30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 23 44-49 THE DEATH OF JESUS 12 26Jan2022 Luke 23 44-45 The blessing of the cross
📖 Luke 23:44-49
12 – 26 Jan 2022 – The blessing of the cross - Luke 23:44-49 - THE DEATH OF JESUS - Bible reading: Colossians 1:21-22
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that on the cross, You have completed the great work that was necessary for us to have life. We praise You for Your finished work on the cross. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.”
Luke 23:44-45 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. (45) Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
We are at the place, where Jesus spoke the 5th and the 6th words from the cross, which are recorded for us in the Gospel of John.
John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
We have been considering the implications of the words of Jesus, “It is finished”. Let us now look at the specific blessings that we have received because of the death of Jesus on the cross.
Mankind’s primary problem is that we are enemies of God. We are hostile towards God. We have turned our backs on God. We needed to be reconciled and restored in our relationship with God. It was our sin that had caused the alienation and so Jesus, by dying on the cross (separation from the Father), has paid our death.
Jesus reconciled us to God.
Romans 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
We have been reconciled with God. We have been restored and we have been given a fresh lease of life to live abundantly in Him.
Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled (22) in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
He has reconciled us to Himself so that we will be holy, blameless and above reproach in His sight.
As those who have experienced reconciliation with God, through Christ, are we seeking to live holy lives, by His enablement?
Righteousness has been imputed to us, which is the righteousness of Jesus, but we are also blessed to live holy lives. We have no licence to keep sinning after we have received the precious gift of salvation.
The Holy Spirit is our constant companion and friend. He is also the one who enables us to live holy lives.
The second problem for humanity was that we were dead within ourselves. The law of sin and death had become a part of our flesh. We could do nothing to overcome the law of sin in our flesh.
Romans 7:21-24 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. (22) For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
In the mind, we seek to please God. We desire to do good, but we are not able to do so, for we see another law that is operating in our body and makes us sin.
Man has no solution from the law of sin and death, which is in our flesh.
Romans 8:2-4 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, (4) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Jesus, by His death on the cross, has made available to us His Holy Spirit.
Jesus died, was buried and He rose again by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is now in us to give us victory over sin in the flesh.
Romans 8:10-11 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The next major crisis that we have come into because of sin is that we are alienated from one another.
There are divisions, jealousies, murders and wars amongst us. We are not able to be in harmony with one another, which was a beautiful gift God gave man at the time of creation.
We have struggles of relationships in families, communities, cultures, societies and nations. We are not able to build together for the common good of all.
Now, through the death of Jesus on the cross, we have been reconciled to one another.
Ephesians 2:14-15 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, (15) 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,
We were enemies to one another because of our sin. This issue has been resolved by Jesus on the cross.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Thought to ponder
Are you living in the blessing that the Lord has provided for you, by His death on the cross?