Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday March 29, 2011

Amid the controversies of religion, most come down to, "Do you believe the Bible?" In philosophical matters there is a universe of room for speculation and thus disagreement. In matters of Christian faith, this is not so. What do the scriptures solidly teach on the subject? Thus Spurgeon's statement on the current rage about hell or universalism, which is not new by the way, makes a lot of sense to Bible believers:

"When men talk of a little hell, it is because they think they have only a little sin, and they believe in a little Saviour."

If sin is so enormous an affront to God that He unvieled all the manifestations of its horror through the suffering of Christ on Calvary, including the unseen inner agony only hinted at by His cry, "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?" it then stands to reason that "sin" is NOT a little thing, but something terrible beyond imagination.

Calvary gives us an idea of the utter ugliness of sin and of its consequence. We are told in Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: thus the entirety of Adam's seed passed from life to death. Sin entered by Adam's thought out choice. Billions of people on earth are thus doomed to a Christless life and death as a consequence of the original seed becoming corrupt through one man's sin.

God made provision for a miraculous transfer from Adam’s Seed to the Spiritual Seed of Christ through conversion.

The grandest act of love in all the ages is set with a satiric touch in that while Christ, God THE Son, is suffering in His passion, actually becoming sin and enduring the penalty encapsulated in a few hours, amid His cries of forgiving those who had any part in His humiliation and crucifixion, His agonized cry of thirst, of being forsaken, of offering Paradise to a repentant sinner, Roman soldiers roll the dice for his Rabbinic (Teachers) Robe.

Eternal realities were all around The Place of The Skull. This had no more impact on the State, the mob or even His loved ones, than the brutal death of the thieves by each side. While the price of forgiveness of sins was offered, making the way for conversion from Adam’s race to the New Race, the new thing in the earth, neither Jew nor Gentile, but a member of Christ’s body called the church; the human race went on as though nothing of lasting import was taking place. Peter talks about this in descriptive terms:

1Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Those who denigrate sin must also denigrate the Precious Blood of Christ.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with credit

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