THE POWER OF THE CROSS

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We look at four reasons why we say that the cross is powerful: The cross is powerful because IT CAUSES GREAT OFFENCE: In Gal 6:12, Paul mentions suffering, persecution for the cross of Christ. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1:18).  We are told that the Greeks wanted wisdom and the Jews wanted a sign. But Paul says in Vs 23 “but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” Paul knew there was no other answer to the moral and spiritual need of the people. Nothing has changed as far as the offense of the gospel is concerned. You can preach the Jesus who loves, the Jesus who heals, and even the Jesus who forgives, and people do not mind. But if you preach Christ crucified, then people are offended. In Vs 17, we read that Paul said he was not sent to baptise …. lest the cross be emptied of its power. We read that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3b-4) This is the gospel. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16 ). It is the message of the cross that will save for there is salvation in no other name than Jesus’. The cross is powerful because IT CLEANSES FROM SIN. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). In fact, the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing us from all sin. We also read that we are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1Pet 1:18-19). If you want your sins forgiven, you have to come to that awful cross, where He who knew no sin became sin for us. The apostle declares, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14). How can one boast in the cross where such terrible injustice happened? Paul understood that it was not just a matter of a good man hanging on a cruel cross, but it was the eternal Son of the eternal Father who went to the cross, taking the sin of His people, so that His blood can cleanse them from all sin. He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5a). Just before He died, He said “It is finished.” The sins of God’s people had been washed away, so they could stand before God in the righteousness of Christ. The only answer for New Zealand’s predicament is the cross of Christ because it is only there that our sins can be forgiven. We must share the message that we have a sickness far worse than the Corona virus, and there is cleansing nowhere else except at the old rugged cross. The cross is powerful because IT CONVERTS THE SOUL. In Gal 6:14, Paul said, may I never boast in anything except the cross. My interest in the world has been crucified and the world’s interest in me has also died. When men and women, boys and girls come to the cross, an amazing thing happens. They are born again. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. The only thing that matters is a new creation. If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold the new has come (2Cor 5:17). When we come to true faith, a great miracle happens. We become a new creation. When Nicodemus came by night to talk to Him, Jesus stopped him in his tracks and told him that unless he was born again, he could not enter the kingdom of God. If we miss the way of the cross, we have lost our way altogether, because it is only the way of the cross leads home. Are you sure you are born again? Remember how, in Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian’s burden rolled away when he got to the cross? The proclamation of the gospel is the answer for New Zealand. Finally, the cross is powerful because IT CHANGES THE HEART. The gospel of the cross changes the heart. The prophet Ezekiel foretold: Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:25-27). This is miraculous. This is amazing. God comes to a sinful heart, takes that heart out and replaces it with a new heart. Every child of God has had a heart transplant. He then gives us His Holy Spirit to help us walk according to His rules. Everything about us is changed; we are transformed, and we then go out to bring glory and honour to Christ. I am not what I would like to be, but by the grace of God I am what I am. The best example of this is the apostle Paul who was a great adversary of the Christians. Paul hated the church and hated the cross and hated Jesus. All this, till he met the Lord Jesus on the road, and a miracle of grace took place and his life was completely changed. He preached Jesus till at the end he was killed in Rome. The only way we can be changed in our nation is by the gospel of the cross. Let us not spend much time criticising the government. Instead let us pray much for them that they may have an encounter with Christ.
Oh, to see my name / written in the wounds, / for through your suffering I am free. / Death is crushed to death, / life is mine to live, / won through your selfless love. / This, the power of the cross: / Son of God – slain for us. / What a love! What a cost! / We stand forgiven at the cross.