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God’s grace. It has a wildness about it. A white-water, rip-tide, turn-you-upside-downess about it. Grace comes after you.

Some years ago I underwent a heart procedure. I asked the surgeon, “You’re burning the interior of my heart, right?” “Correct.” “You intend to kill the misbehaving cells, yes?” “That’s my plan.” “Could you take your little blowtorch to some of my greed, selfishness, superiority, and guilt?” He smiled, “Sorry, that’s out of my pay grade.” But it’s not out of God’s, my friend.

We’d be wrong to think this change happens overnight. But we’d be equally wrong to assume change never happens at all. It may come in fits and spurts—but it comes! Titus 2:11 (NKJV) says, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared.” The floodgates are opened, the water is out. You just never know when grace will seep in.

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Some people feel so saved that they never serve. Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of those sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done, that you do nothing? The fact is, we are here to glorify God in our service.

Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You’re worried there’s some secret card that exists with your score written on it and your score is not enough. Is that you?  The blood of Jesus is enough to save you. John 1:29 (NIV) announces that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

The blood of Christ doesn’t cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone your sins, or diminish your sins. It takes away your sins, once and for all. So you are saved! And since you are saved, you can serve with joy.

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Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made, the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that?

Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike—a thought which troubles my wife, Denalyn, deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50^th anniversary than on their wedding day? Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development.

The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No. But can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Be secure in your salvation. And at the same time, grow in your salvation.

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Why did Jesus live on the earth as long as He did?  To take on our sins is one thing, to experience death yes, but to put up with long roads and long days?  Why did He do it? Because He wants you to trust Him. Even His final act on earth was intended to win your trust.

Mark 15:22-24 says, “they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha where they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified Him” (NIV).  Why?  Why did He endure all this suffering—all  these feelings?

Well, because He knew you’d be weary, disturbed, and angry.  He knew you would be grief-stricken, and hungry, that you would face pain. A pauper knows better than to beg from another pauper. He needs someone who is stronger than he is. Jesus’ message from the Cross is this: I am that Person. Trust Me.

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If you were told you were free to enter the Oval Office at the White House, you’d shake your head and chuckle, “You’re one brick short of a load, buddy.” Multiply your disbelief by a thousand, and you’ll have an idea how a Jew would feel if someone told him he could enter the Holy of Holies— a part of the Temple no one could enter except the high priest and then only one day a year.

Why? Because the glory of God was present there. God is holy, and we are sinners, and there is a distance between us. Like Job, we say, “If only there were a mediator who could bring us together” (Job 9:33). 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ.”

God welcomes you. He is not avoiding you. The door is open. God invites you in.

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Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be “clothed with humility.” David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves “with cursing.”

Garments can symbolize character. The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth, from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. A picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, He took off His robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe—the wardrobe of indignity. He wore our sin so we could wear His righteousness.

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Pride and shame. You’d never know they’re sisters. They appear so different. Pride puffs out her chest. Shame hangs her head. Pride boasts. Shame hides. Pride seeks to be seen. Shame seeks to be avoided.

But don’t be fooled, the emotions have the same parentage. And the emotions have the same impact. They keep you from your Father. Pride says, “You’re too good for him.” Shame says, “You’re too bad for him. Pride drives you away, shame keeps you away.

If pride is what goes before a fall, then shame is what keeps you from getting up after one. God, the sinless and selfless Father, loves us in our pride and shame. 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NKJV) says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”

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It would have been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. I’ll take good health and a high IQ. I’ll pass on the music skills, but give me a fast metabolism. Would’ve been nice, but it didn’t happen.

When it came to your life on earth, you weren’t given a voice or a vote. But when it comes to life after death, you were. In my book that seems like a good deal, wouldn’t you agree? Have we been given any greater privilege than that of choice?

You’ve made some bad choices in life, haven’t you? You’ve chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career, even the wrong spouse. You look back and say, “If only. If only I could make up for those bad choices.” Well… you can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.

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God has penned a list of our faults.  The list God has made, however, cannot be read.  The words can’t be deciphered.  The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus.

The Bible says, “He has forgiven you all your sins: He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (JB Phillips NT).

He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nails, the doors of heaven opened for you!

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How would you feel if a list of your weaknesses were posted so that everyone, including Christ Himself, could see? Yes, Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And, yes, that list has been made public. But you’ve never seen it. Neither have I.

Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch His arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand.  Jesus turns His face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it.

Couldn’t Jesus have stopped him? Why? Why didn’t Jesus resist? Through the eyes of Scripture, we see what others missed but Jesus saw. He took it [the list] and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross!”

