Gifts From The Cross Series

ALLELUIA! HEAR THE GOOD NEWS! JESUS CHRIST HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD JUST AS HE SAID HE WOULD! SIN IS DEFEATED AND DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED. THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH CAN NOW BE SUMMARIZED INTO ONE WORD – VICTORY!

COLOSSIANS 2:13-15, “YOU WERE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR SINS AND BECAUSE YOUR SINFUL NATURE WAS NOT YET CUT AWAY. THEN GOD MADE YOU ALIVE WITH CHRIST, FOR HE FORGAVE ALL OUR SINS.

HE CANCELED THE RECORD OF THE CHARGES AGAINST US AND TOOK IT AWAY BY NAILING IT TO THE CROSS. IN THIS WAY, HE DISARMED THE SPIRITUAL RULERS AND AUTHORITIES. HE SHAMED THEM PUBLICLY BY HIS VICTORY OVER THEM ON THE CROSS.”

THE DEATH OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS WAS THE ATONING SACRIFICE. JESUS CHRIST OFFERED, ONCE AND FOR ALL, THE ONE PERFECT SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. NO OTHER SATISFACTION FOR SIN IS NECESSARY; NONE OTHER CAN ATONE.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:18, “AND ALL OF THIS IS A GIFT FROM GOD, WHO BROUGHT US BACK TO HIMSELF THROUGH CHRIST.” ALL THAT CHRIST HAS SACRIFICED AND ACCOMPLISHED FOR US IS A GIFT. THE SACRIFICIAL GIFTS FROM THE CROSS ARE: RECONCILIATION, JUSTIFICATION, REDEMPTION, AND PROPITIATION.

THE FIRST GIFT FROM THE CROSS OFFERS US RECONCILIATION. WHEN JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS, HE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE RECONCILED WITH GOD. JESUS BRIDGED THE GAP BETWEEN HUMANITY AND GOD THAT WAS CREATED BY SIN AND RESTORED US BACK INTO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST.

COLOSSIANS 1:22, “YET NOW HE HAS RECONCILED YOU TO HIMSELF THROUGH THE DEATH OF CHRIST IN HIS PHYSICAL BODY. AS A RESULT, HE HAS BROUGHT YOU INTO HIS OWN PRESENCE, AND YOU ARE HOLY AND BLAMELESS AS YOU STAND BEFORE HIM WITHOUT A SINGLE FAULT.” WE ARE NOW WELCOMED INTO A LOVING, PERSONAL, AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS OUR FATHER.

NOT ONLY ARE WE RECONCILED, BUT FIND THE SECOND GIFT OF THE CROSS; JUSTIFICATION. BY CHRIST’S DEATH, YOU HAVE BEEN DECLARED RIGHT BEFORE GOD. WHEN CHRIST DIED, HE TOOK AND ABSORBED OUR PUNISHMENT.

THE BEAUTY OF BEING JUSTIFIED IS THAT WHEN WE BELIEVE IN CHRIST, BY FAITH, OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN AND NO LONGER HELD AGAINST US. YOUR PAST IS PASSED!

WE BELIEVE THAT JUSTIFICATION IS: “…A LEGAL TERM THAT EMPHASIZES THAT BY A NEW RELATIONSHIP IN JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE ARE IN FACT ACCOUNTED RIGHTEOUS, BEING FREED FROM BOTH THE GUILT AND THE PENALTY OF THEIR SINS.”

ROMANS 3:22-24, “WE ARE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD BY PLACING OUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. AND THIS IS TRUE FOR EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES, NO MATTER WHO WE ARE. FOR EVERYONE HAS SINNED; WE ALL FALL SHORT OF GOD’S GLORIOUS STANDARD. YET GOD, WITH UNDESERVED KINDNESS, DECLARES THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS. HE DID THIS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS WHEN HE FREED US FROM THE PENALTY FOR OUR SINS.”

THE RESULTS OF THE CROSS ALLOW US TO BE RECONCILED, JUSTIFIED, AND NOW REDEEMED. THE THIRD GIFT FROM THE CROSS IS OUR REDEMPTION. THE DEATH OF CHRIST ALSO MEANS WE HAVE BEEN “BOUGHT OUT” FROM BONDAGE TO SIN AND TO SATAN.

WE CAN NOW CALL GOD “OUR FATHER” BECAUSE WE ARE NOW HIS ADOPTED CHILDREN. THE RANSOM PRICE FOR BEING HELD CAPTIVE TO SIN HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL! WE ARE FREE. WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN.

GALATIANS 4:4-5, “BUT WHEN THE RIGHT TIME CAME, GOD SENT HIS SON, BORN OF A WOMAN, SUBJECT TO THE LAW. GOD SENT HIM TO BUY FREEDOM FOR US WHO WERE SLAVES TO THE LAW, SO THAT HE COULD ADOPT US AS HIS VERY OWN CHILDREN."

WE HAVE BEEN RECONCILED, JUSTIFIED, REDEEMED AS A RESULT OF WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US. WE HAVE GAINED AN ETERNAL INHERITANCE AND HAVE FOUND OUR FOURTH GIFT FROM THE CROSS; PROPITIATION. WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM GOD’S WRATH.

HEBREWS 2:17, “THEREFORE, IN ALL THINGS HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BRETHREN, THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD, TO MAKE PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.

PROPITIATION SIMPLY MEANS “TO REMOVE WRATH BY THE OFFERING OF A GIFT.” IT CAN ALSO MEAN“TO AVERT ANGER.” THE ACT OF PROPITIATION IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE AN ACCEPTABLE OFFERING HAS BEEN MADE ON OUR SINFUL BEHALF.

THAT OFFERING, WE ALL KNOW BY NOW, IS JESUS CHRIST. JESUS IS OUR PROPITIATION – OUR OFFERING MADE TO APPEASE GOD TO TURN HIS WRATH AWAY FROM US. WHAT A PRECIOUS GIFT! “THE GIFTS OF THE CROSS” FOR US, THROUGH CHRIST, IS OUR RECONCILIATION, JUSTIFICATION, REDEMPTION, AND PROPITIATION. THE GIFTS OF THE CROSS ARE PRECIOUS AND PRICELSS GIFTS OF FORGIVENESS, RECONCILIATION, AND ETERNAL LIFE GIVEN TO US FREELY BY A HOLY AND LOVING GOD.

HE TOOK THE INITIATIVE…HE PAID THE PRICE…THEY ARE GIFTS OFFERED TO YOU AT NO CHARGE…NO FINE PRINT…NO “HIDDEN FEES” AND WITH NO NEED TO ASK “WHAT’S THE CATCH?”