Do you believe the word of God?

Luke 1:18-20, 34-38

The book of Luke was written by Luke, the beloved Physician (Col 4:14) to Theophilus just as the book of Acts. Luke open’s the book by making clear that the purpose was to give an accurate historical account of the teachings and events in the life of Jesus. This is to affirm the very foundation upon which Christianity is based. That foundation is that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of God. Theophilus was probably a government official as the term “excellent” was often used for that in the Roman society to show respect.

                Zechariah was a priest of the priestly division of Abijah. He and his wife Elizabeth were descendants of Aaron; hence Levites. Both of them were blameless and obedient to the commandments of God, but without sin (Ro 3:9,10,23). Elizabeth suffered all kinds of embarrassments a Jewish woman could have if she could not have children. Normally they were praying for the blessings of the womb.

                The day came when it was Zechariah’s time to burn incense in the temple; and the angel of the Lord appeared to him while the worshippers were praying outside.

   1)      When God’s message comes to a righteous man he trembles

Zechariah realized he was in the presence of a heavenly being. So his response was fear because Gabriel was God’s representative (Lk 2:9). “ Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife will bear you a son whom you’ll call John…”

                The message was heavy and a message of Joy. The son will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.

                I now see why Jesus our Lord said amongst all the prophets John the Baptist is the greatest (Mtt 11:11). But John did not work any miraculous wonders, but he had a miraculous relationship with God from the time of conception. Some of us think that great prophets or great men of God are those with great miracles. No, they are those with miraculous relationships with God. John’s work was to prepare the way for the messiah. His message was God’s word that was meant to change the hearts of parents into those of the children that they may believe the light that was coming to the world.

   2)      Even though you tremble at God’s word, do you believe?

When Satan hears the name of Jesus he trembles but he does not believe. It does not suffice to fear but to believe the word of God. Verse 18 of our text makes us know that Zechariah still needed proof eventhough he was in the presence of Gabriel. He did not believe the word of God so he asked “How can I be sure of this?” As  a result, the sign the angel gave was punishment for Zechariah because of his doubt in what Gabriel said. Mtt 21:22 says if we ask and believe we will receive; but many of us today live in doubt like Zechariah.

                Zechariah’s prayer was heard and God gave him a word, but he still wanted a proof. We pray and ask God, and when God answers we still doubt. Many Christians do that today; they kneel down and cry to the Lord but when they get up their intellectual exercise overcomes their faith and they start wondering if and how God will answer them. The how is not our own; how it will happen belongs to God; we just need to believe and trust Him. Zechariah was punished for disbelief.

   3)      The right response after trembling at God’s word.

Gabriel again was sent in the sixth month to the virgin Mary and her immediate response was fear (Lk 1:30). The angel gave her the message, message of Joy and favour. But this time after trembling her reaction was different. “How will this be since I do not know a man?”

                She did not ask how sure she could be since it is impossible to have a child without relationship with a man. But she asked how it will be.

                Firstly she reaffirms her virginity. Therefore the conception of Jesus was a miraculous work of God. Jesus would be the “only begotten” son of God (John 1:14-16). If you accept Jesus, you must accept this fact of His conception and birth. This is the reason why Jesus is the Son of God. Any normal form of birth will do if Jesus was to be another good teacher of Palestine. But that was not the case, so Jesus is the son of God with this miraculous conception.

                The angel explained how it will happen. If today a lady came with pregnancy and told us she has never known a man, it will be terrible. Questions will kill her. Or if a girl who has never known a man was told that will happen to her; she will not believe so the angel said “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Verse 37)

                The omnipotent God in reference to impotent man is here manifested (Jer 32:17). What man cannot do, God can do.

                So what Mary was going to experience was outside the control and power of man. It was God’s working to bring into the world the savior of mankind. Contrary to Zechariah Mary exercised great faith in accepting the words of the angel as truth.

“Behold the bondservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word” (Verse 38b)

Do you believe in the Lord Jesus? That He is the Son of God? That He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit? That He came to save us from our Sin? This is the time to reconsider your ways and focus on Christ Jesus who is the light of the world. He is God incarnated in human flesh to save us. He is reigning at the right hand of God the father in heaven. He will come again to judge the world. What will He say about you?

Total obedience to God's call (Luke 5:1-11; Deut 28:15,30-32)

For the last few weeks of this year, the Pastor has taken time to bring us to the understanding of what total obedience to Christ means. He went on to expose some issues which we neglect whereas they are forms of disobedience. We heard about alcohol and the illustration he gave. Last week I was sharing with my children about lies telling and how deadly it is to a child of God just as cancer is to the body. One of my children also prepared his own lesson on the power of the tongue and how people have also murdered by what they speak. All these have been in a bit to make known the importance of total obedience to a Christian life.

