Is The Cross Of Christ The Most Important Part Of The Plan Of God?

The Virgin Birth, Christ's perfect obedience, His death, His resurrection, His Ascension, His present mediation, His return, His future reign...I wouldn't be pitting one over the other in the large scheme of things.

If there’s anyone who has experienced not understanding the cross of Christ would be jimmy, few years back I think it was him confessing adultery

When Jesus restored Peter after being some what embarrassed, he said to Jesus, "what about him (referring to John), what is he going to do? Jesus replied, "Don't worry about him (mind your business), you follow Me! John 21:21-22

Notice, Jesus rebuked Peter. Keep your Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross of Calvary, and receive the help of the Holy Spirit that causes you to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh as you have just done by attending to the business of other Believers!

As Jimmy Swaggart did to benefit himself.

Get some integrity, and abandon his false teaching.

You say you can't separate Christ from His Finished Work and yet you do just that!

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

The Resurrection is part of His Finished Work. If you exclude the Resurrection from Christs Finished Work then your faith (in whatever else...) is in vain. You are yet in your sins.

Abide in Christ. Or abide in the cross?

Come to Christ. Or come to the cross?

Faith in Christ. Or faith in the cross?


It is Christ that grows the fruit, not the cross.

It is Christ that gives rest, not the cross.

It is Christ that saves, not the cross.

I don’t view those two as a jimmy john sandwich sorry, and scripture isn’t clear on who that was yes some say it was John but that is speculative. just saying jimmy swaggert has experience in not understanding the cross of Christ as it is put in the thread and might be the reason why he said it that way who knows.

What Jesus accomplished on the Cross has given the Holy Spirit the legal right to live in us, to help us. The Cross has given us access into the Most Holy Place by the Blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19 NIV). Every single blessing received by the Child of God comes through Calvary.

If the Cross of Christ is not strictly the Object of our Faith, God looks at everything else as "worldliness." No matter how religious our efforts may be otherwise, it is still looked at by the Lord as "friendship with the world." This means the Believer in essence becomes an "enemy of God."

Christians must start thinking Spiritually, which refers to the fact that everything is furnished to us through the Cross, and is obtained by Faith and not works. Many Christians say you put too much emphasis on the Cross. I remind you that the Apostle Paul said, "We preach Christ Crucified (1 Cor. 1:23). He also said, "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Notice two subjects: Christ and the Cross. Why would the Apostle Paul say such a thing? Because that is the only way we receive victory over sin, the world, the flesh, and the Devil!

And he said to them all, If any man will come after Me (the criteria for Discipleship), let him deny himself (not asceticism as many think, but rather that one denies one's own willpower, self-will, strength, and ability, depending totally on Christ), and take up his cross (the benefits of the Cross, looking exclusively to what Jesus did there to meet our every need) daily (this is so important, our looking to the Cross; that we must renew our Faith in what Christ has done for us, even on a daily basis, for Satan will ever try to move us away from the Cross as the Object of our Faith, which always spells disaster), and follow Me (Christ can be followed only by the Believer looking to the Cross, understanding what it accomplished, and by that means alone [Rom. 6:3-5, 11, 14; 8:1-2, 11; 1 Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23; 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Eph. 2:13-18; Col. 3:14-15]). Luke 9:23

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it (try to live one's life outside of Christ and the Cross): but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it (when we place our Faith entirely in Christ and the Cross, looking exclusively to Him, we have just found "more Abundant Life" [John 10:10]) Luke 9:24

As far as trying to do something as it concerns taking up the Cross daily, we are to do nothing. In fact, it was already done at Calvary some two thousand years ago. On a daily basis, we should reinforce our Faith in Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross (Rom. 6:3-5; 8:2, Gal. 2:20-21, Col. 2:10-15). This is the "Truth" which we must learn, act upon, and continue to act upon, which guarantees the help of the Holy Spirit.

