No Way to Understand the Sin Factor

I’m going to be speaking this Easter Sunday at a location right next to a beautiful beach adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. A few times a year a group of several families who own beach houses in the area meet at this location in a screened-in building to conduct church services.

I have decided to speak about the subject of God’s grace and what this special time of year means, (or should mean), to all of us.

Nowhere in the Bible is God’s grace more evident to me than when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His crucifixion. My wife and I visited this beautiful garden in Israel a couple of years ago and it was spine tingling to say the least. I envisioned Jesus Christ kneeling with bowed head in that lovely place and praying so intensely that He actually began to sweat blood. The severity of the situation that He faced is exemplified by this singular biblical example of Jesus praying in this posture. He is kneeling with bowed head instead of standing with head lifted and staring as though into heaven which was customary for Jewish prayers of that day.

He was accompanied by Peter, James, and John, all of whom He asked to stay awake and pray, but to a person fell fast asleep. He asked, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:46) It was to no avail and three times He came back and observed them fast asleep. (What an excellent recommendation given to us by Jesus Himself of how to avoid temptation — “Stay awake” and pray feverishly. Think about praying intensely the next time you are sorely tempted to sin.)

Jesus prayed what I deem to be the most powerful words describing grace that have ever been spoken, “Father, if you are willing – take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Hmmm… What cup was He talking about?

Many think it was the unbearable agony that He would have to endure leading up to and while on the cross. Imagine what it might be like to be severely beaten, spat upon, whipped and scourged, slapped, have someone rip your beard out, endure having a crown of long sharp thorns beaten upon your head with clubs, cursed, forced to carry a cross through the streets all the while thirsting for even a little sip of water, and then to be nailed to a rugged cross through the wrists and feet with large spikes and tortured until suffocation and death comes from being upright and too weak to lift our bodies to take another breath and if that was not enough to be speared in the side for good measure.

But the crushing load of sin was actually worse for our Savior than any physical pain He endured? How can we understand this sin factor?

We cannot.

By taking all of the despicable sins of the world upon Himself, our holy, sinless, innocent, and righteous Lord of all who was pure and white as a newly fallen snow would soon endure utter desecration as all of the vile shameful sins of mankind begin to weigh upon Him with an unbearable weight of wicked filth, lust, hatred, murder, greed, jealousy, deceit, theft, lying, cursing, promiscuity, anger, selfishness, perversion, betrayal; sins that span all of mankind and that require that their perpetrators be hurled into the lake of fire prepared for Lucifer and his angels.

Jesus’ “cup” was to take upon Himself the fierce wrath of God that we deserve for all of our combined sins.

Then comes the most poignant statement of all, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Total obedience to God is what Jesus teaches us with that statement. Jesus who had become a man did not want to take upon Himself the terrible wrath of God, but He “willingly” did so and became sin on our behalves because He loves God the Father and us more than we can comprehend and there was no other way to atone for our sin before a holy and righteous God. His act of kindness and love for us is referred to as grace and it is truly amazing.

That is who Jesus Christ really is and when we hear people using His name in vain and questioning why a loving God would allow certain things to happen we should gently remind them that God’s only Son suffered of a magnitude that is incalculable in order that we might live, all because of His incomprehensible love for us.

I have committed many of those sins that drove those nails into Jesus and placed those scourge stripes on His legs and back, and drove those thorns on His head. I know without question that I deserve to be punished for them, but Jesus Christ willingly took my punishment. I may not ever understand God’s grace, but I can unashamedly tell you that I am and will be eternally grateful for it and what He did for me.

I hope that this Easter you will spend some time reading the four Gospels. I suppose the Easter bunny and Easter egg hunts are fine for the little children and the same goes for vacations for the families, but please don’t let it detract you from these most holy days. Do as this beach community is doing and even while on vacation gather together to worship a risen Savior on this special day.

We need to get down on our knees and thank God for His sacrifice on our behalves, (and we don’t need to fall asleep). As He looked down upon the snarling, cursing, hate-filled faces that were spitting upon Him and humiliating Him with taunts and putting Him, an innocent man, to death, He lovingly asked God to “Forgive them for they know not what they do”.

I have to tell you friends, today we do know what we do, and when we ignore His sacrifice by being too busy to honor Him it is something I’m sure He looks down upon and thinks about. I picture Him thinking, “What more could I have done for them?”

Selah…

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.