I want you to see that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has got two sides to it, which come out very clearly in the scriptures.
One dimension of the cross is to be a means of sacrifice, to legally provide forgiveness of sins, finances, health, the impartation of the divine nature, and the hundreds of divine attributes of YHVH to us. And we major on that.
But there’s another dimension in the Bible which we seem to have lost.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
It says God took all our sins and all our offenses, and the Law and he nailed it to the cross, taking them out of the way. We are no longer under the moral standard of the Law, our obedience far exceeds it, but our obedience is also a participation in the divine nature.
And we say, Oh, God, my sins are forgiven through what Jesus did at Calvary. Yes, but go on to verse 15. It says that “in that same cross”, what did he do?
He disarmed principalities and powers and made an open show of them, rendering them powerless and without any Authority on the cross.
You see, there’s a dimension to the cross that’s a warrior side.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power (dynamis- dynamite) of God.
And we’ve been preaching a lopsided gospel. We’ve been preaching salvation of sins without destroying the works of the devil that holds people captive.
And so, it’s like sort of offering food to a dog that’s still chained. It wants the food, but it can’t get the food because it’s chained. So, you’ve got to break the chain so the dog can get the food. And unbelievers can’t come to Jesus until the chains are broken.
So, to preach salvation without destroying the demonic strongholds that hold the people, those stronghold’s do not allow them to get saved.
And I could turn you to many other scriptures which basically say the same thing.
So, there’s power in the cross to save from sins, but there’s also power in the cross to destroy the devil. Hallelujah!
The cross of Jesus Christ finished him. And we need to use that weapon, that mighty weapon of our warfare.
Now in Luke Jesus is anticipating going to the cross.
Luke 22: 35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.”
36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.
37 “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”
Now, he’s obviously not talking about a physical sword, because later when Peter takes out his sword and tries to kill someone, He says, no, put your sword away, Peter. Those that live by the sword will die by the sword. He’s not talking about a physical sword; he’s talking about a spiritual sword.
In New Testament days, people didn’t have lots of changes of clothes. Most people had one outfit, and well-off people had two.
So, when you wear your clothing, everybody knew you by what you were wearing.
And a lot of Christian churches have a leadership, which may be very pastoral. The leaders are so friendly and loving and it is so nice to go to their church, which is great. But the warrior side is missing. Can you hear what I’m saying?
And maybe you’re a very pastoral person and you love people and you love to be kind to them, but there’s no power in you to break the demonic strongholds which are holding them.
You show them compassion, but you cannot minister deliverance. And God wants to change all that. God wants you to get violent in spirit, not towards them, but towards the demonic powers that will not allow them to fully come into their so great salvation.
Jesus said, Now, go and sell that garment, and buy a sword.
And the church you go to says Jesus is a wonderful, He is so loving and He is my friend, which is true. Jesus loves to help hurting people.
But when you go to that church you come in with your sicknesses and diseases and you find a sympathetic hearing, but no mighty powerful transformation.
And we’ve had people in our churches who are still in trouble years after they were saved. Because we’re not releasing to them the power of the cross, just the forgiveness of the cross.
Now the Lord is saying to you pastor, elder, leader, now go and sell your garment. I don’t want you to be known as a church that’s just kind and loving.
Now you don’t want you to lose that dimension. But he said, “I want you to buy a sword. Because I’m going to the cross and AS A DECLARATION OF WAR!
When Jesus went to the cross, He drew His sword. Can you hear me? He said, now, by the power of the cross, I’m going against the devil, and I’m going to break his power.
Jesus ministered in the city of Jerusalem for three and a half years. It was a very religious city. And as you’ve probably observed, when Jesus ever went into a tabernacle, ALWAYS that’s where the demons were.
Do you know where you are going to find the most demons? In religion? That’s right. They love Christian religion.
And so, if you have a religious community, you will have a demonized community. It’s not quite so obvious. In fact, it’s much more sinister and much more powerful.
