Title: That Love of the Cross!
Contents
Are you just a churchgoer, or do you really believe in Jesus?
*. Are you satisfied enough that you now feel that you are not lacking anything because you have believed in Jesus?
Promised Life - (John 4:14) “Whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up to eternal life.”
Then, what is my life like in front of these words?
Unfortunately, the Christian life of many believers is different from the promise of the Word, living with frustration and discouragement. So I sometimes ask this question.
“Is God really alive? Then why do so many people not believe?”
“Is Jesus really in me? If so, is there any evidence of that?” “Do heaven and hell really exist? If so, how do you know that?” “Are you really blessed if you believe in Jesus? Then, why are there people who are poor, who have failed, and who have had difficulties even after believing in Jesus?”
“Do you really get answers when you pray? There were a lot of things I prayed but didn't get answers to?"
In fact, many believers “go to church” but lead a religious life with no personal encounter with Jesus and nothing to testify of. God is merely an object of his blessing, and the cross is not a power but a religious symbol. Isn't that the case with you?
What power do you feel as you look at the cross? Those who believe in Jesus but do not believe properly do not know why the message of the cross is power. just look at the cross. Just looking at the cross makes my heart feel at ease, and I have a feeling that this is a chapel, but I do not know that it is the power of God. What is the power of the cross? But we all know the power of money.
So, what power does the cross have?
Many Christians confess that they are “sinners,” but few have really realized how serious a sinner they are. If you meet someone who has sinned and does not know your sin, you will be angry and despise him. So, do you know your sin?
David, who had committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed his loyal faithful Uriah in battle, was furious when the prophet Nathan said that a rich man who had a lot of sheep stole the poor man's lamb and served him as a guest. He doesn't even know it's his own story, and he sees the sins of others so well, but not seeing his own sins. In Luke 5, Peter, who was a fisherman, hears the word of the Lord and catches fish, and instead of dancing to his liking, he confesses that he is a sinner. At the moment when miracles happen through the word of the Lord, our spiritual eyes were opened and we realized who the Lord is and who we are.
So the Lord asked God to forgive those who had crucified him because they did not know how great a sin they were committing. At the Pentecost, when Peter was led by the Holy Spirit and preached, 'God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ' (Acts 2:36), when the Jews suddenly felt in their hearts. A bitter sense of guilt arose, and he came to Peter and received the Lord. This moment was a moment of grace.
The realization of sin is the beginning of spiritual life. This is the power of the cross.
Realizing how great a sinner one is is the beginning of being born again.
When can you truly say you have met the Lord and have been born again? You must have that experience. Remember the moment of grace. Those who have experienced the cross are not worthy of condemning others. When the men who were stoned to stone a woman caught in adultery heard the word of the Lord, “Whoever is without sin, let him first throw a stone at him,” and they all put the stones down and went away. No one has the right to condemn others. The person who realizes this is the person who has experienced the power of the cross.
When we see prayers of repentance, godly Christians repent with more mourning. But the prodigal, who commits many sins, does not repent. Judging by the amount of tears, it seems that the godly committed more sins. But in fact, the reason the godly people mourn is because their spiritual eyes are opened to see more of their sins, and the reason that the lustful people do not weep is because they do not see their sins.
If the cross only convicts us of our sins, we would not be able to bear it. Because our sins are too many and we are ashamed. But the cross not only makes us realize our sin more clearly, it also makes us realize how much God loves us so much sinners. It is because I sinned and the Lord paid the penalty for my sins. It is the power of the cross that this grace of atonement is believed. It is that we, who did not deserve it, received abundantly from the Lord. This is 'grace'.
We judge God's love and grace by looking at what is happening or becoming in our lives. When things go well, they say, 'It seems that God loves me.' When things are difficult, I doubt that love, saying, 'Why is it so hard for me?' God's love is not something to be confirmed every moment, it is a fact that has already been confirmed.
“God demonstrates his love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Even if you went to heaven, how painful would it be if all the records of your past were the same? But it has already been erased by the blood of the cross. We are not hypocrites. Fully forgiven, our past sins have been erased. If you go to heaven, your sins will be covered and you will know that the blessing of being washed away is the greatest blessing. All the other hallways are meaningless in that place. Material blessings, health, and success are all precious, but there is no more precious blessing than the forgiveness of sins. The grace of atonement is the greatest blessing and grace.
The cross is God's perfect love (Romans 5:8).