Is 53:4-6
4 "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
In Rom 1:16 we read, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."
And in 1Cor 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Some use the cross as a charm in their ears or around their neck, but that will not profit them.
The cross is where Jesus died for us. That's where He shed His blood - unlike the blood of bulls and goats or any other human being.
There are those who still sacrifice animals for their problems, but that cannot solve your problems.
The word of the cross is the power of God unto salvation. God put all our afflictions and transgressions upon Him. On the cross the Lord Jesus shed His Precious, Divine blood for us. The Lamb of God was bruised for our iniquities. He was wounded for our transgressions. By His stripes we are healed.
A blind man came for prayer to receive his sight. When he was challenged to first confess his sin before he was prayed for, he replied that he doesn't have sin. He lived in darkness.
The Gospel was then explained to him. We all have sinned and our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. When we have sexual relationships outside of marriage we sin and nail Jesus to the cross. When we slander, steal, etc we nail Him to the cross.
In Hebrews 6:4-6, we read that if we sin deliberately after knowing the truth we are crucifying Christ afresh.
So whatever sin you do, you are crucifying Christ.
As these things were explained to him this blind man exclaimed, "I'm starting to understand that my sin crucifies Christ." There was godly sorrow and true repentance.
So the message of the cross is not to be taken lightly. That's where our sins were placed upon Him. He had the power to come down from the cross but He chose to remain there for you and me. He knew why He was hanging there, because of all your and my sin from our youth, to reconcile us to God.
In John Bunyan's book "pilgrim's progress" Christian was sighing about his burden of sin. He looked for someone who could deliver him from his burden of sin, until he came to the cross where the Lord delivered him from his burden. He was a changed man after that.
There are those who have this burden of sin, they experience godly sorrow for their sin and find relief at the cross of Calvary.
We are forgiven our sin and set free from the power of that sin at the cross of Calvary.
That's why Paul could write that the cross is the power of God unto salvation. There are many things we can be ashamed of but never of the cross of Christ.
To those who are perishing the word of the cross is foolishness.
We spoke about godly sorrow that brings repentance: Even if you confess your sin, without godly sorrow you will go back to your sin like a sow being washed going back to the mud. If there is godly sorrow in your life your life will change. Whether you were in ancestral worship or in sexual sin. If you have godly sorrow you will be a different person. It will be evident to all. Jesus will become precious to you and you will love Him above all else.
John Brown wrote a song about how the gospel should go throughout the whole world. On His deathbed he said, "I am very weak, even reading tires me, the smallest exersion tires me, but fellowship with Jesus doesn't tire me." So he called two of his sons, also preachers, and with peculiar earnestness he addressed his two sons, "labour for Christ while you still have strength. How I regret that I didn't do more for Christ. There is no one like Christ. Had I 10000 hearts they should all be given to Him.
If God should make me young again I would study to devise better and wiser means to win more souls for Christ."
Do you understand what he says? Give your all to Him. Is this your feeling towards Christ? If not, shame on you.
Do you live your one life for Christ, or are you enjoying your salvation alone and cannot care less for those going lost?
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Erlo Stegen (1935 - Present)
Used of God in the Zulu revival in South Africa. He helped found the Kwasizabantu Mission where a few thousand live on the mission doing work for the Lord. He shares a powerful burden for the purity of the Church and revival in the Church.Many ministers have preached in their large conventions through the years namely David Wilkerson who enjoyed greatly the mission's work. They have established over 30 other missions around the work as a work of the Spirit of God.