Now you see you've got to understand that our whole culture, including much of the church culture, is filled with self-centred, self-advancing, self-promoting agendas. Now we've got to come to a decision that this is not biblical Christianity, that if it has no cross in it anywhere, and just a historical cross of Jesus, something is missing in the core of the message. The cross is the power of God to salvation, so when I yield at the cross, that's when God's power is released to me. So what are some things that we can yield, and let go at the cross?
Now I'm not going to look all these verses up, I'll just give them to you to have a think about, but the Bible says that Jesus was crucified on the tree. In the Bible there are exactly seven references to what's called an oak tree. The word oak or terrapin means to be strong, strength, to have strength, to be mighty. So I went through the Bible and I began to look at every reference to an oak tree in the Old Testament, and when they referred to the oak tree, usually something happened at the oak tree. The oak tree is quite a picture prophetically for us of the cross. It's the tree where our will intersects with the will of God, and we yield, and things leave our life, and we receive something from God. The core of it is I must trust if I let go, God will fill me up. If I yield to Him, He will supply for me. If I surrender to Him, He will give to me. It's an issue of trust, so here's a few of the things. I want to throw them all out for you and I'll just list them and then we'll finish up this message.
Okay, here's number one. Number one, in Genesis 35, Verse 4; the first mention of the oak tree was the place where idols were buried. An idol is a substitute for God, so one of the things that the cross does is, it's the place where we make a decision to let go the substitutes for God. If your career is a substitute for God, you need to come and put this thing before the cross. I remember I used to love old cars. Man, I was into V8s big time - I still love them. I turn my head every time I hear a V8. I love V8s. I love it, it's still in me - I'm a petrol head see, and I love it, but there was a time and I had an old V8, 1934 V8. Boy, it was a great beast, but it was a beast, and God said it's actually an idol.
He said you've got to deal with your idol, because at this season in your life, this is not going to help you in your serving Me, nor in your marriage, nor your family, nor your finances. It needs to go - so I had to bury the idol, and it just meant going to the cross. It meant kneeling down, saying God, I'm so sorry I've let this be the substitute for You. Lord, I embrace Your plan for my life, I release it and let it go. I said God if You, you know, You just bring someone in. I'm not even going to try to sell, just bring someone to me. Within four days someone walked in and said I heard you've got a '34 Ford V8, can I buy it? I said yes, you can, one condition. Everything I got with it goes. Oh really? So yes, throw out a price. He threw out a price, it's gone, and it was just like that. I never regretted it, but there's a place of burying idols, things that have got in our heart, that are substitutes for God.
In Genesis 35, Verse 8, the cross is also the place of grieving over disappointments and losses. The world is full of disappointment, and loss, and broken dreams, and shattered expectations, and there's a real pain. When you have pain in your heart from those things, you have to come to the cross. It takes something from you to admit that I'm hurt, and broken, and grieving, and in pain. It actually crosses our world, because we really want to look good, but when you come to the cross, it really deals a blow to self to just say God, actually I'm hurt, I'm broken, I'm grieving, I feel deeply disappointed, and release those disappointments at the cross, weep them out and receive His joy, His strength as a replacement.
The third thing about the oak tree is in 1 Chronicles 10, Verse 12. It was where Saul was buried, and Saul had great potential but he failed because he just followed his own will, his own way. He just did what he wanted to do, so the cross is also the place to bury our failures. We all have failures, but if you don't deal with your failures, then they just continue to remain a source of eroding confidence and strength in you. We need to take our failures to the Lord, so we come to the cross and admit, actually I really blew it. It's really hard to say I'm sorry sometimes. It comes against your self will. It comes against your pride, but that's what the cross is about. I come and say Jesus, I'm so sorry I have failed, I really blew it. I really said things I shouldn't have said. I was acting hasty Lord, and I bring and bury my failures at the cross. He'll never bring them up again if I bring them at the cross. The cross is core to success in the kingdom.