Dear radio friends,

    Is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ seen in your life?  The power to repent, power to dethrone sin from your heart, power to lead a new, holy life?  The sufferings of Jesus Christ summed in the Bible were great sufferings.  By His sufferings He removed forever the guilt, the curse, and the punishment due to the sins of His children. 

      We read in I John 1:7, “And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”  We are washed by the blood of the Lamb.  His child and forever I am, we may sing.  But as the sufferings of Jesus Christ were great, to wash away the sins of all those whom the Father gave to Jesus, so also the power of the cross of Jesus Christ is great, to free them from the reigning power of sin.

      The apostle Paul was very conscious of this mighty power.  Romans 1:16:   “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:  for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”  By the cross we are freed from the curse and dominion of sin.  We read in Romans 6:11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

      The believer in Jesus Christ realizes that sin still wars within him.  We still have that remaining sinful flesh.  Sin constantly seeks to gain the mastery in our lives.  Sin may tempt.  It entices and fights against us.  But, by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, sin does not have dominion over us.  For there is power in the cross of Jesus Christ, power to live a new and holy life before God.

      We live in a power mad society.  We hear much of political power, economic power, the power of our nation.  And in religion there is great emphasis on power as well — dynamic personalities in ministers, gifts of the Holy Spirit, mega churches.  But we preach the power of the cross — the only power, real power, power that reaches you and me to deliver us from our sins; to deliver (as we read in Psalm 116) our soul from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from falling — power to bring to us repentance from our lust, from vice, from hate, and from greed; power to live a new and holy life. 

      The power of the cross of Jesus Christ is liberating power.  It makes us free.  It is a power to take enslaved men and women, bound to sin, serving sin willingly, and to open their eyes, to bring repentance, and to loose them from the power of that sin so that they may live a life pleasing to God.  The power of the cross does that.  What Jesus did upon the cross is mighty power.  When applied by the Holy Spirit, it is a power to free you; it is a power of emancipation from the misery of the sin that is yours.

      In the Old Testament God showed that the cross was freeing power in the great event of Israel’s being delivered from Egypt.  There He said, “I take you from the house of bondage, from the house of slavery.”  That was a picture of the mighty power of Jesus Christ to take His children out of the bondage, out of the slavery, of sin.

      So God says to us in the law of God (the fourth commandment), “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm.”  That is the triumphant note of the cross:  by a mighty hand and a stretched out arm, God Himself, through Jesus Christ, delivered His people from their sins — not just from the penalty for those sins, but from the power of those sins.  He freed them so that they might repent, so that they might live holy lives to God.

      The power of the cross is seen, first of all, in that the cross was a complete satisfaction for our sins.  The power of the cross is this, that the cross redeemed all and every one for whom Jesus suffered and died.  Jesus said in John 10:15, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”  He went on to say in that chapter that the sheep were those who were given to Him of His Father.  And he prayed in John 17:12, “Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.”  And again, John 17:2, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” 

      Jesus Christ gave eternal life to as many as the Father gave to Him.  Those are His own words.  On the cross Jesus stood in their place.  And on the cross Jesus exhausted the wrath of God due to their sins.  For the Bible teaches that God laid upon His Son Jesus the penalty for the sins committed by the sheep of God, by the elect of God.  What did God pour out upon Jesus on the cross?  All the punishment and all the hellish anguish that our sins deserved — the sins of God’s people. 

      What did the angel say to Joseph when he discovered that Mary, to whom he was espoused in marriage, was with child?  He said to him, “Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”  That is the power of the cross.  By the cross Jesus Christ removed the punishment due to the sins of God’s people.

      Therefore, says the apostle in Galatians 6:14, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The cross is powerful.  The cross is no mere example.  The cross is not simply God saying, “Well, I will save you if….  I would sure like to save you if you add something to it, if you believe.”  That is not the cross.  The cross is powerful.  The cross secured forgiveness for all those for whom Jesus died. 

      And the power of the cross goes beyond that.  For them also the Holy Spirit brings faith so that they might believe in Jesus.  All by the power of the cross.

      Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”  Why?  Because Jesus died for their sins.  He died in the place of them.  He purged away their sins ( Heb. 1).   He redeemed them with His own blood ( Eph. 1).   And therefore we declare, upon the basis of God’s own Word, every sinner who by the grace of God looks to that cross in faith shall live.  His sins are forgiven.  And he is forgiven of grace alone in Jesus.

      The cross, therefore, has power.  It has power to deliver you from the fear that your sins would deserve at the hand of God.  God is a holy God.  The Bible tells us that our God is a consuming fire.  And the Bible tells us that, apart from Jesus Christ, there is only fear — fear to face the living and the holy God.

      But the power of the cross is this:  God’s children are delivered from that fear.  They know there is no condemnation.  Fear is lifted.  They are not afraid of the living God.  But they see in the cross the shining eyes of God’s mercy and grace.  The power of the cross is able to deliver you from the fear of death and from the fear of the grave. 

      The death of Jesus Christ on the cross did not take away the necessity that the believer must die and go into the grave so long as the Lord tarries.  But the cross changed death.  Christ died willingly and entered into the grave, and His body lay cold in the tomb three days.  Christ’s cross makes death our ally.  Christ made the grave the entrance into Father’s house.  Death is swallowed up in the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, we do not fear death.  We do not fear hell.  Hell is a great reality.  Hell is true because God says it is true.  Hell is true because God is holy and God is just.  But the believer does not stand in dread of hell, because God has forgiven him and freed him from the power of hell through the cross of Jesus Christ.

      Now I want to point out to you today, from the Word of God, that the cross is not only the power to deliver you from the fear of the punishment for your sins — the fear of death and the fear of hell.  But the cross is power to deliver from sin, not only from the punishment that sin deserves but from the power and the dominion of sin in your life.  Is there power in the cross of Jesus Christ for a Christian life, right now in this world?  Is there power in the cross for us who still have that old man of sin within us?  Sin is within the Christian and stays there.  The apostle calls it the “old man of sin.”  Is there power, yet, to break the dominion of that sin and to bring a child of God to repentance?  More, to lead a child of God into a holy life of praise and thanksgiving to God?  Is the cross able to do that — to defeat the power of sin?  Yes!  For the cross has also broken the power of sin in the lives of those for whom Christ died.  Romans 6:14, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”  And again, in verse 22, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

      The Bible says that we cannot have Christ’s death for us and then go on living our old life of sin.  The cross has delivered us from the reigning power of sin and given us a new master, God, so that we might obey and serve Him.  Gratitude, thankfulness to God, rests at the center of the Christian life.  Now the Christian ( Ps. 116) cries out the question, “How shall my soul give worthy thanks, O Lord, to thee?”  The cross is the renewal of our will.  By the power of the cross we now hate those things that we formerly loved — the things of sin.  And, by the power of the cross, we love those things that we formerly despised — the things of God.

      Now hear the gospel today.  Do not be deceived.  Jesus Christ did not die so that the Christian can go on in his own way of sin, making peace with sin.  Jesus Christ did not die to scotch-guard or to immunize you from the consequences of sin and from the eternal penalty of sin in order that now you may live a sinful life.  Oh, no!  Jesus Christ died so that, forgiven your sin, you might be a holy person, you might now begin to live as a servant of righteousness unto God.

      There are many in the church of Jesus Christ who doubt this power of the cross — especially when they see the power of sin.  They ask the question:  “Is there a power to break the power of sin?”  There are many who say their sins are forgiven and yet they live like the devil.  What a horrible reflection upon the cross of Jesus Christ.  That is to say that there is no power in His blood for a holy life.  That is an insult to the crucified Savior.  There are many who look for something to put sin to flight in their life — pills, a psychiatrist, books on self-improvement, the power of positive thinking.  Or, when they come hand-to-hand with a besetting sin — pornography, a wagging tongue, greed, hatred — then they say, “Well, we must ask for a second baptism of the Holy Spirit to become an elite believer in order that we might really deal with those sins.”  Or there are some who leave the gospel and go back to the law.  They say, “The law will deliver us from the power of sin.  Legalism.  Many commandments.  Multiply the commandments and by our own strength we will defeat the consequences of sin.”

