For the word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,
and as a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
This message has been brought to you by
Manichristian Fellowship, Ellensburg, Washington, area code 509-925
-1116.
I was following along this morning in the
Greek New Testament, and it struck to me
that in Galatians 5, verse 24, it says
this, but the ones, literally the words, the
ones belonging to Christ crucified the flesh with
its passions
and its lusts.
And if you think of those works of
the flesh, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, all those, those
are passions.
But the ones, it says, that belong to
Christ, and there's where you can clearly identify
the difference, the distinction between the good works
done, in a sense, in the flesh and
good works done in the spirit, is that
the ones that belong to Christ, those passions
have been crucified.
And the ones that belong to the flesh,
those passions have been crucified.
And there's where you can make a very
clear distinction between the two.
So, we can't judge men's hearts, it's very
clear, but we can see whether men are
walking in such a way that their passions,
they're crucifying those passions.
So, we will continue this morning, in the
last four statements, I think last week I
might have said seven, but there's eight, I've
broken it up into eight statements here.
And we'll be following, along with the last
four statements, I don't know if you still
have the notes, to this series, Last Words
of Christ on the Cross.
Why don't we pray this morning, before we
start.
Father, this morning, we love Your Word, Father,
we love what You've given to us, Father,
and we love to read Your Bible every
day, and pray, and it's really true, it's
really true that we do grow.
And we grow in grace, and we grow
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
And we just are in wonder this morning
at how You bless us, in wonder at
the power and the might, the victory that's
in Jesus Christ.
We stand amazed in the presence, in Your
presence, Father.
This morning is just what we want to
do.
We want to stand in Your presence this
morning.
We want to be on that constricted way,
as the Word says, the narrow way.
Father, we pray You would help us this
morning, help our feebleness and our weakness, Lord.
Be strong this morning, Lord.
We pray, Lord, that You would just bind
Satan in Jesus' name this morning, cast him
from our midst, run him off, Lord.
We pray this in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.
Last week, we looked at the agony of
the cross, the patience of the cross, the
victory of the cross.
This week, we will begin at the care
of the cross.
Now, the setting is this.
There is three women and a man at
the foot of the cross.
So, we're outnumbered.
But the beloved John was there.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there.
Mary Magdalene.
And now I forget the other.
But there was three.
Can you remember the other one?
Okay, I'm sorry.
There was three women and the beloved John.
And Jesus is here on the cross in
His last moments dying.
And He exhibits a tremendous care.
And He also, in this statement, is honoring
His word.
He is the one who said, Honor thy
father and thy mother, that you may live
long.
He is the one who established the law.
He is the one who not only established
it, but has kept it completely and fulfilled
all things.
So, we see here, you can turn your
Bibles to John 19.
The Gospel of John 19.
Verse 26.
And in this, He says, When Jesus therefore
saw His mother and the disciples standing by
whom He loved, He saith unto His mother,
Woman, behold thy son.
Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy
mother.
And from that hour, that disciple took her
unto His own home.
And so this is the setting that we're
speaking of.
And He says, woman.
He doesn't address her as mother.
He addresses her as woman.
And He says, behold thy son.
Now, it's a tremendous, tremendous statement that He
makes.
It speaks to us of the honor that
He Himself had to His mother, His mother
in the flesh, Mary.
But the one who took care of Him,
the one who nursed Him, the one who
loved Him dearly and fearlessly, she was there
at the foot of the cross with Him.
She was there in agony at His dying
moments.
She was there.
It didn't matter who would persecute her, who
would maybe accuse her, or who would, in
a sense, attack her for being the mother
of this one who had claimed to be
the king of the Jews.
And there was a fearlessness on her part.
There was a brokenness on her part.
There was an agony on her part.
And He says to her, He says, and
He looks upon her and He says, Woman,
behold thy son.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
There's a very, very clear principle that we
could just draw out of this.
There was a tremendous honor even of the
King of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus
Christ Himself, God in the flesh, dwelt among
us, Emmanuel.
And yet, He looks upon His mother in
His dying moment.
How many of you think that in your
dying moment that you will be caring, and
many in the world caring, caring on your
dying and on your deathbed, caring of anybody
but yourself?
Well, I believe that the testimony of the
Christian often is that the care has gone
beyond himself.
The fear of death, the sting of death
has been taken away.
And they care for others.
But in the other sense, in the other
side, the sting of death, the fear of
judgment is still there with the unbeliever.
But here, Jesus is caring.
