The Degree of Maturity of the Believer is Predicated on the Knowledge of the Cross

The Degree of Maturity of the Believer is Predicated on the Knowledge of the Cross

I want you to read that Heading again, inasmuch as it is very, very important.

The Cross of Christ in actuality is the story of the Bible. So if one is to properly know the Word of God, one also must properly know the Cross. The degree of one’s maturity will depend on such knowledge.

Paul said, “For Christ sent me not to baptize (presents to us a Cardinal Truth), but to preach the Gospel (the manner in which one may be saved from sin): not with wisdom of words (intellectualism is not the Gospel), lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect. (This tells us in no uncertain terms that the Cross of Christ must always be the emphasis of the Message)” (I Cor. 1:17).

In this one Verse, we are plainly and clearly told what the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel of the Word of God, actually is. It is “The Cross of Christ.” In other words, if one is not preaching the Cross, is not looking to the Cross, is not looking exclusively to the Cross, then one is not embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Believer must understand that Christ is the Source and the Cross is the Means.

Most Believers have no difficulty or problem with the idea of Christ as the Source. However, when it comes to the Cross as the Means, this is where the problem arises. To properly understand the Gospel, the Believer must understand that every single thing that we receive from the Lord (and I mean everything!) comes to us exclusively through Christ as the Source and the Cross as the Means. It is the Cross which has made everything possible.

Whatever the Lord is presently, He has always been. In other words, He doesn’t have more power now than He had ten thousand years ago.

The question always has been, “How could a thrice-Holy God deal with man, who is in such a sinful condition?”

The only way He could is by and through the Cross of Christ. That’s the reason it is imperative that all Believers make the Cross the only Object of their Faith. There is no other means than the Cross by which Jesus Christ purchased man’s Redemption and made possible more abundant life. We must never forget that!

So, the “mind” of the individual, within itself, cannot effect Victory in one’s life. The desire is there, and the will is there, but as Paul said, “how to perform it” (Rom. 7:18) is something else again. When the Lord gave to the Apostle the great Revelation of the Cross, he would learn that God’s Way is the Way of the Cross. We say this over and over again. The Believer must, therefore, ever make the Cross of Christ the Object of his Faith (Rom. 6:1-14; 8:1-2, 11).

~J. Swaggart Ministries