                I remember when I planted Mt Zion Baptist church Boko in Douala and it started showing growth, the leaders of the church came in one meeting and proposed to put me on a salary. My words to them was that “I’m doing this out of obedience and God has buttered my bread. So I do not need a salary to obey”. It was a long debate but finally we agreed and they decided to give me telephone credit for calls. I accepted it for their blessings.

                Our theme for this year is total obedience to Christ Jesus. We saw in Deut 28:1-3 that if we obey, we will be blessed. From Deut 28:15-32 we also see how we can be cursed if we do not obey. Is total obedience optional for Christians? I don’t think so. If you say you are a Christian, then you must obey Christ and if you do not obey Christ, then you do not love him and you are not his follower. So disobedient church goers are not Christians.

   1.       Those who disobey the Lord are cursed Deut 28:15-32

It says you are cursed in your going out and cursed in your coming in. The fruit of your body; your offspring will be cursed; the ground will be cursed. It says your heaven will be like bronze and your earth like iron. So your sky will be dusty, no rains to bless you, the ground will produce nothing for you. You will lay your hands on things and they will not prosper. Verse 30 says you shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall get a fiancé and another girl shall take him away.

                You may be going through some struggles because of disobedience. Is there anything in your life you must let go? Drunkenness, lies telling, control of your tongue? I am just listing these ones because many people think these ones are small sins. There is no small sin before God. You have disobeyed if you indulge in these.

                How then are you going to respond to Christ Jesus in obedience so that you can receive the blessings that come with obedience?

   2.       Obey the commands of Jesus Christ without questioning Lk 5:1-3

Jesus was teaching the people at the lake of Gennesareth and the crowd was too much. They were pressing on him and he needed space to talk to them better. They were hungry for the word of God to the point that the master had no space. He looked into the lake and saw two boats. The fishermen were not in the boats because they were washing their nets. They were not listening to the teacher. They were not concerned about the words of the teacher, but their nets because they went throughout the night and caught nothing.

                What is that problem in you that is distracting you from looking unto Jesus? Simon Peter was one of the fisher men washing their nets. Sometimes we are so troubled with our problems that we lose focus on the problem solver. Simon did not know the one who will solve the problem of their job, their business of catching fish was around. They were busy bodied, thinking of what to do next and forgetting about God. Doing it their own way!

                Many of us today are like that. There is a program in church and you have a job to do. You’ll just say let me work money. I need the money to feed my children; things have not been good these days, let me “huzzle” for my family; afterall God knows I am doing it for my family. You abandon God for money and now money has become your master not Jesus Christ. You want to serve money first before you serve God. Money is distracting you from obedience to God.

                But when Jesus asked Simon to let him into his boat and go into the lake, Simon immediately obeyed even though he was distracted. Are you ready to obey the call of Jesus today? Simon did. He did not tell him I’m busy, I need to wash my nets so that I can go fishing in the evening. So Jesus taught the people while on the boat of Simon. I’m sure even though he allowed Jesus in his boat he was still worried about his net and his fishing.

   3.       When you obey God’s call, be intentional Lk 5:4-5

Jesus asked Peter again to go further into the lake and throw his net for a catch. Simon said, Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing, not even one fish but because you have commanded, I will do so. Simon was a professional fisherman, and expert fisherman. That was his field, and he knew that good fishing is in the dark when fishes come closer to the surface. He wanted the master to know that even in the last night when they would have caught more fish, they did not catch anything. How can they catch during the day?

                If it were you, what will you tell the master? Will you present to him your intellectual know how? Will you tell him how you know your job? And tell him, wait master we cannot catch anything during the day, we will try but in the night? Will you postpone God’s call?

                Simon obeyed because it was the master’s command. Will you listen to the master? My obedience today prepares me for my obedience tomorrow, and tomorrow’s obedience prepares me for the next day and for the year to come.

   4.       When you totally obey, your blessings will overtake you Lk5:6

Simon obeyed and the net was filled with fish in an odd hour of the day. The net was breaking because of overloaded blessings. You will be blessed in your going out and in your coming in if you totally obey. Your offspring will be blessed and the earth will be blessed. Where you put your hand God will prosper it. Simon’s expertise was challenged. His professional knowhow was challenged as he obeyed Jesus Christ.

   5.       When you totally obey, people around you will be blessed Lk 5:7

James and John were in the other boat. So Simon called them to came and help him in the blessings. They also filled their own boat and the two began to sink. The blessings were too much to Simon and the people around him. That is the consequence of obedience. People around you will be blessed, your children will be blessed, your household will be blessed, your friends will be blessed just because of your obedience. You will see why Potiphar’s house was blessed when Joseph was around. What is your response to Jesus Christ today?

