Today I want to pick up where we left off in 2022 talking about the way of Jesus.  The way of Jesus results in intimacy with the Father and His indestructible life.  The way of Jesus is the cross.  The cross is the pathway to the Father and His life.  Paul says in 1st Cor 15 we know the faith revealed at the cross is the pathway to the Fathers life because Jesus was raised from the dead free from sin never to be able to die again.  

The cross is the place Jesus put off corruption so he could put on incorruption.  The cross is where Jesus put off his mortal body so he could put on immortal flesh.  Jesus layed down the life he could gain from the world because he was intimate with the Father and his life.  Jesus was dead to the world, and alive to God, and that led him to the cross where he put off sin and death.  He put off the body of death.  He layed down the life that was corrupted by the sin and death in the world so He could be picked up by the life of the Father, and inherit the kingdom of God inside of human flesh. 

In John 13 Jesus is talking about the cross, and says he is going to leave this world, and go to be with the Father.  In John 13:36 Jesus says you cannot follow me now, but after I leave this world and go to be with the Father, you will see the way to the Father and His eternal life is the cross, and you will be able to follow me, and be with me, in the bosom of the Father, experiencing His love.  

Joh 21:18  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
Joh 21:19  This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me.

Jesus talking about the death he would die on the cross, says to Peter follow me.  What does Jesus mean when he says follow me?  Is Jesus telling us we need to also be nailed to a cross?  How can we follow Jesus to the cross?  

Going to the cross isnt only about being nailed to a physical cross.  Its also about laying down the life you have from the world.  The reason Jesus ended up on the cross, dying to sin, is he because he layed down the life he had from the world.  The cross for us is about giving up the ghost, which is about laying down the life we have from the world.  Its about the life we have from the world being put off of us, so we can be picked up by the life of God, just as Jesus. 

Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The word sin used here isnt talking about bad behavior.  I say it a lot but the word sin in that verse is a noun, not a verb.  When Paul says consider yourself dead to sin, the sin he’s talking about is the corruptible life that Adam founded in the earth when he brought death into the world.  Paul is building on what he said in Roman’s 5 when he said by the sin of one man Adam death entered the earth and death reigned over all.  Adam founded a world built on the shoulders of a corruptible life.  He founded a world built by sin.  He founded a life corrupted with death because it was built by sin.  

The cross is the place we die to the life sin built in the earth through Adam.  The cross is the place all our traumas and our anxieties and fears are put off of us.  The cross is the place all our hurts and torment is put off of us because it’s at the cross we lay down the life we have from the world.  It’s the life the world Fathered that is able to be victimized, and traumatized, and corrupted by sin and death.  Its the life the world Fathered thats full of trauma and cares and anxieties and worries and burdens.  And the reason its full of those things is because the life the world Fathered is fragile and able to be corrupted.  

Laying down the life you have from the world is when you are no longer looking to the things of the world and the happenings of the world as if the care your life needs in contained there.  

We’ve all heard it said take your sin to the cross.  For so long we’ve thought of take your sin to the cross only in terms of bad behavior.  We’ve heard it said take your bad behavior to the cross but bad behavior is just the fruit of a corruptible life.  Take your sin to the cross is to take the life thats been corrupted by the world; take the life thats been traumatized by the world.  Take the life thats been victimized; thats been hurt by the world to the cross so it can be put off of you, and you can be picked up by the life of God.  The foundation from where you can experience the power of the resurrection is in laying down the life you have from the world.  That’s the foundation that Jesus was raised from the dead. 

We hold on so tight to the life we have from the world.  We hold on so tight to the things of the world because we’re convinced the care our lives need is found in the world.  We’re can be so worried about the life we have from the world because the world has taught us that our lives are hid in the world, in what happens to us, what people say and do to us.  But it’s the life we have from the world thats tormenting us.  

So Jesus says follow me to the cross.  I’m going to lay down my life at the cross so I can go to the Father, and prepare a place for you, that where I am you can be with me.  Jesus died unto sin at the cross.  He put off the life he had from the world at the cross, and through that he ascended to the right hand of the Father, overcoming the world and the sin and death in the world, and all the trauma and abuse he experienced at the hands of the world.  Jesus says follow me to the cross, so you can partake with me in a life that overcomes the world and the sin and death in the world.  

