The Bad News First

“When Paul went to the Cross, the miracle of conversion and regeneration took place; but later when he got on the Cross, the greater miracle of identification took place.” (Galatians 2:20)

__Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries“.”

Today I reflected on what the Cross represents—in particularly the gruesome, twisted, tortured body of Christ on that Cross. 

The short of it is that the bloodied and battered Savior on the Cross represented us.  That was you and me on the Cross.  That is what we – fallen and sinful as we are – look like to God. 

If we are not careful, we will downplay our sinfulness.  We’ll call them little mistakes and peccadilloes and justify it all by saying, “I’m just human.  I’m not that bad and besides, I’m better than most people.” 

But from the point of view of an absolutely holy, pure, and righteous God our sinfulness is an infinite insult and outrage that deserves judgment and death.  Paul stated it this way: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

The only answer was, I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25).

My dear friend, I do not mean to insult you but before the Gospel can become Good News, we must first understand the Bad News.

The ONE THING for today: With His death on the Cross, Jesus took our place. And that is the good news of the Gospel. Now we have a choice as to what we are going to do about it.