   6.       Simon recognized who he was when he encountered Jesus Christ Lk 8

Some of us are carried away by what God does in our lives that we forget who we are before God. Simon’s response was submission. He fell on his knees and said “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man”. True conversion comes with recognition that we are sinners. You can now understand why Simon Peter became so influential in kingdom business. He confessed that he was a sinner before Christ. That helped him to take off.

   7.       When you recognize your sinful nature and repent then seek to obey God’s commands Lk 5:10-11

Jesus told Simon not to be afraid. I don’t think Simon was afraid of Jesus, but he was afraid of his sins. He knew he was nothing before the master, something to be thrown into fire. Jesus said “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men”.  When they brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed Jesus. What is that thing that you are still holding unto?

                You tell us that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. But you are still doing those things you use to do. You have not abandon your old life, but Simon, James and John did it out of total obedience. Their profession or business was not a hindrance for obedience.

                Have you been catching men? If you go to heaven today will God say there are souls attached to you? That there are people who have been saved because you brought them to Christ? Matthew 28:18-20 tells the great command Jesus gave to those who are his followers. “… Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…” He is not saying that you may go or If you like go. It is a command and the mission Christ has given us. All who say they are Christians. Have you been making disciples for Jesus? If you have not been carrying the gospel to the lost souls, then you are disobedient. It is high time you repent from your disobedience and seek to totally obey God from now on.

                Pray and ask God to forgive you from your disobedience.

The centrality of the cross: Applied to believer, the substituted sinner made ambassador

A.    The Death at the Cross applied to the believer (Romans 6:1-4)

"We who died. . . ." (Romans 6: 2, R.V.) "Discharged ... having died." (Romans 7: 6, R.V.) "Ye died with Christ. (Colossians 2: 2o, R.V.) "For ye died. (Colossians 3: 3, R.V.m.) "For if we died with Him, we shall also live. .(2 Timothy 2: 1 1, R.V.)

Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus ended chapter two with the saying that In Christ we are members of God’s house hold. I said the kingdom of faith is now our home country. We leave in the world but we are not of the world. Our old self was crucified and we live in newness of life in Christ. To the Roman’s he calls out with a question. Should we keep on sinning so that God can keep on forgiving?
If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Did you not realize that we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace- a new life in a new land!
Ro 7:6,7 “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”” So the saying is true that “if we have died with Christ, then we will also live with Him.”
People thought that grace will cover their willful violation of the law. Others that they could be slack in their Christian duties, believing that God’s grace would save them in their laziness. No. Grace is not a license for sin.
Christians have been set free from sin and law by God’s grace, but they have not been set free to sin against law. The law is established by our thankful response to grace (Rom 3:31)
Those living with Christ are those who have died with Christ. Therefore if we are not living with Christ, then we have not died with Christ.

B.     The cross: The substituted sinner made ambassador (2 Corinthians 5: 14,15)

One man died for all, therefore all died. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Living for him who died for the sake you and I and was raised. Because of what Christ did by his love, we do not evaluate people by what they have or how they look. No, we do not regard according to the flesh but we evaluate from inside and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah is a new creation; he gets a new fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
The man who was rebellious has become representative, ambassador because of what the master, Jesus Christ did in taking His wretched position to die for his sin. Christ’s disciples are known by their love of one another (John 13:34,35). The Christian does good works because of what the good works will do to the people for whom he works. The good works are sacrificial and focused on the recipient of the works. So the Christian has a new life haven been washed of sin (Act 22:16) and he walks in life for the benefit of others. So, in living for others the ambassador, the substituted sinner manifests his love of the Lord (Ro 6:11).

C.     Continuity of the 'Cross' for every believer. (2 Corinthians 4: 10- 12)

What they did to Jesus, they do to us- trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us-He lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
In bearing the cross, one recognizes his humanity and dependence on God for survival in Christ (2 Cor 1:8, 9). Trials and persecutions drives us to depend on God. The life of our Lord can only be manifested in our body if we willingly suffer for the name of Jesus when preaching the gospel (Rom 8:17, Gal 2:20). The trails of an evangelist is an opportunity to live for Jesus (Rom 8:36).

The Centrality of the cross: The Place of Unity between believers (Place of peace) (Ephesians 2: 16).

