In the movie, “The Usual Suspects,” Verbal Kint, says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” I say the second greatest lie he ever told is that sin doesn’t exist; that it’s just mistakes, or foul-ups, or accidents. That we as human beings are really basically good people who occasionally do bad things, or make mistakes and run into some kind of trouble. You see, that line of thinking lets us all off the hook. If we believe this, that there is no sin, then the devil has won, convincing us we can act however we want with little or no spiritual consequence.
The life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus exposes this lie of the devil for what it is, a ploy designed to lead us away from our faith. The devil is always seeking to take the true faith in Jesus Christ away from us. Jesus shows us by his actions on our behalf that the faith He gives us is the only thing that saves us from the devil.
The life and work of Jesus show us the truth of our sinful condition. Jesus comes into our world; He takes on human flesh, He lives among us perfectly, and then He goes to the cross to suffer and die for our sins — your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world. His death is the payment for our sins. If sin doesn’t really exist, like the devil claims, then why does God sacrifice Himself for those sins? The answer is that sin is a deadly problem for humanity, as stated in Romans 6:23; “The wages of sin is death.” If our sins are not paid for, then we must pay the price for them, with our eternal death in hell, which is what the devil wants.
But Jesus comes to save us from our sins and from the crafts and assaults of the devil who only seeks to destroy us. Jesus comes to die and rise again so that those who believe in Him will have eternal life. The devil may try to fool us into thinking he doesn’t exist, and that sin isn’t a real problem, but these are the last desperate acts of someone who is already defeated. Jesus’ death and resurrection have won eternal life for all who believe.
God shows us His great love for us! He deals with sin for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, saving us from the devil, his lies, and eternal destruction.
— The Rev. David Markworth is pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in rural Hutchinson.
