Part #01
“The ‘Cross Of Christ Jesus’ is sufficient to cleanse every sin of every man that ever lived.”
When something is truly sufficient, means that it is enough, adequate, ample and abundant to meet a certain need.
You can’t add to it, neither can you take away anything from it.
And that is exactly what the work of the cross of Christ Jesus is all about.
In our day-to-day living, we can understand those things that are sufficient in a tangible sense.
It is a three-dimensional conceptual comprehension.
For they concern that sustaining physical aspect of our lives, like living, eating, entertainment, education, health and finances etc.
HOWEVER, when we talk about the cross of Christ being sufficient, that goes way beyond that ‘tangible league’ of comprehension.
Because now we’re dealing with something that is unseen and eternal.
We understand the meaning of eternal, but our limited human mind cannot grasp it.
For it requires a Four-Dimensional Non-Conceptual Comprehension.
The cross of Christ displayed the epitome, the ultimate highest point of God’s unconditional love for the fallen human race.
We are called to comprehend this four-dimensional breadth, length, depth and height of the love of God in [Ephesians 3:17-19].
And the only way we can do so is by faith alone.
Sufficient To Cleanse
When we say the cross is sufficient to cleanse every sin, that means every sin, past, present and future.
Cleansing, as we all know, speaks of a thorough ‘washing away’ of something that has dirt on it.
And sin is that spiritual dirt that covers every human being from the least to the greatest.
And ‘every’ sin means ‘every’ wrongful deed committed from the smallest, to the greatest, by thought, word and deed.
The finished work of the cross of Christ has taken care of it totally and completely.
That is why, “It is finished”, were the final words of Christ on the cross before breathing His last [John 19:30].
And ‘finished’ means exactly what it says, which is ‘finished’, totally complete and fully accomplished, with no stone left unturned.
The wrath of God on the entire human race was satisfied and resurrection of Christ Jesus proved it!
‘Sufficient’ indeed it absolutely was.
It is sufficient for ‘every man’, that is every person from the first created to the last yet to be born.
And now all we do is rest assuredly in it.
God Rested
We can rest in this ‘all-sufficient’ work of the cross, because God Himself rested after it.
And the reason He rested is because, it was so perfectly perfect that even HE could not add one iota to it.
Only twice in all of Scripture, has God rested after perfectly completing something.
The first, we find in the creation account of Genesis 1.
The last verse, [Genesis 1:31], tells us that, “God saw everything that HE had made, and behold, it was very good”.
Man, even though fallen today, possesses to a certain degree that same attribute of God.
All of us, after creating something on our own, whatever it may be, what is the first thing we do?
We step back and take a long good look at it, don’t we?
Sometimes, we just can’t stop looking at it for hours, giving ourselves a pat on the back.
Well, where do we get that from?
Now when God looks at His work and says “it was very good”, that should say it all, shouldn’t it?
And the next verse in [Genesis 2:1], says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were FINISHED”
And so, what’s the next thing God does?
The middle part of [Genesis 2:2] says,
“AND HE RESTED”.
The Second Time
After the redemptive work of the cross of Christ was accomplished, God, for the second time, rested.
The sin debt of every single human creature from time past to time future was paid for in full.
And that judicial act of God, in the Person of the Son, fully pardoned and reconciled the world back to Himself.
Scripture in [2 Corinthians 5:19] tells us so.
This was HIS task which HE took upon Himself, and not ours, for we are incapable of redeeming ourselves.
And after fully and successfully accomplishing His task, He returned back to heaven and “SAT DOWN”.
HE RESTED!
Speaking of Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle puts it this way in [Hebrews 1:3]:
“Who being the brightness of God’s Glory, and the express image of His Person”, upholding all things by His power”……
And then he brings the point home.
“When He had by Himself purged our sins, ‘SAT DOWN’ on the Right Hand of the Majesty on high”.
If God, in the Person of the Son, JESUS CHRIST, after having accomplished it all, could ‘sit down’, rest assured that we can too.
For that glorious finished work was ‘sufficient’.
God could now unconditionally release His Grace to every single individual without exception, and offer the ‘FREE GIFT’ of heaven.
NONE OF US EVER NEED TO EVEN TRY TO WORK FOR IT!