He's showing, exhibiting tremendous care.
He's fulfilling His Word in this statement.
In 1 Peter, it says to us, cast
all your cares and your burdens upon Him.
So, in this statement that He makes, we
see the care and the love of God.
I don't think I grabbed all my paperwork
this morning.
There's a few other references in the Psalms
of casting your cares.
The same references used.
Casting your cares upon Him, for He careth
for you.
So, God cares for you and I in
the same way that He is caring for
His mother.
She is not divinity.
She is a human.
She is flesh.
She is imperfect and a sinner.
And yet, He sees and He cares for
us.
It's an exhibit of that care for us.
So, you say, well, okay, how does this
apply to my life?
Well, in every circumstance that we go through,
and He says that as a Christian, you
will suffer persecution.
Now, what's too much?
Well, when you get beyond getting nailed to
a cross, then you've gone as far as
Jesus has gone.
When you're accused innocently and you have done
nothing wrong, then you've gone as far as
Jesus has gone.
And that's the extent at which you can
suffer as a Christian all the way to
the extent in which He suffered for righteousness
sake.
Perfectly.
There was no reason for Him to be...
Nobody could find accusation.
Pilate himself couldn't accuse Him.
The Jews couldn't accuse Him of anything that
He had done wrong.
So, when you get to the point in
your life where nobody could accuse you of
anything, and you couldn't be accused by God
of anything, and then you die on the
cross.
That's to the extent in which God is
calling us as Christians to be willing to
follow Him to the cross of Jesus Christ.
So, anything less than that, we haven't yet
got there.
And so, we can go through it.
This is a picture of the fact that
Christ cares for us.
And that care is being demonstrated in our
life no matter the extent of suffering.
You see what I'm saying?
No matter to the extent in which you
and I suffer it doesn't matter because there's
that tremendous amount of care still there.
He knows where we're at.
He says, cast your cares and your burdens
on Him, for He careth for you.
Now, how much does God care?
Well, He says in the Bible, He cares
enough to feed and clothe the birds.
Sometimes, I have an issue at my house
with getting my children to care enough to
feed the dogs and the cows and the
cats.
But God cares in a tremendous way and
He doesn't ever miss a day, you see?
He never misses a day in caring for
you.
He never misses one hour, one minute, or
one second in caring for you.
He doesn't do it.
That's a tremendous thing.
That's good news.
That's a tremendous thing.
That God, He cares for us.
He cares for His own.
He wants every one of those passions crucified.
He wants us to be dead to ourselves,
but alive in Christ.
He wants us to be dead to all
the things that hinder us and keep us
off of that narrow way.
And then He wants to fill us up
with something.
You know, the drunk, he doesn't have to
be drunk anymore.
He doesn't have to go that way to
fill himself up because we can be filled
with the Spirit to the same extent in
our life with joy unspeakable.
So, if we will simply do this, trust
in the care of God.
Trust in the care of Jesus.
Don't you think that He's gone to the
furthest extent that a man can go?
And beyond that, because He is God, He's
gone to this extent to care for His
mother.
And He says, this woman, behold thy son.
Notice what He's saying.
He's redirecting.
Jesus, in her eyes, is her Son.
In the flesh, He was completely flesh, completely
man, and also completely God.
Some cannot reconcile that, but He was that.
And He redirects her focus and says, behold
thy Son.
And He doesn't point because He can't, but
He looks upon the beloved disciple, John.
And He says, behold, thy Son.
Behold, thy Son.
Sometimes God, in His care, redirects our focus,
redirects our path.
Sometimes He changes the authority in our life.
Sometimes He changes our whole situation, our house,
our fellowship, our associations.
You see, He changed everything for her.
Behold, thy Son.
In the setting there, we see that John,
he took her in.
Not just for a few days.
He took her in.
And Jesus said to Him, to the disciple,
He said, behold, thy Mother.
Behold, thy Mother.
So, you see, often as we separate ourselves
unto God, there is also a separation in
our lives.
And what happens?
There's a new family.
There's a new association, new fellowship, a new
life.
You see, the body of Christ is that
His own.
He says, who are my brethren?
Who is my mother?
Who are my friends?
Those who love me.
Those who do my commandments.
These are my friends.
These are those whom I love.
The care of the cross.
See, He careth for us so much.
What is He preparing us for?
Good business, big house, happiness in this world.
No, He's preparing us for a glorious, a
glorious eternity with Him.
He's preparing us to be the bride.
The bride of Christ.
Not of another angelic being who's superior.
