As we enter Passion Week, here is a final Lenten devotion that reminds us why Jesus had to die on the Cross for humanity. The answer is a simple, three-letter word – sin:

IN WORD – Do you need anything more than the cruel cross of Jesus Christ to convince you of how deep your need for grace is? Think about it—God was so sure of the depth and expansiveness of your sin, of your inability to grasp how desperate your condition is (and, even if you were able, your complete inability to free yourself from it), that hHe was willing to harness the forces of nature and to carefully control the events of human history so that at a certain point Jesus would come to live the life you could not live, die the death that you should have died, and rise again, conquering death. Why did God go to this elaborate and sacrificial extent? There is only one answer to the question. God the Father planned it, God the Son was willing to do it, and God the Holy Spirit applied this work to your heart and mine because there just was no other way.
Sin is every human being’s core disease. It is completely beyond the power of any human being to escape it. It separates you from God, for whom you were created. It damages every aspect of your personhood. It makes it impossible for you to be what God created you to be and to do what God designed you to do. It robs you of inner contentment and peace, and it puts you at war with other human beings. It renders you blind, weak, self-oriented, and rebellious. It reduces all of us to fools, and ultimately it leads to death. Sin is an unmitigated, almost incalculable disaster. You can run from a certain situation, you can get yourself out of a relationship, and you can move to another location and choose not to go back again. But you and I have no ability whatsoever to escape from the hold that sin has on us. It is the moral Vise-Grip that has held the heart of every person who has ever lived.
There are few passages that capture the disaster of sin and what it does to people made in God’s image better than Genesis 6:5–6: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Note two things from this passage. First, the effect of sin on people was deep, heart deep. Sin is not just a matter of bad behavior. It is a condition of the heart. That’s why you cannot free yourself from it. Second, the effects of sin on you and me are comprehensive. Note the words “every intention” coupled with the words “only evil continually.”
GOD’S DEED – But the passage tells us more. God was not satisfied leaving us in the disaster of sin. The disease that infected the heart of every human being produced sorrow in hHis heart. But hHis sorrow was not just the sorrow of remorse or the sorrow of judgment; it was the sorrow of grace. The words of Genesis 6:8—“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”—tell you that Genesis 6 is not the end of the story. God would not just punish sin; hHe would raise up a nation out of which hHis Son would come to live and die to deliver us from it. The cross of hHis Son stands as a lasting reminder of just how desperate our need is for the grace that that cross represents. (from Paul David Tripp, “New Morning Mercies”)

In preparation for Good Friday and Easter, reflect on 1 Peter this week, a chapter a day. Written to people suffering from persecution and wondering why they needed to persevere, Peter reminded them and us today of all that Jesus hads done for us on the Cross. May the Holy Spirit prepare your heart as you remember all that we have received from the Father in the giving of His Son Jesus. Have a blessed week! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam