The Debt Was CANCELLED

Are you a sinner?

If so, at least you’re honest. If so, i have good news for you. If so, i pray that you keep reading this post.

If not, then allow me to try to convince you otherwise. The word “sinner” is the noun form of the verb “to sin.” You are a “sinner” if you “sin.” But what does it mean “to sin”? It is actually related to archery. If you aim at a target and don’t hit the bullseye, you “sin” (miss the mark).

Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution and fallen off after about a week or two or even three months? You set a goal, you set a target, and you missed the mark. You “sinned.”

If we are incapable of even sufficiently reaching the goals, standards, and hopes we set for ourselves, how do you think we stack up against God’s goals, standards, and the hopes He has for us?

We can’t do anything but sin.

“I’m not religious, but I walk with Christians
If Jesus died for all my sins, he’d need a million crosses tall as buildings”

Tom MacDonald, “Cancelled,” YouTube.

We sin constantly. We were born in sin, we live in sin, and–apart from a work of God–we will die in sin and be separated from God for eternity. We can’t do anything to solve our sin problem. To try on our own is to continue to sin (cf. Isaiah 64:6). We can’t do anything but sin.

As such, Tom MacDonald’s lyric rings with a semblance of truth. But at the same time, an elaboration of the full Gospel message has an answer for his charge that Jesus couldn’t cover all of a person’s sins with a single death.

You see, the fact of the matter is that Christianity teaches that Jesus is unique. This is so in a couple of ways. First, Jesus is God. This means–putting it in as simple terms as possible–that everything the Bible says is true about God is also true about Jesus. God is eternal; Jesus is eternal. God is love; Jesus is love. God never lies; Jesus never lies. God must punish sin; Jesus must punish sin. God cannot die; Jesus cannot die. God speaks in His Word; Jesus is the Word of God.

Second, Jesus was born of a virgin. Whereas you and i and every other human being alive today were born as a result of our biological parents’ sexual union, Jesus was born of a virgin. This is important to emphasize because ever since Adam and Eve, children have been descended from two parents biologically (cf. Genesis 5:3). Jesus, however, did not have an earthly father (cf. Luke 3:23; Matthew 1:16, 18-25). This means that Jesus was exempted from the sinful nature passed down from father to son generation after generation (cf. Romans 5:12).

Because Jesus does not have our sinful nature, He could become the sinless substitute in our place. However, this is also why He had to be born as a baby. He had to live a human life to qualify as our substitute; He had to face all the things we face and make it through without sinning to be qualified as our substitute. Additionally, because Jesus was born as a human, He was able to die.

Because Jesus is God, He is eternal, and He can’t die.

This is where you point out my contradiction.

And you’re right. On the surface, it looks as though i contradicted myself. But the fact of the matter is that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man–the third uniqueness about Him. This means that though His human nature could be killed, as it was on the cross, His divine nature could remain untouched. However, due to the uniqueness of Jesus, His human nature could not be killed until His divine nature allowed it.

This is important because of what the Bible says is the consequence for sin. The eternal wrath of God in hell. This is true whether you commit one sin or a trillion sins in your lifetime.

We finite humans have sinned against an eternal God. As a result, the deserved punishment for our sin is an infinite one. “But that’s not fair!” you protest.

What would be the punishment if you slapped your sibling?
Would that be the same as the punishment if you slapped your boss?
Would that be the same as the punishment if you slapped a police officer?
Would that be the same as the punishment if you slapped the President of the United States?

God is greater than all of the world rulers of history put together. To sin against Him is to earn the harshest of all punishments. This is why the sending of Jesus Christ to earth is the greatest manifestation of grace and mercy the world has ever known!

God must punish those who have sinned against Him. Christ as God must do the same, though Christ takes the passive role in this process, becoming the One who is punished so that we might be saved.

We often emphasize the physical pain that Jesus endured at the Romans’ hands during His crucifixion, but even more than that shame and torment was the three hours of pitch darkness when Christ drank the cup of God’s wrath on the cross.

Because He is God, He couldn’t die until He drank all of God’s wrath. Because He is God, He is eternal. This means that an eternity of torment in hell for us mortals could be condensed to three hours for Jesus.

“Only a human can substitute for human lives
But only God can take the wrath of God and survive.”

Shai Linne, “The Hypostatic Union,” YouTube.

“In three hours Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell.”

Shai Linne, “The Cross (3 Hours),” YouTube.

Christ suffered for the sins of an uncountable multitude of God’s people in His body on the cross for those three hours. Sinners who go to hell only suffer for their own individual sins. This is why Shai Linne can rap that “Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell.”

This is the Gospel. This is why Jesus doesn’t need multiple crosses to save any of us wretched sinners. This is why He only had to die once. The debt was canceled, and if you want to know for sure that your sin debt was too–place your faith in Jesus Christ! Because He was fully God and truly man, death couldn’t hold Him, and He rose from the dead three days later!

Place your faith in Him today!

If you fail to trust Him, the reality is that Jesus is coming again. Upon His arrival, He will no longer be the passive sufferer. He will be the conquering hero. While He was punished on the cross for the sins His people committed, when He returns, He will strike down all the wicked for the sins they themselves committed (cf. Revelation 19:11-16).

Place your faith in Him today!

Cancel culture might be “canceling” all sorts of things that don’t ultimately matter, but the fact is that your eternal destiny matters more than anything else. Where will you spend eternity? Christ CANCELLED our debt with His death on the cross.

Believe it! And live in light of it!

In this with you.

Soli Deo Gloria
Solus Christus
Sola Gratia
Sola Fide
Sola Scriptura
Pro Ecclesia

Thanks for reading.