RETURN TO THE CROSS IV

The blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of extreme sacrifice. True love is sacrificial; it is not selfish. It is not about you – I, me or myself. Without an understanding of the cross, you cannot understand the weight of sin. The cross was an accursed thing. Death on the cross was so demeaning that Roman citizens were forbidden from going through it. Jesus Christ became a shame so that we can be shame free. He took every insult and nailed it to the cross. He took every ordinance that was contrary against us and nailed it to the cross. Jesus entered the slave market where we were bound, on the way to hell, laid down his life as a price, paid and purchased us. He took us out of that slave market and set us free. That is the meaning of redemption – bought with his precious blood.

I Pet. 1:18, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.  If we were not redeemed with silver and gold why reduce it again to silver and gold. Silver and gold could not do it, the blood of bulls could not redeem; they could only cover, they could not remove sin.

Agape is the highest level of love; it is God’s kind of love, it is very deeply spiritual. Physical appearance can bring two people of opposite sex together but what makes marriage succeed is character. The one who established marriage gave us his word as our foundation. The word of God is the manufacturer’s manual to guide man, if you throw it away, it is to your own peril. Josh. 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”. In the same vein, if you throw away the cross, you miss the way. The cross is the compass. If you remove the cross, there is no power, you can’t do anything. Return to the cross!

The cross is the greatest demonstration of the glory of God. If you miss the cross, you miss the glory. You can have the glamour but glamour is perversion. Learn to go to the cross daily to drop burdens; there are burdens you are not meant to carry. Jesus is our burden bearer.

TO BE CONTINUED……