The Answers You Seek

The Answer is the Cross

Where do your find the answers you are seeking? Where is the power in your life?

Man was created as Lord of all creation. Man is the highest creation. God crowned man with His glory and honor. It was like a golden light around him. It was what caused the animals and all of creation to obey him. The earth we’re living in today is not the perfect earth and it is not how God ordained it to be. God never wanted man to die, God never wanted man to be sick or grow old. All of this came because of Adam’s fall. When they sinned Adam and Eve lost their crown and at that moment realized they were naked. No longer would God be their source for right and wrong. They now relied on their own conscience to be their guide. After man disobeyed God he covered himself with fig leaves. The fig leaves represents their self righteousness...their pride. They were saying “I don’t need blood to be shed...I don’t need blood to atone for my sins.” God said without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Without the covering of blood our sin would be exposed. Blood means judgment. God was the first one to kill an animal and clothe man with its skin. The blood of the animal was a shadow of the perfect man to come. The man who would exchange His perfection for our sin. The man who would fulfill all of God’s laws and with His divine blood make us righteous. When man provides for himself it is insufficient. When God provides it’s all sufficient for all of time and eternity.

Our idea of God’s righteousness is so low because we measure His righteousness by our own thoughts and by what we’ve heard taught. But God’s righteousness must be measured by God’s standards. We measure our own sins by our own conscience. Your conscience is not a safe guide because it is limited by what you know. We must measure our lives by HIS ideas and HIS alone. We must realize that the world is bigger than us and the only way to see truth is through HIS eyes. Our own eyes can deceive us. Your understanding is limited but God’s is not.

Satan is afraid of the blood. He is afraid of Jesus’ holy blood as it defeated him! God’s throne is established through righteousness and if compromised the whole universe collapses. The cross is the answer. Jesus died on the cross because righteousness says when man sins there must be a death. Jesus died in our place. Jesus took our punishment. On the cross we see the love of God and His righteousness established on the cross.  

Lucifer was very jealous of man and His love for us. He was jealous that God had given him dominion over the earth that had once been his. He was Lord over this earth before his rebellion. When man fell the crown that God had given him was lying in the dust. Man’s body is now corruptible as it’s fallen. Satan thought if he could get man to sin he could get God to compromise His righteousness. He knows that God’s throne is established on His righteousness and if he can get him to compromise it God will fall leaving him to rule and take God’s place on the throne.

This is why today Satan comes to us in a self righteous, self important, self complacent way. And it’s why so much of the preaching is this way today. Much of Christianity has become a fig leaf religion. Satan knows that if he can get us focused on ourselves and become self righteous he can destroy us. The essence of all sin is self righteousness, the mother of all sin. It leads to our destruction and to our downfall.

Satan, before he fell, was called Lucifer...one of the three highest ranking archangels. (Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer). His role as “the anointed cherub that covers” is the custodian of God’s righteousness. Psalm 89:14 says “Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of your throne;  mercy and truth go before your face.” So even though he has fallen he still thinks of himself as the guardian of God’s righteousness. He knows that the slightest infringement on justice, the slightest reversal of perfect righteousness would destroy God’s throne. When Lucifer saw God’s great love for man he saw this as an opportunity to get God to compromise His righteousness. Mercy cannot be exercised at the cost of righteousness. The devil doesn’t understand grace. He understands law. This is why Romans 16:20 says “The God of Peace will crush Satan under your feet.” Grace and peace go together.  Grace gives what peace keeps. Grace is the only antidote against Satan. He has no weapons against grace. This is why he attacks it. It’s important to understand that grace is never exercised at the expense of righteousness. Lucifer never understood that God loved man so much that He would send His Son to save him (Hebrews 2:14). God had a plan and that plan exercised judgment of sin without compromising His righteousness.

What is our greatest fear? The fear of death is the mother of all fears. It’s not that we are afraid to fly. We are afraid to die. We fear a lot of things that are rooted in our fear of death. Jesus set us free from death. Jesus destroyed the one who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14)  It is important to understand that Satan has no power in his own authority.  His power came through enforcing the law. Through death Jesus destroyed death. Remember when he came to God accusing Job of not being righteous enough? Satan usurped Adam’s place beside God and from that position used the law to enforce the curse on Job. He can no longer use the law against you and I because we are under the New Covenant. The place he took from Adam has been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. He has been cast down. Sin no longer has dominion over us because we are not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14). Satan has NO ammo against grace! The only power that Satan has today over you my friend is the power YOU give to Him. When you worry and get into fear you are inviting him into your life. When you believe and trust God His grace shields you from the enemy. This is why John was the only disciple that the enemy could not destroy. They tried to boil him in hot oil and could not.