We are not wrestling against flesh and blood. Satan has been defeated through the Cross. Principalities and powers have been spoiled (Col. 2:15). We are enforcing this victory through applying the Cross of Calvary to the pulling down strongholds by placing and maintain our Faith exclusively in Christ and the Finished Work at Calvary Cross where the victory was won, i.e., "The Blood of Jesus." Our source of Power is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace (Exodus 14:14). "In Justification, the Lord fights 'for' us, and in Sanctification, He fights 'in' us."

Two kinds of peace

1. Justifying Peace - This is Peace with God, a legal standing. Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:14-15
2. Sanctifying Peace - This is the Peace of God in the heart. Rom. 8:6; 14:19; 15:13; Gal. 1:3

The first is the result of a legal standing. The second is the result of the Work of the Holy Spirit. The first is static, never fluctuates, the second changes almost from hour to hour. The first, every Christian has, the second, every Christian may have.

Sanctifying peace allows the Holy Spirit to deliver the Believer into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ so that the Life of Christ is manifested through the Believer by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 4:11, Gal. 2:20-21, Romans 8:2; 13, John 14:21). We must remember, it is His Life (Christ) that brings the victory, and not ours.

JSM

The criterion is faithfulness and not other things (Matthew 25:23). The Foundation of our belief system must be Christ and Him Crucified (Gal 6:14). The Holy Spirit mortifies the deeds of the flesh which transforms us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:13); For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (Isaiah 28:10)

"21 Not every one who says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (the repetition of the word “Lord” expresses astonishment, as if to say: “Are we to be disowned?”); but he who does the Will of My Father which is in Heaven (what is the Will of the Father? Verse 23 tells us).

22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not Prophesied in Your Name? and in Your Name have cast out devils? and in Your Name done many wonderful works? (These things are not the criteria, but rather Faith in Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross [Eph. 2:8-9, 13-18]. The Word of God alone is to be the judge of doctrine.)

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you (again we say, the criteria alone is Christ and Him Crucified [I Cor. 1:23]): depart from Me, you who work iniquity (we have access to God only through Christ, and access to Christ only through the Cross, and access to the Cross only through a denial of self [Lk. 9:23]; any other Message is Judged by God as "iniquity," and cannot be a part of Christ (1 Cor. 1:17)." Matthew 7:21-23

JSM

What reactivates the sin nature in the life of the Christian?

Acts of sin will turn into practicing sinning (the works of the flesh Gal. 5:19-21) when the Believer Faith is not placed exclusively in Christ and the Cross, i.e., "The Finished Work," i.e., "The Blood of Jesus."

God does not give victory to the flesh. All victory is in Jesus Christ; all victory is in Who He Is and What He accomplished for us at Calvary. Those who are proclaiming Jesus, but forsaking the Cross are wrestling with God. They are trying to bring about victory other than by the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus-God's prescribed order of victory over sin, the world, the flesh, and the Devil (Rom. 8:2)."

This is why God (Jehovah, i.e., "a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ") touched the hollow of Jacob thigh (type of the flesh). We learn from this, "Jacob the heel catcher," went from wrestling to clinging, (the flesh is now crippled) depending on God's blessing(s). The sentence of death must be written on the flesh-the power of the Cross must be entered into before we can steadily walk with God.

Remember, if you leave the Cross, you walk away from God! Most Christians have left their First Love. They are proclaiming Jesus, but forsaking the Cross (lukewarm-The Law of sin and death). This is called "Spiritual Adultery (Rom. 7:1-4)." If it continues, the scripture says the light is removed! Revelation 2:1-7; Revelation 3:14-19

The only way to God is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6)...the only way to Jesus Christ is by the Means of the Cross (Luke 14:27). The only way to the Cross is a denial of self (Luke 9:23). If any person tries to come any other way, Jesus says, "they are a thief and a robber" (John 10:1).

...have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3)

The scripture says that the inward man is renewed day by day (is renewed by denying self and tasking up the Cross daily [2 Cor. 4:16; Lk. 9:23-24]). This is not a act of labor but an act of Faith, by placing and maintaining our Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross daily. [Gal. 2:20-21].