Now heres the million dollar question.  How did Jesus get to the cross.  What is it that caused Jesus to lay down the life he had from the world.  What is it that led Jesus to the cross?  Listen if you want to follow someone you need to know how it is they got there.  You know like directions.  

Jesus was strengthened to go to the cross by the revelation of the Father’s love.  He was persuaded the Father loved him because he saw the Father gave his life the care it needs to be protected from the trauma and abuse in the world.  Jesus didnt take thought to care for his own life, through the things of the world, because He saw the Father loved him, and had given his life the care he needs, and that resulted in him laying down the life he had from the world.  

When I was a child I wasn’t thinking of how I needed to care for my own life.  I wasn’t thinking of how I need to protect my life because my parents …..

What is it that caused Jesus to know the Father loved him?  

In Matthew 4 Jesus was starving and was tempted by the devil to care for his own life by turning the stones into bread.  Remember in Matthew 6 Jesus says take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink for your Heavenly Father knows what you need.  But seek Gods righteousness to care for your life.  Jesus responded by saying man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God.  Now listen Jesus isnt talking about reading the Bible, and all the verses in the Bible.  So what word is Jesus talking about that man finds life by?  The word Jesus was talking about and living by is the word he just heard when he came up out of the Jordan River.  Jesus saw the Father loved him when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life descended on him like a dove, with the Father’s voice saying you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.  It wasnt just the father saying you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased that persuaded Jesus he was loved by the Father.  When Jesus saw the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove he saw that was the Father caring for His life.  Jesus saw the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove and he saw it meant the Father has poured out all of Himself onto me, to seal me with His indestructible life, to pamper me with the nutrients I need to be exceedingly frutiful, to give my life the care it needs.  The Holy Spirit descending on Jesus as a dove was the Father persuading Jesus He has taken thought to give His life the care it needs, it was the father persuading Jesus he wasnt left alone to care for his own life, the father was with him caring for his life, and that persuaded Jesus he was loved by the Father.  

Life of God=terminator 3 imagine if you had a life that could swallow every fiery dart that comes against you.  Imagine if everytime the world dealt your life a blow your life swallowed it and …. Imagine you have a life that quenches every fiery dart that comes against it.  Imagine you have a life that swallows death and corruption and sin?  Now imagine what you would think of the person who gave you that life.

In John 17 Jesus prays that we would know the Father loves us in the same way He loves Jesus.  Jesus is telling us how it is we can find ourselves following him to the cross, and putting off the life we have from the world. Could just as easily say Jesus prayed for us to know the Father cares for us the same way He cares for Jesus.  

Jesus prays to the Father glorify me Father.  Glorify me with the life we shared from the beginning, and that will cause the world to see you love them in the same way you love me.  When they see you giving their lives the same care you gave me, they will know your love in the same way I know your love, and that will bring them to the cross to lay down the life they have from the world just as it brought me to the cross to lay down the life I had from the world.  

Jesus was glorified when he sat down at the right hand of the Father.  When Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Father Himself, was poured out on all flesh to care for our lives the same way the Father cared for Jesus’ life.  The Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh is the Father pouring out Himself into the earth, caring for our lives by sealing us with Himself and His indestructible life.  The love of God is seen in how He comes to us and seals us with His indestructible life so we can overcome the sin and death and corruption thats in the world.  

In John 16 Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit says when the Holy Spirit is come he will come to convince the world of righteousness because I go to be with the Father.  The Holy Spirit descended on the world like a dove to care for our lives, to persuade us of Gods righteousness towards our lives, to give our lives the care they need by sealing us with His life, so we can be protected from all the evil in the world, and its effects on our hearts.  We see the care God has given our lives in the glorified man Jesus at the right hand of the Father.  

It’s like the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The life we have from the worlds been beaten and bloodied by the thief.  Satans called the thief, and He’s also called the prince of this world.  Gods the Good Samaritan.  He poured out His Spirit to pick us up out of the miry clay and fill us with his life and make a place for us to dwell with him for all eternity.  

You come to the cross to lay down your life when you see God is the Good Samaritan.  As your gaze is fixed on the care God has given your life when He poured out onto us all of Himself and His indestructible life.  What will happen is you will know the love of God and that will cause you to lay down the life you can gain from the world.  

God has cared for your life exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think.  He’s done the only thing that can actually protect us from the world and the corruption in the world.  Jesus is God caring for your life.  The Holy Spirit is here caring for your life.  That’s why the Spirit is called the Comforter.  

Prayer