Think of Christ’s suffering for you
Those nails through His hands and feet were driven by you and me and all the peoples of the world. We all had a part in the death of Christ because of our sins. Our sins put Him on the cross—and you participated. You will never understand the Bible, you will never understand the death of Christ on the cross, until you understand that God is a holy and righteous and pure God.
He cannot even look upon evil. In that terrible time of the agony of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, a shadow came between God the Father and God the Son. God cannot look upon sin, and in that moment He was laying your sins and mine on Christ. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). That means that He had never known sin, never told a lie, never had an evil thought, never had any greed or lust. But all of the filth and dirt from your life and my life descended on Him. None of us will ever understand the mystery of that moment.
It was God’s great love for each of us that allowed His Son to take that suffering.He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us.You and I have sinned against God. We have broken His laws. God told Adam that if he broke God’s law, he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). But Adam and Eve broke His law.They sinned. We have all deliberately rebelled against God. God would not be God, He wouldn’t be just and righteous and holy, if He came along and patted us on the back and said, “You’re forgiven.” We either had to die for our own sins, or somebody who was qualified had to die for us.
That Person who was qualified was Jesus Christ, and He volunteered to do it. He died in our place. People will do almost anything to get rid of their guilt. The place to get rid of guilt is at the cross. Jesus came to die. On the cross He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). God had given Jesus a work to do, and in the Gospel of John we read that Jesus said, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). We wonder why He didn’t feed everybody and heal everybody. He could have done it. He healed some people and fed some who were hungry,
and He did that out of compassion. But His real work was the cross; there He was dealing with eternity. Your body will go to the grave. Your soul, your spirit—the part of you that lives forever—will live on. Where will you spend eternity? Heaven or hell? That will be decided by what you do about the cross, because from the cross Christ is asking you to repent of your sin and receive Him as your Lord and Savior. From the cross, Jesus reached out by His death and rescued us.
On the cross Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). They did not take His life from Him; He laid it down voluntarily. He gave up His Spirit to God the Father. And in saying this, He conferred upon every one of us the possibility of the gift of eternal life. You can have eternal life, too. Jesus’ invitation is to heaven. We were lost, confused, without purpose or meaning in life, without assurance of a future life. But from the cross Jesus reached out by His death and rescued us. We can say to Him today, “Lord,” “Savior.”
Are you sure that He is your Lord and your Savior? Thousands of people attend church, but they are not sure that they have committed their lives to Christ. The crowd at the cross was shouting, “Save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:40). Others were saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save” (Matthew 27:42).
They were mocking, jeering, laughing. Christ was on the cross for six hours between two thieves (Luke 23:39-44). They both deserved to die, according to Roman law. But one of the thieves looked at Jesus, and he saw that Jesus was different. He must have said to himself, “He has to be the Son of God. He has to be Lord.” He said, “We deserve what we are getting, but He does not—He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). What an act of faith!
Jesus was different
And what did Jesus say? “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). That thief will be in heaven. Jesus forgave him by His death on the cross. The forgiveness and the mercy of God are so far beyond our comprehension that we can hardly even talk about them. Do you know Christ? Do you know the forgiveness of the cross and the power of Christ’s resurrection? Are you forgiven? Have you received new life, resurrection life?
I am asking you to make your commitment to Christ. God will help you, if you are willing.
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