My Loss to His Cross

“But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:15-19)

Good Friday. Here we are. Yesterday we commemorated the evening when Jesus and His disciples celebrated what we know as the Last Supper, after which they repaired to the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders. He was, subsequently, arrested and has spent the entire night in the hands of the Roman soldiers, where He was stripped, beaten, and mocked. This morning His struggle comes to an end – a very painful end – as He is crucified. As we now know, this all was done in fulfillment of scripture. More importantly, it was done in obedience to the will of God that we might, through His substitutionary death for us, receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Paul, in his very legalistic writing in our passage, is explaining the full transference of our sins over onto the Lamb of God Who was slain before the foundation of the world. One man (Adam) brought the curse upon all mankind to follow by his act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. God was not caught off-guard by this act. In fact, He had already made provision for man’s fall by choosing His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the true sacrifice that would gain for us redemption. Jesus is often referred to as the Second Adam because of this teaching.

There are many, many more eloquent teachers available to speak to the suffering of Christ during this (literal) trial. He has been passed back and forth between the Roman governors, has been mocked and tortured at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and has been deserted by His followers. He is going through all of this (humanly) alone. Of course, our Father in heaven was still with Him at this point, but from a strictly human standpoint, He faced all of this by Himself. One of the disciples that remained even remotely close was Peter; yet, we even see him deny Christ three times (as he had been warned) before sunrise. There is one haunting verse that relates to this denial found in Luke 22:61: “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." The Bible tells us that Peter departed, went out, and cried bitterly. Later we read that John stood at the foot of the cross as Jesus died. For you. And me.

The one lesson I want to pull out of this teaching today is simply this: nothing you have done or could do is going to shock God. Many are afraid that they have gone too far, have done too much, and are beyond salvation. Maybe that is you today. I can assure you from personal experience that is simply not true. David wrote (back in Psalms 139:7): “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” He goes on to answer his own rhetorical question by saying (in modern language) “nowhere.” No matter where you find yourself right now, God is right there beside you. He is simply waiting for you to call out to Him and ask for His salvation – His help. As long as you feel the pulling or aching in your heart (like you have gone too far but wish you hadn’t – or done too much and wish you could change it) there is hope. That desire you have to go back and change things, to do things differently, is God’s Holy Spirit drawing you to the only One Who can help you.

Let me quickly add this, though. God is not a chump. He will not be played. He is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card that you can just pull out of your hat when you’re in trouble. He will pull you through if you are serious about changing. There may still be circumstances and punishment or retribution for your past actions; however, He has promised to walk through them with you. You will never be alone again. It may be that you are in an abusive relationship and listening to this message. You may be sleeping in the park and homeless tonight listening to this on your phone. You may be sleeping in a canopy bed inside a mansion and feeling lost and alone. Wherever you are, wherever this message comes to you, you don’t have to be alone anymore. You don’t have to feel unloved anymore. You don’t have to struggle to survive anymore. Jesus bore our losses on His cross that we might be the children of God. He has no step-children, either. He adopts you as His own. Through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross.

I have seen all kinds come into the family of God. I have known murderers, rapists, child molesters, thieves, liars, prostitutes, and even “good” people – all who felt as you do right now. They were afraid to reach out to a church because of the guilt and shame, or the condemnation they had suffered at the hands of “religious” people in the past. That may be you. I promise you that Jesus loves you. He didn’t come into this world to condemn it but to save it. You were made in the image of God Himself. He formed you in your mother’s womb. He knows all about you. In fact, He knew about you before He even formed the world and the universes. He loved you then and He loves you now. He has already taken the punishment you fear from God when He died on the cross for you. Come to Him now. That is the purpose of this Easter season. This weekend. This day. Come now.

Be blessed.