      The Bible declares that it is the cross, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that alone can free us from the dominion of sin.  The cross leads us out of Egypt.  The cross brings us out of the bondage of slavery.  The cross declares, “Let My people go that they may serve Me.”  In the cross is the power to overcome pride and envy, jealousy, pornography, drunkenness, sexual immorality, a sharp gossipy tongue, hatred, and covetousness. 

      Read Romans 6.   There the apostle is speaking of the Christian life — a holy life.  He says that now that we have been forgiven, or justified in Christ, shall we then go on and continue in sin?  And he answers the question, “God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”  Note what he says there.  He did not say that sin is dead in us.  No, that sin, according to our sinful flesh, is still alive.  But he says that we are dead to sin.  Christ’s cross has changed our standing towards sin.  It has opened our eyes to see it as a monster.  It has given to us an inward revulsion and hatred of sin.  By the cross we are no longer its willing servants to obey sin in its lusts.  But we are free to yield ourselves servants to God unto righteousness. 

      Paul says in Romans 6 that Christ has removed the right of sin to rule over us.  Sin shall not have dominion over us.  Nineteen hundred years ago sin lost the right to reign in the child of God.  Sin lost the right to keep the child of God in its clutches, to dupe the child of God and deceive him as sin would like to do.  Sin lost that right because the cross broke sin’s power in the child of God, in order that the child of God might be made free to become a servant of righteousness. 

      How do we know if the power of the cross has delivered us?  You will know that by one clear note in your heart:  thankfulness to God, gratitude.  You will say with the psalmist in Psalm 116, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid.”  What shall I render to the Lord?  How shall I thank him?  And the answer:  Keep yourself unspotted from the world.  Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Don’t be conformed to a sinful world.  Do this rather:  press toward the mark of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus.

      The unbelieving world lives only for this world — its treasures, pleasures, approval, and possessions.  But, by the power of the cross, we now live for this:  that we might be found in Christ, that we might be to His honor and glory.  Now we are no longer dedicated to sin, but we are dedicated to Him who died for us.  Christ hath made us free.

      Do you struggle with a besetting sin?  Do you struggle with lust?  Do you struggle with carnal ambition?  Do you struggle with drink and drunkenness, pornography, sexual filth, hatred of the neighbor?  Do you struggle with an unbridled, uncontrolled tongue?  Do you struggle with resentment against your husband, against your wife, or your parents?  Do you have a tongue that nobody can tame?  The message of the cross is this:  Sin shall not rule in you.  Look to the cross.  Embrace, by faith, Christ crucified.  Recognize at the foot of the cross that you have not only been forgiven merely of grace, but you are now made dead to sin and alive unto God.  No longer shall you live unto envy, liquor, sharp tongue, lust.  But you shall now live unto Him who died and is risen again.  You shall live holy unto Him.  You shall live in the power of the cross. 

      The power of the cross is not merely a change of conduct.  The power of the cross is a new life.  Life flows from the cross.  A living stream flows from Calvary —  not only to wash us clean, but also to break the strong bars of sin that would hold us in bondage, to open heaven’s gates, and to bring our steps into holiness, to bring joy into our heart and thanksgiving to our soul — a power, a wondrous power in the cross of Jesus Christ.

      Under that cross is where you must be.  Under the cross you must abide until He comes to take you to be with Himself in glory.  In that day when Jesus comes for you, He will take you into His Father’s presence for evermore.  And He will do that by the power of the cross.

      Father, we thank Thee for Thy most holy Word.  We pray that more and more the power of the cross may be seen in our lives, that we might faithfully, by its power, repent; faithfully, by its power, pursue those things that are holy and pleasing in Thy sight.  To Thee be the praise and the glory both now and forever.  We pray through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Dear radio friends,

    Our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Word of God, deliberately, willfully, suffered the death of the cross.  He did so because only in that way could He remove the curse that lay upon His people.  Only in that way could He redeem their souls from everlasting damnation.  Only in that way could He free them from the severe judgment of God.  Only in that way could He obtain for them the favor of God, righteousness, and eternal life.

