Do you know the God you worship? As you stand up from your seat in church, do you know Who it is you are singing to? It's time we rough ourselves up and really get to the core of our faith: God and the Gospel. Really, what's the point of even singing to a Being that you hardly know about? What's the point in giving praise to this Acquaintance of yours that you heard loves you?
It's time to get roughed up.
I'll start out by asking you, "Who is God?" God is the Creator of the universe. He is three separate Persons in one Godhead, a perfect counsel in Himself. He has no beginning and will have no end. He is so powerful and so big that He spoke this universe existence out of nothing and is capable of holding it in His hand. He is perfectly good and perfectly holy. He is perfectly just and perfectly wise. He cannot be overthrown or superseded. He cannot be bribed or coerced. He has perfect knowledge and wisdom. He knows everything everyone has ever thought, has heard everything anyone has ever said, and sees every action anyone has ever done. His wisdom puts to shame the greatest human philosophers of history combined. His words are true. He will judge sinners for their sin, and He will sentence them to their rightful place in eternity. He will reign forever in His Kingdom and it will never pass away.
You might now be asking, "What does this have to do with me?" Well, let me tell you.
Man's Dilemma
You and I have a big dilemma with God. You see, we have all offended Him beyond anything we could imagine. We have all spit in His face with our sins. Every single time we lie, steal, sexually lust after someone, hate, commit adultery or fornicate, covet, or put something before God we are guilty of breaking the Law of God. We are guilty of breaking the highest Law ever given to men. My friends, right now at this very moment there is a case against you in the High Court of heaven, and you will be found guilty of every crime you havr committed against God.
So where does this leave us? Helpless? Hopeless? Frightened? Left with nothing?
Are you roughed up yet?
But you say, "God is love! You forgot to say God is love and won't punish people because God is loving!" But to you I say this... Yes, God is loving. He gives a love that we can't even comprehend. His love is so deep and so kind that it makes all other love look like hatred in comparison. Yes, He is love, but because He is loving He must also hate. He hates sin with the same intensity of His love. Sin is completely opposite of God. It is completely against His nature and righteousness. He hates it above everything. The scary thing is that all the people who have ever lived are saturated with this sin. We are so completely contaminated with sin that God cannot love us like we've been told He does unless we make payment for our sins. The horrifically terrifying thing is that our sins are so expensive that we can't pay for them on our own. You see, one must pay for their sins in hell for eternity because sin is that evil to God. It is an infinite price for your infinite offenses against God.
Are you roughed up yet?
I have some good news though. There is still hope! There is still a small glimpse of glorious light in the pitch black room of your guilty dungeon of sin! "How?" you say. "How can there be hope for me while there is this air-tight case against me? How can there be hope when I have sinned against the Holiest of all beings in the universe? How?"
And I say to you, "Jesus."
Yes, Jesus! You see, God knew you were going to sin. He knew you were going to be messy. He knew you were going to infinitely offend Him. Yes, God knew you were going to be found guilty of crimes against Him. But now He wants you to know something. He wants you to understand something.
In the counsel of Himself before the universe was even created, He knew you were going to sin. In the knowledge of this He made a plan, a plan to make a way for people to be freed from their sentence of sin and death. This plan is that small light gleaming through your prison wall. This plan was that Jesus would become a man, a part of His creation. In this plan He was to endure temptation, trials, and tribulations as a man to be tested and proven as perfectly sinless. He encountered every temptation you have and will ever encounter, yet He did not sin when prodded or provoked. In this plan He was to be betrayed, unjustly tried, and executed as an innocent man. During this trial He would begin to bear the burden of your sin.
He was beaten with fists and clubs, spat on, and had His beard ripped from His face; each strike taking a consequence of your sins. He was flogged with whips designed to rip and tear away flesh from a human body; each stroke taking the punishment for your crimes against God. A crown of thick, long thorns was beaten into His head; every piercing thorn a payment for your debt of sin. He was mocked as King by having a purple robe thrown around His shredded back; as the blood coagulated and adhered to the robe it was violently ripped from his back, reopening His wounds; a sacrifice willingly made for the justice rightfully due to you. By the time it came for Him to be sentenced to a brutal execution on a cross He was no longer recognizable as a human being; because your sin is a monstrous thing. As He carried the cross through the streets, He displayed the shame of your sin, and when He came to hill to be crucified He joyfully thought of you. He was stripped of His clothes; bearing the nakedness and shame of your sin. He was nailed to the cross; taking the curse of the Law of God against you with Him. It was there that the fullness of your sin was placed on Him. It was there that God turned His back on Jesus because your sin had permeated His being on the cross. Finally, when the Jesus took the last ounce of punishment for sin, he let out a loud cry and said, "It is finished!" There He died.
Your sin cost Jesus, God in the flesh, His life, but He says it was worth it. To prove that He had the power to declare your sin "paid in full" He laid dead in a tomb for three days only to raise Himself from the dead. He defeated death and now He has the right to declare you innocent! He now says to you, "Come to Me, child! Come to Me! Take rest from your sin in Me! Take your satisfaction and your pleasure in Me! I have paid your debt! I have paid your ransom! Come to Me!"
Are you roughed up yet?
Go back and read what Jesus went through. God hates sin that much, yet God did all of this so that He can call you His own for glory of His name. If you do not know this awesome God as your Father, if you do not know the forgiveness and redemption of Jesus' sacrifice, turn away from your selfish, sinful life and turn to God's mercy through the payment Jesus paid for you. Believe that Jesus died in your place, that He took your punishment upon Himself, and that He rose again and still lives today. Surrender your everything to Him! Ask Him to change you into an obedient child. Ask Him to help you hate your sin as much as He hates it. He is most gracious! If you believe this, God declares you "Not guilty!" If you turn to Him, God will see you as righteous, not because of what you have done but because of what Jesus did on your behalf.
I leave you with this. Are you roughed up yet? Worship God for who He is and what He's done.
Blessings,
Nick
