The Cross in The Life and Ministry of The Believer: Making Spiritual Progress, #6

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

The final say of the author to the Church at large.

The messages found in this book feature among the last of a series of messages delivered to the people of God in Cameroon and intended for the training of leaders.

In this book, Professor Fomum presents the cross as an indispensable condition for a quality spiritual life. In short, the extent to which a believer can actually minister is proportional to the degree he/she dies to the self-life.

Furthermore, the author displays the implications of the Kingdom life on earth nowadays; he ends up making suggestions on how to lay a nation down at the feet of the Lord.

The cross is a central element in the life as well as the ministry of a believer. In a sense, the messages contained in this book represent the final say of the author to the Church at large.

May each and everyone acknowledges and really experience the cross, such that the Holy Ghost will easily have His way in our lives for the glory of the Lord.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: May 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513046587

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

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PREFACE

This book, "The Cross in the Life and Ministry of the Believer is the sixth in the series, Making Spiritual Progress." The books in this series are:

God, A Man, and Men

Spiritual Relationships

Spiritual Responsibilities

Vision, Burden, Action

The Ministers And The Ministry of The New Covenant

The Cross In The Life And Ministry Of The Believer

Knowing The God Of Unparalleled Goodness

Brokenness: The Secret Of Spiritual Overflow

The Secret Of Spiritual Rest

Making Spiritual Progress, Volume 1

Making Spiritual Progress, Volume 2

Making Spiritual Progress, Volume 3

Making Spiritual Progress, Volume 4

Moving on With The Lord Jesus Christ

The Narrow Way (Volume 1)

The messages in this book were given as the last of a series of meetings called leadership courses for the people of God in Cameroon. At the time of preparing the messages I felt that I owed it to the Lord and His people to say all that was on my heart in case it was not possible for the audience to hear me in the future. I thought I should say my last word to the Church. Here it is.

I have borrowed extensively from the thoughts of Watchman Nee in writing the message "The Cross and Our Priorities."

I believe that the Cross is central in the life and ministry of the believer. My prayer for myself and for the Body of Christ is that we may each know the Cross experientially and then the Holy Spirit will have His way unhindered in our lives to the glory of the Lord.

May the Lord use these messages for the enriching of some in His Church.

Yaounde,

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

31 st December 1984

P.O. Box 6090

Yaounde, Cameroon.

1

THE CROSS AND THE SATANIC TRINITY

GOD’S ORIGINAL PURPOSE AND THE TRAGIC BETRAYAL

God has only one answer to all that the devil did to thwart His purpose. He has but one answer to the devil, his trinity and all his manifestations. That one answer is the Cross of the Lord Jesus. Outside of the Cross God has no answer to the devil.

THE CROSS AND THE DEVIL

God had an original purpose. That purpose was that in vital fellowship with Him, man might have dominion over all of His creation. Man was created for dominion. The Bible says,

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’ (Genesis 1:26-28).

In the mind of God, man was created to have dominion. That was God’s original purpose for creating man. The dominion was to be total:

Over the fish of the sea

Over the birds of the air

Over the cattle

Over all the earth

Over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

Man was created to have dominion over all the earth and over all that is in the earth. The dominion of man was intended to be total.

God set out to accomplish that purpose. He set out to help man to be able to have total dominion over all the rest of creation. Unfortunately, sin came in. the devil tempted man and man rebelled, ceding dominion to the devil and becoming the dominated instead of the one who dominates. It was a far-reaching thing, that man who was to dominate, became the dominated. The devil was therefore exalted to the place of lordship over the world.

When Adam sinned, he carried out a tragic ceremony with far-reaching consequences. First of all, he gave away his position as the god, the lord of the earth. Secondly, he crowned the devil as the new god; lord of the world. The transaction was so complete and so real that God had to recognize the devil as the god of this world and the kingdom of this world as his own. During the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, the Bible says:

And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall be yours’ (Luke 4:5-7).

The devil said that the kingdoms of this world and their glory were his. They were so much his that he had the full liberty of giving them to anyone whom he chose. He said that they had been delivered to him. Indeed, they were delivered to him by Adam. There was a time when the devil had nothing. Adam then entered into a bargain with him and gave him everything in exchange for the right to eat the forbidden fruit. Jesus called the devil the prince of this world. He is both the king of this world and the prince of this world. The Apostle Paul called him the god of this world.

From the fall then, the devil was installed as the god of this world and he began to rule. He set out to consolidate his rulership and to make his authority be felt. He established a trinity to work out his purpose, defend his kingdom and ensure his continued rulership. That trinity was established to oppose the divine trinity of God.

The devil was to oppose the Lord Jesus.

The world was to oppose the Father.

The flesh was to oppose the Holy Spirit.

When Adam sinned and therefore handed over the earth and all that is in it to the rulership of Satan, it seemed as if all was lost permanently. God cursed the ground, gave him up to become dust, drove him out of the garden and barred the way back. It even grieved Him that He had created man.

However, God did not give up His initial purpose, which was that man should have dominion. He set out then to accomplish His original purpose. There was a problem then. The kingdoms of the world had been given over to Satan. For God to have legal right to them; there had to be a major conflict, the devil defeated, and the kingdoms taken away from the defeated Satan. This was no easy job. God needed someone to carry out this fight, defeat the devil and bring the kingdoms back to Himself.

It became necessary to name someone to fight the devil.

It became necessary to name the one battle on which everything would depend.

God named Jesus Christ, His begotten Son as the One to fight the devil.

God named a place called Golgotha and a battle called the Cross to be the battle on which everything would depend.

THE BATTLE ON THE CROSS

In order to see the battle on the Cross in its true perspective, it would be important to see how the devil set himself up as God’s rival and enemy. This is important; for the One who would challenge him, overthrow him and take the kingdoms of the earth from him must act in a way that is exactly opposite to the way by which he seduced the world.

THE DEVIL’S WAY TO AN ILLEGAL LORDSHIP

The devil’s way to the illegal lordship of the world was through:

pride,

self-will,

falsehood.

The Bible says of him:

You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, carnelian, topaz, and jasper, chrysolite, beryl, and onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald; and wrought in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created there were prepared. With an anointed guardian cherub I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and the guardian cherub drove you out from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour (Ezekiel 28:12-17).

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit (Isaiah 14:12-15).

We see in the above passages that the devil established himself through pride, arrogance, self-exaltation, the desire to be seen. His whole character was filled with:

"I will ascend…

I will set…

I will make…

Your heart was proud because of your beauty.

You corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour."

He was filled with himself. He wanted glory for himself. His pride was based on his beauty. He forgot that all that he was was bestowed on him by Another. The devil also established his kingdom through deceit, falsehood, half-truths. The Bible says that he is the father of lies. He is the deceiver.

He was anxious to establish his own will. He wanted independence from God.

He wanted autonomy. He wanted to establish his own throne.

He was not prepared to submit to the will of God.

He was not prepared to labour for the glory of Another.

So, with pride, self-will and falsehood, he established his throne.

JESUS’ WAY TO THE LEGAL THRONE

If Jesus was to win and take back for God what the devil had usurped, then He had to manifest:

Humility to the same extent to which the devil had manifested pride and beyond.

A commitment to the will of God to the same extent to which the devil had manifested a commitment to his own will and more.

Truthfulness to the same degree to which the devil had manifested falsehood.

About the humility of the Lord Jesus, the apostle Paul said:

Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (or slave), being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

A few things are immediately obvious:

Jesus was fully God and had all the right to remain God.

He surrendered His right to be God.

He emptied Himself of all that went along with His being God. It was a complete putting aside of all His rights and privileges. He emptied Himself of all. He kept nothing of all. He kept nothing back. He denied Himself.

He took the form of a slave.

He was totally obedient to the full demands, of the will of God, even unto death, like the foremost criminal.

By this, He knocked out the devil.

In addition to this, all through His life and ministry, He never sought popularity, but the will of God. He never exerted His will in independence from the will of God. He said:

My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work (John 4:34).

I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 5:30).

Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the son does likewise (John 5:19).

His commitment to the will of the Father was independent of whether that will was easy or difficult; whether it led to acceptance or rejection. He yielded to it. On the night on which He was betrayed, as Peter tried to fight for Him, He said to Peter:

Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me? (John 18:11).

And in the agony of Gethsamane, He prayed:

Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42).

Again by this total commitment to the total will of God, He knocked out the devil.

Not only did the Lord Jesus not lie, but He was the Truth itself. He spoke the truth. He lived the truth. No lie was found in Him. No pretence whatsoever was found in Him. He deceived nobody. He gave no one any false impression. He brought people face to face with stark reality. He did not withhold part of the truth in order that larger crowds might follow Him. Rather, He warned the crowds about what it would cost them if they were to come after Him. So from the point of view of being the Truth, living the truth and speaking the truth, He exposed the deceiver for what he was and knocked him out.

Even before Jesus faced the final cross, there was already a heavy record of actions and life that was the very opposite of what the devil did. The Father approved of Him on at least two occasions. At His baptism in the Jordan, the Father was so overwhelmed with the Son’s obedience that He spoke:

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

And at the transfiguration the Father spoke, saying:

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him (Matthew 17:5).

But Jesus did not stop short of the cross. He carried His own cross all the way to the place where, in submission to the will of God, He allowed Himself to be crucified and thus became obedient unto death on a cross.

As He hung there on the cross, the battle with the devil moved into its final stages. As He was mocked, saying:

He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One! (Luke 23:35).

He bore it all without complaining. As He saw His crucifiers, instead of asking that they receive their due, He prayed that they might be forgiven. As He saw His mother now at the brink of losing her son, instead of thinking about His own agony, He provided for her by asking her to go with the disciple John. Even when the Father abandoned Him because He was bearing all the iniquity of all humanity: past, present, and future, He pressed on, in the path of self-abandonment and obedience and, when He had fully satisfied the heart of God and rendered the last bit of obedience that was required, He announced triumphantly, It is finished, and after that there was no need to live any more as His life’s work was accomplished and He therefore said:

Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit! (Luke 23:46).

It is finished!!!

From the cross the Lord Jesus said, It is finished! What was finished? Many things were finished, but the principal one was the legal right of the devil over the kingdoms of this world and over all that is in the world. The devil was given a total blow; a deadly wound. His power was broken. He was conquered. The kingdoms which were in his possession could now change hands.

He, the devil, being the strong man of the house, was bound and, therefore, his house could be plundered and his captives set free.

In talking of the cross and what happened to the devil and his hosts, the Bible says:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15).

And you, who were dead in trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him (Colossians 2:13-15).

The power of Satan was broken on the cross.

The authority of Satan was broken on the cross.

The kingdoms of Satan received a smashing blow on the cross.

The kingdom of Satan received a knock by the death of Jesus that has rendered it impossible to ever cohere.

In union with Christ Jesus anyone can experience victory over the conquered foe. Satan has lost his legal right over:

men,

the earth,

the things on earth.

Jesus has bound the strong man of the house. Believers do not need to fear the devil. They should exercise their authority over him.

The devil not annihilated!!!

The power of Satan was broken on the cross. He was cast out of his place of authority over men and over the world. Nevertheless, he was not annihilated. He never will be annihilated. At the end