
The Cross - Eph 2:4-5
April 17, 2022
favorite Easter tradition… Godfather’s Pizza… miss that… today is Resurrection Sunday… most significant week of your entire life… your belief in The Cross and The Resurrection has the power to change everything…
66% of Americans believe the biblical accounts of the physical resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. 20% do not believe and 14% are not sure. However, 59% of those age 18-34 DO NOT believe the Resurrection was an actual event. —Lifeway Research 2020
before we can understand The Resurrection… have to go back to The Cross… what did it really do… and what does it mean to us today… pray…
why do many Christians struggle to receive grace and live an abundant life… first, they don’t know or believe what Jesus really did for them on The Cross…
Hos 4:6… “people are destroyed by lack of knowledge… rejected knowledge…”
Eph 4:18… “excluded from life because of ignorance… and hardness of heart…”
cannot possibly cover all of what Jesus did for us on The Cross… thru His death we were given an inheritance… everything the Father has is now yours…
1Cor 2:12… “received HS… so we may understand what has been freely given…”
Rom 8:17-32… “heirs of God… co-heirs with Christ… freely given all things…”
Gal 3:18… “inheritance was graciously given thru the promise…”
Eph 1:11-14… “in Him, we have received inheritance… HS is the down payment…”
Eph 1:18… “I pray you may know… the wealth of His glorious inheritance…”
Heb 9:15… “receive promise of inheritance… because a death has taken place…”
The Cross was part of God’s unchanging plan… opened door for us to come back into His family… perfectly perfect… completely complete… His death did it all…
John 19:30… “it is finished…”
teleo… bring to a finish, close; perform last act which completes a process…
perfect passive… action completed at specific point in past with results continuing in the present… subject is being acted on by an outside force; subject is recipient of the action…
Eph 1:5-7… “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us… and He did this because He wanted to…”
second reason many struggle is they don’t know what happened to them at the cross… yep, something happened to you and me on that cross too… we died…
Rom 6:1-14… “we died with Christ… dead to power of sin… alive to God…”
2Cor 5:14… “we reached this conclusion… if Christ died for all… then all died…”
Eph 2:4-5… “But God… made us alive in Christ… though we were dead to sin…”
Col 2:20… “you died with Christ… He set you free from the powers of world…”
Col 3:3… “raised with Christ… you died… your life is now hidden with Christ…”
All heaven is interested in the cross… all hell terribly afraid of it… while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning. —Oswald Chambers
good news He died for Christians… but its even better than that… Jesus died for everyone everywhere… for all time… past and future… not just church folk….
1Cor 15:22… “just as in Adam all die… so in Christ all will be made alive…”
2Cor 5:17-21… “in Christ… God was reconciling the world to Himself…”
Heb 2:9… “Jesus suffered death… so he might taste death for everyone…”
1John 2:1-2… “He is the sacrifice for sins… for ours… also those of the world…”
not universalism… benefits of The Cross are for all… still has to be believed and received individually… in Adam or in Christ (death or life)… Jesus’ death was representative for all… but that only applies to those who want to be represented…
John 1:12… “to all who receive… gave right to be children… to all who believe…”
Rom 3:21-26… “righteousness to all who believe… all sinned… justified freely by grace…”
Rom 10:9-10… “confess with mouth… believe in heart… you will be saved…”
too many Christians are trying to take up their cross and die daily… some are working so hard to please God that they’re ready to bleed for Him… Jesus didn’t bleed for you just so you could bleed for Him… He died so you might live…
Luke 9:23… “must deny himself… take up his cross daily… follow Me…”
1Pet 1:18-19… “redeemed by precious blood of Christ… sinless Lamb of God…”
religious people want you to die daily… practice self-denial… abstaining from food, FB, or fun won’t make you righteous and holy… when is enough denial enough… how can you die daily if you’re already dead… not good news… from start to finish… He is the One who does it all… need a reminder of that daily…
Gal 2:20… “I have been crucified with Christ (once)… I no longer live…”
Col 2:20-23… “you died with Christ… set you free from world… so why do you keep on following rules of the world… don’t handle, taste, touch… such rules are human teachings… may seem wise… provide no help in conquering evil desires…”
You have died! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ. He that is dead is freed from sin. It does not matter what your personal deficiency… or whether it be 101 different things, God has always one sufficient answer… His Son Jesus… the answer to our every need. —Watchman Nee
bible doesn’t tell us to die to self… God doesn’t want you to stop being who He created you to be… He gave you gifts and dreams… sometimes we think we have to die to those things to be a good Christian… use your gifts to serve others…
1Cor 12:7… “spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other…”
Eph 4:11-16… “He Himself gave… equipping the saints to do work of ministry… promotes growth of whole body… building itself up in love by proper working…”
bible does talk about denying ourselves… trust Jesus instead of you… living daily in freedom of relationship with Him… dead men don’t control their lives…
Prov 3:5-6… “trust in the Lord… do not rely on your own understanding…”
Rom 8:1-11… “mind-set of flesh is death… mind-set of Spirit is life and peace…”
Gal 5… “Christ has set us free… stay free… don’t fall back into slavery to law… let HS guide your life… won’t do what sinful nature craves… HS will produce…”
as long as you believe you are still alive… never be freed from sin… Jesus wasn’t only One who died on the cross… we did too… time to believe it… pray…
Rom 6:4-13… “crucified with Him… so sin might be made powerless… person who died is freed from sin… consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ…”
Rom 7:4-8… “put to death in Christ… so you may bear fruit to God…”
Rom 8:10-11… “if Christ is in you… body dead because of sin… HS gives life…”
Col 2:12-13… “buried with Him… raised with Him… made you alive with Him…”