Not of any other thing but to be
married, to be the bride of Christ.
You see, you have the highest calling of
any people on the earth to be a
part of the church, to be a Christian.
You see, it's the highest calling of any
calling in this earth to be the bride
of Christ.
The care of the cross.
See, He careth.
He is the good husbandman.
He is the good shepherd.
And He's just demonstrating this at the last
moments to the end.
Not concerned about Himself.
Not concerned about what's taking place.
Not bittered because He's been unjustly accused and
condemned.
Behold thy mother.
The call of the cross.
You see, what happened here is that He
redirected Mary's life, put her into a new
home, a new association, a new son.
He cared for her.
But He also said to His beloved disciple
who followed Him to the cross.
He was there at the foot of the
cross witnessing all these things.
And He said, behold thy mother.
Well, that's pretty bold.
I mean, how, God, can you tell me
what to do?
And now I'm burdened down with this old
woman.
I'm having to take on burdens and cares
now that I never had to before.
I've got responsibilities.
But He said to him, behold thy mother.
Behold thy mother.
So He's been given a responsibility.
They've been given a responsibility.
To do what?
To be associates in a house.
To be a part of a nursing home
atmosphere where John comes in.
And when there's a need, He meets it
every once in a while.
And when Mary needs something, she asks for
it.
Or, you know, no, it's a relationship He
called them to of a son and a
mother.
And He called them to a son and
a mother with all the, I believe, all
the affections, all the love, all the cares
in that same way, in that same relationship.
He called them into this relationship.
Why?
Because He loved His mother.
He loved her dearly.
He honored her.
And it's very interesting that John never states
his own name and identifies himself except by
the disciple whom Jesus loved.
He didn't identify himself and say, I'm the
disciple who loved Jesus.
He said, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Behold thy mother.
Are you willing to accept the call of
the cross?
You know, it may burden you down some.
It may change your life.
You may have to go seek and save
those who are lost.
You may have to get in a foxhole
and do battle with Satan on the front
line.
You may have to pay the price.
You may have to agonize some.
You may have to go the extra mile
with a centurion.
You see what I'm saying?
There's a call there.
In this statement, there's a call of the
cross.
Don't you think Jesus, God, and the Spirit
would direct those who are filled with the
Spirit, Christians, His saints, His children.
He directs them by the power of the
Holy Spirit to do what?
To take on His concerns, His cares, His
burdens.
As our dear brother says, Brother Gerard, he
says, climbing underneath the burden of God.
Literally getting underneath the burden of God.
Who's he going to use?
Christians.
And what's He going to do with them?
He's going to send them out to bear
those burdens, to care, to be concerned.
He loved His mother.
He had a desire to honor her.
It wasn't a superficial thing.
It was a genuine, real love and honor.
And He called one of His disciples and
said, Take care of her.
Take care of her.
And don't take care of her halfway.
Go the extra mile.
Take care of her as if she was
your own mother.
You see?
You know, we're all adopted anyway.
That's the spirit of adoption the Bible speaks
about.
We're all adopted anyway.
So, we need to bear, we need to
accept the call of the cross.
This is what Jesus is saying to us.
Behold thy mother.
What a blessed life it is.
Oh, here's my notes.
Praise God.
Just a few scriptures that also drew this
same idea of care.
Psalm 55, verse 22, Cast thy burden upon
the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.
He shall never suffer the righteous to be
moved.
Cast your care upon the Lord, and He
shall sustain thee.
He shall never suffer the righteous to be
moved.
So, do you believe in the Word of
God?
Do you trust Jesus in this way?
That the righteous will never be moved?
That you can cast your burden upon the
Lord?
And then, he says in Psalm 37, verse
5, Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him, and He shall bring
it to pass.
So, what he's asking us to do is
to literally surrender our ways, surrender ourselves to
Him, casting it upon Him, never to be
taken back, and then He'll establish our ways.
Matthew 6, Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit to his stature?
So, think about that for a minute.
Which of you, by taking thought, by taking
care, by worrying, by fretting, by working things
out, by rigor and agony, which of you
can add one cubit to his stature?
Well, there's many that are deceived, and they
think they're adding a cubit or two to
their stature, but they're not.
We can't.
And why take ye thought for the raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow.
They toil not, neither do they spin.
This is a picture of the Christian.
No toil, no spinning around.
We don't have to waver and get tossed
back and forth.
The Bible teaches us not to.
Nothing wavering.
And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is
cast into the oven, shall He not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we
eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal
shall we be clothed?
