What The Cross Is Teaching Us

Mayor Gerardo Balmori

The Salvation Army

Although Christmas is the most celebrated Christian holiday, Easter is by far the most important

event in the life of Christ, for He came to die for the sins of mankind, be buried and rise again on the

third day for our justification. This is the Gospel message in a nutshell as Paul proclaims in I

Corinthians 15:1-4 (Read)

Here is the Gospel given in it's briefest but most precise form, and it consists of three facts all of

which took place during the Easter holiday:

That Christ died

That He was buried

That He rose again the third day

The first of these three, the death of Christ, paid the unpayable price of the sin of mankind.

Unpayable by man himself because of his flawed nature and thereby incapable of paying his own sin

debt! The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); this is the price necessary to atone for the sins of

mankind. According to the holy and just requirement of God, somebody had to pay for the sin debt

of every sinner born.

This price had to be paid by a perfect sinless sacrifice. God's requirement was the reason He had to

send His Son for He was the only One worthy, the only One capable of meeting God's standard of a

perfect sinless Sacrifice to atone for the great sin debt of all mankind.

Jesus' first title given Him when He appeared on the shores of Jordan to John Baptist was 'The

Lamb of God'! Yes, upon the inauguration of His earthly public ministry He was given the all-telling

title of the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice whose destiny was the Cross to which He would be nailed just

a few short years later to provide God with the substitutional Sacrifice necessary to bring man to

God and in the process glorify God Himself!

Romans 3:26-31 shows at least four different ways that the Cross glorified God.

I. First of all the Cross reveals God's righteousness: 'To declare, I say, at this time His

righteousness: that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth on Jesus' (v.26).

God's righteous character is openly displayed 'without the law' through the propitiation of Christ.

Christ’s suffering and shedding of His own Blood on the Cross provided God grounds upon which

God could set forth His righteousness which is the heart of the doctrine of justification. God is now

proved to be just and also the Justifier of those who believe through faith in the Blood of Christ.

Our faith in the atoning Blood of Christ as payment for our own sin's penalty is the faith that saves

us from eternal death in Hell and instead freely gives us eternal life with the Lord in Heaven!

II. Secondly, the Cross exalts God's matchless grace. 'Where is boasting then? It is excluded.

By what law of works? No: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by

faith without the deeds of the law.'

God's great grace provided us with salvation through His marvelous grace. Yes, 'For by grace are ye

saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should

boast' (Ephesians 2:8,9).

It is all of grace for God supplied the Sacrifice and also the faith through His great grace that we

might be saved, and thereby the Cross magnifies and exalts God's magnificent grace!

III. Third, the Cross reveals God's consistency in dealing with all mankind: 'Is He the

God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God,

which shall justify the circumcision (Jews) by faith, and uncircumcision (Gentiles) through faith'

(v.29, 30).

The great wall has been broken down in Christ as Ephesians 2:14 explains 'For He is our Peace, Who

hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us'.

Here lies the consistency of God through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross 'Having

abolished in His flesh the enmity...to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And

that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross... Now therefore ye (Gentiles) are

no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens...of the household of God' (Ephesians 2:15-19).

IV. Fourth, the Cross confirms God's Law: 'Do we then make void the law through faith? God

forbid: yea, we establish the law'.

The immediate assumption of voiding the Law of God is quickly dealt with by Paul as he underlines

the continuing validity of the written Old Testament Law. His response is one of shock and dismay

at even the thought of voiding the Law of God as he exclaims 'God forbid' a favorite expression of