Lucifer is very different from man. He was the highest created being. He had no one tempting him when he fell. Adam did. Lucifer chose to rebel against God. He chose to sin. Adam was tempted. There’s a difference. Even after man sinned he saw that God still loved man. This really infuriated Lucifer. God told Satan that the seed of a woman would crush his head. Satan didn’t know who this person was so he tried destroying all those he thought it might be. He started with Abel. If he were omniscient and had known what God’s plan of redemption would mean for him and what it would mean for you and me he would not have killed Jesus. The cross that destroyed Him is the same cross that crushes him under our feet today.

The blood of Jesus PAID IT ALL! God’s perfect love took note of ALL of our sins...not one passed His all searching eye. They were ALL punished on the body of Jesus Christ. He took all of your sins, past, current and future and placed them on the cross... judged and condemned on the body of Jesus Christ. So God is righteous in making YOU righteous, because of what Jesus did. Jesus died in our place. This is AMAZING GRACE!  Lucifer said that he will be like the most high God and that He will ascend...”I will, I will, I will” he boasts.  Jesus came in love and humility and said “I came to serve God”. He humbled himself and became a servant and died the most horrible, shameful death. God has given Him the name above ALL names. At the name of JESUS every knee bows, on earth, in Heaven and under the earth. Jesus’ death has fully satisfied ALL the claims of the devil. What is finished? All of man’s debt against God. All of man’s sin cancelled. All of the devil’s claims against man cancelled. It’s ALL accomplished at the cross! I think when we go to Heaven we’ll continue to discover what was accomplished at the cross!

The Bible says that there were seven things that Jesus accomplished at the cross with His death. One of those was to nullify the effect Satan has over death. He came to take away that fear of death. At the name of Jesus EVERY name bows! That’s why as believers we have the power of attorney. That means you can execute business in the name of the one who commissioned you. The power you have depends on the power behind that person’s name.  At the name of Jesus demons flee because EVERY knee must bow! Cancer must bow. Depression must bow. All kinds of bondage will have to bow! If there is an addiction, a disease, ANY kind of bondage that medical science can name it must BOW! Even those in Hell will have to bow and say Jesus Christ is Lord. When you confess Jesus on this earth Heaven is your home.

He came because HE LOVED US! God reached out to the whole world. Because man created high treason and gave dominion of the earth to Satan God could not just come in and take it back presumptuously because that would be breaking His laws and compromising His righteousness. He had to do it legally. So when you say “I am the righteousness of God in Christ” you are answering a legal accusation with a legal answer.  Legal term against legal accusation. Righteousness in Christ is a judicial term.  Martin Luther said it best…”Jesus you are my sin, I am your righteousness.” Powerful statement!  The divine exchange took place at the cross. Jesus took our sin. For us not to take our righteousness is to negate the work at the cross. So the next time you lay down to sleep at night and the enemy fills your mind with anxious thoughts you confess “I am the righteousness of God in Christ”. Something happens when you say this. You are saying a mouth full. You are saying that Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice on your behalf. His blood has fully met all the claims of justice. The moment the devil knows this he flees from you because he now becomes the guilty party. In a court of law when the accuser accuses someone unjustly the accuser becomes the guilty one. So the whole thing now falls on the devil. You just turned the tables on him by declaring your righteousness in Christ!

1 Peter 5:9 says “to resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” The devil likes to isolate people. Jesus is telling us here that WE NEED EACH OTHER! The work of the enemy is to cause antisocial behavior and isolate you from people. He wants you to think you are the only one having these negative thoughts, that your problem is uniquely your own. We may be more connected than ever through social media but we’re actually less in touch. We’re lonely. We bypass the face to face intimacy with each other. A lot of words being exchanged on line but no real communication. We need to pick up the phone and TALK to one another. The best place to connect is through a life group. You need that sisterhood, that brotherhood. It is through these relationships that you realize that you are not alone, you realize that you are not abnormal, you realize that other people are going through similar things. God meant for the church to be relational. We are not meant to be lone wolves. We need each other. This is why our Wednesday night fellowship is so important. It is the reason we’re seeing so many miracles and witnessing so many incredible stories of breakthrough.

What’s the big deal about accusation? Satan’s #1 weapon is accusation. Long before the devil can kill, steal and destroy you He ACCUSES. His name “Hasatan” in Hebrew means “the accuser.”