For after these things did the Gentiles seek."
The unbelievers.
The Gentiles.
Those that are in the flesh.
Those that are going after their passions.
For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things.
But seek ye first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for
the morrow shall take thought for the things
of itself sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof.
So, this tremendous amount of care.
I sometimes think, you know, the devil comes
in, and he comes in and attacks your
thought life.
And he says, oh, you're a sinner.
God doesn't care about your circumstances.
God doesn't care about you.
He is all over you for these things
you've done.
You're falling short.
And it's a ministry of condemnation.
And He eventually beats you down to the
extent that you just want to throw the
towel in.
You want to give up.
The commitment has been beaten down.
You see, any time you commit something to
the Lord, the devil is going to try
to break that commitment all to pieces.
To where you will be so humbled at
the fact that a few years later, you
realize these commitments I've made, they've all been
destroyed, and now my life is in ruins.
Because I never stuck with it.
I never committed.
Commit your way unto the Lord.
He didn't say how much time.
He didn't necessarily say what the exact results
would be other than you will not be
moved, and that He will establish your way.
He will bring it to pass.
So, we need to believe the Bible.
We need to believe exactly what it says.
And don't take it too far and don't
take it too less.
Believe it.
Don't take it too far and don't take
it too less.
Qualify it.
If you have a passion for money, that's
a passion.
That's covetousness.
And God can't honor that if it's an
uncrucified passion.
But if you're seeking first the Kingdom of
God, and that's your passion, the Kingdom of
God, well, He won't hold back anything from
you.
Because you'll still be a pauper.
You'll still treat it as if it wasn't
yours.
He won't hold back any good thing.
So, what's He calling us to?
In Romans, it says we are called of
Jesus Christ.
It's a personal call.
It's a personal declaration of God Almighty, the
Lord Jesus Christ saying to you, saying to
me, come, take up your cross.
Follow Me.
Go and make disciples.
Sanctify yourselves.
In 1 Peter here, what a beautiful Scripture
this is.
Beautiful Scripture this is.
Some pervert this and take it out of
context and mess it all up.
But if you keep it in its right
light, and you keep it in focus, it's
a beautiful Scripture for the Christian.
Beautiful assurance.
1 Peter 2, verse 9, But ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show
forth the praises of Him who hath called
you that personal calling, It's just like a
personal invitation.
It's not sent by mail.
It's not sent over a wire.
It was a personal invitation to you to
follow Jesus Christ.
To go.
To be sold out.
To be on fire.
You are that you should show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light.
You know what?
This is just a call of service.
It's a servant's call.
It's a call to be sold out.
It's a call to come to the sanctuary
every day.
It's a call to burn the incense every
day.
To burn out for God.
That's all it is.
You have become a peculiar people, a holy
nation, a royal priesthood, a chosen
generation.
I like this Scripture too.
2 Timothy 1.9 Who hath saved us
and called us with what?
A holy calling.
Not an unholy calling.
He's literally called us with a holy calling.
Be ye holy, He says, for I am
holy.
Without holiness, no man shall see God.
You see, don't go the way of the
world.
Don't go towards the sensual passions.
Don't mix the flesh and the spirit.
Men are trying to put them all in
the same bowl and mix them up.
The way is constricted, the Bible says.
The gate is narrow that leadeth unto life.
Few, it says, there be that are finding
that way.
Few there be that are finding that way.
That's what the Bible says.
That's not what I'm saying.
And I'm not saying we've got it all
together and we're the only true church.
I'm not saying that either.
I'm saying we're part of the body.
If you're a Christian, you love God, you're
sold out for God, you're part of that
call.
You're part of that commission.
You're part of Christ Jesus.
And you've been crucified with Him.
He says this statement, He says, I thirst,
I thirst.
And they mocked Him.
They mocked Him.
And they gave Him vinegar.
You think that would be something good?
Would you enjoy vinegar?
At the last minute.
He realized that it would be a good
study.
I've never done it.
But I think it would be a worthy
study to go through Scripture and find all
the prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus
Christ.
And all the prophecies fulfilled here at the
cross.
Tremendous.
He had but this last one to be
fulfilled before He could say it is finished.
Turn your Bibles to Psalms 69.
We'll just read this psalm.
Save me, O God, for the waters are
come in unto my soul.
I sink in deep mire where there is
no standing.
I am come into deep waters where the
floods overflow me.
I am weary of my crying.
My throat is dried.
