The season of Lent is well under way. Whether the 40-day period is practiced or not, the eyes of the faithful are upon its culmination on Good Friday, April 6 this year.

At the heart of the message of the Word of God is the Cross of Lord Jesus Christ. The implications of that message can readily be summed up in three words suggested by the language of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:14,15:

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

Substitution.

“He died for all.” Those words strike at the root of the Christian gospel, and tell us that God has dealt with sin. Our sin of rebellion – our claim to the right to be independent of Him – He has dealt with this through His Son who was obedient unto death.

To quote the language of Isaiah: “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity – the bias to independent living – of us all, and by His stripes we are healed.”

The sword of God’s justice has been buried in His own heart, for when Jesus laid bare His breast to the stroke of God’s judgment on human guilt, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

The punishment which was due to us, He has borne Himself.

Here, then, is the great fact of substitution, seen most clearly at Calvary, yet revealed not only in the death of Christ, but also in His life of which His death was simply the climax.

Identification.

“One died for all, therefore all died.” This tremendous truth of Christ for us, by which we may receive forgiveness for all our sins, solely on His merit and because of God’s grace, has this immense implication: that God has nothing of His blessing for anyone except it be in Jesus.

The life He lived and the death He died, which God has so clearly accepted, has involved the setting aside of every other kind of life.

The acceptance of the life of Jesus in heaven is the inevitable rejection of all others. It is His meekness and perfect obedience which is accepted before God and therefore our pride and rebellion are for ever condemned.

It is impossible for anyone to claim forgiveness, unless they accept Christ in life and death and resurrection.

It is this truth which is desperately in need of re-emphasis today. So many seem to take Christianity upon themselves so easily, almost flippantly.

There has been little, if any, understanding of what sin is, or of what it has done to all of us in throwing our whole personality off centre and making us the victim of appetite and desire instead of being the masters of it. Nor is there real appreciation of the fact that it is only through Christ that we are not only forgiven, but made one with the Lord that we are enabled to live victoriously.

How is this possible? That question is answered at the heart of Paul’s message.

Sovereignty.

“That they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him… ” The offer of God’s free grace demands God’s full government. There can be no conversion without His complete control.

We cannot accept Christ and live as we like. He must be Lord. But this is no awful bondage. It is, in fact, perfect freedom.

This revelation of Christ for us as our substitute, and us with Christ in His death, has been accompanied by the imparting of His nature within each one of us.

This double truth of Calvary, through which we have forgiveness and share His victory, controls and restrains; compels our surrender and enables us to do God’s will.

The two greatest lessons I have learnt through years of Christian experience are these: First, that God expects nothing of me except failure. And, as long as I go on trying to be something other than a failure, I shall go on failing. But God has given to me, in answer to faith and submission, His Holy Spirit, that I need not fail. And He is always sufficient.

That turns Christian living from drudgery into luxury. The discovery of that secret would solve the vast majority of mental and psychological problems.

It would also transform defeated, frustrated, despairing professing Christians into radiant men and women of God.

Narayan Mitra is pastor of the Merritt Baptist Church and Chaplain at TRU.