The Gospel in Twenty Questions Read Online Free PDF

was planning to do to the slaver on the cross.
     
    For what the law could
not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: he condemned sin in the flesh …
(Romans 8:3, NKJV)
     
    On the cross, God
condemned sin. The Amplified Bible says he subdued, overcame, and deprived sin
of its power. Need a picture? Look at Pharaoh rotting at the bottom of the sea.
That’s what God did to sin. Need another picture? Then consider Sodom and
Gomorrah. Those cities were wiped off the face of the earth. No trace of them
remains. What God did to those cities is what he did to sin. On the cross, God
condemned and obliterated sin once and for all. [11]
     
    But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of
the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26b)
     
    Again, this is sin
as a noun, not a verb. Jesus didn’t put an end to bad behavior; he put an end
to sin itself — that enslaving power that kept us bound.
How did he do it? The details are a mystery, but here is a clue:
         
    God made him who had no sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians
5:21)
     
    Sin had no hold on Jesus, but
on the cross Jesus took hold of sin and held tight while God poured out his
wrath and fury. I like to imagine God the Father and the Son working like a tag
team of wrestlers. When God the Son grabbed hold of sin God the Father launched
himself off the top rope and delivered the killing blow.
    Why do it
this way? Why the cross? Because God couldn’t tackle sin directly without
killing us all. If he had dropped an atom bomb of judgment on the slaver’s
home, we would’ve been vaporized. We would’ve ended up like Sodom. To save us,
God tackled the problem from inside the enemy’s camp. He came undercover,
disguised in human form; like a slave but not a slave. As a man he confronted
the slaver, and as God, he condemned him. It was the consummate act of
judgment, total and complete.
    What
happened on the cross? God abolished slavery. He destroyed the Matrix from
within, paving the way for our liberation.
     

What is the gospel of the cross?
     
    The cross tells us two things
about God. First, it tells us he loves us more than he loves his own life.
Second, it tells us that if God is for us, nothing can stand against us, not
even our sin.
    The good news
of the cross declares that the power of sin has been completely broken. Our
enemy has been disarmed and defeated and our sins have been removed as far as
the east is from the west. The implications of this are staggering. It means
your sins are no longer being held against you (Romans 4:8). You who were once
condemned have been blessed with the gift of no condemnation in Christ Jesus
(Romans 8:1). You have been forgiven once and for all time through the blood of
the Lamb (Ephesians 1:7), and in Christ your status has changed from sinner to
righteous (1 Corinthians 6:11, YLT).
    Just as sin
had no claim on Jesus, sin now has no claim on you. None. Nada. Zip. Your
forgiveness is an eternally unshakeable fact.
    The religious
may ask, “Are you saying all are now saved?” To which I respond, “Repent and
believe the good news!” The kingdom of God is at hand, and through faith in
Christ and his perfect work, you get to participate in it. Since the Father has
qualified you, your sins cannot disqualify you. The only way you can miss out
is if you don’t believe it—if you refuse to leave the shattered prison.
    The
carnal-minded may ask, “Are you saying we can sin with impunity?” To which I
respond, “Why would you want to have anything to do with that old life of sin?”
The impunity question misses the point. Before the cross, we had no choice; we
were slaves to sin whether we were good or bad. But after the cross we have a
choice. We can stay in the prison or we can run free. We can live according to
the old law of sin and death or