The greatest event that has ever taken place in the history of
mankind is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As one
well-known writer put it, “The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the
great truth around which all other truths cluster. In order to be rightly understood and
appreciated, every truth in the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied
in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary.” (Gospel Workers,
Ellen G. White, p. 315.)
The cross of Christ and the events surrounding it are recorded
for us in the first four books of the New Testament, known as the gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. Approximately one third of these writings are concentrated on what
is called the passion week.
The preaching of the cross was also the central message of the
New Testament. Listen to what the great apostle Paul had to say about the cross of Christ:
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17, 18; see also 2:2)
Please note that to Paul the preaching of the gospel is synonymous
to the preaching of the cross; and it is the cross of Christ that is the power of God unto
salvation. No wonder Paul refuses to glory or boast in anything else but the cross of
Christ. (Gal. 6:14) This being the emphasis of the New Testament writers, we must likewise
put as much emphasis on the cross of Christ as they did.
Since the birth of the Christian Church there have been several
views or theories presented to Christianity concerning the atonement or the cross of
Christ. Accordingly, we have the substitution theory, the satisfaction theory, the ransom
theory, the moral influence theory, the governmental theory, and so on; each claiming to
be the truth concerning the cross of Christ. But the cross is too big an event to fit into
any one theory. All these theories have an element of truth. However, some of these
theories become heretical not because of what they teach but what they deny. A good
example is the moral influence theory, which denies the legal or forensic necessity of
the atonement.
To appreciate the full significance of the cross of Christ, we will
divide our study of this crucial and vital topic into three chapters. In these three
chapters we will look at the cross from three different angles, each of them extremely
important to us as Christians. In this first chapter we will look at how the crucifixion
of Christ exposed Satan as a murderer and how it reveals to us the true character of sin;
that even the smallest sin, at its very core, is crucifying Christ.
In the second chapter we will look at the cross in terms of what
Paul said in Romans. 5:8—how it demonstrated the unconditional and self-emptying
love of God. The third chapter will deal with the cross as the power of God unto
salvation; how it redeemed humanity, not only from our sins (plural, i.e., our acts of
sin which condemn us), but also from sin (singular, i.e., the law or principle of sin in
our members).
Finally, after we have taken a good look at the cross of Christ,
we will consider the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ does not only play an
important part in our redemption but is also the source of our blessed hope as Christians.
It is the greatest proof that Christ has conquered sin and the grave, both of which are
crucial to our salvation.
As mentioned above, in this chapter we will turn to the cross of
Christ and look at how it demonstrated, revealed, and exposed Satan as a murderer, and at
the same time how it reveals to us the true nature of sin. In John 8:40-44, Jesus made a
statement to the Jews. He said: “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do.” By this He simply meant that, “You are controlled by
the devil and his desire you will perform.” Then Jesus added, “He was a murderer
from the beginning.”
The question we must ask ourselves is what did Jesus mean by,
“He was a murderer from the beginning.” In order that we come to grips with
the full import of this statement, we must answer two further questions: 1. Who did Satan
murder? 2. What did Jesus mean by the word “beginning”? Did He mean from the
time Lucifer was created or from the time Lucifer became Satan?
Before we can answer these questions we first need to define the
word murder. To human beings murder is the act of killing somebody. But in God’s
eyes murder begins with a cherished desire or unwarranted hatred, as shown in the
Sermon on the Mount. Jesus made it clear, if you are angry with somebody without a cause,
or if you hate somebody without a reason, you have already committed murder in your heart.
(Matt. 5:21, 22) So, according to God’s law, murder doesn’t have to be an act.
Murder is a cherished hatred against somebody else.
With this in mind, turn to Ezek. 28:15. In verse 14, Lucifer is
described as “the anointed cherub.” In this chapter, the fall of Satan is
linked with the fall of Babylon, because Babylon represents Satan’s kingdom. In
verse fifteen we read these words concerning the anointed cherub, which is Lucifer:
“Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity
was found in thee.” Now the Hebrew word, “iniquity” means
“crooked” and when applied spiritually means “to be bent towards
self.” Sometime in the history of Lucifer his mind became perverted. Instead of
his love going toward God and toward his fellow angels it made a U-turn towards
himself.
In Isaiah 14:12-14, the prophet Isaiah describes to us what was
the essence of that iniquity. Summarizing these verses, this is in effect what Lucifer
said in his heart, “I am going to get rid of God and take His place.”
