ARE YOU DEAD IN YOUR TRESPASSES AND SINS?

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If you could control the moment you died, what would your last words be? As Jesus hung on the cross, He spoke seven times. The first of His final words was a prayer. But not for Himself. 

“Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Really? They didn’t know what they were doing? 
1. The Jewish leaders plotted Jesus’ death for months. They paid Judas to betray Him. They held a mock trial in the middle of the night.
2. The crowd cried out for His crucifixion. They even chose a murderer to be set free rather than Jesus, the One who had healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed thousands.
3. Governor Pilate knew Jesus was only guilty of making the Jewish leaders mad. He tried to set Jesus free, but in the end, he knowingly gave the order for Jesus’ death.
4. The Roman soldiers spit on Jesus, beat Him, jammed a crown of thorns onto His head, and mocked Him. As they led Him to Calvary, they watched Him stumble, battered and bleeding. When they drove the nails through His hands and feet, the soldiers knew exactly what they were doing. Christ’s agony was real.
5. Jesus’ executioners didn’t know what they were doing because sin and “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Yet, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” Luke 23-34

If they had truly understood who Jesus was and what they were doing to Him—God’s Son, their promised Messiah—do you think they would have never done such evil? The horror of such actions would have overwhelmed them. Instead, they would have fallen down before Jesus and worshiped Him. 

Apart from Christ, we are all spiritually blind—and spiritually deaf. In the rebellion of our sin, we are no different than the people in the days of Ezekiel, Jesus, and Paul, who have ears but do not hear (Ezek. 12:2; Matt. 13:13; Acts 28:27). In our sinful state, we don’t hear, see, or respond to the truth. 

Unless God opens our eyes to see Jesus and our sin, we will stay as blind and deaf as the dead, because that’s exactly what we are—dead in our trespasses and sins.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3 

INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY WANTS TO MAKE JESUS KNOWN

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Giant Cross Monument on Memory Mountain erected in remote Northern Territory community in outback Australia

Renowned Christian landscape photographer Ken Duncan financed the project

After more than a decade, a vision to build a giant cross in a remote Aboriginal community in Central Australia has become a reality.

Key points:

  • The 20m cross near Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji) was proposed in 2009
  • Landscape photographer Ken Duncan has led the project, raising several million dollars through private donations
  • Community members hope the site will be a meeting place for locals and create economic opportunities through tourism

First proposed in 2009 by residents of Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji), 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs, the 20-metre-high, multi-million-dollar steel monument was last month erected atop Memory Mountain.

Local elder Douglas Multa

Local elder Douglas Multa said the vision first came to his uncle, Nebo Jugadai, one night at an Easter celebration at the base of the mountain — a site of historical and cultural significance for Haasts Bluff and surrounding communities.

Mr. Multa said he felt emotional seeing the structure completed. “When I first saw it we had tears in our eyes, we cried because it’s in our land — our country,” he said.

“It makes me and my people proud to have something like this in our country.” He hoped the project would help create a prosperous future for the community through tourism. “It’s important because we have been struggling for many years to get job opportunities for the young people, so that cross is going to bring lots of jobs,” he said.

The final element of the monument is expected to be completed by the end of the year when solar-powered LED lights will be installed to illuminate the cross.

Mr Duncan said a company — Memory Mountain Limited — had been established to support the development of the project, with a board made up of Indigenous people living in the surrounding communities, as well as Mr Duncan and his wife, Pam.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

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“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” Matthew 16:24-27

Jesus spoke these words before He went to His death on The Cross and in fact the Bible tells us that He spoke about His coming death often “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Matthew 16:21 So often did Jesus speak of His coming death and resurrection that Peter got annoyed. “And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Matthew 16:22-23

These were shocking words for Peter to hear but read what Jesus has to say about the reality of us taking up our cross and following Him: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:34-39

Immediately following these tough words: Jesus spoke of the rewards that await those that serve Him. Note both the prophet and the one who receives the prophet get the same reward.

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.” Matthew 10:40-41

THANK YOU FOR THE CROSS

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A message you need to imbibe. Imbibe is not a word I use. It just came to mind and it means “to take or receive into the mind”. The Holy Spirit does His work to give you the right word at the right time. Hopefully, the message will not only be received into your mind but it will inspire, even empower you to act and step out to do what God has for you to do in these “last days”.