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If every Saint of God could see beyond the cross,
they would find nothing but joy in being totally
surrendered to our Lord. A “Cross Life” passes through
many tough places. It includes self-denial, separation
from the world, and many battles with the enemy of our
soul. The “Cross Life” is never easy and is
diametrically contrary to this world system. But,
remember, it is the grandest life known to the human
race.
First we must understand the cross of Jesus Christ.
His cross far exceeds any cross we will ever be required
to bear. He left His Heavenly Father’s eternal presence
to condescend into His human temple. He actually laid
aside all expressions of divinity -- not the nature, but
the outward glory -- to walk among men. He endured every
action of human hatred and abuse without complaint. When
they battered His body, He only prayed for their
forgiveness. He gave His body and soul for the remission
of all of our sin. His cross was the ultimate cross.
None can match the price He paid.
The Bible explains why and how He could bear such a
load. He became our guilt for every human sin. There was
only one possible way a human body could carry the load
He carried. He looked beyond the cross to the triumph of
human redemption and to the saints that would share that
new life.
The Apostle Paul put this fact into perfect words to
inspire the saints to bear their cross with exceeding
hope of victory. The Holy Spirit inspired the words,
“Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds” (Hebrews 12:2-3).
The Son of God prayed in the Garden, endured the
stripes of great suffering, and finally died by the
cruelest possible means without one expression of
resistance. It was His vision of the joy this would
produce that enabled Him to endure the cross. Notice
those words again, “Who for the
joy that was sit before Him.” Jesus Christ took a
cross of sorrow and shame and turned it into the “Hope
of The World.” That cross became the center of human
history. It dates every event of mankind’s six thousand
years.
The Lord Jesus Christ had proclaimed,
“… I am the way, the truth, and
the life …” (John 14:6). That statement was
impossible without His cross. There is no final Way, or
Truth, or Life until we properly view His death and His
resurrection. Our cross can and will produce a likeness
of His cross when we totally surrender to the death life
it requires. To even speak of the cross without death is
a total misnomer. It is Impossible! A cross can produce
pain, sorrow, and shame; but, if that life stops short
of death, it is only religion. The thing that is missing
in today’s Church is that nobody wants to die to
themselves. Separating one’s self from the world is
almost completely absent in the present Church world.
Something sovereign is happening that will produce an
awakening. The Christ-centered life of sanctification
and death is going to break forth in a Holy Ghost
revival. Actually, it cannot fail. It is impossible for
even one saint of God to die to their self and not
create a shakening. When God’s saints look beyond the
pain of self-surrender and put everything of self on the
altar to Him, a spiritual earthquake is in the making.
I challenge my Salty Saints’ readers to join me in
death to ourselves. I do not speak of self-righteousness
or just an external appearance of piety. I speak of
allowing the grace of God to chasten, purify, and
cleanse us until Jesus Christ is our everything. The joy
of seeing the results of such surrender is the vision
that will carry us through the dying process. Watch and
see what our God is going to do when we can glory in our
own cross and all of our independence has been
crucified.
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