Jesus had been praying in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before the soldiers approached him, in order to arrest him. He allowed them to take him, he allowed them to mock him, smite him, and beat him. Our Lord Jesus Christ allowed Pilate to take him and scourge him and then he allowed the soldiers to lead him into the Hall called Praetorium, then he allowed them to place a crown of six inch thorns upon his head, and he also allowed them to smite him on the head with reeds. After all of this the soldiers took him to Golgotha, (again, only because he allowed it) and drove spikes into his hands and feet, nailing him to a cross. His blood no doubt was dripping and likely flowing from some of his many wounds. He gave this blood freely and then he gave up his life. They took him and buried him and three days later he rose from the dead, and our salvation was fully paid for. In John 10:15-17 Jesus explains that no man takes my life from me but I Lay it down myself and I shall take it up again.
I think about this; meticulously, every day, along with thanking him that I am crucified with him (Gal.2:20) Actually, I think of this two or three times purposely everyday. Many days even more often than that, and actually at times all day long.
Why would I do that, someone might ask? Actually, every Christian knows what happened at Calvary; so why would I think it necessary to continually keep this in my mind? In 1 Cor. 1:23 Apostle Paul says, we preach Christ Crucified. In Galatians 1:8-9 he says, but though we or an Angel from Heaven, Preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man Preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.
The Apostle Paul believed this was important enough to repeat.
Jesus said in Luke 9:23 that if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
The Cross, Jesus tells us to take up, is Calvary’s Cross, for this is also our Cross.(Gal.2:20) For as the Body of Jesus hung upon the Cross, God looked down from Heaven and saw the Spiritual Body of Christ, the Church, hanging there “in Christ.” This is Paul’s meaning when he says,” I was crucified with Christ.” As a member of the Body of Christ in the Mind of God I was nailed with Jesus to the Tree. But this was not all. When they took Jesus down from the Tree, they buried Him, the Head with the Body, and since we are members of His Body….”we are buried with Him by baptism into death” (Rom.6:4)
But that’s not all, for that same Body arose. After three days and nights, the tomb was found empty, and not one member was left behind. Since we are members of His Body, we too arose with Him, and Paul says:
“If ye the be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above…”(Col. 3:1)
(JSM Commentary)
Our salvation and everything else that we may receive from God comes exclusively through what Christ accomplished on the Cross. This begins for every Christian when they get saved. By accepting the sacrifice which Christ made at the Cross and believing that God raised him from the dead, salvation takes place and a person’s life is changed. (What happens at this point is that our sin, unrighteousness, and our unholiness is placed upon Christ (Isaiah 53:1-12), and Christ’s sinlessness, righteousness, and holiness are placed upon us).
Likewise we could not ever receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit if Christ had not risen from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us.
This should start a pattern for every Christian. The Cross of Christ (by this I mean every thing which Jesus Christ accomplished thereon), is the Route if you will, through which EVERYTHING is given to the Child of God. Whether it be healing, understanding of his Word, financial help, victory over any kind of bondage, or any other thing I could name that comes from God. It all comes by means of the Cross of Christ.
I have seen people get very excited over a move of the Holy Spirit. (Who wouldn’t get excited) Most Christians desire to have the Holy Spirit move in their lives. Many desire the Gifts of the Spirit (which is entirely scriptural). To be used of God in some special way. Perhaps to see a real revival in their church. Whatever the case;
and let me capitalize this statement for it is crucial. THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT STANDS IN ORDER TO DO HIS WORK. Whatever that work may be, and in whosoevers life. It will not be done unless there is the foundation of the Cross of Christ upon which he can stand to perform his work, unfortunately, all to often little by little we are led (I say led, but many times we just get so involved trying to do numerous things for the Lord that Satin sometimes edges us over into having faith in the things which we are doing instead of in Christ) into having faith in ourselves. I believe it is essential to contemplate DAILY on the Cross of Christ in order to maintain this foundation.(1Cor. 15:2, Heb.2:1, Gal.5:1) Otherwise the Holy Spirit simply will not move where there is no foundation.
For explanation purposes let us remember the Holy Spirit is everywhere on the earth. Now let us realize that he actually wants to do work on the earth, in the lives and for the good of every individual.(This could be anything from healing, to opening up the word of God to the believer, to moving mountains, or just leading someone in their everyday life) So he is looking far and wide, everywhere he is, which is everywhere, for; “ a foundation upon which he can stand in order to perform those miracles.” If we are interested in having the Holy Spirit do his work in our life, “Then, we must have the Foundation, of the Cross of Christ in our life.”
To further understand, let me illustrate with a simple picture. Imagine that what Christ did on the Cross is a Limousine in which you rest while riding toward the Kingdom of God. Imagine now that the Chauffeur is the Holy Spirit. Without that which they both provide for us we would literally go no place. But when we rest in Christ and what he has done for us, we are guided and helped all along our journey by the Holy Spirit. Whenever we start trusting in our selves and our own works, it is like we just jumped out of the Limousine.
This is why I believe it is imperative to continually keep the Cross of Christ before our face.
Some may think this is all fairly obvious, so why take a lot of time and effort explaining this to Christians? For the simple reason that what is obvious to some, others will not see. I know this because I was once one of those Christians who loved the Lord, went to Church regularly, paid my tithes, pretty much tried to do whatever was asked of me by the pasture, and eventually over a period of time begin to develope faith in myself and the things I was doing for the Lord.(though if you had told me this at the time I would have denied it and told you that you didn’t know what you were talking about.) I thought I was trusting God but I really wasn’t, I was trusting self.
I believe this is one of the saddest conditions to have prevalent in a Church, because it removes the power from the Church that is supposed to be there through the Holy Spirit. It is also very difficult to eradicate (the condition of trusting in self rather than trusting exclusively in Christ) because people have been doing what they are doing for years many times and they just can’t easily see what is happening to them.
