The Cross.( John 1 v 29 2

 We have been considering,' why the cross? ' let me point out, that when man sinned in the garden,God was not caught out, in Revelation  13 v 8, we read of,  'the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world', no the cross was not an afterthought, Barnes comments,'The meaning here is,not that He was actually put to death'' from the foundation of the world,'' but that the intention to give Him for a sacrifice was formed then, and that it was certain that it might be spoken of as actually then occurring. See  Romans 4 v17.'  Praise God He had a plan ,a perfect plan, that would not fail,all the sacrifices under the old covenant pointed to the sacrifice on the cross of Jesus,those sacrifices were inadequate Hebrew 10 v1 -18,but Christ perfect sacrifice was Gods perfect answer for humanities salvation ,and we will consider next time what that meant for Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,and indeed what it meant for us.

                                           ' O Jesus, we adore Thee, Upon the cross our king!

                                    We bow our hearts before Thee, Thy gracious name we sing.

                                    That name hath brought salvation,That name in life our stay,

                                        Our peace, our consolation, when life shall fade away'

                                                            Words A.T.Russell.

                                            

The Cross. ( I Corinthians 1v 18 1

 The question is this what was involved on the death of Christ on the cross? , more, than many people realise, and more than many people are prepared to accept.The cross was and is the most significant event in human history,why? because all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God(Romans 3 v23). That sin alienates us,isolates us, from a holy God, there is nothing that humanity can do to change this,this leaves us in dire straits,every single human being. Left in this condition we have no hope whatsoever, we are without hope,and every moment we get near to eternity our situation does not improve,it gets worse. The grave is not the end,most people would be happy with that,but it is a delusion, the word of God tells us that there is an eternal existence after death. There is a heaven, where God dwells,there is also  prepared for the devil, and his angels ,an eternal fire (Matthew 25 v 41),and without the cross that is the fate of  every human being. That is why the cross is so significant ,ignore it,reject it,as indeed those in in Sodom did, when they were warned of the coming judgement,they thought it was a joke,( Genesis 19 v14 )but the joke was on them,sad to say.. We will continue this next time DV.

The unexpected ( Luke 5 v 17-26)

 In Proverbs 17 v 17 we read 'A friend  loves at all times'', a true friend not a fair weather friend,but one who will be a friend through thick and thin,in other words in the good times , and in the bad times.In Luke 5  we read of a man who had four friends, we don't know any of their names,but that's not important, but what they did for their friend  was very important.The man was paralysed ,what can you do for a paralysed man?,well they heard about Jesus,and the miracles He was performing, they were real ,unlike many con-men,who deceive people, to get money from them, no ,Jesus never mentioned money in relation to healing, he did it freely. They all must have heard about Jesus,they may have witnessed Him healing people, however it caused them to get their paralysed friend  to Jesus, come what may.So they put him on a mat and took him to where Jesus was,but they must have been initially disappointed ,for He was in a home,and it was packed out,no way in, or so it seemed.Often there are often obstacles when we want to see Jesus it often comes down how much do we want to follow Him,yes that is the question. These friends where not for given up,they must see Jesus,their friend must be healed. So they did did something different, they went up unto the roof ,took up the tiles on the roof and let their friend down.Then we read when Jesus saw their faith,remember ,without faith it is impossible to please God Hebrews 11 v 6,so what did Jesus do?he said to the man,'Friend, your sins are forgiven',and they were,let me stress ,our greatest need is to have our sins forgiven,illness will not stop us getting to heaven,but sin will,which leads to the alternative,which no one in their right mind wants.

Hope ( Hebrews 11 v 13- 16 )

 No matter who we are, we all will manifest our brokenness in many ways ,we all have imperfect personalities, that shows to some degree our fallen nature. It is not denying the good that we do, it is  recognising the sins that we do, the greatest sin is leaving God out of our lives,as if He does not exist ,and that we are free  to live without him. When I was young  I did not know many atheist, now it is a common thing.What has the Christian got that's so important?, they have hope,hope is very important, that hope as an anchor to our souls.It is not a vain or maybe hope,no it is a sure and certain  hope,based upon a person called Jesus. Recently I read about a man who was about to be killed by Islamic extremists,he said ,'tell them I died well',he was a Christian.In the early days of Christianity ,Christians were persecuted by Roman many died,to escape being killed all they had to say was, 'Caesar is Lord', but they refused, and so died,but they died with a wonderful hope burning in their hearts ,that even though they died,they would live again,yes the Christian has hope.A hope to die with ,and a hope to to live with, a hope in the God of hope,and a wonderful Saviour .In Charles Dickens book ,The tale of  two cities', Sydney Carton is about to be executed by the guillotine,and he utters these words,'It is a far,far better rest  that I go to ,than I have known'.It is the Christian  that  has  that assurance of something better,something  glorious ,eternal glory, because of Jesus. 

Move on ( Isaiah 41 v10)

Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years 7 months and two days, but when her beloved husband Albert died aged forty two years.The Queen found it very hard to comes terms with , and so for many years  she withdrew from  any activities ,and spent a great deal of  time in her residence on the Isle of Wight in Osborne House.It was such a long time neglecting her public duties,that there was great discontent among the population, and the longer it went on the greater it became.In the end she was made to realise that she had to move on,and so she took up her public duties again, and so she regained  the publics loyalty,love and affection. The apostle Paul wrote,' But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining towards  what is ahead. (Philippians 3 v 13)There are so many things in life that can effect us,the result is we give up,and we become trapped,I hope I an not making light of the trials that anybody is going through,I have had my share,and the only way out is to go forward. But you say how?,the answer is ,by God's grace, remember  the way is always forward,let us also remember the trials that our dear Saviour endured,and He says follow Me, it is time to move on.

                                               'He who would valiant be gainst  all disaster,

                                                Let him in constancy, follow the Master.

                                                There's no discouragement, shall make him once relent, 

                                                His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.'

                                                           Words  John Bunyan.

                                             

I'm Trying. ( 2 Corinthians 3 v 18)

 Someone told Tony Campolo the following story about a derelict man, standing  on a street corner in the Wall Street district of New York, begging for money. Reaching out his hand,he pleaded with a passing  corporate executive with the words,''Change? Change?''. The corporate executive responded with a pained expression on his face,''I'm trying! I'm trying! Tony goes unto say,'Being a Christian isn't just  changing once and for all. It is a commitment to change daily. The entire life of a Christian is one of pressing toward the mark of becoming the kind of person that Christ calls each of us to be ( Phil. 3 v 13 -14 )

                                           'Only the grace of God is kind enough and the

                                           power of God is strong enough to achieve this

                                           transformation in our broken and darkened lives'

                                                          So writes Paul Barnett.

                                            

Death denial. ( John 3 v 16 )

 'Our society's  culture of death denial', these are words from a newspaper I read,I wonder if that is true?,and if it is true, why? When God created humanity, we were never meant to die, and yet the reality is we all know that we are going to die.,we cannot stop it,but we try in everyway ,in vain, to hold it back. People are kept alive by every means possible, but we still can't beat it,it will happen, it is a sure thing.We find cures for many illnesses,but then another illness takes the stage,and so the war goes on. It was Dylan Thomas the Welsh poet who wrote,'Do not go gently into that night', Rage,rage against the dying of the light'.I have known Christians that have done just that,they did not want to die,but they found out like we all will,that resistance is futile,for the word of God tells us 'it is appointed unto men once to die.'(Hebrews 9 v 27),when that appointment will be is in the hands of our Saviour (Revelation1 v 18 ).So is that it? no of course not, we are told there is an existence after death when we all will appear before the great judge Jesus (2 Corinthians 5 v 10.) and there will be a great divide,those who trusted Jesus will be separated from those who have not trusted Jesus. 1Thessalonians 5 v 9 tells us that God has not appointed those who have trusted Jesus unto wrath.But those who not trusted Jesus will experienced the wrath of Jesus,it will not be gentle Jesus meek and mild, but it will be the wrath of the lamb, and an eternity in Hell,this may seem a blunt way of putting it, but there is no easy way.

                                                        'We all have a choice,

                                                         make the right choice,

                                                         trust Jesus, before it is

                                                         to late.'