Mine eyes fail while I wait for my
God.
They that hate me without a cause are
more than the hairs of mine head.
They that would destroy me being my enemies
wrongfully are mighty.
Then I restored that which I took not
away.
O God, Thou knowest my foolishness and my
sins are not hid from Thee.
Let not them that wait on Thee, O
Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my
sake.
Let not those that seek Thee be confounded
for my sake, O God of Israel.
Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach,
shame hath covered my face, I am become
a stranger unto my brethren and an alien
unto my mother's children.
For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten
me up and the reproaches of them that
reproach Thee are fallen upon me.
When I wept and chastened, my soul was
fasting.
That was to my reproach.
I made sackcloth also my garment, and I
became a proverb to them.
They that sit in the gates speak against
me, and I was the song of the
drunkards.
But as for me, my prayer is unto
Thee, O Lord.
In an acceptable time, O God, in the
multitude of Thy mercy, hear me in the
truth of Thy salvation.
Deliver me out of the mire and let
me not sink.
Let me be delivered from them that hate
me and out of the deep waters.
Let not the water flood overflow me, neither
let the deep swallow me up, and let
not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
Hear me, O Lord, for Thy lovingkindness is
good.
Turn unto me according to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, and hide not Thy face
from Thy servant.
For I am in trouble.
Hear me speedily.
Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it.
Deliver me because of mine enemies.
Thou hast known my reproach and my shame
and my dishonor.
Mine adversaries are all before Thee.
Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am
full of heaviness.
And I looked for some to take pity,
but there was none.
And for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me also gall for my meat,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink.
Let their table become a snare before them,
that they which should have been for their
welfare, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened that they see
not, and make their loins continually to shake.
Pour out the indignation upon them, and let
Thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Let their habitation be desolate, and let none
dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom Thou hast smitten,
and they talk to the grief of those
whom Thou hast wounded.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them
not come into Thy righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book
of the living, and not be written with
the righteous.
But I am poor and sorrowful.
Let Thy salvation, O God, set me upon
high.
I will praise the name of God with
a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
This also shall please the Lord better than
an ox or a bullock that hath horns
and hoof.
The humble shall see this and be glad,
and your heart shall live that seek God.
For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth
not His prisoners.
Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the
seas and everything that moveth therein.
For God will save Zion and will build
the cities of Judah that they may dwell
there and have it in possession.
The seed also of His servants shall inherit
it, and they that love His name shall
dwell therein."
So, as we think about this, there is
a prophecy fulfilled in them giving this practical
detail.
It's like simply saying this, looking at the
big picture of all of life and all
of time.
And you could say, well, this is an
apple.
This prophecy is literally speaking of a microorganism
in the apple.
This one little thing that's going to happen
that man cannot see, man doesn't understand, and
yet he says these prophecies are simply just
picking at these microorganisms in all of life
and saying this will happen and this will
happen and you will find this and you
will find that as you seek and as
you find.
And it's all true.
It's all been completely fulfilled.
And it was fulfilled here.
It is a tremendous thing.
You see, Jesus laid down His own life
according to the foreknowledge, the Bible says, of
the Father.
It was foreordained.
It was exactly as it had been purposed
to be.
To the T.
To the detail.
Everything happened just so.
So we see it's not a coincidence.
We see that there was no reason for
Jesus to suffer, but for those sins and
those transgressions of those of us.
I thirst.
What a tremendous statement.
It's not speaking of weakness.
It's speaking of the level of depravity.
The level of depravity.
We crucified Christ.
The unbelieving.
The wicked.
We don't point to those men only.
We point to all of mankind.
I thirst.
This proves to us very clearly Jesus did
come in the flesh.
Jesus was fully man.
There's no question.
Those that question that are blind.
They've not done their study.
They've not done their research.
It's so clear.
It's so evident.
Fully man.
Fully God.
Almighty.
Omniscient.
All-powerful.
And then lastly, He says, the final victory
of the cross is this.
It is finished.
It is completed.
Oh, it will be a glorious day for
you and me when we say, when we
can say, when we're with Christ, it's finished.
The prayers, the seeking, the longing, it's finished.
But here, the most glorious statement ever made
to all of mankind it is finished.
It is complete.
What?
The sacrifice.
The atonement.
The redemption.
It's finished.
The plan of salvation has been completed in
Christ.
There's no other way.
No other plan.
No other scheme.
This was what the master builder was planning
on doing.
This is what the master builder had planned
out from the beginning.
Had drawn on the drawing board, and now
it's been completed.
