SIGHT AND SOUND
BOOK EXTRACTS
THE PURPOSE OF THE CROSS
By PASTOR KEMI-RICH RAJI
The greatest tragedy in human existence is a life without purpose. God created everything with a purpose. There is no such thing as an accident with Him. He is a God of plan, purpose, and objectivity. That is why He spelled out His Purpose from the beginning when He brought His Son into the world.
The pronouncement of the purpose of the LORD JESUS CHRIST preceded His birth. Long before Adam sinned and committed high treason against God, the LORD God made provision for man’s redemption.
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God plans ahead of every event; nothing catches Him by surprise. He plans ahead of every event and situation because He is omniscient. God knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. He declares from eternity past what would take place in time. The LORD God sits upon the circle of the earth and carries the universe in His hands. He is God, and there is none else besides Him.
Nothing we do or don’t do makes Him more or less God. He is God all by Himself. What He does lasts till eternity. He is the King — the Emperor of the universe, and no one could question His decree.
Here is what Job said concerning Him, “He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against Him and prospered.” (Job 9:4).
His plans are perfect, and His ways are pure. No one could stop Him when He set out to carry out His plan. What sometimes looks like a failure of His plan is His strategy to prove to His opponents that He is indeed God.​
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God gave His Son, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the task of coming to the world to execute His counsel, to fulfill the purpose of putting satan’s dastardly acts to a halt and destroying all his works.
After the LORD JESUS had accomplished His purpose on the earth, God gave John, one of His disciples, the summary of all that He came to do on Earth. I will quote from the Amplified version because it provides a clearer picture and more detailed information about what CHRIST accomplished on Earth. It reads, “...He who sins, who practices evildoing, is of the devil (takes his character from the evil one, the devil has sinned, violated the divine law from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God was made manifest (made known) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil has done.” (1 John 3:8). He did an excellent job on the CROSS. He said, “It is finished - meaning it is done; I have carried out God's purpose for me on earth. I have satisfied the cause of justice, and fulfilled my mission”.
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The Amplified version spelled out a fundamental detail of what He accomplished. He came to undo, loosen, and dissolve the works the devil had already done on earth, and He finished them through His death on the cross. So, on the cross, He declared, “It is done.”
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We often think that JESUS was manifested or revealed to the world when He was born, and three wise men visited Him, as He lay as a child in the manger, or when John baptized Him in Jordan, and the Heavens opened to attest to His Sonship. But no, those were private events that only a few witnessed.
When He died on the CROSS, we saw the manifestation of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. He became exposed to the world, and all eyes in Jerusalem saw him hanging on that CROSS. That was where the LORD JESUS CHRIST made the difference.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS
By PASTOR KEMI-RICH RAJI
Some missionaries were talking about Christianity to Mahatma Gandhi; he asked, “What hymn would you suggest to me that summarizes what you believe?” They conferred for a while and then said, “WHEN I SURVEYED THE WONDROUS CROSS.” It was on the CROSS that CHRIST fulfilled God’s purpose on earth. When we looked to His CROSS, He saved, healed, and delivered us from sin, satan, and death.
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- On the CROSS, CHRIST was crucified for our redemption.
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- On the CROSS, we are crucified with Him.
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The difference between the two experiences is that the first brings us deliverance from the condemnation that sin bestows (death), and the second sets us free from the power of sin and Satan. Our liberty comes through the cross of Christ alone. Through His cross, He gives us access to the Supernatural life of God. Because of His death, He made us sons of God and partakers of the Divine Nature. ​That is why satan goes assiduously to distort the message of the CROSS because it reminds him of his defeat and eternal damnation. It does not matter how much he tries to denigrate the truth about the CROSS; the BLOOD that the LORD JESUS CHRIST shed on the CROSS remains ever-potent to save sinners in the world.
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Our most incredible time and fondest moments are the periods we spend worshiping our LORD and Savior for what He did for us in His death, burial, and resurrection. The most difficult, painful, and tragic moments come when we stop seeing the old rugged Cross and place our eyes and trust on something else instead of the CROSS. Without a doubt, it would blur our vision of the love and grace of God and cause us to grope in iniquity and disobedience.