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God not only wants the mistakes we’ve made—He wants the ones we’re making. Are you drinking too much?  Are you cheating at work or cheating at marriage?  Mismanaging your life?

Don’t pretend nothing’s wrong. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross. 1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins to God, He can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.”

Start with your bad moments. And while you’re there, give God your “mad” moments. There’s a story about a man bitten by a dog. When he learned the dog had rabies, he began a list. The doctor said, “There’s no need for you to make a will—you’ll be fine.” “Oh, I’m not making a will” he said, “I’m making a list of all the people I want to bite!” God wants that list!  He wants you to leave it at the cross.

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Can you live without sin for one day? No. How about one hour? Can you do it? No…nor can I. And if we can’t live without sin, we have a problem. Proverbs 10:16 says, we’re evil and “evil people are paid with punishment.” What can we do?

Well, observe what Jesus does with our filth. He carries it to the Cross. God speaks to Isaiah in chapter 50:6, “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” You see, mingled with his blood and sweat was the essence of our sin. Angels were a prayer away. Couldn’t they have taken the spittle away? They could have, but Jesus never commanded them to. Why? The sinless One took on the face of a sinner, so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.

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Much has been said about Jesus’ “gift of the Cross.” But what of the other gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns? The garments taken by the soldiers? Have you taken time to open these gifts?  He didn’t have to give us these gifts, you know. The only required act for our salvation was the shedding of blood, yet He did much more. So much more.

Search the scene of the Cross and what do you find? A wine-soaked sponge. Two crosses beside Christ. Divine gifts intended to stir that moment, that split second when your face will brighten, your eyes will widen, and God will hear you whisper, “You did this for ME?”  Let’s unwrap these gifts of grace…as if for the first time.  Pause and listen. Perchance you will hear Him whisper, “I did it just for you!”

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The most notorious road in the world is the Via Dolorosa, “the Way of Sorrows.” According to tradition, it’s the route Jesus took from Pilate’s hall to Calvary. The path is marked by stations frequently used by Christians for their devotions— each one a reminder of the events of Christ’s final journey. No one actually knows the exact route Christ followed that Friday. But we do know where the path began. In heaven.

Jesus began his journey when he left his home in search of us. The Bible has a word for this quest:  reconciliation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Reconciliation re-stiches the unraveled, reverses the rebellion, and rekindles the cold passion. Reconciliation touches the shoulder of the wayward and woos him homeward. The path to the cross tells us exactly how far God will go to call us back!

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Can a holy God overlook our mistakes? Should a kind God punish our mistakes? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions.  But from God’s perspective there’s a third.  It’s called “the Cross of Christ.”

The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.  How could he do this? In a sentence:  God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. “God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG).

Why did he do it? Because “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16 NLT).  Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read “For God so loved the rich”?  Or “For God so loved the famous”? No. We simply (and happily) read: “For God so loved the world!” And you my friend, are included in that love!

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Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection. A seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth…from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. All a picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe– the wardrobe of indignity. Shamed before his family. The indignity of nakedness. The indignity of failure. Shamed before his accusers. Worst of all he bore the indignity of sin. The scripture says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV).  The clothing of Christ on the cross? Sin. It was yours and mine.

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Think about the thief on the cross who repented! We know little about him, but we know this: He made some bad mistakes in his life. But is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made?  No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made.

You may look back over your life and say, “If only. . .if only I could make up for those bad choices.”  You can!  One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth.

How could two thieves see the same Jesus and one choose to mock him and the other choose to pray to him? When one prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him.  When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice.  And He does the same for you.

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In so many areas of life we have no choice. “It’s not fair,” we say. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next. Wouldn’t you agree?

It would have been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. Would’ve been nice. But it didn’t happen. When it came to many details of your life on earth, you weren’t given a choice, a voice or a vote.  But when it comes to life after death, you were! In my book that seems like a good deal.  Wouldn’t you agree?

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Much has been said about the prayer of the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus. But dare we forget the one who didn’t pray? He offered no request. He, too, could have requested mercy. He, too, could have asked Jesus to remember him in the new kingdom. But he didn’t. He offered no prayer of repentance. And Jesus didn’t demand one.

Jesus gave both criminals the same choice. One said, “Remember me.” The other said nothing. There are times when God sends thunder to stir us. There are times when God sends blessings to lure us. But then there are times when God sends nothing but silence as he honors us with the freedom to choose where we spend eternity.

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God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins hidden. “He has forgiven you all your sins:  he has utterly wiped out the written evidence…and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).

He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails.

The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. With a flex of the biceps, Jesus could have resisted. No. Jesus himself chose the nails. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice—nailed to the cross, covered by his blood.

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