A cross-less Christianity is a powerless Christianity. The world is upside down today because of the particular error of relegating the cross. God is love. The paths of the Lord according to Psa. 25:10 are mercy(horizontal) and truth(vertical) – depicting the cross “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies”. The mercy side of God overlooks our shortcomings while the truth side of God judges and punishes sin. It is because of the truth side of God that sin was judged on the cross. God sent his son to judge sin on the cross, to make sons out of us. That is the greatest definition of grace. If you don’t understand grace from the position of truth, you will preach the error of once saved, saved for ever. You will preach the error of Christianity being right believing and not right living. You will preach the error of presenting grace as a license to sin.
God has not changed. God hates sin not because of what sin can do to him but because of what sin does to us. Sin mars, distorts, perverts, corrupts, destroys and limits the glory of God. Sin cuts short the glory “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). God does not want his glory to be cut short because once you remove the glory there is nothing left; the enemy will have his way. The greatest defense is the glory cover.
One of the most powerful functions of love is protection. A lot of pulpits today are propagating error. We must be very cautious lest we think that such people have a higher revelation. The foundation of the Christian faith is truth – Jesus Christ is the truth. If you build your life on truth you are unshakeable; the storms will definitely come but you will surmount them. Things are not going to get better in the world, but things will get better for you because you have the mind of God. You are tuned to the frequency of heaven. You are seeing things from the right perspective and have built your life on the foundation of truth. Truth is simple. Truth is clear. Truth is consistent. Truth explains all! “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Don’t joke with the word of God. The cross is the meeting point between mercy and truth. It is at the cross that the greatest submission was attained.
Why is it called the cross? The will of God crossed with the will of man and Jesus submitted. When next your will crosses with the will of God, be sure to submit.
If you throw away the cross, you will produce rascality – you will produce spiritual rascals on the way to hell. May you never let one day pass without visiting the cross – always take the cross along with you wherever you go. Everything that you have ever lost will be restored because the cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the greatest symbol of restoration. Everything man lost in Eden as a result of the disobedience of Adam, Jesus Christ restored for us on the cross. Such a great love!
Return to the cross. If you don’t know the cross, then, you don’t know true love. There are other types of love but the real love is agape and in order to know agape, you must return to the cross because that is where the love of God crossed with the love of man. There, at the cross, man said yes to the Father one hundred percent – “I submit to your will; your will is perfect for me.”
TO BE CONTINUED………