"They Hung Him On A Cross", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"They hung him on a cross, They hung him on a cross, They hung him on a cross For me
One day when I was lost, They hung him on a cross, They hung him on a cross for me"

That's the words to an old blues song. Simple. Succinct. To the point.

It's also great theology. How so much truth could be contained in two repetitive lines to me is amazing.

Think about it. All but one sentence continuously repeats over and over that Jesus died on a Cross for us.

But then it briefly goes deeper. "One day when I was lost."

Deep spirituality from a man whose nickname was "Leadbelly". A violent repeat offender who was in and out of the worst Southern prisons and work camps. A man who stabbed a man to death. A man who consistently got into violent drunken altercations and stabbed several men over his short life. He was dead from Lou Gehrig's Disease by age 62. He was also inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

In spite of all his shortcomings, Leadbelly seemed to understand what Jesus did for him.

Leadbelly knew one of the deepest truths of Scripture.

Romans 5:8 (Amplified Bible) - "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us."

"While we were still sinners", or, "One day when I was lost", and, "Christ died for us", or, "They hung Him on a cross for me".

Any way you cut it. It's the gospel truth.

Is it that simple for you? When you were deep in your sin, even perhaps in your gutter, that's when Jesus died for you.

How is that possible to have had Jesus die for me 2,000 years before I was even born?

It's possible because Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world! (Rev. 13:8)

He didn't die for all the world, even far into the future, with a guarantee that everyone would accept and receive Him. He didn't die for the fine, upstanding Christian man or woman you would become. He died for you when you were the worthless sinner no one in their right mind would touch with a ten foot pole!

Maybe you haven't come to that realization yet. Maybe you think there is some inherent goodness in you that God will focus on while ignoring your self righteous, selfish, and worthless nature you were born with.

Let me remind, or perhaps even inform you for the first time. It's not true. You are not good enough. Any goodness you can ever hope to acquire can only come through the Spotless Lamb of God who died for you on a cross.

Even a broken down, old drunken convicted murderer finally realized that.

I hope you have. If not, I really hope you will.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><