Remember that the Gentiles or the uncircumcised in the flesh by the circumcision made by human hands were separated from Christ in the past. The Bible says in this verse 11 of this Ephesians “what is called circumcision”. It is not the true circumcision which God wants us to undergo. God wants us to have a circumcision made by His own hands, which transforms us. But by then we were separated from Christ, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, by the blood of Christ; as He died that death and shed that blood, we who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. Hallelujah!

Vs 14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”.  Jesus Christ is our peace. He has united us to the Jews, we who were outsiders and the Jews who were insiders have all become one in Christ Jesus, because in His death he has broken down the wall of hostility. He has abolished the law of commandments and established the law of love through his blood. Was it just to have us reconcile within ourselves? No, so that we may also be reconciled to God the Father through the cross.

How have you been thinking about your fellow brother in Christ? How have you been thinking about your fellow human being; the neighboring tribe, the neighboring village, the other church fellowship, the other group of people in your country, the whites, the blacks, the Jews? Do you know that Christ’s death on the cross also reconciled you to them in His blood? Cultural peace is established between Jews and Gentiles through Jesus Christ. The church is therefore called to bring all men together in Christ; because the Old Testament law was nailed to the cross. It’s no longer an obstacle to the Gentiles. All men are brought together under the law of Christ. Those reconciled to God are in one body “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks….” (1 Cor 12:13) .Christ repealed the law code that hindered us rather than helped us. He started things all over; not continuing with two groups of people who were separated by animosity and suspicion. He created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody by the cross. The cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of hostility. Why is there hostility in the world today? They do not know Christ and what He did on the cross. If we claim that we know what Christ did on the cross and that we have received Him and we still live hostile lives here on earth, then we are liars. We do not love God.

Christ treated us as equals and made us equals. Through Him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. The kingdom of faith is now your home country.

The centrality of the cross (The place of the overthrow of Satan)

Col 2:15 "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."

The word disarm is a military word which means stripping off of the enemies’ armor after defeating him in battle. When a soldier is disarmed, it means his gun is taken away, the knife is taken, his protected jackets removed and so he no longer has powers. Through the cross, Jesus stripped Satan of his powers. What the world saw as the public humiliation of Jesus on the cross outside Jerusalem was actually the humiliation of Satan in the spiritual realm. Satan now has no power over those who determine to walk in the light (1 John 1:6-9, Rev 20:1-6).

Are you afraid of Death? Jesus disarmed Satan and his agents of the power of sin and death. Jesus freed those in slavery to the fear of death. Heb 2:14-15"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."

Heb 10:9,20 :

“Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

vs 20: "by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,"

Jesus says He has come to do God’s will. To set away the old and bring a new way to go to God. The old ways was through sacrifices but the new way is through the body of Christ that was crucified. You can see why Jesus said break this temple and I will build it in 3 days. His body which is the temple, the new way to God. Verse 20 says the new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body.

·         The cross is the gateway to the heavenliest

·         Jesus is lifted up and he will draw sinners to the cross just as the bronze snake was lifted up for the sick.

Heb 9:27-28 “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Are you ready for His coming?

Shalom!

The centrality of the cross ( The place where the sinner is crucified)

Numbers 21:4-9. When the Israelite sinned against God and God sent venomous snakes amongst them, they asked Moses to pray that “The Lord would take away the snakes from among them”.

Why was there the venomous snakes amongst them? what was the cause of these snakes?

First thing we notice here is that they rebelled against God. They were impatient, they murmured against God and Moses.  Have you been murmuring against God and your pastor? Have you been impatient even in your troubles? Have you rebelled against God?

The snake came because of these sinful attitude. Walk in the will of God to find light!

Read Psalms 91 and you will know that God protects those who love Him.

·         Walk with God for your security. Assurance in the life of Job was based on his walk with God. The assurance of the Jews as they left Egypt was to walk with God.

·       

          What is wrong in the prayer request of the Jews to Moses? God wanted a permanent solution for their problem but they wanted a temporal solution. Will removing the snake from among them change their attitude? The snake came because they rebelled against God and murmured. They did not want to deal with this and repent but they wanted the snake away from them. The psalmist says a thousand will fall on your side, ten thousand will fall on your right hand but nothing will touch you. You will walk on snakes and scorpions but not hurt because God will send His angels to take care over you IF YOU LOVE HIM.

·         God wanted them to walk among snakes or troubles but be victorious, but they never understood. Are you in trouble? God may want you to walk through your troubles but be victorious. Yes, you are living in fornication, but you are praying that God should not bring beautiful ladies or handsome men around you. You missed the point. More beautiful ladies and handsome men will be born, many will be around you, what you need is for God to help you deal with that your sinful nature. That desire for women to whom you are not married. That desire for men to whom you are not married. You will continue to see more beautiful ladies and handsome men here in church and around town. Deal with your sin and crucify it at the cross.

Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is God’s power and wisdom (1 Cor 1:17). Do you want power? Go to the cross. You want wisdom from God? Go to the cross. Just as Moses raised the bronze snake for the people to look and be healed. Jesus Christ was crucified for us to look up to Him and be healed and live. This is the permanent solution which God has given us.

Col 2:13 says all our sins were forgiven even when we were sinners. Why are you praying for the same sin over and over? The Devil wants you to think you were not forgiven your sins. Are you sure? Are you realy sure? He wants you to doubt God’s word and what Jesus did at the cross.

Let’s read verse 14 of Colossians 2 "having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross". He cancelled the charges of our legal indebtedness. This debt that condemned us because the wages of sin is dead. And Jesus took it away and nailed it to the cross.

The Message Bible reads “the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross.” Our debts including charges where whipped away on the cross. He did not pay the debt without interest. He paid everything including interest whipping away what was written on the slate against us. The arrest warrant canceled. We are no longer going to die because of our sins because Jesus nailed it to the cross. Yes the debt was legal and the payment was complete and free for us.

Do you still think you can work and merit your salvation? Jesus paid it all and nailed it at the cross.  

·         Have you crucified the old man with him at the cross? (Romans 6:6, Gal 5:24)

·         Have you been crucified with Christ so that you no longer live but Christ living in you? Gal 2:20

·         Can you boast of the cross of Jesus Christ? Gal 6:14

The centrality of the Cross (the terminal point for sin and taking point of a new life)

       Colossian 2:11

Col 2:11 “In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,..”  How did I find myself in Him? When was I circumcised in Him? How did this take place?

Circumcision is the cutting off of the male human foreskin. Medical science has shown that a child who is not circumcised is more susceptible to infections than the one circumcised. I remember in the village our mothers would talk of mbororo disease. In fact they meant venereal diseases which were rampant to mbororo people because their males are never circumcised. Medical science has proven that to be true. So physically, circumcision protects the child. The parallel in the spiritual realm is that we were circumcised in Christ and our protection is in Christ.

Isaiah 53:6 makes us know that our iniquity (singular) was laid on Christ. We became in union with Christ at the cross. That is where we find our union with Christ. We were all sinners and the wages of sin is death and nothing else. But God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. Here the Bible is talking of iniquity not iniquities. Iniquities would mean sins, but iniquity (singular) here would mean the sinful nature. That producer of sin. God wanted to handle the problem from the root, destroying the base that it may be permanent. When Jesus Christ drank the cup at Gethsemane to take our sin to the cross, we were united in Him, he took everything to the cross. Col 2:11 makes us know that the sinful nature was put off when we were circumcised by Christ. It is not circumcision made by human hands.

How did He circumcise us? By immersion into Baptism. Verse 12 makes us know that it is in the burial through Baptism in Christ and the resurrection with Him through our faith in the working of God, who raised Jesus from the dead. Baptism in itself is an obedient response to the grace of God but salvation takes place in the spiritual realm where God washes away our sins in the cleansing blood of Jesus (Acts 22:16). There is no magic in the waters of baptism. No one merits salvation, but by God’s grace He pronounces one cleansed of sins bringing us into a covenant relationship with God.

Galatians 5:24 “ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” So in Christ we have crucified the sinful nature. So the flesh (that sinful nature) was taken away with its desires on the cross.

Do you understand what I mean?

·       That Hereditary curses were crucified at the cross?

·         Hereditary diseases were crucified at the cross (diabetes, cancer etc)

·         Inherited sin (idol worship, fornication etc) are crucified at the cross. Have you ever heard that people worship idols because they inherited from their parents? Have you ever heard that someone has the blood of fornication? That their family is a line of fornicators? Is it strange to hear me say they are inherited? No!

Only if you would come to the cross. The cross is the terminal point for the flesh (sinful nature). The cross is therefore a taking point of a new life in Christ Jesus. Why do you keep on casting and binding, losing ancestral chains when God tells you that he dealt with them long ago at the cross?  The Devil’s strategy is to keep you in doubt so that you do not apprehend the centrality of the cross and be freed.

1 Corinthians 15:45,49 makes us know that the first Adam became a living being and the last Adam , a life-giving spirit. We inherit life from Christ just as we inherited from Adam the sinful nature. Inherited sickness is gone and life inherited from Christ. Are you still afraid? Some Christians still say my sickness, my trouble , my my my... Christ dealt with it long ago. You have to believe and receive it. Remember, you must be in Christ.

Read: The centrality of the cross (the place where the sinner is crucified)

Shalom!