted.  Nor does it mean that we will not, at times, fail.  What it does mean is that God has saved us and empowered us and gives us the victory through His Son Jesus and His cross. 

Blessings,

Pastor Hal