MATTHEW 27:45-54 – Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
It has long been recognized as “The Divine Dilemma” – how can a Holy God who hates and must punish sin extend love and mercy to sinners in the bondage of sin. Or we might say, “How can a holy loving God who cannot be in the presence of sin be reconciled to His choice creation, us, who are nothing but sin?” We know the answer. It is in the wisdom of the Gospel – For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (Romans 5:6-11); Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:1-5), and He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Yes, it is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus alone that brings us into a loving relationship with our God. Yet, the Gospel does something else in the child of God.
Spend time in today’s scripture. It is Jesus on the cross and the scene is brutal. It reveals how much God hates sin and loves sinners, but here is the glorious work of the Gospel in the believer. The more we focus on how much God hates sin by punishing His Son for sin, the more we learn to hate sin. And the more we focus on how much God loves sinners by punishing His Son for us, the more we love God.
The Gospel is an amazing display of God’s hatred for sin and love for sinners, but it is much more. It transforms us to hate what He hates and love what He loves starting with Him.
PRAYER: “Lord, shape my heart to hate sin and to love You because You hated sin and loved me.”
QUOTE: “To love God must mean we love what He loves and hate what He hates.”