At the Cross

As we bow at the cross we try to block out the worries of our lives; the bills, the problems with our children, our worsening health, the absence of social morals. Our fears slowly fade as we realize the importance of where we are. What had been significant to us a few minutes earlier doesn't matter as much as we watch the blood slowly trickle down the wood and into the dirt beneath us. What we see next will change us forever.

At the cross we see the darkest day in history.

The Bible mentions six different things we must "DO" to be saved. Proving any one of them in no way disproves another. I will list them here, and ask you to check them whether they are so.

1. You must first hear in order to be saved: Romans 10:17
2. You must believe Jesus is the Son of God in order to be saved: Romans 10:17; Luke 8:13; John 1:12; John 8:24; John 20:31
3. You must repent in order to be saved: Luke 13:3,5; Acts 3:19
4. You must confess that Jesus is Christ in order to be saved: Luke 12:8; Romans 10:9; 1 John 4:15; Acts 8:37 5. You must be baptized (not rhontized) in order to be saved: John 3:5; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21; Galatians 3:27
6. You must remain faithful unto death in order to be saved: Revelation 2:10; 1 Timothy 4:16; 1 John 2:24,25

In early Israelite days, God chose for the people to have judges. These judges would direct the people in the ways of God. But the people were unhappy with this system of rule. They looked around at the other nations and saw how all the nations around them had a king. They said to Samuel, "'Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations'" (I Samuel 8:5). They rejected the will of God. "The LORD said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them'" (I Samuel 8:7). They went by their gut-feeling rather than trusting in God.