The Real Jesus Calling - Meditations On The Cross

By Peter M Newman

This book consists of fifty-two weekly devotional teachings on the purpose and power of the cross of Christ.  These meditations on God's Word are progressive, beginning with our new birth and ending with our wedding to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  Each meditation contains Scriptural references that can be used for individual or group Bible studies.  Jesus said that in the latter days a great trouble would suddenly come upon the earth like a destructive tsunami and catch the world by surprise. The Bible says this would be a time of great distress such as the world has never known. In our present time, the daily news headlines about the global pandemic pestilence and the cascading global economic collapse read like pages from the Book of Revelation. But do not fear, God our Father has given us His Son to be our spiritual shelter in this time of trouble. This is God's great promise to us, but if we do not know His Son as our hiding place, we will not experience His spiritual protection and peace during this time of great distress. We earnestly pray this book of meditations on the cross will help you find Jesus Christ as your spiritual hiding place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Newman
• Release date: Apr 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393482734

Peter M Newman

Peter M Newman is a Bible teacher and the author of the groundbreaking book, The Meaning of the Cross, and its companion book, Unveiling The Bride - The New Covenant Church.  He has worked with both traditional churches and house churches in pastoring, preaching, teaching, and evangelism and served as editor of a Christian magazine.  He and his wife have been married forty-five years and have two grown children and five grandchildren.  

Book preview

OUR NEW BIRTH

THE MIRACLE OF THE CROSS

Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you,

no one can see the kingdom of God

unless they are born again."

But how can anyone be born when he is old?

Nicodemus asked Him.  "He cannot enter his

mother’s womb a second time and be born?"

Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you,

no one can enter the kingdom of God

unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and

whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be surprised that I said,

You must be born again."

John 3:5-7

WHAT DID JESUS MEAN when He said that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God?  The Bible says when we were physically born, we were born with a sinful nature that separated us from God (Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 59:2).  Our sinful nature was like a sin factory within us, continually producing sinful attitudes and actions. This was our spiritual condition before we were born again.  We were sinners by nature and no matter how hard we tried, we could not escape the destructive effects of sin.  God’s solution to our sin problem was to get rid of the sinner, or the sin factory within us.  Since we were born into sin, the only way we could be freed from sin was through death. God’s remedy was to spiritually include us in His Son’s death in order to remove our sinful nature, so that the Spirit of His resurrected Son could live in us (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 1:27).  The Bible says, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Galatians 4:6).  This death of our sin nature was not merely symbolic.  When we were saved, God actually removed our sinful nature, which was at the core of our inner being and the root of our self-identity and rebellion toward God (Romans 6:6; Colossians 2:11).  Since our sin nature died when we were born again of God’s Spirit, we have been set free from sin’s dominion and destruction. The Bible says, Whoever has died has been freed from sin... count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:7, 11).

THUS, WHEN WE RECEIVED Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God performed what we might call a divine heart transplant.  God used His Son’s eternal sacrifice to spiritually remove our terminally sin-sick heart and replace it with His Son’s divine heart (Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 13:5).  This New Covenant divine heart transplant was foretold six centuries before Christ’s birth when the Old Testament prophets declared that God would remove our sin-hardened heart and replace it with a new spiritual heart when He put His Spirit within us (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27).  Thus God delivered us from the power of sin by removing our sin nature, so that Christ could live in us (Romans 6:7; 8:9; Galatians 2:20).  This divine heart transplant is the promise of the New Covenant, the purpose of Christ’s Atonement, and the cornerstone of God’s church. We see that God’s way to permanently deal with our chronic sinning was to remove the sinner (the sin factory) from within us and substitute Christ in its place.  This is the miracle of our new birth made possible by Jesus being willing to die in our place. Whereas we were once sinners by nature, God now calls us His saints or holy ones, who are partakers of Christ’s nature and members of His heavenly family (1 Peter 2:5 & 9). 

THE NEW TESTAMENT GREEK word used for eternal life is zoē.  Of the two kinds of life, psychē or soul-life originates from man, but only zoē-life originates from God and is divine.  This is the divine life Jesus described when He said, "I have come that they may have zoē-life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).  This is the life that John referred to when he wrote, He who has the Son has the zoē-life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the zoē-life (1 John 5:12)."  Before Jesus saved us, we did not have zoē-life.  Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no zoē-life within yourselves (John 6:53)." Consequently, our life before Christ consisted of our psychē soul-life (which we inherited from our natural parents) and our inward sinful nature (which we spiritually inherited from Adam, the first man).  However, when we were born again of God’s Spirit, we received Christ’s resurrection zoē-life into our spirit.  As Jesus said, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). In God’s divine order, everything reproduces after its own kind.  Plants reproduce plants, animals reproduce animals, and humans reproduce humans.  In the same way, just as earthly seed reproduces the image of the earthly, only heavenly seed produces the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).  According to God’s plan of redemption, Jesus Christ is the heavenly seed that reproduces His church.  Jesus said, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single seed; but if it dies, it produces much fruit (John 12:24).  Jesus spoke here of His death on the cross by which He would birth His church and bring many new-born sons and daughters into His divine glory (Hebrews 2:10).  The Bible says, For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God (1 Peter 1:23).

