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Dan Cheatham 1-26-2015: The Offense Of The Cross!
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The offence of the cross. – Gal 5:11
The cross is the door into Heaven.
The cross is the door into victory.
People are offended at the cross because to them it appears to be a place of defeat and weakness.
But His defeat was my victory!
His moment of weakness was my lifetime of strength... indeed it became my eternity of strength.
All ages past and all ages future were compressed into a single moment and single event in time called THE CROSS.
The Cross became THE PORTAL OF THE UNIVERSE by which God stepped into our lives and we step into God!
Talk about PORTALS! Talk about WORMHOLES! Talk about GALAXIES and Solar Systems and Planets! Talk about BLACK HOLES!
God has placed before each and every man, indeed in front of his very eyes, a PORTAL through which he or she can experience the mysteries of the universe... forever!
It is offensive to the natural man to be required to enter into a relationship with God through such an ugly and weak and embarrassing event and place as the cross!
To the mind of man, The Cross is not what we were looking for!
To the mind of man, The Cross is utter foolishness! Sheer nonsense!
1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV) - 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
How can an historical event such as The Cross and one of sheer defeat and humiliation have anything to do with me and my present life?
Why do I have to enter through this door of defeat and weakness to gain victory and strength? This is an oxymoron to my natural mind! This contradicts everything I know about how to gain something important.
If God is Almighty, why is the utter shame of the Cross and its display of powerlessness so necessary?
I don't want to come through The Cross; I want to come through some other spectacular display of God!
If Jesus was God, why didn't he come down off that Cross in some display of glory and power? Where was God during this Jesus' ordeal?
Why humiliate Himself by such a gruesome death?
Why accept defeat on that hill?
The Cross is offensive because it is so earthly and human and painful and seems like such a failure.
But the more questions a sincere human heart asks about this embarassing piece of wood and the man who hung thereon, the more the mystery unveils and becomes self-evident.
The more questions asked in sincere pursuit of truth, the more The Cross draws the inquirer into its discovery of something monumental!
Soon it dawns upon the sincere soul that BEAUTY can only be discovered through the UGLINESS of The Cross.
Ugly became necessary to secure Beauty for us!
Weakness had to cancel out weakness like a double negative creates a positive!
Injustice had to cancel injustice to produce a Justice!
Failure was required to negate failure in order to become a Success!
The Sinless for the Sinful! The Perfect for the Imperfect! The Pure for the Polluted. The Believing One for the Unbeliever!
O the Offense, the Mystery, the Tragedy, and the Beauty of The Cross all rolled up into one!
O how I cling to that Old Blood-Stained Rugged Cross!
Blood, blood, blood! Sinless Blood, Holy Blood, Stainless Blood poured out for you and me! Drown me in it, Lord, drown me in that Blood!
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