“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”-1 Corinthians 15:55-57
As a man once said: “I don’t mind the bee, just the bee sting.” If you take the stinger off a bee, it’s as harmless as a house fly. The sting of death is sin. The fear, dread, and torment of death is sin. Not only that we will one day leave this body and be buried in the earth; but that we are separated from God. We are “dead in trespasses and sin.” This separation, if allowed to remain, will condemn us to a sinner’s hell where we will be forever separated from God.
Without sin, death is a bumblebee. Sin is the source of separation from God. Sin is the epicenter of all evil. Sin is a willful transgression against a good, holy, and just God. From the very beginning sin marked the fall of humanity. Adam, and his wife Eve, were tempted by the devil. They disobeyed the commandment of God and sinned. Not one generation passed before God intended to destroy the world, because it was so evil. This is proof positive that without Jesus, death has a grip on us, and so does sin. Christ came as a mighty liberator, and through death he destroyed the power of death. He conquered death and sin by His resurrection. The two are linked. Sin is bonded with death and death sin. Jesus’s death and resurrection severed the tie. Took away the sin, and therefore, the sting. In doing so, brought victory to whosoever will repent, and believe. The least, last, and lost can be free from the sting. Free from the penalty and proliferation; free from the deeds, actions, and motives that spring from sin. Free immediately and entirely. As the hymn writer says: “glorious freedom, wonderful freedom, no more in chains of sin I reign, Jesus the glorious emancipator, now and forever he shall be mine.” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. The law put a name to the face of sin. Cain (Adam’s firstborn) killed his brother Abel. Though he committed murder, it wasn’t called murder, but it was evil all the same. Then the law was handed down by God and recorded by Moses; and the law called it murder. The law itemized sin, and it abounded. Lust became fornication, fornication, adultery. Think of it this way, it’s one thing to have a messy room, and most do; but when you take all your mess and pile it up in the center of the room it becomes more in your eyes. Now, sort through each thing and give it a name; it abounds in you further still because you have touched and labeled everything that contributes to that mess. This is what the law did. It enumerated the sin of man, thereby giving it strength. Just a half inch of double-braided rope is enough to pull a car, the strength is in the multitude of fibers woven together. As fibers to a rope, so the law is the strength of sin. The many fibers of the law woven together to enumerate the sin of man, by which we are without excuse. We are dead in trespasses and sin, that death is keenly felt on the inside because the sting of death is sin. Sin, living and reigning in the heart of man. Jesus came to cut the rope, to break the chains.
Paul writes in Romans, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then answers his question with: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The penalty for sin needed paying, the death needed dying, the grave needed conquering, and the Holy Spirit needed sending. So, Christ was sent, to live the life we could not, die the death we should have, and rise again to send the Spirit. Now, today, for whosoever will believe, freedom is available. You can repent of sin. You can have the slate wiped clean. You can yield to Christ as Lord of your life, surrender to him, and ask the Holy Ghost to come abide within. The Holy Ghost power will sanctify, make holy and set you apart. It will make you a new creation. You take part in a death and a resurrection. Not natural, but spiritual. Not earthly but heavenly. Right here, right now, if you give your all to Jesus.
