The Power of the Preaching of the Cross
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This can be, since Jesus commands us to be a demonstration of it when He says : "As He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." (1 Peter 1:15). "You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy". (Leviticus 11:45) "Therefore be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48).There is no half-way with Jesus. He cannot command us to be holy and perfect unless we actually can live in perfection and holiness. If we need to be Christians for forty years before we can begin to walk in sanctification, it’s just not worth it : some will never be able to make it, they’ll die before they get there, or else they’ll waste too much time. So that isn’t the Lord’s answer. His answer is a heart that thirsts for God and for His revelations, a heart that comes before Him and says : "Lord, I want to understand. Let my spirit be filled with the light of Your Spirit, and enlighten my understanding so that I can clearly see all that Jesus has accomplished on the Cross and receive it as mine, since it is Your gift to me. Then no matter what our background is, whether we are rich or poor, dim-witted or clever, with or without a degree, whether we are executive officers or apprentices, all that has nothing to do with our new life in Jesus. All those things are part of the old life that was put to death in Jesus. Through faith, we receive the new nature that God has created for us, a brand new nature which will enable us to reach the fullness of Christ’s stature. God is not going to start with something old, then make it evolve according to a perfect pattern. He throws out the old into the rubbish-bin, into Christ’s tomb, grants me a new nature and says : "This new nature is to make you into the likeness of Jesus". From now onwards, I shall live in that new nature, and no longer in my own past. All that is finished and done with.
That does away with all the newfangled methods of Christian psychology, with soulish forms of counselling, with soulish inner healing that makes a dreadful, confusing mixture of the old and the new, and finally solves nothing ; but Jesus has settled everything perfectly. He has thrown the whole of our past into His own grave. When He died, he hauled our past wholesale into His death ; when He rose from the dead, He made all things new. However, we need to believe that. If, formerly, you used to consider yourself a nobody, a failure, an uneducated dullard that people look down on, that was your former nature. But if you look to Jesus and to what He has done, His Words will fill you with faith, even if you don’t see anything happening yet. Looking at yourself in your own mirror, you see yourself as you used to be. But when you look into the mirror of God’s Word, you can see what Jesus has done and is doing. Jesus doesn’t want you to look at yourself in a man-made mirror ; He wants you to look at yourself in the mirror of His Word. That is where He shows you what He has made of you : a wonderful new creature, made to manifest all the qualities that are in Jesus.
From now onwards, Jesus says to you: "take your eyes off your own self. Instead, keep them on what I have done, on the new nature I have given you. All I require of you is to believe, and to take what I am giving you." We need to lay hold on the gifts of God, and say "Thank You !" If someone you love and are loved by gives you a beautiful present, the best thing you can do is to take it and say "Thank you !". That is how you will bring joy to the heart of the One who loves you. Jesus’ gift to us is an astounding one : being created anew ! Our fleshly eyes can’t see that new creature, but through faith, we can see what our eyes of flesh are unable to perceive. Through faith, we can see as God sees !
The fact that all this was accomplished on the Cross shows us why the message of the Cross is so powerful. It always takes us back to the death of whatever is old, and to the renewing of all things in Christ. Unfortunately, Jesus does not find many people who preach the Cross, and very few accept and believe the message of the Cross. This message is no longer preached because it is no longer considered believable ; and that is because it is neither practised nor preached by those who could still preach it. A message has no power unless it is practised by the one who preaches it.
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The cross - Power for
spirit, body and soul
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