FirstUpdate | April 23, 2021

In the second message to the sermon series, “The Pathway to Pentecost,” titled “Entrance Approved,” we learned about the incredible love that God has for mankind—you and me! The Apostle Paul’s prayer to the church of Ephesus describes this inconceivable love through knowing “the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Here is a probing question that we considered in the message, “Have you ever had a good relationship go bad?” In addition to this question, “Have you ever invested passion and intensity and enthusiasm and creativity in someone who failed to reciprocate it? Have you ever loved someone with all your soul who turned you away for another lover?"

Then you know the grief that emerges from the lover’s heart when love is not reciprocated. You know the mourning it produces is often even greater mourning that can be experienced upon the death of someone who loved us while they lived. The death of a romantic heart is so painful, bleeding, and degrading that it often requires therapy to overcome the sense of rejection. That represents something of the heart of God as expressed in Genesis chapter 3 with the fall of man. It is easy to see the divorce papers being finalized as God annuls the relationship He had with Adam and Eve. What was lost?

Gone are the fellowship and the intermingling of the divine and the man.
Gone is the Garden of Eden that God so meticulously orchestrated for man to live in forever.
Gone are the delight and intimacy of love.
Gone was the opportunity to hear the voice of the Lord walking through the cool of the Garden.
Gone are the praises and worship, and passion that should have existed in the eye of His adoration.
Gone was the daily communion between them and God.

When God had called out to Adam, “Where are You?” He found His beloved in the arms of the serpent, Satan. The betrayal was too much for the relationship to sustain. In their rejection, God looked at fallen Adam and Eve and said, “Get out! Take your stuff and GO!" The divine Lawyer signed the paper, the love affair broke down, and they were no longer on speaking terms. Adam and Eve, ashamed to look back, walked away from eternal life to eternal loss, trying to fill the void that love left with things that do not satisfy.

So, what was the answer to the circumstance of a broken relationship between God and mankind? It was the Cross that the Lord Jesus took upon Himself! The Cross is the hinge of Salvation and fellowship with God. The Cross makes the door open so we can have entrance to God. If there is no Cross, there is no hinge. If there is no hinge, there is no door. Without a door, there is not an entrance. The Cross is the place where mercy and truth meet together. The Cross is the place where sinners come to the Savior. The cross is the place where the lost find their way. The Cross is the place where the spiritually blind receive their sight. We don’t need to go to the priest to find forgiveness for our sins, because God Has opened up the door of forgiveness. Jesus is the door to salvation, and He invites you to come and dine with Him for all eternity!

In closing, the message for this Sunday is titled, “The Cross—Jesus Paid it All” from Ephesians 2:8-9.“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The Pathway to Pentecost!