Celebrate the Cross

CELEBRATE THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS The link to this teaching is http://gracelovetruth.com/?p=1134

                  Did you know that Jesus' death on the cross was not just some arbitrary punishment because he opposed the religious leaders and Roman authorities of the day. Jesus intentionally died on the cross for the specific purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the Old Covenant spiritual Laws, especially the Law of Sin and Death and the Law of Moses. The spiritual Laws of the Old Testament demand that there must be a death and blood sacrifice before anyone can be set free from their sins. Easter celebrates the fact that Jesus' finished work on the cross fulfilled all the requirements of the Old Testament Law's and through this fulfilment of the Law Jesus overcame the power of sin and death.....this is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All who receive Jesus are now righteous, forgiven, accepted, beloved children of Abba. We, the church, the Bride, now have a loving and intimate with Jesus our bridegroom.... believe it, Jesus suffering, humiliation and death on the cross earn it for us. He became like sin so we could be righteous.

SPIRITUAL LAWS The Scriptures define a number of spiritual Law systems, the main ones being:- i) The Law of Sin and Death: If you sin you die both spiritually and physically Gen 2:16-17 Ro.8:2-4. (The Old Adamic Covenant) ii) The Law of Moses: If you obey all the Ten Commandments all the time, you will be blessed. If you fail in any one aspect at any time, you are cursed Deut. 28:1-68. Blessing and curses are based totally on your performance. (The Old Mosaic Covenant)... Hum, that's bad news! iii) The Law of the Spirit of Life: If you are 'born again" the Spirit of Christ lives in you. You are righteous and in Grace. You now have full abundant physical and spiritual life along with God's abundant blessings. Rom. 8:2-4. John 1:16-17 (The New Covenant)... Yeah, now there's some good news.

                           THE CROSS HAS SET US FREE FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW SYSTEMS Acts 15:5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." (Answer: No they don't) Col 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code (the Old Testament Laws), with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. The good news (the gospel) is that Jesus' life, death and resurrection fulfilled and effectively cancelled the bad news of both the two Old Testament Law systems that either caused death or cursed us. The Cross brought in the New Covenant System of Grace known as The Law of the Spirit of Life.

            

YOUR OLD SIN NATURE WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. Gal 5:24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires". The flesh sin nature embraces sin and opposes the will and the Spirit of God (Rom.8:3-8). The only way to be freed from the sin nature is to die to self, and to be "born again" (Jn.3:5-6). The good news is that the sin nature of those who have turned to Christ has been nailed on the cross with Christ (Gal.2:20). We have been baptized into Christ's death (Ro.6:3). The sin nature of believers is dead. It's memories and habits may still plagues us but our sin nature is dead in Christ. Now we do need to allow our minds to be renewed and our actions sanctified by the Word and the Spirit, and this takes time but the good news is we are no longer slaves to sin and can now say "no"because of what Christ did on the cross (Ro.6:14).

Gal.2:17-21 (The Message) "Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? No great surprise, right? And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan. What actually took place is t his: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily".

Be full of joy. He died but death could not hold him , nor us,. He is risen and glorified!!!! Happy Easter.