1 Peter 5:8 says the “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. On the heels of accusation there is a punishment, but not from God. When you are accused you feel guilty. Satan is no dummy. He knows how to mix the truth with lies. His goal is to get you to accept the accusation. You know you accept it when you feel guilt, shame and/or worry. A believer should never feel shame because the blood of Jesus has wiped it out. The enemy will often use people to say accusatory things to you and against you. Isaiah 54:17 says that “no weapon formed against you shall prosper and any tongue that rises up against you, you shall condemn”. When the devil uses people to speak against you condemn those words. Don’t condemn the people. Condemn their words. Reject them. “In Jesus name I reject those words. I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”

Faith comes by HEARING. It’s not a one time thing. Just like we eat each day to feed our physical bodies we must HEAR God’s word of grace everyday to nourish our spirit. We have to keep on hearing the message of grace because there is something about the flesh that makes us forget. We can hear nine sermons on grace and one on law and we forget grace. This is the propensity of the flesh. What is it about accusation that is so bad? When you receive it you are saying that Jesus did not do a good job. You are saying that the devil is right. This is evil. With the accusation comes the sentence...aging, sickness and disease.  The sentence comes on the heels of the accusation. When there is a sin there is always a sin offering. When you sin and see Jesus as the sin offering you see it paid for. This sets you free because you see Jesus paying your debt. When you sin and do not see Jesus as your sin offering you will pay for the sin with your health, peace of mind... a payment has to be made. Man partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is like the law. It tells you that you deserve to be sick. When your body fights against itself doctors call this an autoimmune disorder. Your body should not be fighting against itself. When you are not at peace your body fights against you. Your genes are so intelligent that when you sin you feel guilty and punish yourself. Disease is then created by your body to punish itself. You are judging yourself. Romans 14:21-23 says “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” The condemnation here is NOT from God. The condemnation comes from our OWN GUILT. Our own conscious condemns us. Our wrong believing leads to self punishment. We are creatures that are so vulnerable to accusation. We must be conscious of God’s heavenly light on us. Heavenly light is God’s shekinah glory.

There are a lot of people in the world today that cannot be intimate. They can have a physical relationship...can have sex but cannot be intimate because they don’t feel like they deserve to be loved. They are sabotaging themselves because some wrong belief came into their heart when they were young. So when someone starts to get close to them they sabotage it because deep down inside they don’t feel worthy to be loved. They don’t feel they deserve a healthy, intimate relationship. They don’t realize why they are doing it.

You see the devil understands that before he can destroy you he must accuse you. On the heels of the accusation comes guilt. He knows that if you accept the accusation you will feel guilty. When you accept the accusation you are saying that God did not do a good job and that God did not accept what Jesus did. What is our defense? It’s in the gospel. It’s in confessing that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. When we sin we must confess “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.” We become holy by accident, by confession. Note that 1 Peter 5:8 says “seeking”. We must keep the devil seeking by trusting God and staying out of worry and fear. The word “adversary” means an opponent in a lawsuit. The devil still functions in “legality”. He is a lawyer and approaches you in legal terms. He whispers “Because you have done this, because you have done that... remember what God says in His word... you failed now expect the punishment.”  Often this message is preached from the pulpit. When the full gospel is not preached and we’re not hearing God’s grace we believe the lies of the accuser. Satan is a strong exponent of law but not Grace. If you understand Grace you will be holy by accident. You cannot be underwater and not be wet any more than you can be under grace and not be holy. When you touch water you touch wet. When you touch grace you trust holiness. In other words, when you are under grace you don’t have to try to be kind to others... kindness is a fruit of the spirit and just comes out of you.

In Revelation 12:11 it tells us that the accuser of the brethren has been cast down by the BLOOD of the lamb! This no ordinary blood. This is divine blood flowing through Emmanuel’s veins. When the devil comes at you spewing his lies of “how can you expect God to heal you when you’ve done this and done that?” you respond back with the BLOOD OF JESUS! The blood has fully paid it ALL!!! When you cover your children with the blood of Jesus you are saying “hands off” to the enemy. Cover yourself before you go to sleep at night, cover your car before you get in it to go to work, cover your home before a storm. He can’t touch anything covered in the blood. The devil cannot cross the bloodline of Jesus. The blood of Jesus is more powerful than any nuclear weapons any country on earth has.

ALL of the answers you seek my friend are found in the cross! Whatever you need the blood of Jesus has already provided. The power is in the BLOOD! All you have to do is take it by faith! Romans 9:8 tells you to "confess with mouth and believe in your heart and you will be saved." God’s AMAZING GRACE is your divine receipt!

Speak it, believe it and receive it!

Love, Sherry :-)

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