The Cross of Christ
The Call of God
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fatherŐs house, unto a land that I will shew thee:" (Genesis 12:1)
THE CALL OF GOD
Whatever it is that God calls us to do, it is always beyond what we would at first see or think. Embodied in the Call is not only a work to be done, but as well the ingredients for Spiritual Growth. With the Holy Spirit, it is always growth. And to be frank, the growth must be brought about, or the work cannot be done. And here I would dwell, for a little, on the Cross of Christ. There is only one way all of this can be achieved, and that's by and through the Cross. If we do not understand the Cross, then we cannot really understand the Way of God. In fact, if the Cross is removed from Christianity, Christianity then loses its power (I Cor. 1:18), and for all practical purposes, becomes little more than the religions of the world. While it might have a better ethic, it's an ethic that really cannot be reached without the Cross.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
The Cross unfolds God as the sinner's friend. It reveals Christ in that most wondrous character, as the Righteous Justifier of the most ungodly sinner. Someone once asked me, "Is it Who He is, or What He did, that makes the difference?" Only Christ could do what needed to be done to redeem fallen humanity; however, even though Christ is God, and has always been God, on that premise alone, no one was redeemed. God would have to become man and go to the Cross, if man was to be lifted out of his fallen state. So in the final alternative, even though Who He was presents an absolute necessity, in reality, it was What He did, and we speak of the Cross, which guarantees Salvation for even the vilest of sinners.
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CROSS
The Power of God, with all its wisdom, glory, holiness, and magnitude, but for the Cross, works against the sinner. How precious, therefore, is the Cross, in this its first phase, as the basis of the sinner's peace, the basis of his worship, and the basis of his eternal relationship with the God Who is there so blessedly and so gloriously revealed. All that He has said, all that He has done, from the very beginning, indicates that the Cross was ever uppermost in His heart. And no wonder! His dear and well-beloved Son was to hang there, between Heaven and Earth, the object of all the shame and suffering that men and devils could heap upon Him, all because He loved to do His Father's Will, and thereby redeem the children of His Grace.
THE CROSS AND THE WORLD
The same Cross which connects me with God has separated me from the world. A dead man is, evidently, done with the world; and to be sure, every true Believer died with Christ as it regards His death, burial, and Resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5). Having risen with Christ, he is now connected with God in the power of a new life, even a new nature. Being thus inseparably linked with Christ, he, of necessity, participates in his acceptance with God, and in his rejection by the world. The two things go together. The former makes him a worshiper and a citizen of Heaven, while the latter makes him a witness and a stranger on Earth. If the Cross has come between me and my sins, it has just as readily come between me and the world. In the former case, it puts me into the place of peace with God; in the latter, it puts me into the place of hostility with the world.
THE CROSS AND SEPARATION
The Believer cannot profess to enjoy the former, while rejecting the latter. If one's ear is open to hear Christ's Voice within the Veil, it should be open also to hear His Voice outside the camp; if one enters into the Atonement which the Cross has accomplished, one should also realize the rejection which it necessarily involves. It is our happy privilege not only to be done with our sins, but to be done with the world also. All this is involved in the Doctrine of the Cross. That's why Paul said: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). This means that Paul looked upon the world as a thing which ought to be nailed to the Cross (Mackintosh).
Excerpt from The Jimmy Swaggart Bible Commentary, by Jimmy Swaggart. Used with permission.
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