“Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21 NLT)
“Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS [crucified] ON A TREE (cross)” (Galatians 3:13 AMP)
“So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.” (Hebrews 13:12 NLT)
Today I want to focus on sufferings that were part of Christ’s experience during his sinless life and death specifically so that we would not need to go through them. The “Sufferings OF Christ” represent those sufferings that he went through in order to spare us from doing the same. I want to start with what I think may be the greatest of these sufferings.
Jesus Christ suffered and died for you and me in order to redeem us from the curse of the law. When he completed the work of redemption through his resurrection and ascension he set us free from those things that entered into humanity by way of Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden. The sufferings of sin and death did not come from the Father or his Kingdom of Heaven. They entered the earth through Adam’s deal with the enemy (Satan).
In his life as a man, Jesus was confronted by everything that every other man goes through. He was not shielded from the sufferings of life. He was tested, tempted, and tried. As the last Adam, he looked the enemy in the face and refused to repeat the transgression of the first Adam. He set right all that the first Adam had put into disarray.
In his death, Jesus became sin for us so that we would be free from sin. He reconciled the world (all of humanity) to the Father, reversing the curse that had entered in through the first Adam. As a result, our Father is no longer counting our sin against us.
We separate ourselves from the Father through our sin darkened minds that we fill with sin, guilt, and shame.
“So this I say, and solemnly affirm together with the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls], for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart.” (Ephesians 4:17-18 AMP)
During the time that we now call the age of the “Old Covenant” God the Father was forced to count mankind’s sin against them. There were seasons in which we were on the brink of 100% corruption (even animals) in the darkened rejection of God. The greatest example of this is the time just prior to the worldwide flood…
…“The LORD saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. The LORD regretted that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was [deeply] grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy (annihilate) mankind whom I have created from the surface of the earth–not only man, but the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air–because it [deeply] grieves Me [to see mankind’s sin] and I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor and grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God. Now Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The [population of the] earth was corrupt [absolutely depraved–spiritually and morally putrid] in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence [desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power]. God looked on the earth and saw how debased and degenerate it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way on the earth and lost their true direction. God said to Noah, “I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to destroy them together with the land. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen).” (Genesis 6:5-14 AMP)
During these times of extreme corruption, with a broken heart, God had no choice but to take drastic steps to keep that corruption from stopping the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ – The Son of God) from entering into humanity to “save” them.
Under the rulership of Satan (the god of this world) humanity was bent toward destruction and death. Under the reign of death, without drastic intervention mankind would have completely annihilated themselves prior to the completed work of redemption. This is why the Master Physician (God the Father) was forced to perform amputation on his creation (Sodom and Gomorrah, the worldwide flood, etc.). Sin brought death which if left unchecked would have resulted in extinction, cutting off the bloodline for the coming Messiah. Praise God, He made a way where there seemed to be no way!
When Jesus became sin for me, he opened the door for me to become the righteousness of God through him. When I forget who I am, and think, speak, and act as a “sinner” (one who has not been set free from sin), I open the door to the enemy and suffer needlessly as a result. Jesus paid the price for sin and death. He took on himself the consequences of sin and death. He suffered and died on my behalf so that I would be freed from the sufferings of sin and death.
I am NOT just a “sinner saved by grace.” I was a “sinner”, but in my relationship with Jesus Christ I have been redeemed. I am a “son of God”. I am a “saint” redeemed by the blood of the lamb. I am NOT a “sinner” even during the times that I forget who I am and “sin.” I do NOT have to sin. Sin is not without escape in my life. I have the ability to make sinful choices, but I do not need to live under the curse of thinking that I have a “sin nature” making sin inevitable in my life. The “old man” died with Christ, and I became a “new man” (a new creation, a brand new species of being that never before existed) as I was resurrected with Christ (applied directly to me in my new birth when I entered into the fulness of my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ).
As a redeemed son of God, have I sinned? YES.
As a redeemed son of God, am I trapped by a “sin nature”? NO.
As a redeemed son of God, do I have to sin? NO.
(empowered by the Holy Spirit, I am free to live sin-less, and less, and less…)
This world is filled with many who reject all that Jesus has given us. At the top of the rejection list is the new life that comes from living in the forgiveness, mercy, and grace that have been freely poured out of heaven on us while we are living in this current “age of grace” (“New Covenant”). Even many who have called on the name of Jesus for salvation see life as a time of suffering and death while waiting for Heaven someday. As the old hymn says, “Oh what needless grief we bear.”
When I allow the enemy to darken my mind and accept anything less than “Heaven on Earth” (even in the midst of all of the “hell” that surrounds me) I am suffering needlessly. I need to remind myself of the disciple’s model prayer taught by Jesus…
…”In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV)
Can you see the needless suffering that comes from holding on to the sin and death that Jesus suffered for us? I pray the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to the truth shared in…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 402: Discerned Suffering: Sufferings OF Christ