The cross, that is mankind’s only solution,
and it’s been that way since Christ’s death.
It is the only place that the fallen people have an opportunity.
If you die with Him, die to your old man –
just read Romans 6:6; every one of us ought to know what’s written there –
that is the only gate to life and glory.
That is the cross.
It is the gate to the kingdom of heaven.
Many people have attempted to come in, but have not been successful, says Jesus.
That’s why He says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate and into life.”
You have to fight for it!
And then it is a battle of faith, as long as you live.
What does that mean, a fight of faith? It means that every day is a battle.
Every day you have a cross to take up because of your flesh.
And that wants to take control,
so if Jesus is to be in charge and be the King on the throne of your heart,
then there’s no other way than the way of the cross,
and then it goes very well.
You have to put off the old man. You do that in faith,
just like you take off your coat.
Put it off – done with it.
That is an act of faith,
and then you need to put on Christ as far as you have light and understanding.
And it’s folly to allow the old man to live.
If you do that then every day you have to come to the cross for forgiveness,
for all of that sin and all that folly you do every single day.
Isn’t there more to put to death? Isn’t it much better to do that?
Then you have peace and life is good.
And actually, that is to despise the blood of Jesus,
to turn the grace of God into lewdness, when you do that.
You continue sinning, you’re a saved sinner, and then you keep sinning.
It can go very badly with you in that way.
But by the cross,
we die to the world and the world dies to us.
It takes place by the cross,
and then the world is finished with you. And you are finished with the world.
And that can happen in your youth,
by making a decision.
And you must have some spiritual strength of character and will,
and if you have that – “To will is present with me,” says Paul.
You have to have that.
And then you are aware that you also have sin in your flesh.
By walking in the light,
you know that you also need to be cleansed in the blood of Christ.
You don’t have all light, you don’t have all understanding,
but now the walk begins,
and now you make progress in a glorious way.
And the cross is a clear division between right and wrong,
between death and life, between darkness and light,
between pride and humility and so on and so on.
That is where you learn to discern,
so that you have your senses exercised
to discern between good and evil.
That happens by the cross.
And everyone who belongs to Christ has crucified the flesh with its lusts and desires.
They have put off the old man.
Isn’t that glorious?
I was so happy when I was able to put off the old man,
I was nineteen I think,
and I got living faith that I could walk in faith.
And since then I’ve been happy.
And you can be happy too, but you have to get faith for it.
And then the walk begins, on the way of light and life.
A glorious walk.
And think to start that in this new year,
to make that decision now in the last hour of the old year,
and the old man makes its last pathetic attempts at breathing.
And finally it’s just, uhh, I can’t manage it anymore.
And then the old man dies.
As people are dying then they can’t even drink water,
and you just moisten their lips with some water and then they die.
Think the old man can die with all the evil, all the misery.
It’s gone forever!
As far as east is from west,
that’s how far your sins, together with the old man, are from you.
Can you have it any better?
Can you live a better life?
You ought to lay hold of this from your youth,
with your whole heart, with everything that is in you.
And then you will make progress.
I’d like to read in 1 Timothy chapter 2.
It says here in verse 5:
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”
He, in the days of His flesh,
went into the strong man’s house, and He was even stronger.
And then He took the devil with all He had, and threw him out.
And He was finished with him.
And whoever believes in Jesus gets a living faith in that,
and then you also get power to throw all of the old rubbish out.
Think about an old attic; it hasn’t been cleaned in 100 years.
There are lofts like that in Oslo:
old, full of all kinds of junk.
I’ve been up in attics like that.
And you take all of that garbage and you throw it down the stairs
and into the dumpster.
And then you’re finished with it!
Many people need to clean up their attics properly.
They get all these thoughts that go around and around,
instead of opening your mind and spirit to the living God,
so that God can speak to you in your heart and in your mind.
That’s a whole new life.
Something totally new.
To walk around like a person full of reasoning,
they corrupt themselves with what they understand with their reasoning.
You need to come out from all of that
and then you need to come to faith in the word of God.
That is a word of liberation.
All of God’s words free you from sin and darkness.
All of it.
And now we can read about the Man Jesus Christ,
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
From verse 23,
“… but we preach Christ crucified,
to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness ...”
And let it be that for them.
It is the cross that is the stumbling block.
That they no longer can live for themselves,
not to have any importance in this world,
no longer receive honor for anything that God actually has given you.
The cross over all of that causes offense.
Because if there’s anything that mankind wants all the way to the end,
it’s to live, live for yourself.
“… but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Where did He get that power? He was a man, after all.
He got that by each day taking up His cross and denying Himself.
That happened in His life, every day,
before He came to the cross on Calvary.
That’s where the work took place.
On Calvary He completed the work.
And if Jesus had failed in the time of trial, He was tried in every way just like us,
and if He had failed one time,
then the gatekeeper would have closed that gate forever.
So everything was dependent on Him - all of mankind, everything.
So it wasn’t strange then that His sweat was like blood.
He was thinking about all of this.
He wasn’t afraid of dying, it wasn’t that,
but He thought, is the work finished?
Is it good enough?
And then an angel from heaven came and strengthened Him:
“Go the rest of the way. It will go well!”
And then in faith He committed His spirit to God.
A great darkness came, and that darkness was also in Him,
but in living faith in God
He committed His spirit into the hands of the Father.
And then the work was finished, and the devil had lost!
So He is the Lord!
He has taken the keys to death and the kingdom of death,
and no one is locked in there without His will.
But now for us, He doesn’t unlock it.
We are to go into heaven, to Zion with God,
and all of the saints are waiting for us.
They are rejoicing, and they are with us today.
You can believe they are with us and they are fighting with Jesus for our souls.
And they are waiting that God will give them bodies again.
And that will happen by the archangel’s trumpet
when He comes back to fetch us and bring us home to Him.
Then all the dead in Christ will be raised up
and we, together with them,
those who are alive when Jesus returns,
they will be the capstone on this great spiritual temple that is being raised up.
And then we will be lifted up, and we will always be with the Lord.
“Comfort each other with these words,” says Paul.
There is a great comfort in that.
A great comfort, that He who humbled Himself, He is the One who has overcome.
And He has the keys to death and Hades.
It is Jesus Christ!
And I myself have stood by people’s deathbeds,
and I’ve seen when people have laid hold of faith in Him,
and have left their body, radiant and happy!
I’ve seen this myself.
When they have received faith in the forgiveness of sin,
and have come through.
This is reality!
When death comes, then hypocrisy is useless.
You can be a hypocrite all the way until that day
but when you understand there’s no way around it,
now I’m going to die,
then you come to the truth.
And then Jesus can help you too, if you receive Him
with all of your heart.
So let us believe in Him.
There is no one except God’s Son – He is the greatest of all.
And if we stand behind Him, He is number one.
If we stand behind Him, it will be a mighty number.
Those who have gone before Me,
they are thieves and murderers;
those who put their person in front of Mine, it says in a different translation,
they are thieves.
People who want to be great in themselves.
They are thieves, the whole band of them.
Only those who go into the death of Jesus have a right to life.
No one else has that.
May God strengthen the church powerfully in these days,
and may He give us mighty strength to complete this race.