Now you cannot take the place of God unless you first get rid of
God. It is in this sense Lucifer, turned Satan, was a murderer from the beginning. I
remember when we were in the mission field it was quite an experience traveling by taxi.
Taxies here in the United States give individual service, but in some countries taxies
are more like mini buses and they can squeeze more people into one taxi than you can
imagine.
For example, if the middle seat can accommodate three people
comfortably, they will squeeze in nine people. They put three people on the seat and
three people on top of them and three more people on top of them and that’s a full
seat. I remember one day traveling in one of these taxies and we were packed. Being the
top person, it was not too bad in terms of no weight on me, but I could not sit properly
because of the number of people and my head kept hitting the roof every time we hit a
bump. As the taxi driver sped along, there was a person who wanted a ride and the taxi
stopped. I said to the driver, “There is no room.” The driver replied,
“Move closer, we will make room.”
Now Satan did not say to God, “Move, I want a place with
you.” That is not what Satan desired. He desired to get rid of God that he could
have His place instead. It is because of coveting the place of God in his heart that
Lucifer, turned Satan, desired to murder God.
Addressing the Jews, who were victims of Satan, Jesus one day
told a parable, recorded in Matthew 21. In this parable there was a man who had a
vineyard and he went off to a far country. He left his vineyard in the care of his
servants. Every year he would send a man to collect the profits. Each time the person
he sent was either stoned or kicked out, and so the owner got nothing.
Finally the owner said, “I will send my son. At least they
will respect him.” But, as it turned out, they did the very opposite. Instead they
said, “We will get rid of him. Then we can take all that he will inherit for
ourselves.” So they decided to kill the son. Jesus, of course, was talking about
Himself and the Jews. Remember that the Jews were to do the lust of Satan. Satan wanted
the place of God. He had never told anybody this. That would be foolish. What he probably
told the angels was, “If I was in the place of God I would make life wonderful for
you. You can have anything you like, enjoy anything you want without any restrictions.
You can eat, drink, and be merry.”
Unfortunately, one-third of the angels fell for his lies. Satan
thought that was enough to begin a revolution. Then the first war took place in heaven
and is described in Revelation 12:7-9. If you read this passage in Rev. 12, you will
discover that Lucifer, or Satan, was defeated in that war. But God did not destroy him
at that time, for the simple reason that nobody knew what was in the heart of Satan.
The only means by which God could expose Satan was to let him have his own way.
So, instead, God cast him out of heaven. Following this incident,
Satan came to this world and deceived Eve, and through Eve he brought about the fall of
Adam. Since God gave our first parents dominion of the world (Psalms 8:4-8), by defeating
Adam and Eve Satan gained control of this whole world. Satan then established his kingdom
here on earth, under his own system, the system of self.
Everything, therefore, in this fallen world is based on three
fundamental drives found in 1 John 2:15,16, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life.” Underlying these three basic drives of sinful man is
the principle of self, the very essence of Satan’s kingdom.
But one day, many centuries later, Satan heard some beautiful
singing. It was, “Glory to God and peace to men on earth.” (Luke 2:14) The
Son of God, his bitter enemy, had come to this world to redeem the human race from his
hands. In response, Satan said, “I am not going to wait till you grow up.”
Satan doesn’t believe in fair play. “I’m going to get you the first
chance I have.”
Recorded in the New Testament are many incidents of how
Satan’s many attempts to kill Christ failed. The first attempt recorded was the
destruction of the babies in Bethlehem by Herod’s army. Herod the great was a
victim of Satan who was simply using him as a tool. This familiar story, as we all
know, ended in failure as far as getting rid of Christ. Incidentally, all of Satan’s
agents are “great.” That is what he promises, “If you follow me, I will
make you great.” But remember, he is a liar. What he really desires is that by
following him you will join him in the lake of fire.
We read this in Matthew 25:41. Christ will say to the those who
took Satan’s side, the unbelievers: “Depart from me into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.” The eternal fire was not prepared for
mankind but Satan has deceived many. They believed him, chose his way, and now will
have to join him. I hope nobody reading this is in that condition.
In Luke 4:9-17 we have recorded another attempt of Satan to
murder Christ. It is in connection with the temptations of Christ in the wilderness.
In one of them the devil took Christ to the top of the temple tower. He said, “It
is wonderfully high here. Why don’t you jump?” That was one way of getting
rid of Him. That is what Satan had in mind but he failed again.
Again, in John 10:31-59, we see how the devil used the Jews to
try to stone Jesus to death. The word “again” in this passage indicates that
this was not the first time he tried it. As we read these verses we will discover that
Satan failed again. We must ask ourselves why. Why did Satan fail? Here are two texts
that will help us realize why all these attempts of Satan failed. The first one is in
John 7:30, which records one of the instances where Satan tried to destroy Jesus through
human beings. “Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, [John
tells us why] because His hour was not yet come.”
Keep that in mind because God is sovereign and nobody ever
touches us if our hour has not yet come. In chapter eight, verse twenty we find the
second text: “These words spake Jesus in the treasury as He taught in the temple:
and no man laid hands on Him; for his hour was not yet come.” In other words, God
would not allow anyone to touch Him until His hour was come. His hour did come in
Gethsemane.
In Luke 22:53, when Jesus was in Gethsemane, the priests brought
the soldiers and they took Jesus captive as if He was a criminal. Listen to what Jesus
tells them: “When I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands
against me: [we know why—his hour had not yet come] but this is your hour, and the
power of darkness.”
This “power of darkness” is Satan. In other words,
God said to His Son at Gethsemane, “Son, I am going to remove my protection from
you and let Satan do with you what he wanted to do to us from the beginning.” This
was the only way that God could expose the secrets of the hidden heart of Satan to the
universe.
On one occasion, we had a problem in the mission field that
clearly illustrates the exposure of Satan’s heart. Some of our workers had turned
against the denomination over the policy book. They had taken us to court and we were
facing some serious problems. Two of them were ministers and their credentials were
removed. Naturally, they lost their jobs. They went back to their homeland and one of
them told the church members in his home area that he was mistreated by the brethren.
He spread all kinds of terrible lies about the brethren. Having
convinced the church members, he turned them against the leadership of the church. They
stopped sending their tithe and offerings. They said, “We will now be an independent
Church.”
But some of the elders and leaders of that church insisted,
“Before we do that, let’s be fair and give the brethren a chance.” So
they wrote to the union office and said, “We want the president to come here and
explain to us why they removed the credentials of this man.”
The president came to me and said, “You know the language
and the people. Can you join me?” I said, “Yes.” What we did not know
is that some of the members, who were sympathetic towards the defrocked minister, had
gathered a whole pile of stones to stone us with after they had caused a stir among the
rest of the members. However, we had a president who was very meticulous and very
deliberate about explaining the events that took place. Some sympathizers who were
in the back tried to stir up the members but this president wouldn’t allow it
and continued in his slow and deliberate way, saying, “Wait a minute, I am not
finished.” When it was all over they had failed to stir the people to throw the
stones at us. Instead they said, “We will evaluate what you have told us and we
will make a decision.”
So we went back home in one piece. Soon after the church board
had a committee meeting and they decided that they should at least write a letter of
appreciation for our coming there. They wrote a very nice letter thanking us for coming.
They gave it to the pastor and said, “Please take this to the union president.”
They were located about a hundred and fifty miles away from the union office and the
postal system was not very good at that time.
The pastor was a friend of the defrocked minister and told him
of the letter. He in turn said, “What did the board write?” It so happened
that the pastor was not present at this board meeting and therefore did not know the
contents of the letter. So they took the letter and, by placing it over a steaming
kettle, opened it up to see what the contents were. They were unhappy to discover it
was such a nice letter. So they rewrote the letter, making terrible statements about
the brethren, and forged the six signatures of the officers of the church. They sealed
it and the pastor brought this letter to the president.
The president was very hurt that they would write such nasty
things after he had gone out of his way to show them the problem. He showed the letter
to one of the men from the union office, who belonged to the same area where this church
was. He naturally was upset that his people would write such a letter. He got into his
car and drove all the way, one hundred fifty miles, to the head elder’s house and
placed the letter on his table, and demanded, “What’s the meaning of this
letter?”
The head elder was surprised at that remark. “I thought
we wrote a nice letter,” he said. The union man replied, “Really, do you call
this nice?” The head elder read the letter and you can imagine his horror. He
said, “These men are of the devil. They are liars. They have written this letter
and forged our signatures.” Their pastor and his defrocked friend were exposed
now. The union president did not have to convince the church any more why they had
fired this minister.
In the same way, the cross has exposed Satan. No longer does
anyone in the universe, the heavenly angels or the unfallen worlds, have any more
sympathy with Satan; because on the cross he revealed his true heart. He’s a
murderer of God. Satan had kept his hatred for God so long hidden in his heart that
when the opportunity was given him he could not help himself but, through the Jews,
did what he really intended from the time iniquity entered his mind. Thus, that which
was hidden in his heart was now brought out in the open.
With regards to Satan using the Jews, a very important truth
to remember is found in 1 John 5:19. There John divides the human race into two camps.
John says the believers belong to God but the rest of the world, the human race,
“are all under the evil one.” The KJV says “under wickedness”; the
Greek actually says “under the wicked one” or “the evil one.” What
John is telling us is that there is no human being that is truly independent. Either
you are controlled by God or you are controlled by Satan. These are the two forces
that are in our world.
It was because the Jews rejected Christ that they came under
the power of the evil one. They listened to his deception and his lies and they rejected
the Messiah. Now Satan was going to use them.
When he discovered that the Father had removed His protection
from His Son by hearing the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 22:53, he said to himself,
“I am not just going to kill you. I am going to give you the worst kind of death
that has ever been invented in this world—crucifixion.”
You need to read some of the Roman historians’ accounts
of the cross. It’s the worst kind of death ever invented by men. It is not only
a very shameful, but also a very slow, painful, lingering death. Some years ago a BBC
commentator wrote a book on the cross of Christ from the Roman point of view. The
book, Watch With Me, gave a most graphic description of Roman crucifixion.
It is hard to imagine how men could stoop so low in their inhumanity to their fellow
men.
Books by the historians Cicero and Celsus also describe the
cross to us. In reading their accounts of the cross, it is amazing that anyone could
go through it. It takes between three to seven days to die on the cross. Gangrene is
formed in your hands and your feet where the rusty nails have pierced. You have
splitting migraine headaches. Every joint of your body feels torn apart and the pain
is excruciating. You have cramps everywhere. In the night you are exposed to the cold
and in the daytime you are exposed to the heat, and you were always crucified naked.
So when our wonderful artists put a loin cloth around Christ they are being kind. I
believe Christ was crucified naked, too, because that was the custom. And behind all
of this was Satan.
As Christians we must remember that we belong to Christ. We are
citizens of heaven but still living in enemy territory, a territory where Satan has much
control, even though he’s a defeated foe. There are five important lessons that we
Christians can learn from this truth that exposed Satan and sin. Here are the lessons:
(1) The hatred that Satan and the world manifested against
Christ on the cross will be repeated when the world sees Christ manifested in us. This
hatred, instigated by Satan, will be projected on the Christian who is living for Christ.
In John 15:18,19 Jesus says to his disciples: “If the world hates you, know that
it hated me before it hated you.” Christians are part of Christ. If the world hates
Christ, it will hate us. Verse nineteen goes on to say: “If you were of the world
the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Remember that Christ went
about doing good. There was no reason for them to hate Him. Yet the hatred that was
revealed at the cross against Him was unbelievable. The same will be true of every
genuine Christian.
Now you may say, “But the world doesn’t hate us
today,” and that is true. We have no real persecution in America or much of the
western world. The world around us—the unbelievers—don’t hate us. Have
you ever asked the question, “Why?” Is it because Satan has changed or that
the world has changed? No. Let the Bible tell you why. The world will hate us only
when they see Christ in us. If they don’t see Christ in us, then we are still
one of them. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus [not “may”
but “will”] shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12)
In John 7:7 Jesus told the Jews why they hated Him. His works
proved that their works were evil. When you let Christ live in you, Christ will do
something in you that can never be done by the world. That’s the problem. As long
as you are doing good things that they can do, there’s no problem; but the moment
you love your enemies and you are revealing Christ’s unconditional love in you,
something that they can’t generate, they will get mad because you’re putting
them to shame. So Paul tells us, “If you live godly in Christ, the cost of that
is being persecuted.”
Don’t be surprised if you have to suffer persecution.
Don’t say, “Why should they persecute me. I’ve been a good person.”
They will persecute you because you are a Christian. “Marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hate you.” (1 John 3:13) When you see this in reality, it’s
terrible. When you see father and mother give up their children, hand them over to
the Marxist government because their children are Christians and they are not, or
visa versa, you will realize that it is possible for the devil to divide the family
into believers and unbelievers, and hand one over to the cross of Christ.
In Gal. 5:11 Paul calls this “the offense of the cross.”
What Satan and the world did to Christ they will do to you, and this is called the
offense of the cross. In other words, if you preach Christ, it you stand up for Christ,
if you let Christ live in you, be prepared to face the offense of the cross. The disciples
counted it a privilege to suffer for Christ. (Acts 5:41) May the same thing be true of
us.
(2) As God’s children, Satan or the world cannot touch us unless God permits it.
All power is given to Christ. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the
world.” (1 John. 4:4) If God says, “No,” nobody can touch you. They
tried to touch Christ, but as long as His hour had not yet come, nobody could touch Him.
Now, I’m saying this because God has a work for each one
of us. That work may take you into places of danger. Remember this, if God
doesn’t want you to die nobody can touch you. It He wants you to
die, thank Him, for all your worries will be over. You will go to sleep until He comes.
Hence, we can say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
(Phil. 1:21)
When I was in Ethiopia, during the Marxist revolution, one of
the Marxists said to me: “You will leave this country in four days without your
children.” Wouldn’t that scare anybody? He threatened to kill my children.
They were just small, helpless children at that time. I said to him, “Go and find
somebody else to scare. If God doesn’t want my children or me dead, neither you,
nor your government can touch us.”
He said, “You will see.” I did see. I left five years
later with my children. Apparently God did not want me or my children to die then.
Remember, nobody can touch you if your hour has not yet come. This is our victory,
even our faith, for Jesus said, “I have overcome the world. I have overcome the
evil one.”
(3) The cross revealed something that, humanly speaking, is impossible. Satan took the
Jews who were divided into two camps—Sadducees and Pharisees. He then took the
Jews combined, whose bitter enemies were the Romans, and he joined all of them together
into one camp against Christ. If you were living in those days you could never dream
that the Romans and the Jews would be united or that the Jews would say, “We have
no other king but Caesar.”
The United Nations has failed to unite this world of ours, and
every human effort will fail. Our world today is divided into all kinds of camps with
racial and political barriers. We have all kinds of divisions today. We speak of east
and west and the two shall never meet. But Satan has the power of uniting this world
against God’s chosen ones when he wants to, and when God allows it. Revelation
13:2 and 3 tells us that the whole world will be united and will follow the beast who
has been given power by the dragon, who is Satan. The cross proves that Satan can do
that. What will you do when the whole world is united against you? At that time, please
remember that you are a Christian and that you belong to Christ and that He has defeated
Satan.
(4) When given a choice between the worst criminal and the most insignificant Christian,
the world will always choose the criminal. Remember the statement in Matthew 27:21.
Pilate brought the worst criminal, Barabbas, from the Roman jail and he said to the
Jews, “It is our custom to release one of them. Here is Barabbas, the worst
criminal that I can find in my jail and here is Jesus, King of the Jews, who has done
nothing wrong. Which one do you want me to release?”
This is one time that the Jews did not have a committee meeting.
They did not say, “Well, we need to discuss this.” At that time the people who
claimed to be the children of God were under the control of Satan and their choice was
immediate. “Give us Barabbas. He’s one of us. Yes, he may be a terrible criminal
but he is still one of us. This man doesn’t belong to us.”
And that’s exactly what will happen in the last days. It is
not because you have done something bad but it is because you are a Christian that the
world will release the criminals and put you in their place. Are you willing to die for
Christ? That’s the offense of the cross. Read Mark 15:6-15 and notice the choice
the people made. Peter, preaching in the name of Christ, about his own nation says:
“The God of Abraham and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath
glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of
Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just,
and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.” (Acts 3:13-15) That will take
place again in the great tribulation, but Jesus says, “Fear not, I am with you,
unto the end of the world.”
(5) The final point is that the unconscious sin behind every
sin is crucifying Christ. This needs clarification. We usually look at l John 3:4, to
define sin: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” The problem is that we
look at the text at its face value and make the same mistake as the Jews. We look at
the law in terms of rules and when we break a rule we call that sin. We need to go
further and look at the spirit of this text because Jesus did not define the law in
terms of rules. He defined the law in terms of an attitude, a relationship; the spirit
of the law. He said, “Love for God and love for man.” That is the law. The
fundamental principle of the law of God is love.