      I want to call your attention to the sufferings of the cross today as the truth to that no child of God can possess a blasé attitude.  It is a truth that is set forth throughout all of the Scriptures.  It is a truth which, as no other truth of the Bible, reveals the marvel of God’s love and the assurance of our full and complete salvation.  It is a truth that demands all our attention.  Either Christ has suffered for you, or there can be for you only a fearful looking for the judgments of God.

      The first thing that the Bible tells us about the sufferings of Jesus Christ upon the cross is that those sufferings were substitutionary.  If you are to know anything about the sufferings of Jesus, you must know, first of all, that they were substitutionary, or vicarious.  Now you ask me, “What does that mean?”  Well, that means, as the Bible tells us from cover to cover, that Jesus’ sufferings on the cross were on the behalf of others, in the stead of or in the place of or for others whom the Father had given to Him.  We read in I Peter 2:21, “because Christ also suffered for us,” literally, in behalf of us.  I Peter 4:1, “Christ hath suffered for us,” in the place of us, “in the flesh.” 

      You are acquainted with the word “substitute.”  In football and in basketball a substitute enters the game in the place of another player.  But when we use the words “Christ is our substitute on the cross,” we mean it differently — not just that He stood in our place — but that what He did is accounted to us.  In basketball or in baseball, the points and the assists do not go on the record of the beginning player, but on the record of the person who is the substitute.  But as our substitute, Christ took our place before God on the cross.  We have broken God’s law, but Christ said, “Father, pour out on Me the curse that they deserve.  And the benefits of My obedience, of My righteousness and My life, Father, accredit to their account.”  So the sufferings on the cross of Jesus Christ were not for His own sins.  They were not, either, sufferings simply of a man who was being true to his convictions or being an example of being steadfast.  The sufferings of Jesus Christ were not a mere example of what God might do to you if you do not believe.  No.  The sufferings of Christ were substitutionary, vicarious, in the place of all those whom the Father gave to Jesus.  

      This is the Word of God, not mine.  This is God’s Word ( John 10):   “I lay down my life,” said Jesus, “for (in behalf of) my sheep.”  He went on to say, My Father gave them to Me, and I lay down My life for the sheep.

      Turn with me in your Bible (if you have one nearby) to Isaiah 53.   What a wonderful chapter that is.  That is an amazing chapter!  Written eight hundred years before Christ was born!  Unbelieving scholars read that chapter and they scratch their heads and say, “Who is Isaiah talking about?”  But we have no problem whatsoever, by faith.  Isaiah is prophesying in that chapter of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow.  You may read that in I Peter 1:10.  

      As we read through Isaiah 53, we see in verse 4 that Christ has borne our sorrows and carried our griefs.  Verse 5:  He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.  Verse 6:  The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  Verse 8:  For the transgression of My people was He stricken.  Verse 11:  For He shall bear their iniquities.  Verse 12:  He shall bear the sin of many.

      The words of Scripture are plain.  Jesus Christ, on the cross, suffered in the behalf of others by bearing what they deserved in order that they will never have to bear it.  He bore it, He carried it, it was laid upon Him, He was bruised and stricken for our iniquities, says the prophet.  And for whom did He suffer?  Well, He suffered for the transgression of My people!  And He suffered in such a way that they would receive the personal assurance that He suffered for them. 

      There is a teaching that Christ died for all men without exception.  This teaching does not expand the love of God.  This teaching denies the nature of the suffering of Jesus Christ.  If Christ suffered in the place of all, and yet many of the human race perish in hell, then His suffering did them no good.  Then His suffering was not substitutionary.  Then He did not actually bear the penalty in such a way that the penalty could not be inflicted again.  Then the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross was not in the place of sinners. 

      Christ’s suffering on the cross was this, according to Scripture:  He stood in the place of others.  He bore their iniquity.  Their transgressions were upon Him.  The stripes and the blows from the holy God that their sins deserved were laid upon Him.  He was smitten and He was afflicted in order that all those for whom He died would not be smitten, would not be judged in their sins, but live in Him.

      Substitutionary suffering.  That is the cross, first of all.

      Throughout His life Christ bore the sins of His people.  All the days that He toiled, He bore, He carried on His heart, the sins of God’s people willingly.  He said to the Father, “I love Thee, Father.  For Thy glory I will bring an atonement for those whom Thou hast loved.”  And He did that upon the cross. 

      Certainly this means that we must love Him.  “Greater love,” said Jesus, “hath no man than this,  that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?  The principle that stands at the heart of a Christian, the principle that holds the center of his life wherever he is, is not a flippant, shallow love for Christ.  But it is a love for Christ that is all by grace.  Only of grace.  God gave His Son to bear our iniquities — the iniquities of all those whom the Father chose in eternal love, and in whose heart the Father works by a mighty Spirit to give them the knowledge of their sins and of the glory of Christ who bore their sins for them.

      The sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross were also expiatory, or propitiatory.  Now, you say, “Pastor, why do you use those words?  They’re even hard for you to pronounce.  We don’t use them in our common parlance.”  Well, I use them because, through the history of the church, words have been carefully chosen that best express the concepts taught in Scripture.  Do not be bullied or knocked over by those in the church who say, “Well, if it’s a hard word or if it’s a word that we don’t use, then we don’t need to know it.”  Do not be so foolish.  There are certain words that very clearly express to us the meaning of the Word of God.  We look for the right word.  We even say that to our children:  “Say what you mean.  Find the right word.” 

      The suffering of Jesus Christ was propitiation.  That is a word that is used in the Bible:  Romans 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation … in his blood.”  And in I John 2:1, 2, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  and he is the propitiation for our sins.” 

      We say that His suffering was propitiation.  That word means “covering” — a covering in the sense of satisfying, of erasing.  The word propitiation does not refer to a covering like the snow in your back yard.  All the piles of dead leaves and junk that you did not get cleaned up last Fall — you do not see them any more, they are not an eyesore, they are covered.  It looks really nice.  But wait until the warm weather comes and you will see that the trash and waste are still going to be there.  It has not been removed.  Propitiation means a covering that has removed, that has purged, that has cleansed.  We read in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”  And in Jeremiah 50:20, “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found:  for I will pardon them whom I reserve.”  When God forgave our sins in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, He did not just cover them up, He did not push them aside, and He did not choose to ignore them for the time being.  But propitiation was made.  Those sins were removed far from us. 

      Look at Isaiah 53:5:   “the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  What a holy imagery we have here.  His stripes heal us.  His back was opened by the lash.  He was beaten so that our back, on which the curse of sin ought to be inflicted, was healed.  Verse 10 of Isaiah 53:   “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.”  Verse 11:  “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.”  

      The sufferings of Jesus Christ have removed the curse of sin from us and we  bear it no more. 

      Did you know that there is a teaching being spread in the name of Jesus Christ that says that the sufferings of Christ on the cross did not cover all our sins?  Did you know that?  There is a teaching that says that many of our sins escaped Jesus, were not paid by Him, they are still out there, and they can curse you and cause you a lot of trouble, a lot of suffering, in purgatory perhaps.  This teaching apparently honors Jesus and flatters you and says to you, “Jesus wants you to share in the sufferings for sin.  You can do what He did and cover your own sins.  Or you can appeal to others who were very holy and they can cover your sins like Jesus did.” 

      When you ask, “Well, what should I offer to God to cleanse the sins that Jesus did not pay for on the cross?” the answer is this:  “An array of all types of works — you can rub beads, repeat a monotonous prayer, talk with another human being through a dark screen from one box to another, call upon the virgin Mary.”  That is the teaching, the proud, false teaching that says that His sufferings have not washed away our sins, but more is needed. 

      This is the gospel according to the Word of God — the sufferings of Christ upon the cross were sufficient.  Propitiation was made.  Our sins, the sins of God’s people, have been washed from the sight of God.  The Son of God was hanged upon a cross, pierced with nails.  His back was laid open by the whip.  He was scourged.  A crown of thorns was pressed upon His head.  The curse that was due to us, due to the people of God, was laid upon Him.  He endured it all.  And He cried out, “It is finished.”  Not, “I am finished.”  But “It, the payment, all that is necessary to remove the sins of My people, all the sufferings that are called for under the justice of God — it is all finished.”  He did not stop until it was all covered in His blood. 

