We continue in our series on Hope Found Here and this month our focus is on Hope in the Cross.
The dictionary defines hope as a feeling of expectation or a desire for certain things to happen.
As Christians, we have a hope in God that is steadfast and certain, we have a blessed assurance that God is faithful.
We have placed our hope and trust in Jesus Christ, He alone is our Lord, our Saviour, our Deliverer, our Healer, our Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, He is our coming King.
Jesus is the only one who can save us from our sins, He is the only one who can assure us of eternal life, Jesus is our only true and certain hope.
If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we have the certain hope, the assurance, God has forgiven us of all our sins because of what Jesus has done on the Cross.
The cross is one of the earliest and most widely used images of Christianity.
The cross of Jesus tells a story with one single picture,
Jesus has come to save the world, He lived, He died on the Cross, He rose from the grave, He ascended into Heaven and one day He has promised He will return again, this is the reality of the cross and our certain hope.
The cross provides us with hope on our journey through life.
The cross is a reminder of God’s great love for us.
The cross is a reminder of what Jesus endured for our salvation.
There are many passages in the Bible that speak of the importance of the cross and throughout the years many men and women of God have preached or written books on the importance of the Cross.
The minister and author John Piper wrote these words in his book Don’t Waste Your Life: “Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world.”
When I think of the Cross and what Jesus endured there for you and for me, what He willingly chose to go through for all people who would come to trust Him as their personal Lord and Saviour, I am amazed.
How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
When I think about what Jesus did for me on the cross, I am so thankful.
Jesus suffered and died a terrible death so that you and I, and all who accept the free gift of salvation, can be saved.
Jesus willingly died on the cross for you and for me. Our sins nailed Him to the Cross.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
Jesus paid the price for my sin on the cross, He sacrificed himself so that I could be redeemed.
I have been forgiven,
I have been saved,
I have been blessed,
I have been accepted by God,
I have been assured of a place in Heaven,
because of what Jesus willingly did for me.
Jesus chose to go to the Cross, Jesus willingly laid down His life for your sin and mine.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Jesus died in our place, He defeated the power of sin, He conquered the power of death. Jesus was triumphant over all the forces of evil and death and hell.
What Jesus did at the cross assures us of the greatest hope of all, our sins forgiven, peace with God the Father, and the promise of eternal life for all who trust in Him as Saviour and Lord.
2000 years ago the City of Corinth was known as a great centre of intellectual excellence, yet the cross of Christ was a stumbling block to both the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
2000 years later, and there are still many who think believing in Jesus is foolish.
2000 years later, and people still choose to reject Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
When Paul described what this message was, he said, “we preach that Christ was crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
We preach Christ crucified. This is the core of the Gospel, Jesus was crucified, He suffered, He bled, He died to save us from our sins.
To the people of Corinth the preaching of the cross was foolish nonsense. Paul told them, “This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Foolish, the Greek word here is moria, which literally means “idiocy.” From this Greek word comes the word moron.
For the Corinthians, the idea of a world being saved by someone who had been crucified was foolishness.
The Corinthians were proud of their human wisdom, the Corinthians were boastful of their wisdom, they thought that there was nowhere else in the world that could compare to their philosophers and scholars. They thought they knew it all, reminds me of many in the world today.
Yet, there were many in the Corinthian church, just as there are many in the world today, who by faith, accept the fact that Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins
Our Hope is in our Saviour who willingly went to the cross for us.
Romans 3:23 tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
John 3:16-18, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
Romans 5:6-8, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
In Galatians 2:20-21 the Apostle Paul wrote, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”
Because Christ was crucified for us, we have a certain Hope of our sins forgiven and our eternal salvation.
2,000 years ago The Apostle Paul said “We preach Christ crucified.” The world still needs to hear this message of hope today. This message of hope, peace and forgiveness in Christ, the world may call it foolish but it is the wisdom of God.
“This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.”
God sent His Son to die on the cross.
God took all of your sins and all of my sins and laid them on Jesus.
Jesus became sin for us, His blood was shed for us,
His body was broken for us.
His life was given for you and me.
Jesus took your death, your suffering, your punishment on the cross.
Because Jesus did all that the Bible says in Romans 8:1-2, “now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”
Because Jesus is my Saviour, I will not be condemned.
I will not be sentenced to the punishment my sin deserves.
I will never see hell, I will spend eternity with God.
Why? Because I deserve it? No, because God the Father, in His love and His mercy, has said to me, “I forgive you, because you trust in my Son Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.”
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
To quote Billy Graham,“For the believer there is hope beyond the grave, because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by His death and resurrection.”
This the power of the cross
Son of God slain for us
What a love, what a cost
We stand forgiven at the cross.
I will close with this, at the Cross of Christ we see God’s commitment to us, we see His unconditional love for us.
Listen to these words from Isaiah 53: “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. He was pierced for our rebellion, He was crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.”
Jesus came to die and serve His Father by being a sacrifice for us, to pay the penalty for our sins, in Him we are forgiven, in Him we have the assurance of eternal life.
Just as He has promised to save us we have made a commitment to love Him, to follow Him and to serve Him.
In Mark 8:34 Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”
We need to take up our cross and commit to following Jesus every day.
Renew your commitment to give God your soul, your life, and your all for His honour and His Glory.
Our Certain Hope is in Christ and in His Sacrifice on the Cross for us.
AMEN