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The Scriptures remind us that the CROSS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST took back from satan everything he stole from Adam. He restored man’s lost dominion over the earth through His death and resurrection. He gave us authority to tread upon serpents (representation of satan) and scorpions (representation of demons and evil spirits) and over all the powers of satan. And said, “Nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19).
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Our victory over sin and satan is not only that JESUS died for us, but He also rose from the dead for our justification. Sometimes, what seems like a failure of the plans of God for a moment is a display of His Wisdom to show the enemies that He is indeed the LORD God. The devil thought he had CHRIST for keeps when He died on the CROSS; he did not realize that was a Divine Mystery that would lead to his eternal defeat. The death of CHRIST on the CROSS was the wisdom God hid from the princes of this world, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the LORD of Glory. (1Corinthians2:8).
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All hell broke loose at the death of the Son of God for a period, and rolled a heavy stone on His grave so He would not rise. But nothing could stop God’s plan. An angel came from Heaven and rolled the stone away. The LORD JESUS CHRIST rose with mighty victory and left the grave unhindered. He showed Heaven, Earth, and hell that He is the King of kings and LORD of lords. He is the risen King, and His Dominion will be forever. God set Him on the throne of Heaven and made His enemies to be under His feet.
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Someone might say, “...that was JESUS. The devil couldn’t stop Him because He is the CHRIST.” He also rolled away the stone at the tomb of Lazarus, got him out of his grave after four days of being buried, and removed the death cloth from him. (John11:43-44)
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In the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, God has removed every death sentence pronounced over you, and you will rise above life's problems, trials, and troubles.
Because JESUS lives, you will also live. You will live and testify to the goodness of God in the land of the living and declare that you are more than a conqueror through CHRIST Who loves you.
The CROSS represents our victory over sin, sickness, satan, addiction, diseases, disaster, destruction, and death. Whatever science or natural law says concerning your situation does not matter because the LORD JESUS CHRIST rose with Mighty victory, and you are rising above all your challenges. Since the grave could not hold the LORD JESUS down, you will not be held down by life’s troubles, in the MIGHTY Name of the LORD JESUS.
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Our text from 1 John 3:8, reading from the Amplified Version, states that the purpose of CHRIST on earth was to undo, destroy, loosen, and dissolve the works the devil has done.”
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The enemy, satan’s main work, was to bring sin into Adam’s world. He knew that sin violates the law of God’s kingdom, and all negative things will thrive where sin rules. Adam's sin was disobedience and rebellion against God’s authority, and that was what Christ removed through His cross.
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Through the death of CHRIST, He became all that Adam was after he sinned against God, including dying naked so that people could become everything He was before He took our place of sin. Now that we are in CHRIST, He robes us in His righteousness.
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The Scriptures in 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake, He made CHRIST (virtually) be sin who knew no sin so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God - what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness. (The Amplified Version).
Through the CROSS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, everyone can come to God for the forgiveness of their sins and become who they ought to be before Him, approved and acceptable Children of the ALMIGHTY God. When we come to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, God begins to see us in the light of Who CHRIST is; he cleanses us with His precious blood and views us as His righteous people, being in right standing with Him.
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Through the CROSS of CHRIST, God healed and redeemed us. He delivered us from the dominion of darkness and demons and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. He accepted us as His beloved and eternally loved children. We became more than conquerors, the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. We do not lack any good things because all things are ours in Christ.
When we set our hands on a project, it prospers because of what the LORD JESUS CHRIST did for us on the CROSS. The CROSS symbolizes His Blood; His LIFE is in His Blood.
Leviticus 17:11 states, “The Life of every flesh is the Blood thereof...” We have the life of JESUS in us, and through His, we have overcome all diseases. We conquer diseases and sicknesses because the Blood of JESUS runs in our veins, and we claim our victory by faith.
The Blood of JESUS cleanses, purifies, reconciles us to God, and protects us from disaster and anger, just as the blood of the animals in the Old Testament protected the people of Israel in Egypt. His Blood gives us access to God when we pray to secure answers to our requests from Him. His Blood speaks of mercy before God concerning us, instead of condemnation and judgment, and secures our covenant relationship with God forever. Everyone in the world can benefit from the CROSS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST because it was for this freedom that He came to set us free. (Galatians 5:1) He died so we might live.
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