FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Luke 24:44-53

The Guilt of Us All

Sin is the common denominator of us all, all of mankind is cursed with it. It is the guilt of us all. The best man in the Old Testament, Job, cried, saying: “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men?” (Job 7:20). Vice is against society. Crime is against law and order. Sin is against God. That is why in Psalm 51:4 David said, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight.” We only sin against God. We violate law. We scorn the law. We disobey all of the prerogatives and mandates of men. But sin is against God and God alone.

No need to say to me, “Do not sin.” I have sinned. To lecture me about it, to speak to me about it, to ask a reform concerning it has no pertinency whatsoever. I have already sinned.

What I want to know is, what is a message in a word for me when I have sinned? “What shall I do, O watcher of men, for I have sinned?” The answer to that question is the address of the gospel message. That is what the Bible is all about. The stain in my soul and the sin in my life, is there a forgiveness of my sins of which somebody knows? Is there a way of salvation so that, even though I have sinned, I still might see the face of God?

The whole Bible has to do with the purging, the forgiveness of our sins. In the Garden of Eden the Bible tells of forgiveness of sins, beginning with a covering. The Lord slew an innocent animal and poured out its blood, and the earth drank it up. God took skins of an innocent animal which laid down its life to cover the nakedness of our first parents. In the Temple worship the mercy seat was sprinkled with the blood of atonement. The message of the prophets such as Isaiah is:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” – Isaiah 1:18.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6.

The ministry of the Lord Jesus is that He shall save His people from their sins. The Lord Himself came to give His life as a ransom for many. The blessed installation and introduction of the Lord’s Supper is, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” – Matthew 26:28. It is the preaching of the apostle Peter. When the convicted people cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”, the reply as recorded in the next verse is: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:37-38). The Beloved Apostle John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:6–8.

This is the glorious apocalyptic revelation:

“To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” – Revelation 1:5–6.

“Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. – Revelation 7:13–14.

The message from our Lord Himself is that Christ suffered and was raised from the dead and that forgiveness and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all people. That is the good news. That is the message. That is the gospel! Let us be enthusiastic and diligent to spread that good news to all men!

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Luke 24:44-53

The Curse of the World

The gospel message, according to our Savior, concerns His death for our sins on the cross and His resurrection from the grave for our justification. The gospel message addressed to the human heart concerns itself with the forgiveness of sin. When I hold the Bible in my hand and turn through its pages, I find that the whole written Word of God has to do with sin. The scene opens in the Garden of Eden when the Lord said to our first parents, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). This is the curse of the world.

If one sins against a friend, something dies within him. If one sins against a partner, something will die between them. If one sins against his home, something will die in it. If one sins against himself, something will die in him. When one sins against God, something dies between him and the Lord. When sin is added to anything, to any gift, any virtue, any achievement, it will spell grief and misery and death. A gun plus sin will produce violence and murder. Success plus sin will produce egotism, pride, and overbearing ostentation. Money plus sin will produce greed, bribery, and blackmail. Love plus sin turns to lust. A home plus sin will produce an atmosphere like hell. Alcohol plus sin, a car plus sin, any gift of God plus sin is damned to misery and perdition. God said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” There is a curse in sin.

Too many people, including many Christians, sadly buy into the lie that the ends, justify the means. It doesn’t matter what I do if something good comes from it. That is justifying sin and all it will bring is misery, discontentment and death. I’ve seen it take place first-hand in others. Again, there is a curse in any sin.

The Everlasting Stain of Sin

There is an everlasting stain about sin. Sin is in your soul, in your memory, in your heart, in your life, and piece and parcel with you. Sin carries with it an everlasting stain.

In the book of Genesis, Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.” – Genesis 49:1. One of those sons was to receive the blessing. He was to be the one through whom the Messiah was to come. So he turned to his firstborn son. The blessing should have been given to Reuben, but the patriarch said:

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it— he went up to my couch.” – Genesis 49:3–4.

As Reuben stood there that day at the head of the twelve patriarchal sons of Jacob, he drew himself up to his full height. He was the firstborn; surely the blessing would be his. But Jacob pointed out to him a secret sin that he thought had been forgotten and buried; and it was as vivid, and as scarlet that day when Jacob looked upon him as on the day when he committed it. Your sins will be that way when you stand before the judgment bar of Almighty God. They were committed in youth, in childhood, in the dark, in secret; but they will be as vivid in the day of judgment as they were the day when you committed them.

If Reuben did not receive the blessing, then the second son, Simeon, should have received it. If he did not, then the third son, Levi, should. Jacob turned to them and said:

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man.” – Genesis 49:5–6.

What Jacob was referring to is recorded in the Bible and had happened over forty years before. It was a murderous and bloody sin that the two brothers had committed. I would think that Simeon and Levi, as they stood there, thought that what they committed forty years ago had been buried and forgotten in the passing of time. But in the great hour of judgment their sin, too, was as vivid, and as crimson as the day that they committed it. We do not get beyond the everlasting stain of sin in human life.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: Luke 24:44-53

The simplicity of this message is as follows:

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.” – Luke 24:46–47.

This is the gospel; this is our assignment; this is the duty and responsibility of a true preacher and servant of our Lord, Jesus; and this is the truth held inviolate by the New Testament church. What is our duty, our mandate? It is this: Because Christ suffered for our sins and was raised for our justification, we are to preach and teach the remission, the forgiveness, of sins to all the nations.

If I am correct in what I see around us, the modern church, as one sees it in the world, proliferated through many denominations, is giving itself to a thousand other interests and enterprises. I don’t deny that there are political repercussions in preaching the gospel. I would be the last to say that there are not social improvements and reforms that are inherent in the Word of God. I don’t contradict the feeling that there are cultural overtones and repercussions that attend the preaching of the gospel of Christ. But I do state emphatically by the authority of the Lord Himself and the Word He spelled out plainly and clearly that our assignment and task is to preach the gospel of the forgiveness of sins.

What is the gospel? Jesus defined it as His death, His suffering and burial, and, on the third day, His resurrection from the dead. On the basis of that atonement and that triumph over sin, death, and the grave, we are to preach the forgiveness of sins. This is also spelled out plainly by the apostle Paul:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. – 1 Corinthians 15:1–4.

It is possible to address the energies of the church to all of the problems of society, that is, economic, political, social, and cultural. But when the gospel message in the Bible is declared, it addresses itself to the human heart, to the individual soul. Have you been saved? Are your sins forgiven?

The gospel message of Christ addresses the heart. All these ills and problems in society come from man’s heart. To put new clothes on a man does not make him a new man. To educate a man does not make him a new man. Giving him all of the fine cultural amenities to observe in life will not change his character. The gospel message addresses itself to the man in the depths of his soul, in his heart, at the very core, the fountain source of his life. It seeks to create in the man a new being. This is the gospel message according to the Word of the Lord.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.