The sin nature has been separated, not eliminated in a Christian life. This evil nature is always present in our current bodies. Victory only comes by Faith in Christ and the Cross. We must acknowledge that we need the GRACE of God to overcome the sins we repeat. The operation of the Holy Spirit is accomplished through Faith and Grace.

Every failure in a Christian life is caused by us resulting to the flesh and trying to do what needs to be done by the means of the flesh, which is guaranteed to fail. When the Believer attempts to function outside of the Cross, the situation becomes impossible. Sin and failure are the constant results, no matter how hard one may try otherwise.

Sanctification is not automatic. We enter into sanctification by the Believers Faith placed and maintained exclusively in Christ [Who He Is] and the Cross of Calvary where the victory was won [what He has done] (Hebrews 11:6). This is called the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus - Romans 8:2. This allows the Holy Spirit to baptize the Believer into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, so that the life of Christ is manifested through the power of the Holy Spirit in the Believers life [it is His life that brings the victory - not ours] Matthew 5:8, John 1:12, John 14:21, Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 2:20-21, 2 Corinthians 4:11

Sanctifying peace allows the Holy Spirit to deliver the Believer into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, so that the life of Christ is manifested and lived through the Believer by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a living sacrifice that is pleasing and acceptable to God (Matthew 5:8; John 14:21; Romans 8:2, 13; 2 Corinthians 4:11; Galatians 2:20-21).

The majority of Christians know nothing about the Cross of Christ for sanctification. Justification delivers us from the penalty of sin, while sanctification delivers us from the power of sin. The Cross of Christ is as necessary for sanctification as it is for salvation (1 Cor. 1:18).

The sin nature is a result of the Fall. When the believing sinner comes to Christ, the sin nature is made ineffective (Rom. 6:6). It will remain ineffective if the believer maintains unceasing Faith in Christ and the Cross (Rom. 6:1-14). If the believer ceases to look to Christ and the Cross, but rather makes something else the object of his faith—no matter how good the something else might be—the Holy Spirit will not function in such an atmosphere. He demands exclusively that our Faith be in Christ and the Cross (Rom. 8:1-2,11). If faith is moved to something else, the believer will find himself once again being ruled by the sin nature. That's why Paul said, "Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (the sin nature): but yield yourselves unto God (which refers to God's Way, which is Christ and the Cross)" (Rom. 6:3-5, 13). Otherwise, the sin nature will rule the believer.

We submit to God by the Plan He has provided, which is the Cross. We resist the Devil by strictly looking to Christ, and what He has done for us at the Cross, where Satan was totally defeated (Colossians 2:14-15).

Everything we receive from the Lord, including Sanctification, is a work of Grace. Grace is simply the Goodness of God extended to undeserving people. the whole process is by Faith, as the whole process can only be by Faith.

JSM

The context there is about preaching the message of the Cross. v18 and the power and wisdom of God in that message. Paul had many more things to tell us than the message of the cross. Even 1Cor 15:1-4 reveals that in a nutshell.

Yet if it hadn't happened we would not have had a sinless savior, (hence, no savior at all).

Had it stopped there, even if they were redeemed, we would quickly come back under the same condemnation we were under before redemption lacking the imputation of Christ's righteousness. (There would be no righteousness to impute to our account).

There was more to Christ hanging on the cross that was a stumbling block to the Jews such as...
Him being equal to God the Father Jn 10:30-31,
Him being our righteousness apart from the works of the law Rom 9:32-33
His resurrection Acts 4:2 Acts 23:6 etc.

Again I wouldn't pit these cardinal doctrines about Christ against each other in order to exalt one over the other lest you become imbalanced.

Well, you certainly have.

You don't know "most Christians". You don't even know the people who contribute here. You merely parrot Jimmy Swaggart Ministries hogwash and condemn believers for whom Christ died. You're an accuser of the brethren, and it's high time you were banned.

I do not judge YOU MOTC!

I will say to YOU however you need to make your relationship with Jesus a PERSONAL one!

If all you have is this man of flesh to repeat after then you have NO substance and I will NOT Be bothered by you any longer!

Peace out! And ignored!