GLORY IN THE CROSS
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the Love our Heavenly Father expressed when He GAVE His only begotten Son, to redeem a lost and sinful world. Satan’s power and authourity was destroyed by Christ’s total Victory on the Cross! Almighty God stated: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her SEED; It shall bruise (crush Nr.) thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” (Gen.3:15). Christ’s vicarious Death and Resurrection destroyed Satan’s power!
The Bible states: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:16,17, 36
St. Paul writes: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who GAVE Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present Evil world, according to the will of God the Father; to whom be glory forever and ever.” (Gal. 1:3-5).
After meeting the resurrected Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, his entire life was dramatically changed by the power of the Gospel. Proclaiming Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God became His life. Repeatedly, he rejoices in the grace, mercy and love of our Heavenly Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!
“I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and GAVE Himself for me.” (Gal.2:20); “Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Gal.3:13)
True Love gives without expecting anything in return. True love is gracious, kind and caring. True love is merciful, thoughtful and giving! St. Paul wrote: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one anothrer, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom. 13:8)
The Bible states: “There is no fear in love; but perfect Love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:18,19). Without Jesus in our hearts, we could not understand love: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17: 9)
JESUS said: “This is My commandments, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends.” (John 15: 12,13)
GOD SENT HIS SON!
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise through faith. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. made of a woman, made under the law, to Redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying, Abbba, Father. Whereforth, thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a Son, then an Heir of God through Christ.” (Gal.3:13,14: 4:)
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap . For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in welldoing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal.5:1; 6:7-9).
St. Peter wrote: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sobre, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sin. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” (1 Peter 4: 7-9). “Who His own Self bare our sins in His own Body on the Tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: BY WHOSE STRIPES YE WERE HEALED.” (1 Peter 2:24)
VICTORY THROUGH THE CROSS!
St. Paul stated: “But God forbid that I should glory in the CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world.” (Gal.6:14).
He knew what it cost our Lord Jesus to save lost and condemned souls. He was an enemy of Jesus Christ and hated the Gospel of Christ, until he met Him on the Damascaus Road. He lost his eyesight in that blinding Light. Three days later he was healed and filled with the Holy Ghost, and tutured personally by our Saviour!
The CROSS was a symbol of death. It was despised and spoke of dishonour and humiliation. Traitors, murdrers and criminals were nailed to crosses. In God’s eyes, Jesus was depised and carried the load of the entire world’s sins, our sicknesses and diseases. He bore it all for us all, so that we could be free from Satan and his evil agenda! When Jesus cried, ‘Tetelestai’ from the Greek verb ‘teleo’ it was all over! That verb has three essential meanings: ‘to finish something and put an end to something; to fullfil something; to pay what is owed’!
Jesus had Finished His work of Redemption and put to an end Satan’s power over the human race. He had fulfilled all the O.T. Scriptures about the Messiah. He he had paid for the sins of mankind from Adam until the Rapture, for all who believe and receive Him as Saviour and Lord. He had also paid for all our sicknesses and diseases!
JESUS DIED AS OUR SUBSTITUTE!
Isaiah stated: “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him: stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our trangressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our Peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are HEALED. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53:4-6)
St. Paul went through a barrage of tortures and imprisonments! He writes: “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.”
Even though God had opened the DOOR for him to preach the Gospel in Troas, his concern for Titus made him leave. God’s Word is still true, regardless of human failure: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge in every place.” (2 Cor. 2:14) “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly…
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be Saved by His Life.” (Rom. 5:6-10)
GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN US!
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God: and this that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because GREATER is He that is in you, than he (Satan) that is in the world.
“They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of Error. Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and every one that loveth is Born of God.
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God Sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might Live through Him. Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that He Loved us, and sent His SON to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to Love one another.
“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus Christ is the SON of God, God dwelleth in Him, andhe in God.
“And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. GOD IS LOVE; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect., that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because AS HE IS, so are we in the world. There is no fear in LOVE; but perfect love casteth out FEAR: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4: 3-19)
NOT WITHOUT BLOOD!
“But this man because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthoood. Wherefore He is ABLE to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which wassince the law, making the Son, who is conserated for evermore.” (Heb.7:24-28)
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building:Neither by the blood of goats and bulls, but by His own Blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh;
“How much more shall the BLOOD OF CHRIST, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of Death for the Redemption of the Transgressors that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the dewth of the testator…and almost all things are by the law PURGED with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.
“It was therefore necessary that the the patterns of things, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God in us. Not yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high piest entereth into the Holy Place every year with blood of others;
“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now ONCE in the end of the world hat He APPEARED to put away sin by the sacrifice of HIMSELF…So Christ was once OFFERED to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto Salvation.” (Heb. 9:11-28)
JESUS OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR EVER!
But this MAN, after He had offered ONE sacrifice for sin for EVER, sat down on the Right Hand of God. For by ONE offering He hath perfected for EVER them that are sanctified. Having therefore, brethren boldness to enter into the holist by the Blood of Jesus. Looking unto JESUS the author and perfector of our Faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the Right Hand of the Throne of God.
“For ye are come unto Mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly of the Church of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of Just men made peerfect. And to JESUS the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things thanthat of Abel.
“Wherefore JESUS also, that He might sanctify the people with His own BLOOD, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Heb. 13: 12,13);
“Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the DEAD our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Heb. 13: 20,21).
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the Solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand! - Edward Mote