Our Greatest Need
If there is one thing we all desperately need, it is God’s eternal salvation, for it spares us from its eternal penalty.
“For the wages of sin is death”, says the Scriptures in Romans 6:23, which speaks of an eternal separation from God and heaven.
And that is the very penalty that Christ Jesus took care of on the cross of Calvary.
“BUT”, the Scripture continues on, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Oh how much we truly need this!
Money and influence cannot buy it, and religion definitely cannot provide it.
Satan the devil has no problem with religion, good and charitable works and projects, in any and every shape and form.
He is its greatest promoter.
He has no problem in us being a ‘good Hindu’ or a ‘good Muslim’ or a ‘good Christian’, or ‘good anything else’.
His only problem is with the Grace message that has come via that ‘sufficient’ and finished work of Christ’s cross.
For that message of God’s Salvation is Satan’s worst nightmare.
“Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and victoriously rose again” [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].
This message throws ‘wide open’, the very gates of Heaven.
It unconditionally offers to every single one of us without exception, to become a ‘reconciled’ and ‘redeemed’ child of God.
The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit, that indeed it is so.
It makes us an ‘heir of God’ [Romans 8:16-17], and we all know what being ‘an heir’ means.
What An Assurance!
We have an assurance through Christ’s cross which is not general but individual.
For Christ did not just die ‘for all’, but he also died for each’, which makes it ‘personal’.
And all that is required of us, is to exercise our freedom of choice, and only “BELIEVE + NOTHING ELSE”.
Is it any wonder that this message is Satan’s worst nightmare which literally knocks the wind out his sails?
That is why he will promote anything in order to put blinders on our eyes.
Scripture in [2 Corinthians 4:4], refers to Satan as the small ‘g’ ‘god of this world/age’ with a ‘blinding mission’
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which BELIEVE NOT”.
You see that?
He does not want us to simply ‘BELIEVE + NOTHING ELSE’.
And why? Here is the reason:
“Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
For he knows that then he will lose you and me ‘FOREVER’.
God’s single most goal is to save to the uttermost, calling out “a people for His Name’. (Please check out CRUMB 0062).
And the devil is out to oppose everything that God does.
So, Satan’s single most goal is that we ‘don’t’ get to hear this great gospel message of our salvation.
The Spirit Of Confusion
Satan is the spirit of confusion, he is the very author of it, and we dare not sell him short.
He is filled with wisdom, and Scripture in [Ezekiel 28:4-18] talks about it.
He is subtle, crafty, cunning and a ‘master deceiver’.
Patience is his greatest strength. He knows when to effectively and accurately strike.
He is the author and the ring leader of all the confusion that has subtly crept into Christendom.
Satan has confused the great message of God’s saving Grace, shipwrecking the lives of many.
These are hard words, but Christendom for the most part, is in a state of abject confusion.
This has resulted in a watered-down message that has gone out to the world.
Yes, and the Church is responsible, for it alone has the knowledge of the truth.
True Biblical doctrines of Grace seem to have been pushed into the back rows.
And twisted ‘ear itching’ messages have been given the front rows of preeminence.
Scams and deceptions are flowing at their highest peaks, and the masses are enticed and drawn by Satan’s ‘Simon-pied pipers’.
For he too has his so called ‘ministers of righteousness’.
Speaking of Satan, Paul the apostle warns us in [2 Corinthians 11:15]:
“Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;”
But these ministers have something waiting for them when dusk comes in, “whose end shall be according to their works”.
The Truth Never Changes
Despite any bad experiences we may have had, all is not lost, for the truth is that the TRUTH NEVER CHANGES.
Much has been added on to that indispensable finished works of Christ’s cross.
We take Scripture at its face value, and not try to add something that we think should be there.
That is an insult to the Holy Spirit, Who, when HE gives us His inerrant Word, HE gives it to us ‘COMPLETE”.
We take it and absorb it for what it is, and not for what we think it should be.
As we continue this series, stay with us as we unravel from Scripture, the confusion that has set in.
It may well upset many legalistic minds, especially within Christendom, but that is OK.
After all, “Jesus Christ did come to comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable”.
And one of the greatest truths about truth is that it is totally void of confusion.
For, “God is not the author of confusion” [1 Corinthians 14:33].
And that is sufficient!
Click [HERE] for Part #02.