Pastor Matthew Peters,
High Prairie Bethel Baptist Church.
This is my first article in this newspaper. Therefore, I intend to bring to you the message that is of “first importance; that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
People say this all the time.
“Jesus died for our sin.”
What does that mean? I always wondered. It means that God is a Righteous Judge. Being such, He must punish sin wherever it is found.
That’s the problem. “For all have sinned.” (Romans 3:23)
That is an absolute statement. And you cannot hide behind the “all” thinking that you can get lost in the crowd. Or with the thought, “Well at least I’m not as bad as some people.”
All have sinned (lied, stolen, lusted, murdered in their heart, envious, worshipping false gods like money and sex) and therefore all must be judged.
“But God is love,” someone might say. Precisely. That is why He will not let one sin go unpunished. It is a loving and righteous judge that punishes the murderer of your family member.
All of us cry for justice when we are sinned against. When the finger is pointed at us however, we are quick to point out “don’t judge.”
Yet, you must let God judge you now. Otherwise, He will judge you when you stand before Him on the day of judgement. You must accept this truth, “I am a sinner and deserve God’s righteous judgement.” Otherwise, you can never understand or appreciate what He has done.
“Christ died for our sins.” What does that mean? It means that He was judged as guilty, for your sins.
“The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Meaning that when you sin, it is like you are accumulating sin in the same way you accumulate hours at work. The difference is, God will pay you, not with money, but with death.
Here it says, “Christ died.” Yet Scripture says, “He knew no sin.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That means He had no acquaintance with sin. He never committed it. Yet He died. The wages of sin are death, yet He had no sin, so He had nothing to pay. Why did He then die? Because He was paying for your sin. What did that cost Him? “It was the will of the Lord to crush [Jesus].” (Isaiah 53:10)
Does God hate sin? When Jesus was carrying it, God crushed Him.
What will He do with you? But that is the good news. He died for your sin. That means, it is paid for. God is satisfied.
How do you know? “He rose again on the third day.” He paid sins penalty, died, and God accepted that because three days later, He rose from the dead. The apostle says, 500 people saw Him at one time after He was resurrected. When you realize you are sinful, this is good news!
Does that mean that God will punish no one because Jesus paid it all? No, because there is a condition.
“Repent and believe.” Believe is often easily accepted. People will say, “I believe in Jesus.” But are you repentant? That word means literally to “turn.” You love your sin, but then you realize how God thinks about it and how He treated Jesus when Jesus carried it.
If you truly believe, you will turn away from that sin to God. You will look to Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. He is the new captain of your life. And it is a wonderful thing because He paid a penalty you could never pay and extinguished God’s wrath that He could be kind to you.
The Righteous Judge shows us the extent of His love. It is sacrificial to the highest degree.
“He gave us His Son that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9)
Now we understand what this verse means: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
He did not have to do this. He did this because He truly is love. Do you believe? Have you turned? Do you hate the sin that put Jesus on the cross?
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
He does not just forgive our sin. He cleanses us from sin. Meaning He begins to clean up your life. He changes you.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Recognize God will punish your sins. Let that drive you to Jesus so that you receive His payment for that sin and the gift of eternal life. Recognize the extent to which God has gone to show His love. Do not scorn it by saying “I believe” while willfully continuing to commit the very sin that Jesus suffered so much to satisfy. It has been given as a gift. God offers it freely. You cannot ever please God except by trusting that God sent Jesus to pay for your sin and that He rose from the dead and defeated death. That faith must be demonstrated by turning from the things that God hates.
If you are reading this, you cannot disregard it without consequence.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)
Either His wrath is satisfied by Christ, or it remains on you, waiting to be satisfied when you die.
And the price of that is unspeakable, eternal condemnation in hell.
Repent and believe the Gospel!