Part IV: The Cost
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus”
Romans 6:23
If you could truly grasp the astounding reality that man can know the Living God, how would that change the way you lived? The life-transforming power and weight of this truth can only be understood if we really understand the unbearable cost that separates us from knowing the great I AM — (1) the abomination of our sin and its eternal consequences, (2) our utter depravity apart from him, (3) the condition of our “lostness”, and (4) the insurmountable cost of our redemption.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He formed man from the dust and gave him dominion over creation. Man walked with God. But Adam and Eve had disobeyed God’s command — and since the Fall, man is no longer in a right relationship with God. Humanity is under a curse. Romans 5 tells us that, through Adam, sin entered the world and so death was passed on to all men because all have sinned. There rests on every man the absolutely just wrath of God for this inherited sin nature. Sin is much more than simply an error in moral judgement, or a personal slight. Sin is a crime against the person of God, the creator and giver of life — worthy of judgement and a just, Holy, eternal wrath. Sin is a failure to love God and glorify God according to his awesome worth. It is rebellion and insubordination. John Piper elaborates: “Sin is the glory of God not honored, the holiness of God not reverenced, the greatness of God not admired, the power of God not praised, the truth of God not sought, the beauty of God not treasured, the wisdom of God not esteemed…”
“So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place called The Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” (John 19:6-19).
“There rests on us demands of righteousness that we cannot meet and a curse we cannot bear for our transgressions” (John Piper). Friend, the gospel is that Jesus was sent to bear the wrath of God our sin deserved, that we would be able to stand before God, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ — imputed by faith.
But, you might ask: how could one man suffering for a few hours save countless men from eternal hell? Paul Washer elaborates on this question: “because the worth of that one man far outweighs all of them put together”.
So — if the very thing that has separated us from Him, our sin, has been nailed to the cross — then Paradise has been opened again! A restored, reconciled relationship with God wrought by a perfect vindication. John 17:3 says, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” The sacred veil that served to separate and conceal, was torn in two as Christ’s body was broken. We can draw near to God with confidence — by the new and living way that was opened for us.
Friend, how does the knowledge of this undeserved gift change what you treasure in life? What you work toward and seek after? What you consider to be “gain” and what you consider to be “loss” in this momentary life? What is of eternal value and what is simply an elusive mist or vapor?