It's finished, Jesus said.
Jesus died extraordinarily early for a man
who was healthy, who was young, and he
was on the cross.
It was typical for them to be on
the cross for extended periods of time before
they died.
That's why they broke their legs.
The Bible said in another prophecy, that not
a bone of him will be broken, and
therefore, he had to die at the time
designated, at this perfect time in all of
history.
He had to die at this perfect time.
He died, as I said, very early in
the crucifixion, very early in the suffering.
What a disappointment it would have been for
those who love torture, and love to have
this guy die so early.
But he did because it was a designated
time.
I believe his heart burst because of the
bearing of the sins, the bearing of the
iniquity, the bearing of the judgment, the wrath
of God being poured out on him.
He said, it is finished.
In that, he said, it's complete.
It's done.
The plan has been completed.
I can lay my life down.
I lay my head down.
And the Bible says, in a sense, as
on a pillow, he bowed his head.
He just rested himself and entrusted himself into
the Father's hands completely.
It's finished.
Do you realize that we often talk about
in the Christian life, the finished work, the
completed work, the finished work of Christ on
the cross, the completed work of redemption, the
plan of salvation, the work has been completed,
has been finished, and therefore, there is no
more need for the Christian to try to
work things out.
And that's why the Christian has to come
by faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of his
sins.
That's opening the door.
Repentance.
Jesus came and said, repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
Turn.
Go another way.
But by faith, we enter in.
See, we can't do it.
It's His work.
He's completed that work.
But then, as a Christian, He's asking us
to die with Him.
Paul says, I'm crucified.
He says that the most glorious thing to
me is the cross of Jesus Christ.
Christ crucified.
We preach Christ and Him crucified.
Christ Jesus the Lord living.
Alive today.
And it's on that finished work, that completed
work, in which we rest our faith.
It's not on the sacrifices.
It's not on the glorious tabernacles.
It's not on Moses and on the glorious
works that happened.
It is a present working in the life
of the believer.
It's a present act of God in the
life of the believer.
Not something we're trusting in the past that
happened.
And that's what happened with those Pharisees.
They were trusting on work that had happened.
But see, He says, the Spirit will bear
witness with My Spirit.
Present active work.
It's present because it's finished.
It's active.
It's powerful because it's a finished, completed work.
It's a working, working salvation.
It's a working thing.
You see, that's why that our faith and
works, they work together.
James says the faith without works, it's dead.
Why?
Because it is an active thing.
Some men are putting their faith, I've heard
some testimonies this week, putting their faith on
others' faith.
Somebody else's faith.
It doesn't matter when or where, but when
you put your faith on somebody else's faith,
then that's all you've got is what little
bit of faith they've got, but you don't
have this present, finished work of the crucified
God in the life of the believer.
You don't have the power over sin.
You don't have the power to be sanctified.
You don't have the power of the blood
in your life.
You don't have the power to be cleansed
from all unrighteousness unless it's in this finished
work of the cross.
It is finished.
All things have been completed.
All prophecies have been fulfilled.
You give me any of those occultic, satanic
religions, you show me that all prophecies have
been fulfilled accurately, perfectly.
You can find so many holes in the
cheese.
You can find so many holes in the
structure.
There's termites everywhere in those beliefs.
It's not that hard to figure out.
And here, if you'll honestly look at the
Scripture, you'll honestly look and seek it out,
you'll find that there is not a termite,
there's not a hole in the structure.
It's perfect.
It's pure.
It's exactly, exactly as He said it would
be.
This is the God, this is the living
God in whom I trust.
This is the power of His blood in
my life.
That's the testimony of the Christian.
The power of the blood in my life.
Trust in your degrees.
Trust in your knowledge.
Trust in your prosperity.
But only we can trust in the living
God.
Doesn't He care more for us?
It would be an interesting study for you.
I'd encourage you to do it.
Find all the things that in this finished
work, Jesus obtained for you and me.
Find them.
Go and search the Scriptures.
This would be my encouragement to you.
Find all the things that Jesus has obtained
for me, for you, for the body, for
the church.
Whoa, wow.
Awesome.
Faith building.
Encouraging to our faith.
Study the Scripture to show thyself approved.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
You know what, friend?
You know what God has obtained for me?
You know what God has done for me?
This is the good news.
The victory of the cross.
There is tremendous victory.
Victory in the life of the believer.
You know, interesting word.
Believer.
That's somebody who's believing.
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believing.