      Go to Him.  Go to Him alone.  Hide yourself in the shadow of the cross.  When God makes known to you through His Word and by His Spirit your sin, and when your sin gnaws upon your soul and it eats upon your heart and the pangs of your conscience come upon you over your sin and your unworthiness — look to the cross.  Do not look to any foolish work that you can do that is going to remove that sin.  Only the work of Jesus Christ.  Do not respond simply by saying, “Well, I’ll do better next time,” and look to your own future works to bring you salvation.  Believe in this suffering Savior.  Run to His cross.  And from His cross live a holy life of thankfulness to God.  Hear the Word of His cross:  The sins of God’s people have been covered, they have been blotted out in the sight of heaven, so that we, foul sinners, come to the fountain of Calvary and there we are cleansed.

      The sufferings of Jesus Christ were substitutionary, in the place of others.  They were propitiation, the covering of our sins.  And those sufferings were liberation.  By the sufferings of the cross of Jesus Christ we are freed from the judgment of God to which we were exposed.

      What does a prisoner feel when he has been locked in a dark, stinking, wet dungeon and held in iron chains to a wall, his clothes rotting, and he hears the screams of the tortured and the moans of the hopeless?  Then a door to his cell is opened.  Light is shone.  His chains are removed.  His filthy clothes are taken from him and he is given clothes of fine, soft cotton and linen.  He is ushered into the light of a spring day, hearing sounds of children playing.  He is brought before the king in his glory.  And he looks into the eyes of the king and he sees grace.  What crushing despair and agony is lifted.  What joy floods the soul.

      You think that is a touching story?  Oh, no.  That is just a little picture of what our souls now feel when we hear that Christ has suffered for us, that He might bring us to God (I Pet. 3:18), that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:14).   The sufferings of the cross were not in vain.  The sufferings of Jesus Christ were not sufferings simply added to the ocean of suffering.  But those sufferings freed us forever from the severe judgments of God to which we were exposed.  The snare is broken and our souls in liberty arise, we sing from the Psalter.  Did not the rocks around Calvary burst in pieces when the Son of God gave His spirit to God?  Was not the veil, the covering of the Holy Place in the temple, rent from the top to the bottom, leaving the way open into the Holy of Holies when He died?  Were not the graves of many saints opened and the dead came forth?  The sufferings of Jesus Christ free us, free us from condemnation, free us from death, and free us into eternal life, free us into a life of thankfulness.  Is this your joy?

      In the world, which knows not the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are many who make merry.  The bars and the nightclubs, the music and the dancing, all continue.  The glasses are filled.  The smoke of drugs and the lust-filled embraces.  Or, perhaps, a person is all alone at home.  The channels of the TV are clicking.  Or, perhaps, a person is in the hospital under the groans of pain.  Wherever a person may be in the world of unbelief, no matter what his situation externally may be, apart from Jesus Christ there hangs over him something dreadful.  Not terrorism.  Not the ruin of an economy.   Not bankruptcy.  Not cancer.  The severe judgment of the holy God, the holy wrath of the true and living God, the curse of the mighty God that no man can endure, the just curse of God due to the reality of your sin.

      But for those who, by the grace of God, bend their knees before the cross of Jesus Christ, a covering has been made.  Over their heads, no matter now their external circumstances — they may be in the hospital, they may have cancer, they may face economic ruin — nevertheless, over them there is no darkness, no curse.  But there is the light of the favor of the King.  And in His eyes is grace.  There are the garments of righteousness, woven by Jesus Christ.  And there are the eyes of the living God filled with the deepest shades of mercy and grace.  You may now be in the way of trial and heaviness, sorrow and struggle, loneliness and depression.  Look up.  Lift up your eyes, by faith, to Christ.  Shining over you is righteousness and everlasting life.  Why?  Because Christ has suffered for us that He might bring us to God.

      Now, believing this, how will you live this week?

      Father in heaven, bless Thy Word to our hearts.  All praise be to Thee.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Last modified: 01-04-2008