cross

All good things come from love; God used the cross a symbol of His love, to paralyze and defeat all forces of evil. God is love. John 3:16

Jesus never concealed the fact that his religion included a demand as well as an offer. Indeed, the demand was as total as the offer was free. If he offered men his salvation, he also demanded their submission. He gave no encouragement whatever to thoughtless applicants for discipleship. He brought no pressure to bear on any inquirer. He sent irresponsible enthusiasts away empty. Luke tells of three men who either volunteered, or were invited, to follow Jesus; but no one passed the Lord__ test. The rich young ruler, too, moral, earnest and attractive, who wanted eternal life on his own terms, went away sorrowful, with his riches intact but with neither life nor Christ as his possession_The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half built towers__he ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ__ warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so called __ominal Christianity._ In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism_The message of Jesus was very different. He never lowered his standards or modified his conditions to make his call more readily acceptable. He asked his first disciples, and he has asked every disciple since, to give him their thoughtful and total commitment. Nothing less than this will do

Only those who are truly aware of their sin can truly cherish grace.

Sin is serious__o serious it sent Jesus Christ to the cross. Flee from [sin] and stay close to Christ.

The cross has become a symbol in much of the Western world, misused by many rock stars and others who do not comprehend its significance.

Be willing to be sneered at than to be approved, counting the cross of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Washington, London, Paris, or Moscow.

Sin__ masterpiece of shame and hate became God__ masterpiece of mercy and forgiveness. Through the death of Christ upon the cross, sin itself was crucified for those who believe in Him.

One-third of Matthew . . . one-third of Mark . . . one-fourth of Luke, and one-half of John are given to [Christ__] death . . .Jesus came for the express purpose of dying for sinners. When He left heaven, He knew He was going to the cross.

The law enables us to see ourselves as morally dirty and in need of cleansing. But it also points us to the place of cleansing: the cross of Christ.

Jesus was born with the cross darkening His pathway . . . From the cradle to the cross, [Jesus__ purpose was to die.

Great crowds followed our Lord . . . as He healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed the hungry. However, the moment He started talking about the cross . . . __any . . . no longer followed him_ (John 6:66 NIV).

The cross shows the seriousness of our sin__ut it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.

If Jesus had not risen from the dead, no right-minded person would have glorified anything so hideous and repulsive as a cross stained with the blood of Jesus . . .An unopened grave would never have opened heaven.

Sin was conquered on the cross. [Christ__] death is the foundation of our hope, the promise of our triumph!

Jesus Christ opened heaven__ door for us by His death on the cross.

The cross is the only way of salvation. And the cross gives a new purpose to life.

Had Satan not set himself in opposition to God . . . there would have been no need for God to send His Son to the cross.

The cross is the suffering love of God bearing the guilt of man__ sin, which alone is able to melt the sinner__ heart and bring him to repentance for salvation. __or he hath made him to be sin for us_ [2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV].