(by Kevin Wang)<\/p>\n
My wife recently has been sharing the Gospel with a Muslim coworker. He raises many questions about Christianity. One of these is: If God is loving and merciful, if God is almighty and in charge of the entire universe, why would He need to send a Son to earth? And why would that Son have to die? This coworker thinks God can simply forgive any sin for any man. In fact, this man said he knows a Christian who raised the same question in his church, and no one in the church could give him a satisfactory answer \u2013 so this Christian converted to Islam!<\/p>\n
People love to hear about God\u2019s love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. But what exactly did Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, do for us? Why did Jesus have to become man? Why did He have to die? I will not give a comprehensive answer today; rather, let\u2019s look primarily at one verse: 1 Peter 3:18.<\/p>\n
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)<\/p>\n
The verse begins: \u201cChrist also suffered once for sins.\u201d The NASB translates this as, \u201cChrist died for sins once for all.\u201d Jesus suffered physical and emotional pain when he was mocked and flogged; then He suffered physical death. But why? Why did Jesus die? Peter says he \u201cdied for sins.\u201d Whose sins? Certainly not his own. The Bible tells us Jesus lived a perfect life \u2013 a life no other human ever lived. So who else does the verse refer to? The only others mentioned are referred to by the pronoun \u201cus\u201d in the middle of the verse. Yes, us. You and me. Jesus suffered death in the flesh for us<\/i>. He, the \u201crighteous,\u201d died for us<\/i>, the \u201cunrighteous.\u201d The book of Romans tells us \u201call have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.\u201d And \u201cthe wages of sin is death.\u201d We often hear there are two things guaranteed, death and taxes. Well, some smart people could potentially evade taxes, but no man on earth can evade death. The entirety of human history testifies to this verdict: \u201cthe wages of sin is death.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Christ died for our sins, He paid the penalty of God\u2019s judgment against sins, so that God can be wholly just \u2013 for He sees to it that no sin goes unpunished. Indeed, \u201cwithout the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins\u201d (Hebrews 9:22). God had to send His Son to die if He was to forgive anyone, and remain just. But He did send that Son. That Son did die \u2013 and He offers us forgiveness through that death. <\/i>That\u2019s why we call the Gospel the Good News<\/i>. Christ died once for all, on our behalf, in our place, for the sake of our sins. His death is sufficient to reconcile us to God, since He is the perfect sacrifice to cleanse our sins. He is like bleach that cleanses our dirty clothes from all the muddy stains; He is like antivirus software that wipes out all the harmful viruses on your computer. No antivirus software is perfect, because it is written by imperfect humans; you need to update the program periodically and rescan your computer. But \u2013 praise God! \u2013 Christ is perfect. His sacrifice is perfect and permanent. That\u2019s why Peter says, \u201cHe died for our sins once for all.\u201d There is no need for reinstallation or weekly updates like Microsoft Windows. It is once for all. It is everlasting. That\u2019s why we only need to be baptized once, once for all, to signify our salvation in Christ, through His death and resurrection.<\/p>\n
But Christ did far more for us than die for our sins. Just like a coin has two sides, what Christ did for us also has two sides. The end of this verse says, \u201cbeing put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.\u201d On the negative side, Jesus was put to death in the flesh for our sins to satisfy the justice of God; on the positive side, he was made alive in the spirit, \u201cthat he might bring us to God.\u201d That is, that He might show us the love of God. Just like his death in the flesh is once for all, his resurrection in the spirit is also once for all and everlasting.<\/p>\n
God doesn\u2019t just patch over sin, covering us for a little while, until sin breaks out again. God doesn\u2019t just trim the weeds; God roots them out. God doesn\u2019t offer bypass surgery; He gives us a new heart. Not a new heart of flesh, but a new heart in the spirit, because Christ was made alive in the spirit. With the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have this intimate, infinite and permanent connection with God. The Holy Spirit is our power source that will never have a blackout, that will never short circuit. It is as if we are plugged into the power source of the entire universe. Furthermore, this power source is wireless, and has infinite range, with no areas of poor reception \u2013because it is from the infinitely powerful Holy Spirit. So when Christ dies for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, he takes away sin from us \u2013 and <\/i>He gives us new life, so that we become children of God. That\u2019s why the Apostle Paul says, \u201cbut you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, \u2018Abba! Father!\u2019\u201d (Romans 8:15).<\/p>\n
For those among us who have never accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, who have never believed in His death and resurrection, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to receive what Christ has done for you: He died on your<\/i> behalf; He was raised by the Holy Spirit to give you<\/i> the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters of God, by whom you<\/i> may cry, \u201cAbba! Father!\u201d<\/p>\n
For those among us who have already received Jesus as Savior and Lord: May we give thanks and praise to God for what Christ has done for us. May the precious Word of God soak into our minds and hearts, through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that we treasure Christ above everything else in our lives \u2013 and so that we may declare what the Apostle Paul declared:<\/p>\n
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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