Solution To Sin

I recall recently reading somewhere that the thing Satan hates most, is for us to expose wickedness. And that is untrue. The thing that Satan hates most is for us to preach Jesus Christ as the answer to wickedness. Satan is not bothered by our preaching righteousness, he is bothered when we preach that there is no righteousness outside of Jesus Christ. Satan could care less about human righteousness, but what he abhors is for us to walk in the imparted divine righteousness of God’s only Son.

 
You see, we are still not living the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we strive in our own righteousness, because the cross of Jesus Christ offensively proclaims, “Lest you put your faith in this macabre spectacle of atonement, you will remain a slave to sin. You cannot save yourself, you can never do right always, therefore you must die here, with your hands and feet pinned down until the life of your flesh is utterly spent. You must look to Me, and away from yourself, and be healed.” But we don’t like that, because we prefer the comforting notion that we are pleasing God because we are doing all the things right. However, that is merely a well-disguised seed of pride.

 
We must turn away from the concept that we can please God with our own righteousness, and instead, turn toward His Son Who gives us His. The only righteousness that is, and will ever be pleasing to God, is the righteousness of His crucified Son. That is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ: Christ crucified as the payment for sin and for the sake of effecting the manifestation of Christ in you, the hope of glory. The answer to sin, is to continually and willfully put your faith in the truth that you are now dead to sin and to yield to the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is put within us by faith, and manifested by the work of His Spirit, not ours.

 
Satan is not particularly bothered by our self-mustered boldness either. But what truly intimidates him is our willingness to die to ourselves and put on humility. To crucify our pride and bow down before the living God and confess, “Here is where I failed, this is what I’ve done wrong. I am spiritually destitute and I need a Savior.” Satan isn’t intimidated by our strength, but our willingness to embrace our weakness. And the cross stands as an eternal witness which proclaims both human weakness and divine mercy. The cross is where God chose to meet mankind with His eternal solution for sin. And that is why the cross of Jesus Christ is the one place where Satan is utterly powerless.

 
Therefore, beloved, it is not our exposing wickedness, but it is the cross of Jesus of Nazareth that Satan hates most.

 
(1 Cor 2:1-5) When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

(Gal 2:20-3:3) I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing... Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I wish only to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?

(Posted on Facebook 2/6/2021 Talitha Koum)