1 John 4:8,16 tells us that God is love. Therefore, sin is
transgression against God, who is love. Therefore, sin is putting Christ on the cross.
In Romans 8:7, Paul tells us that the carnal mind, the mind controlled by our sinful
nature, the flesh, is enmity with God, therefore it is not subject to the law of God
which is love. Now what do you do with your enemy? If you hate somebody without a cause,
what do you do with him? You murder him.
Then how does every sin become an act of crucifying Christ?
How many sins do you have to commit for the law to condemn you? Just one. It doesn’t
have to be a big sin. Therefore, in order for Christ to save us, He had to bear every
single sin that you and I have committed and will commit. Without the cross, even the
smallest sin would condemn us. In other words, under the law, the law condemns the
sinner. But we Christians are not living under the law. We are living under grace. It
is grace that took the punishment of our sins. Do not look at a small sin and say,
“What’s wrong with that?” If you allow that sin to develop to its full
fruition it will end up crucifying Christ. At the heart of every sin is self. When is
self satisfied? It is not satisfied until it gets to the top, to the very place of God.
Before I entered the ministry I was an architect. I was working
for an Italian architect, on the sixth floor of Mansion Building there in Nairobi, the
capital of Kenya. At the entrance of the building was a leper. He was always there in
rags, begging day in and day out. His family brought him there in the morning and took
him back home in the evening. His job was begging.
When you are working as an intern you don’t get too high
a salary. I was getting approximately two hundred dollars a month when I began, which
in those days was not too bad. I said to myself, “When I get rich, I’m going
to buy him a suit.” Of course, my idea of “rich” was getting five hundred
dollars a month. Three months later, my salary jumped to five hundred. Did I buy him
the suit? No. Not that I broke my promise. My definition of richness changed to nine
hundred dollars a month. A few months later it jumped to a thousand a month. Did I buy
him the suit? No. Two months later it jumped to two thousand dollars a month. Now I was
really rich, but did I buy him a suit? No. Not that I broke my promise but my definition
of richness had changed even then. You ask Rockefeller, “Are you satisfied with all
the money you have or are you still trying to make some more?”
Man is never satisfied. He always wants to climb up and up,
until he reaches the top. If God had put no restrictions to sin, man would want to
take the place where God is, because that is the highest point. To reach that point
you have to get rid of everyone who is in your way. So the smallest sin allowed to
develop to its ultimate fruition will end up crucifying Christ. That is what God
revealed on the cross. It is true that every time you fall you don’t become
unjustified, but remember that sin was implicated on the cross of Christ. Therefore,
we must hate sin not for what it does to us but for what it did to our Savior.
If I told you sin is breaking a rule, that’s not so bad.
But if I told you what the Old Testament told the Jews in the sanctuary service, that
sin is putting a knife into Christ the Lamb, sin becomes murdering God. In the Old
Testament, every time a sinner brought the lamb to the sanctuary, the priest gave
him a knife and the sinner had to kill that lamb! Every time that you and I sin it
is implicated in the cross of Christ. Therefore, we must hate sin for what it did to
our Savior and what it does to Him.
Sin is saying “Crucify Him!” and that is what was
revealed on the cross. That is why I hate sin; not because I become unjustified or am
pulled out of Christ. The Bible does not teach that. But I hate sin because it crucified
my Savior. And if I sin deliberately then I am doing what Hebrews 6:4-6 says: “If
you Christians give up Christ and go back to the world, you are doing two things. You
are now deliberately crucifying Christ afresh and you are putting Him to open shame
willfully.” May God forbid that we will ever do that.
It is my prayer that you will know the truth about the cross in
terms of Satan and sin, and that it will do two things for you:
It will cause you to realize that Satan is a murderer from the beginning. Not only
did he murder Christ on the cross but he wants you to join him in the lake of fire to
die with him. Misery loves company. Don’t you ever believe his lies when he offers
you the trinkets of this world.
Do not treat sin lightly any more. Don’t say, “This is such a small
sin.” There is no such thing as small sins and big sins. That is Roman Catholic
theology which teaches venial and mortal sins. Every sin, the “smallest” sin,
given the chance, will end up crucifying Christ.
May God bless us that this truth of the cross will give us a new
view about sin, and about Satan, and that we will be loyal to Jesus Christ who loved us
and endured the cross for us (Heb 12:2,3).