I am pondering the value of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. You may have never been taught how to share the gospel. This is one way to do it. In fact, I started my Christian life by sharing the gospel using what came to be called simply “the hand gesture.” Using my hands, I raise my left hand letting it represent Adam’s entire fallen world – every human being born throughout history, those from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Pulling my wallet from my pocket and placing it on this hand, I let the wallet represent the sin of said race – all sin. I explain that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Sin separates this fallen world from a holy God. We have all broken God’s laws by thought or action. We have lied, stolen, desired things that others have, and blasphemed God with our words. All clearly affirm what the Bible says. There are none good, no not one. There are none righteous, no not one. All have turned away from God (Rom. 3:10-13).
When someone dies with this sin debt remaining (represented by the wallet on the left hand), then that person is separated from God forever in a place called hell. Hell is the only judgment big enough to forever satisfy a holy God’s demand for justice (Matt. 25:41). This is how immensely magnificent God is. The wages for sin are death, and only death – eternal separation from God (Rom. 6:23). Sin cannot be removed by human works of any kind – not by reforming one’s life, joining a church, giving money, helping the poor, keeping the Ten Commands – no human works will ever be enough to remove the stain of sin.
I turn the wallet over and over while repeating all the above steps but never removing it from my left hand. Sin remains no matter what the sinner may do to try to be rid of it (Titus 3:5). Sin becomes a barrier that separates sinners from God. A barrier that we cannot remove. I place the wallet between my two hands to illustrate the barrier.
Then the good part. God Himself, motivated by His great love, determined to pay fallen man’s sin debt of death. But God as God could not die! God is eternal life and eternal life is eternal. I then lift my right hand, saying that this hand represents the Lord Jesus Christ (not done in a flippant way, but reverently). I explain that God Himself became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He was born a spiritually free man – conceived of a virgin, not attached to Adam’s sin. He lived for 33 years and never sinned (Jn. 8:46). He was born equal with both God and man, fully God and fully man – the God/Man. As man, He could die – and He did. By His death He took the place of sinful people, paying the debt of death that they owed God. As God, He could receive the payment without ceasing to be God. Amazing!
As I say this, the wallet – representing sin – is passed over onto my right hand, showing that Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself, becoming sin for us on the cross. God in Christ removed the barrier. While making this gesture, I quote 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” I explain that Christ rose from the dead, clearly verifying the truth of His words and the eternal nature of His work and becoming the guarantee that others will rise.
I personally believe that the value of Christ’s shed blood is sufficient to pay the sin debt of Adam’s entire race and had it been the will of God to save the entire world, then He would have – but it was not. It pleases God to save only those who trust Christ by faith and by faith alone in Christ, and Christ alone (Jn. 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:5; 1 Jn. 5:11-13). The value of Christ’s cross work is applied to thosewho trust in Him (John 3:18, 36). Christ’s death and resurrectionhas potential significance – saving no one until trust is placed in Him. If no one had trusted in Christ, His death would have been meaningless. But praise God, His sheep will come to the voice of the Shepherd (Jn. 10:11). It is God’s promise! Not one drop of His precious blood fell from the cross to ground without accomplishing its purpose – not one (Jn. 10:27-30)!
Blessings!