What a blessing to see all of you here with us this morning!
God IS Great!
Am I right?
Amen!
How many of you own a Cross of some sort?
Whether a necklace, bracelet, a cross hanging in your home...you car...
Raise your hand...
All of you!
I've called this morning's message:
Close To The Cross But Far From Christ..
"So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!”
And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
Luke 23:47-49
We are living in the age of religious awakening...
People are becoming more religious conscious.
The cross has become a point of curiosity and intrigue.
The cross appeals to the more barbaric side of humanity.
The cross has become so easy to come close to, some wear it around their necks.
Jewelers have made the cross more appealing by making it pretty and smooth...but it still remains old and rugged.
The blood of the cross actually excites some..
After Christ died on that cross of long ago, the centurion standing closest made the statement...”Certainly this was a righteous man.”
Christ’s righteousness was proved when He did not bring railing accusations but mercy and love.
Still the centurion was only standing close to the cross but he was far from Christ!
He was standing close to the cross, because he was just doing his job.
Though he declared Christ’s righteousness, he did not declare His purpose!
He only knew Christ’s personality but not His person!
We are a generation fascinated by the cross!
But we are not to be fascinated by the cross...but by Jesus Christ!
Our nearness to the cross is irrelevant.
But how close are we to the Christ of the cross?
The cross cannot save us!
Only Jesus Christ CAN save us!
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
The Promise of The Holy Spirit
"On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:37-38
"And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely."
Revelation 22:17
SO WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE ON THE CROSS?
We all know the obvious reasons?
Am I right?
But were you aware that there are some not so obvious reasons as well?
Most know only the thought of a holy teacher having died a martyr's death when they think of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion.
But there is a very spiritual and real event that occurred on that day as well as this commonly known physical death we are all familiar with.
God's Word speaks of the death on the cross as His means to save all mankind's souls from sin, and in turn, from damnation and destruction.
The bible speaks much about the cross!
And it is not just speaking about two boards crossing one another to form a certain shape, or some good luck charm or a talisman one can use against the evil forces...
Those thoughts are just superstitious folly.
Here we read God would reconcile all peoples of the earth, Jews and Gentiles, together in one group or body, by the cross.
Christ Our Peace
"That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father."
Ephesians 2:12-18
And everyone would have access to the ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD by the blood of Jesus, or as verse 17 says, by the one Spirit of God.
So God's Spirit does something involving the blood of Jesus, the cross and the Spirit of God.
Of course, Jesus shed His blood when He died on the cross!
That explains why we read of the blood of Jesus and the Cross...
And the Bible states that these things were used by God to bring us access to God.
But HOW did they do it...and WHY?
And how does the Spirit of God accomplish these things by His blood and the cross?
In order to understand this more fully, we must learn why man even needs salvation...
We must learn where sin first came from..
We need to understand how sin has affected the human race..
In order to understand and find the answers, we must go to the beginning of the Bible and look back into Adam and Eve.
THERE IS MORE TO HIS DEATH THAN WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN PHYSICALLY HAD YOU BEEN PRESENT THAT DAY!
Jesus' death is linked very closely to Adam and Eve's experiences.
Had you stood by the cross when Jesus died you would not have seen the most important events that occurred that day.
The INVISIBLE and SPIRITUAL things that happened, were just as real as what you would have seen with your eyes.
This is precisely the same case with Adam and Eve.
There is a very SPIRITUAL GOD, whom you cannot see, who created mankind in His Image.
In other words, man was like a physical interpretation of God, who is a Spirit.
This God instructed man as to what he could and could not do after He made him.
And we find it was for mankind's own good.
Man's actions would bring about some very real ramifications, whatever those actions would be.
Let me show you how our physical actions bear upon the spiritual things.
We cannot act as though we will never have to give account for our physical actions, as though God does not care about what we do.
The Bible says you will have to stand before God about what you do.
Whether something happened ten years ago that was sinful, or ten minutes ago, we will have to stand before God about it and He will deal with us about it.
"For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God"
THERE IS MORE TO OUR EXISTENCE THAN WHAT YOU CAN SEE.
I am going to explain how mankind today is overly saturated with awareness of only one plain of existence and only one realm of all that actually exists.
I am going to explain how mankind today is overly saturated with awareness of only one plain of existence and only one realm of all that actually exists.
For the most part, man only knows about the material and tangible world, that he can see.
That's why many people have no consciousness of God.
The best that SOME can hope for, is that they can somehow relate to Him, though most never will,
as if He even exists!
And this is the reason why they think their actions will be forgotten all about, and they
will never have to give account for the things they've done.
Although people hardly care about it, God's instructions to mankind are given for very important and serious reasons.
But the reason people are so dead to even being aware of the spiritual realm is because something inside of man died since Adam sinned.
It seems as though many white man today mostly disregards spirituality.
Many do not, but the other races of the world seem to have more spiritual understanding and awareness.
But there are many errors in their religions as well.
I'm not trying to single out any particular race here...
Because ALL men need to come to a better understanding, a true awareness of the spiritual realm.
WHY WE CAN KNOW WE ARE SPIRITUAL
With Adam and Jesus both, there is a common denominator.
Both were involved with far more than what any person could have ever seen with their eyes.
In fact the MOST IMPORTANT things in their lives were invisible and spiritual experiences.
Everything physical is a REACTION of something in the SPIRITUAL.
"Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:15-17
What we can discern:
Something existed in the world that Adam had to protect the Garden from.
Also, death would occur should man eat of their forbidden fruit.
Danger and destruction are noted in these two points.
I see that we've run out of time, we'll pick up where we left off next time..
I apologize, this happens to me when writing the sermons as well..
I get so deeply into what the Holy Spirit is giving me, that hours seem like minutes..
And the best thing I know, it's nearly time to get up and begin my day..
How many of you can say that you love what you do that much?
(laughing)
You don't have to answer that..
But the point is, I sincerely do!
God has blessed me so abundantly!
And I am truly grateful...
And now for the blessing
May the the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries