The Cross

I am a sinner! I lived in sin all of my life. Those who know me know about my sinful state before I trusted Jesus 3 and a half years ago. No I never murdered anybody but just the smallest sin makes you a sinner and like the Apostle Paul, in my head, I am the "chiefest of sinners".

Although I am forgiven and have salvation, I still have to answer for the things that I did while I was here on earth. I have to give an account for my sins. One day we will all bow down to the King of kings.

I deserve to be crucified for my sins, but Jesus took that agonizing death upon himself because He loves me.

Crucifixion was the worst way to execute someone during Jesus' time. It was so terrible that a Roman citizen was exempt from such a death.

Jesus was beaten before being hung on the cross. Pieces of flesh were missing from his body and he lost a lot of blood as He carried His own cross to where the crucifixion took place.

Jesus died for sinners. He took the penalty that we deserved. He was beaten and nailed to a cross so that I would be forgiven.

You see, God is righteous and cannot sin, so he must punish all sins including those made out of ommision. But God in His righteousness gave us a way out. Instead of feeding the fires in hell with our souls, He sent his Son to die for us so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.

The punishment that Jesus took on Himself was meant for me. That is what I deserve but Jesus went in my place.

The good news is that because of what Jesus did on the cross I have hope. Hope in this life and beyond.

"It is finished" John 19:30


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sin

Sin is within us, it is our natural tendency to sin. Through one man, sin entered the world (Rom 5:12). Adam was created in the image of God, innocent and righteous. Then he fell from righteousness into sinfulness. As a result, sin entered the world, and since we are born in the image of Adam, we have his sinfulness. You see, as a baby we did not learn selfishness, greed, envy, and jealousy, among other things, but yet at an early age we expressed these characteristics.

What is sin? Sin is the transgression of God's law. There are two types of sin. Those of commision and ommision. Those of ommision make us just as guilty as those of commision. Being ignorant of the sins of ommision in your life does not make you innocent (Lev 4:1-35, 5:14-19, Num 15:25-29). Jesus said that a servant who does not know his master's will and does not do his will is not excused because of his ignorance but he deserves punishment (Luke 12:48).

Our God is perfect and cannot look upon sin. So the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) and God's son, Jesus Christ, paid that price with His life. God is an eternal being who created the universe and all that is in it. He keeps the planets perfectly aligned and we are weak evil creatures who have no way of knowing the true weight of sin that Jesus carried to the cross. We have no way to fathom the hideousness of our evil sin in the sight of God.

Man has always downplayed his sin. Thinking that some sins are small and others are big like there are different levels of sin. Sin is sin and all are equally evil. Some say, "I'm not hurting anyone", or "surely God won't send me to hell for something this small" or "everyone else is doing it". Sin is sin and its a deadly enemy, yet rarely does it present itself as such." The forbidden fruit seemed good and desirable to Eve; yet it cast her out of Eden" (Holiness).

We must humble ourselves in front of the throne of grace and come to a realization that we are sinners. We are "corrupt creatures in the sight of God" (Holiness). A Scriptural view of sin draws us closer to Christ. It shines a light into our, dark sin-filled, hearts so that by it we may see that we are in need of a Savior.

Sin is still ever present in our hearts even after we give ourselves to Jesus Christ. Even after we have been born again- even after we have been washed, sanctified, and justified- the roots of sin cleave to our hearts. Like leprosy it never goes away. Having the correct (Scriptural) view of sin enables us not only to come closer to Christ but to have control over the sin in our lives. Having control over sin means that sin will no longer have dominion in our lives and we can live a life of victory with the help of the Holy Spirit.

There is something wrong with Christianity today. Many people call themselves Christians, but the majority do not fit the Scriptural description of a Christian. The fix to this problem is a Scriptural view of sin. People will not be convicted, and take God's Word seriously, until they feel that they are in danger of hell.

"God be merciful to me a sinner" Luke 18:13

Sickness

There are those who say that, "they refuse to worship a God who is a control freak.  A God who created us just to worship him has to be a control freak and if you don't worship Him then He will punish you."

God created us to be His "friend," to walk with Him in the "garden of Eden."  The "garden of Eden" represents Heaven.  Adam and Eve messed that up and now we have a continuous tug in our hearts towards something better than what we have here on earth.  We weren't created just to worship Him, that is what the Cherubims do.  Abraham was called the "friend of God" by God (Jas 2:23) because he obeyed God.  He still doubted, but when it came time to obey, he did.

Now in Luke 4:38-39 Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon's (Peter) house.  When He saw that Simon's mother-in-law was sick with fever He touched her and the fever left that instant that He touched her.  Then it says that "she immediately got up and waited on them." (NASB)

You see, just like the woman, we are in sickness.  The sickness of sin.  And just like the woman, we don't like being sick.  You know, sore throat, sneezing, burning watery eyes, stuffed nose, sinus headache, can't sleep, feeling worse than a wet dog.  What a terrible feeling to be in "bed" with sin making us sick.  Some of you might say, "There are a lot of sinners that are very happy!"  Are they?!  I think that if I were to ask those sinners if they were happy the answer would be no.  I believe that beneath the surface they are crying out for something better.  And that leaves them feeling yucky. The cure for the sickness is Jesus Christ.  Just like when Jesus touched the woman and the fever left her instantly, so it will be if you honestly and truly repent of your sins.  When you no longer feel sick but have joy in your heart, isn't that worth worshiping, or as the passage says, waiting on the one who makes it possible?