A friend of mine posted on her blog that she was struggling with seeing who she really is (the sinner side) and this message addressed just that, so I'm going to put it here:
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Did you know that the word truth appears 42 times in the apostle john's writings (between the gospel and epistles)? In most of those cases the "truth" is in direct opposition to the enemy's lies or to evil. In this way, truth is more a "revelation of reality" than a doctrinal position.
The devil's lies in Gen 3 were primarily that men weren't really that low (they could in fact become like God) and God wasn't really that holy or good (he was unjust and unfair in his treatment of man, and by effort they could be like him). One of the devil's main lies is to flatter men (raise them higher) and malign God (lower Him). Those lies exist today - we hear "I'm not so bad, especially when i compare myself to those other people - they don't even________ (fill in the blank)"
But our hearts are just as often the culprits in the battle for truth vs. evil. Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful and there is no cure for it. John tells us that we do evil, not truth - we lie to ourselves about ourselves and end up believing our own lies. We believe we are better or worse than we are - whichever benefits us better in standing before God and man.
Jesus, though, came as a likeness of man (Romans 8:13). And he said, "I am the Truth" (John 14:6). The cross of calvary reveals God's gracious love while simultaneously contrasting it with the stark truth of man's depravity. By seeing Jesus' punishment we see the depth of our sin.
Jesus, as our likeness, was in effect, an effigy, an representation of you and of me. And at the moment he became that likeness, God forsook him - not as Jesus, but AS you and me. Which shows us our true selves... forsaken and deserving of punishment for our sin. But it also shows God as supremely loving (2 Cor 5:19).
Here is the key to tonight's teaching: the relation of Jesus to me and you, and the location in particular of his deal and what it means to us.
Hebrews 13:11-13 (from biblegateway.com)
11The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin
offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also
suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
Jesus was taken outside "the camp", the city to the place of disgrace - bearing OUR resemblance.
The readers of Hebrews would have understood this terminology better than us today. In the OT, being inside the camp was to be inside the place of blessing. In the center was the tabernacle - where GOD dwelt - in the day he was a pillar of cloud, at night a pillar of fire. The tribes surrounded the tabernacle on 4 sides, interacting with each other and with God. They were guarded, received, protected and loved.
Outside the camp was where the foreigners lived (those who were not children of the promise), where the lepers lived (uncared for, virtually abandoned); the criminals were executed here and the bodies of animals used for sin offerings were burned here - the bodies of animals which bore the spiritual stain of sin clean through were constantly being burned and their stench was a constant reminder that this was a place of disgrace. This location was utterly abhorrent to man and God.
And this is where Jesus went to be crucified.
Three key learnings here:
Jesus went to the place of God-forsakenness. Sin begins with us forsaking God and ends with God forsaking us (Hell). Our condition before God as sinners is clearly demonstrated if at the moment Jesus took on our sin he was forsaken by God.
Jesus went to the place of the moral leper. Leprosy is a sneaky and destructive disease, like sin, which numbs the body slowly, rendering the person afflicted with infection and disease due to mistreatment of their own wounds (which occur from not being able to feel a wound occuring). It renders the sufferer unknowable and enables death. This is a declaration of our condition of sinners before God, because Jesus (in our place) was taken outside the camp to be put to death.
Jesus went to the place of criminals. Dying on a cross was a particular disgrace in that culture - like the electric chair today - it was reserved for the most offensive criminals. He was identified as a criminal, even being crucified between two others, and did not once object to that label. He never said, "you've got it wrong... its really YOU, not me" - he just took the label. Because he was there for me, for you - and we are criminals in the eyes of God.
Ultimately, this is us - sinners, forsaken, lepers, criminals - no matter how we look on the outside and (this part hurts) no matter how we compare in our estimation to our neighbor. This applies to old and young believers alike. If I see nothing new of sin in my life today in response to this truth, then my sin and shame are pride, self-righteousness and indulgence.
The glory of all of this is that while the cross reveals the truth about US, it also reveals the truth about God, who offers mercy and forgiveness to the most vile sinner.
Final thought: God lays out a bunch of laws in Leviticus about behavior and "cleanliness" - and also a bunch of ways to be made unclean. In OT times there was no cure for Leprosy. But for some reason part of the Levitical law details how to be made "unclean" once the leprosy has been healed!!! And then Jesus came - and he HEALED LEPERS. He cleansed the "sin" of the "sinful" and instructed them to follow the instructions that God had already given - GOD HAS A PLAN OF GRACE FOR YOUR LIFE AND FOR MINE THAT PREDATES ANY SIN YOU HAVE COMMITTED. HIS PLAN IS JESUS.
anyway, i hope you were blessed in the reading and if the Lord provided any conviction, i hope that you will respond with confession and reciept of his forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)
love, tiff
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