The Cross

I really love to read familiar scriptures in The Message

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Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself.  Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree?”  That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross:  He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse.  And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too.  We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing — just the way Abraham received it.  Galatians 3:13-14

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For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ.  Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate.  Can’t you see the central issue in all this?  It is not what you and I do — submit to circumcision, reject circumcision.  It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!  Galatians 6:14-15

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Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people — free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds.  And not just barely free, either.  Abundantly free!  Ephesians 1:7

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When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God.  God brought you alive — right along with Christ!  Think of it!  All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s Cross.  He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.  Colossians 2:13-15

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He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way.  His wounds became your healing.  1 Peter 2:24