THERE’S AN OLD SAYING in this troubled world which says, “Everyone has a cross to bear.” What is meant is, that even though there are joys in this life, yet there are things that befall us that are very unpleasant. Sometimes the results of such experiences are lasting – thus, there is a cross to bear.

IT is interesting to me that the oldest Book in this world never once has the word cross in its divine pages! That Book is the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. However, when God wrote the New Testament, we find the word cross twenty eight times. Christ speaks six times of His disciples bearing their own cross. That was the cross of self – abandonment. Christ “said to them all, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me … And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 9v23; 14v27). In other words, you cannot serve two masters. You either serve your own worldly lusts or Christ. Thus, the true Christian has a cross to bear – self abandonment. Ask yourself, am I a genuine Christian, or am I not?

Another Cross

ANOTHER cross that Christ spoke of was a literal cross of wood. God records the scene. “He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified Him” (John 19 v 17-18). There were two reasons why Jesus shed His blood on a cross.

FIRST – As sinners, we needed a perfect sacrifice to put away our sins. God could not clear us of our guilt, nor take away the stain of our sin through religion, good works, or any sacrifices that we might offer. God is very clear that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9v22) God’s government required a sinless, spotless sacrifice. That sacrifice was His Son. “This Man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10v12). In other words, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15v3). I can exclaim about the Lord Jesus as the apostle Peter, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree…. by Whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2v24). Can you exclaim the same?

SECOND – It was necessary for Christ to die on a cross in order to be made a curse for us! Being sinners, we are totally incapable of keeping every single commandment of God. Consequently “no man is justified by the law in the sight of God” (Galatians 3v11). Thus God solemnly declares, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3v10). However, there is a divine remedy. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

The Sacrifice of Christ

“WHEN they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13v29 – 30). After Christ’s resurrection, the word cross is never used to describe the wooden cross, but rather His sacrifice for us in procuring salvation through the shedding of His blood on the cross. When Paul said, “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1v23), what he meant was, he preached the fact “when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5v6); that “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5v8 – 9). He also preached that, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but that we can be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3v23 – 24) This, my friend, is the preaching of the cross.

Human Appraisal

THE appraisal of such preaching is twofold – “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians1v18). How does the fact appeal to you, that a person is cleansed form all his sins apart from good works; that one is saved from going to hell only through faith in Christ? Does this seem foolish? If so, you are perishing, my friend, and in desperate need of the Saviour! A cross on a steeple, a cross worn around your neck, or a cross pinned on your lapel is not enough! The Lord Jesus is the only One who can give you salvation. It is He who died on the cross and rose again. Why not trust Him now and be eternally saved?

Jesus on the cross, behold Him!
There He dies for you and me.
Sheds His blood for our redemption
Oh such wondrous love for thee.

Jesus on the cross, behold Him!
Pierced hands and feet and side.
Trust Him now for thy salvation
‘Twas for thee the Saviour died.

Copied with permission: ROBERT E SURGENOR. Evangelist