Enemies of the cross...

(Romans 5:8)  “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Can you echo these words, “When I think of the goodness of Jesus, when I think of what he has done for me, my very soul cries out HALALUJA, praise God for saving me!” It was no nimble feat to rescue all those who now confess Him as Lord! It was painful and it came at great cost! It needed God in the flesh to die so that I could go free! That is a phenomenal thought if you would dare to spend some time mulling it over.

If we were to consider an unworked lump of clay: Who would have the power to create whatever they desired with it? Would it not be up to the individual, do they not have the power to do whatever they please with it? The power is in the individuals hand to do as they please! Why then do we think as created beings that we have the power to dictate to the creator, the One with the power? It makes no logical sense and yet we claim rights when in fact we have no rights.

People make plans and create empires with the mentality of “we will achieve” and all it then takes is one small gale-force wind, or an earthquake and their dreams are shattered. Does not the potter have power over the clay?

God chose to save His enemies, to prove that He is a God of love. Not that God needed to prove anything and yet He chose to do exactly that! Wow! However, it came at a great cost; God looked down upon His creation, mankind, and saw their lost estate, no different to a headless chicken after slaughter running around without eyes, far blinder than any bat! With everyone only concerned about themselves. But not our great God, He took pity on us, and made a way for us to be freed from the bondage of sin.

This is what was needed and what God chose to do…

God is “righteous”, this is one of His glorious attributes; He will never operate outside of His own character to achieve an objective. On Sunday night Carte Blanche had a documentary of the “White Widow”, a woman involved with the jihad (“a campaign waged by Muslims in defence of the Islamic faith against people, organizations, or countries regarded as hostile to Islam”); proof was provided that she would use any means to achieve her objective, bank fraud, unpaid rent, stolen I.D and the like. The bible has this to say; “that you will know a tree by its fruit”. God never used sin to defeat His enemy. He defeated the devil with righteousness!

How did He achieve this?

God became a man through the birth of a virgin woman, Mary; she then gave birth to a son name Jesus. He lived like any other boy of the time, He was subject to his parents authority; he had to endure the challenges of puberty; he faced stern opposition from the religious leaders of the time; he was tempted of the devil; he sweated drops of blood enduring temptation; he was humiliated, spat upon, whipped, stripped naked, beaten beyond recognition, falsely accused of wrong doing, nailed to a cross; left alone to take on the punishment of mankind’s sin, and then left for dead. And through it all, Jesus never exceeded one of God’s Commandments! Why was this necessary? Because God is righteous and He needed the sin of mankind to meet its required punishment; someone had to pay the price for sin! Jesus Christ the Lord paid the price for man’s sin and not his own as he had no sin!

This is why the Apostle John says this in his gospel; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God is the potter and He most certainly has power over the clay (His creation) and this is what He chose to do for sinful man; He could have started all over again by blotting us out, but God chose in His mercy to make a way for reprobates like us, praise His name! He sent His Son, God in the flesh to pay the price for our sin. We have now been afforded the opportunity to come to Him and seek out His forgiveness. Disregard this offer at your own peril!

One last question that now needs to be answered, do you think you are good enough in yourself to get God to accept you or do you acknowledge that you are inherently sinful and need forgiveness for your sin? If it is the latter we must come the way of the cross. God cannot accept any other sacrifice outside of His Son the Lord Jesus, He is Righteous!

Some may believe themselves to be righteous, which in fact is nothing more than a lie! “And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”” (Luke 5:31-32)    

Are you sick, have you been tainted by sin? If so, be of good cheer, you qualify for salvation. Call upon the name of the Lord with a sincere heart and you shall be saved!

Signing off

Tyrone