Roman Catholicism, particularly, is riddled with the demonic. So, if you have a religious people, you’ve got a demonized people.
And Jerusalem was a religious city, but it was a demon-controlled city. It was full of the most incredible, powerful demons which absolutely ruled that city. They controlled the religion, they controlled the politics, they controlled the finances, they controlled everything.
And Jesus came into that city and for three and a half years he lived his incredible life. The very eternal life of God was manifested through him. He taught his most amazing teaching. And he worked his mightiest miracles.
Lazarus was raised from the dead in Jerusalem. A rotting corpse walked alive out of the tomb, but what happened? Absolutely nothing.
At the end of 3 1/2 years, there was no change in the social and moral wrongness of that city. Women were still treated like dirt. There was still slavery. That society was totally wicked. And what happened? It got worse.
When Jesus began His ministry, the temple was a house of merchandise. When He finished His ministry, it had become a den of thieves. It had gotten worse, because when you harden yourself against THE LIVING WORD OF GOD, you get even worse than you were before.
So, the city was more demonized, more dark, more hostile, at the end of His ministry than it was before He began His ministry.
All that happened was 120 people really gave their whole hearts to Him.
20,000 would turn up to a healing meeting, but that’s not salvation. And that’s not discipleship. Hello, can you hear me?
The largest number ever mentioned in scripture of the disciples of Jesus was 500, and even many of those weren’t totally committed.
Because when Jesus said, wait in the upper room, only 120 obeyed Him.
So, you could say that really, Jesus produced a committed church of 120 people at the end of three and a half years of the most incredible ministry the world has ever seen.
So really, He didn’t do any better than most of you Pastor’s are doing until something happened.
And if we can tune into and lay hold of what that something was, then you’re going to see a similar move of the Spirit in your city that happened on the day of Pentecost.
At that time Jesus only had Authority on the earth, he had no Authority in the heavenly places where fallen angels’ rule over cities
The demonic principalities and powers and rulers, which controlled the city, that was the problem!
So, the Father’s says. What I want you to do Son is this. I want you to train a group of ordinary people and show them how to become the kind of people that can pull down demonic strongholds.
And then by the power of that binding of the evil one and the throwing down of those demonic principalities, then the city will be released to come to salvation.
And that group, that upper room community, as I’ve come to call them, 120 people, that was the group that Jesus taught.
You see that group of people, 120 people in a city at that time of 60,000 people. That was the population of Jerusalem when Jesus died on the cross.
Those 120 people, after Jesus’ resurrection and He imparted His Spirit into them and opened their understanding, they learned those principles that Jesus taught.
They obeyed what Jesus said to them and found that they were powerful enough to destroy those demonic principalities which had resisted Jesus for three and a half years. And those Fallen angels over the city of Jerusalem came down on the day of Pentecost.
And as a result, when Peter walked out into the same city, which had resisted Jesus for three and a half years and preached one sermon, 3,000 people turned to the Lord. The same city.
Then a lame man was raised up and began to leap and praise God. A wonderful miracle, but not to be compared with a rotting corpse walking out of the tomb. When Lazarus was raised, the city, CNN, didn’t even put it on their news-Ha, Ha.
There was a media blackout on the thing. Lies were told because they didn’t want people to know about this thing. They were totally successful in smothering the thing, so nobody knew about it.
All that they did was to plot how they might kill him. That was the only reaction to Lazarus being raised from the dead.
But when this lame man was raised up, now that the rulers of the darkness in the Heavenly places over Jerusalem had been thrown down, 5,000 people turned to the Lord.
The whole city goes crazy. And in two years, this is a historic fact, in two years, the church in Jerusalem was now 20,000 strong. A third of the city had been saved in two years by a little bunch of nobodies who learned to obey the last commandment of Jesus. If we can get hold of that same principle, we’re going to do the same thing here. Amen.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.