The Hour Has Come!

John 17:1-2  “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ  whom You have sent.”

Has your hour come?

The hour when you KNOW there is no other moment in your life as important as this moment.

The hour that determines your place and position in eternity.

Or do you think you have time to delay? What is it, REALLY, that you wish to delay?

The cross? Your cross?

I think… of all the reasons excuses we offer for not “believing” in Jesus, and those we offer for not “following” Jesus, and those we claim for not “obeying” Jesus, is the one thing we fear the most… carrying THE cross. I think… we are all (falsely I might add) under the impression we are carrying the Cross of Christ. Why would I CHOOSE to carry the cross of the worst death ever imagines? Why would I FOLLOW a someone who put his own son through such anguish, suffering, and an unimaginable public display? Why would anyone freely OBEY a directive that reeks of such severe days for the rest of this earthly existence?

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Colossians 2:13-14

You were dead – He made you alive…

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness (The Perfect Righteous Judge), because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Romans 3:23-26

The wages of sin is death (eternal death) – the price HAD to be paid, JUSTICE demanded it! Justice also demanded that the JUDGE OF ALL honor THE RULE OF LAW – the guilty verdict and the punishment.

For those who confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:9-10) the Cross of Christ is not the one you carry. Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. (Romans 6:9)

When we confess He IS OUR SALVATION and believe He IS OUR GOD, we “LIVE” like He does. The Hour Has Come… your place in eternity has been purchased.

So, if, for those of us who confess and believe, the hour of our place in eternity is settled, why do you lump us with non-believers with the same or similar reasons excuses for  delaying our “Cross-Training”.

To make a long story short(er)… I believe we share the same FEAR of THE CROSS. I also believe share the similar misconceptions of the cross we are to pick up and follow Jesus.

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  Mark 8:34 

This cross is YOU! For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. Mark 8:35 It’s your soul… all your dreams and wishes, all your plans and demands. It’s the “life” that you have carved out from the very first moment you became aware that you had something to say about how you lived.

The question is… For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36-37 You choose! Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christwhom You have sent.”

The hour has come… “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your (child), that the (child) may glorify You.”

And He does… we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become  conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.  Romans 8:28-30

His Way! Which requires you to pick up your cross (your plans and demands), knowing that there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18-19)

And… CARRY YOUR CROSS as a banner that you consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  Romans 6:11-14

And this my friends, is what sets us apart from unbelievers! Our “position” in eternity… INTIMACY with God, WITHOUT FEAR!

The Hour Has Come!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.