Actively believing to the extent that He says
to His passions, Get behind me.
Get back.
He stakes every stake in that passion, that
desire, throws a stake through His feet, and
throws one through His hands, and then finally
pleads to God to stake the last hand
and to crucify that thing completely.
Those who are mine, those who are my
beloved, they crucify the passion.
Yes, mankind is filled with passions, filled with
these desires.
But the Christian, one who belongs to God,
says, I don't want it.
And not just put it aside on a
shelf.
What's He say?
He's crucified it.
Well, we can't do it completely all by
ourself.
But we can take those first steps of
seeking, knocking, saying, I'll rid myself of these
evils.
I'll rid myself of these things.
And I'll trust God to complete that work
because He is one who finishes His work.
He is one who has finished His work.
And I'm believing.
I'm trusting on that.
These statements, as you meditate on the cross,
as you meditate on these last words, the
care, the compassion, the complete victory that was
obtained here, the call and the commission, they're
tremendous things that God is saying to us.
Because He did these things, we have a
new covenant.
Because He went through and suffered for our
sake, we can praise Him.
He said, I'll make My ministers a flame
of fire.
And in the gates, I'll praise Thy name.
See, they were in the gates and they
were mocking Him and they were scheming against
Him.
But now, His people will praise Him.
They will praise Him in the sanctuary.
They will praise Him everywhere.
In the midst of the Jew.
In the midst of the Gentile.
His people.
They will praise Him.
A new covenant.
What does He give us?
Life eternal.
Well, that's one thing that everybody wants.
Life eternal.
Well, that's one thing everybody will get.
But there will be a couple different conditions,
you see.
It's not going to be that you just
get wiped out of existence.
But those who are living against God and
who have crucified Him in their lives and
who blaspheme His name and blaspheme against the
Holy Spirit, there will be no repentance.
There will be no ability to cry out
on that day of judgment and say, I'm
sorry, I didn't mean it.
I'm sorry, I was hiding and I was
living that secretive way.
I'm sorry that I was believing these lies.
There'll be no turning back.
There'll be eternal damnation.
But for those who are covered in the
blood, and that's the only way, those who
are covered by the blood will have life
eternal.
Life as the Bride of Christ.
Life in the presence of God.
Life in that perfect care, in that perfect
love.
See, we have so much.
We have so much.
Justified, redeemed, brought near, cleansed our conscience.
Ah, so much in the resurrected life.
So much.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection in the
life.
I am the resurrection in the life.
It's finished.
The Father, shortly thereafter, He was raised from
the dead gloriously.
A new body.
A new unidentifiable figure.
Except that when He spoke and He revealed
Himself to those whom He loved, He revealed
Himself to His disciples, their eyes were opened.
We have a need for our eyes to
be opened.
You see, we see very dimly at certain
things in our own lives.
And we need God.
We need to be seeking God.
To open my eyes.
Open my eyes to the efficacy of the
cross, of the blood of Jesus Christ, of
the words of Jesus Christ, of the life
of Christ, of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We need to open our eyes and when
we get a grip on these things and
we really begin to know them, then we
begin to know God.
God begins to know us.
You see, it's not a relationship with a
book and words and a dictionary and just
trying to understand what this is saying.
It's a relationship with the person of the
Holy Spirit.
It's a relationship with the person of Jesus
Christ, the Spirit of God, the Son of
God, the Father God.
And so in my life, I really believe
strongly in developing a personal relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I really believe strongly in living as if
you are married to Him.
If you're His son in a relationship, a
father and son relationship.
In living as if you're under authority, in
obedience to Him.
I really believe strongly that as we're willing
to follow His commandments as He says, that
that is the secret to the fulfilled, the
deeper Christian life.
And it's not all about just knowing these
things.
Although, we should know our Bibles.
We should know because then God can speak
to us.
We should be in the Word.
We should be in prayer seeking God, but
in not a ritualistic way.
Not a have to.
Not a legalistic way.
But in an obedient way.
I talked to a man this week and
we went round and round about certain subjects.
And he's a professing Christian.
And he's pretty, I would say, pretty on
fire for God.
He knows some things.
But here, he's in his middle 40s.
He doesn't really know the Bible.
And yet he says he's a Christian, but
he doesn't really know what the Bible says.
So he's asking me what the Bible says.
And then I tell him what the Bible
says.
And then he don't like that.
Why?
Because he doesn't want those passions crucified.
He doesn't want to crucify his passions.
He wants to have God and also have
his own way.