JESUS DID NOT HAVE a sinful nature.  He was born with a human body and soul (his will, intellect and emotions).  However, since Jesus was born of a virgin, God was His Father and He was indwelt by God’s Spirit.  Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sinful spiritual nature like we did.  This is why He was able to obey God and live a sinless life.  If Jesus had a sinful nature, even He would not have been able to overcome sin.  Now that we are born of God and indwelt by God, we no longer have a sinful nature and are capable of obeying God and not practicing sin (1 John 3:6-9).  Whereas Adam was the first born of God’s old creation of humanity, Jesus is the first born of God’s new creation of a divine race indwelt by God (Colossians 1:18).  But before God could make us His new creation in Christ, He had to first deal with the old Adam creation.  Thus God used the death of His Son to not only deal with the fruit of the old fallen creation (by forgiving our sinful deeds), but to also get rid of its root (by removing our sin nature) when we were born of His Spirit. The Bible says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old life is gone, a new life has begun (2 Corinthians 5:17).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth

into a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead."  1 Peter 1:3

WATER BAPTISM

OUR BETROTHAL

TO OUR BRIDEGROOM

"Do you not know that all of us

who were baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into His death?"

Romans 6:3

WHEN JESUS CHRIST GAVE His Great Commission, He commanded all new disciples to be water baptized.  Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Water baptism outwardly expresses the divine transformation that occurred in a believer when they were born again of the Spirit.  Through baptism, new believers declare their union with Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. Thus water baptism is the betrothal or commitment ceremony of new members of the bride of Christ to Jesus, their Bridegroom.  Our actual marriage ceremony to the Lamb of God will take place at the end of this age.  Whenever anyone was saved in the early church, they were normally water baptized the same day.  This was God’s way for new disciples to be taught that their old sinful nature had died and they were now a new creation in Christ.  Knowing you have died with Christ and no longer have a sinful nature is crucial if you want to live with Christ and become His devoted disciple and overcoming bride.  This is the spiritual lesson that God wants every Christian to learn from water baptism.

THE GREEK WORD FOR baptize is baptizo, which means to immerse.  When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says you are spiritually immersed into Christ’s death so that you might have His new resurrection life (Romans 6:3-5).  Therefore, in water baptism, there are two stages that express this truth of the gospel.  First there is a burial and then there is a resurrection. Whenever anyone was baptized in the early church, they were immersed under water, which represented the burial of their old man.  The Bible says, We have been buried with Him through baptism into death (Romans 6:4).  This burial in water baptism confirms that when we were born again, our old sin nature died.  Burial also signifies that God has removed that old man of sin from us.  Therefore, our sinful nature not only died; it can never come back to haunt us since God has taken it away.  The Bible says, "For we know our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin (our sinful nature) might be destroyed so that we would no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:6).  In this way, water baptism reveals the heart of the New Covenant.  God knew we needed forgiveness for our sins; He also knew we needed deliverance from our sin nature.  Otherwise, we would remain captives to sin.  Therefore, when Jesus Christ died, He bore not only our sins on the cross; He also bore our sin nature on the cross with Him.  The Bible says, God made Christ who had no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Since our bondage to sin came when we were born sinners; our deliverance from sin came when God included us in Christ’s death.  The Bible says, We are convinced that one died for all, therefore all died (2 Corinthians 5:14).  And since we have died with Christ, we have been freed from sin.  As Paul wrote, Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin (Romans 6:7)."

IN THE NEXT PHASE OF water baptism, we are raised in new resurrection life out of the watery grave. This demonstrates that Jesus Christ now lives in us (2 Corinthians 13:5; Romans 6:4-5).  But we must always remember our old man of sin had to be buried before we could be raised up a new man in Christ.  Before God could make us a new creation, He had to first deal with the old creation.  God had to take care of not only its fruit (our sins); He had to remove its very root (our sinful nature).  The Bible says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Thus water baptism demonstrates how God replaced our sinful nature with His holy nature by including us in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  We might consider this new birth a divine heart transplant by which God exchanged our terminally sin-sick heart with His Son’s divine heart to save us from the power of sin and certain doom.  This divine exchange is not a future promise reserved for us when we go to heaven; it is God’s present reality that He wants us to experience now if we will receive it by faith.  The intent of Christ’s crucifixion was to produce this total transformation within our inner being so we would no longer be defeated by sin but live daily in Christ’s resurrection power.  Since water baptism is for new disciples, we can mistakenly think teaching on water baptism is elementary and not for older Christians.  However, we cannot grow into Christian maturity unless we abide by faith in God’s truth that we have died with Christ and Christ is now our life (Colossians 3:3-4).  In fact, God knows it is impossible for us to live the Christian life and follow Christ in truly devoted discipleship if we do not know our old sinful nature is dead and gone.

THUS, WE CANNOT COUNT and act on the fact that we are dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11), if we do not first know (believe and act on) the truth that we have died with Christ (Romans 6:6).  This is the way faith works.  Divine revelation always precedes true works of faith.  The Bible says that Jesus Christ died for the whole world but if you do not know He died for you, you cannot be saved.  In the same way, the Bible says Christians have been freed from sin but if you do not know you have died with Christ and no longer have a sinful nature, you cannot overcome sin.  This is why instruction on the spiritual meaning of water baptism is so essential.  Each time God adds new believers to the church, they act out through baptism their inclusion in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  In this way, water baptism always reminds the church of this great emancipating provision of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.

"I have been crucified with Christ

and I no longer live but Christ lives in me,

and the life that I now live in the body,

I live by faith in the Son of God."

Galatians 2:20

THE FOUNDATION

OF THE CROSS

"According to the grace of God which was given to me,

like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,

and another is building upon it.  But each man must

be careful how he builds on it.  For no man can lay

a foundation other than the one which is laid,

which is Jesus Christ."

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

WHENEVER THE CHURCH in Corinth met, the spiritual gifts seemed to abound (1 Corinthians 1:7).  Yet, the spiritual gifts, which are received spontaneously by an act of faith, do not reflect the character of spiritual fruit, which is produced over time by an abiding faith.  The Corinthians mistakenly thought they were spiritually mature because they did not lack in the gifts.  However, the apostle Paul, who had spiritually fathered them in the Lord, rebuked the Corinthians for being worldly-minded and remaining immature infants in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).  Paul then had to instruct them once again on the foundation for their Christian life and growth.  Paul’s need to go back-to-basics with them works to our benefit since it enables us to also receive the apostle’s foundational teaching.  Paul reminded the Corinthians that the power of God and the foundation of their faith was in the message of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18).  He emphasized that the gospel he preached to them was Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23).  According to the New Testament record, what did Paul teach about the divine power of Christ’s crucifixion?  Paul taught that Christ’s death on the cross had provided believers with a divine exchange.  In other words, Jesus Christ, through His crucifixion, exchanged our sinful life with His holy life.  Christ became cursed that we might be blessed (Galatians 3:13-14).  Christ paid for our sins that we might be forgiven (Ephesians 1:7).  Christ became sin that we might become righteous in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Christ died so that we might live through Him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).  Paul’s apostolic mission was to establish the church on this divine revelation of Jesus Christ and the power of His crucifixion.  That’s why Paul declared, I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

PAUL TAUGHT THAT EVERYTHING we need to live the Christian life has been provided for us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  As Christians, we know Christ died on the cross to provide us forgiveness for our sins.  However, this is not the only divine provision given to us by Christ’s death.  For Christ’s crucifixion also provided the way for us to become members of His body (Ephesians 2:23).  This is the central purpose of the New Covenant, which was made possible by God including us in His Son’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:5).  Christ not only died for us (Romans 5:8), we also died with Him (Romans 6:8). Our sinful nature has been crucified and removed from us so we would be freed from the tyranny of sin and Christ could sovereignly live in us (Romans 6:6-7; Colossians 1:27).  In this sense, God performed a divine heart transplant by replacing our terminally sin-sick heart with His Son’s divine holy heart.  Paul sums up this all-important consequence of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion by his personal testimony: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).

THE CORINTHIANS WERE not the only ones who had to be reminded that Christ crucified is the precious foundation of our faith: of both our justification and our sanctification.  Paul had to constantly appeal to the early church that true spiritual growth could only be based on Jesus’ completed work on the cross.  Tragically, it is a common problem for Christians to not know (because of ignorance or unbelief) what Christ fully accomplished for us by His crucifixion.  That is why Paul had to regularly ask, Did I not clearly explain Jesus Christ’s crucifixion to you?  Do you not know you have been immersed into Christ’s death?  Do you not know your body is a temple of God and the Holy Spirit lives in you?  Do you not know Jesus Christ lives in you? Some might say this is the ABCs of the gospel.  Yes, it is the ABCs but it is also the XYZs.  Our faith must begin and end at the cross.  The trouble is many of us have bypassed the cross and are trying to be moral by our willpower and self-effort