He wants to have God and have his
lust fulfilled.
And it can't be that way, friend.
It can't be that way.
So, there's no sense in talking and going
over all the doctrines and why not this
and why that, and why do you do
this?
That's legalistic.
You know, and they shoot arrows all day
long.
That's fine.
But what we want them to know is
that we love God.
We love Him so much that we're willing
to knock their door down to tell them
about Him.
We're willing to go and care for them.
We're willing to go and love them.
That's what we want them to know.
Who cares about what the outside of the
cup looks like?
It will take care of itself.
And there are rightful reasons why people accuse
conservative, Bible-believing Christians of being legalistic, fanatical,
people that you can't identify with.
Why?
Well, they're aliens, the Bible says, in the
world.
The Bible says we'll hate them.
And they'll be persecuted for righteousness' sake.
You've got all kinds of guarantees as a
Christian, but it doesn't matter because the way
is constricted and the gate is narrow.
And we need to continue to knock the
doors down.
Continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus
Christ.
Continue to proclaim of the relationship that I
have with Him.
I can draw near to Him.
I can come into His presence.
The Holy Spirit is guiding me.
He is as a fire by day and
a cloud by night.
Does God wake you up and say, pray,
brethren?
Does God wake you up and speak to
you?
Seek My face.
Walk in obedience.
Go here.
Go there.
You know why God doesn't say that sometimes?
Because we haven't crucified the passion.
We wouldn't really be willing to do it.
We would say, well, I can't do this.
Because of my family.
I can't do this because of my work.
I can't do this because I'm just too
busy.
That's a passion.
It needs to be crucified.
You need to be willing to do what
the Spirit...
You want a Spirit-filled life?
Be willing to do and go the way
the Spirit wants you to go.
To what extent?
Well, whatever it costs.
Your living sacrifice.
Romans 12.1 That's your reasonable service.
To what extent?
Well, to the cross.
Go as far as the cross.
When you've died on the cross, then you've
completed the work.
You know, you can't go much further.
You've graduated.
Take it all the way.
Go as far as God will allow you
to go.
Be believing.
Be not wary of well-doing.
Exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He can do it.
Yeah, you can't do it.
We're very limited.
We're very limited vessels, aren't we?
The Bible says, just clay pots.
And we can easily get all broken up.
And there's only One who can hold us
together and use us for His purposes.
So don't let yourself get all broken up.
Don't let yourself get discouraged.
Because the efficacy of the blood, because the
power of the cross of Jesus Christ, because
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ...
Don't give up because the vessel's not completely
filled up.
Don't give up.
Seek and you shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Keep going.
Keep having faith.
You know, God didn't lead you here and
there because He just likes playing with you,
like a cat does with a mouse.
Oh, you know, and just play around until
the kill.
No.
God has clearly led your life, clearly led
you to this place today.
Not into this building, but to this place
where you're at.
The character you have.
The knowledge you have.
The wisdom you have.
The understanding you have.
He's clearly led you to this place.
And He'll clearly lead you the rest of
the way.
But you've got to have faith.
Got to have faith.
You've got to believe.
You've got to meditate.
Your one message should be Christ and Him
crucified.
Why is that such a big deal?
Because the work has been completed.
It's finished.
I can believe on Him with all my
heart and soul and mind and strength and
I can exhaust myself for His plans, His
purposes.
I can fearlessly train up my children in
the way that they should go knowing they
won't depart from it.
Knowing they won't depart from it.
I can walk in that path.
No matter father or mother, husband or wife
hates me.
I can walk in that way.
Or I'm not worthy to be His disciple.
See what I'm saying, brother and sister?
Men love their passions.
And they love to instill them and they
love to press the church and push the
church over the hill.
Let's get the homosexuals in.
Let's get women preaching.
Let's break every doctrine in the Bible.
And let's just start working one at a
time.
Well, who's behind all that?
Satan is.
But the Bible says to me, it says,
the gates of hell shall not prevail.
They will not have more power.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against
the church of God.
Against the true church.
Against Christ's saints.
The gates of hell shall not prevail.
They didn't in the setting in Acts against
the lies of Ananias and Sapphira.
They were struck down immediately.
The Holy Spirit is the One who is
governing this meeting.
The Holy Spirit is the One who is
governing our life.
The Holy Spirit does not tolerate lies, does
not tolerate deceit.
The Holy Spirit is holy, perfect, pure and
holy.
Be holy, He says, as I am holy.
Father, God, and the Holy Spirit.