Who God is
Why God allows sin
Why the penalty is so high
How God resolved the problem
My responsibility
1. Who God is
God is who God says He is.
“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” Malachi 3:6.
163 times God declares in Scripture the phrase, “I am the LORD.”
Once we acknowledge God for who He truly is, then we can receive His rescue plan.
Satan loves nothing more than distorting our perception of who God is. The single most important thing about you or me is what comes to our mind when we ponder who God is. Please, give God permission to define Himself in Scripture. Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” God cannot allow sinful men to prance into His presence unchanged. Habakkuk 1:13, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.”
2. Why God allows sin
God allows sin because love requires free will.
We are given choices. Love picks one or the other. The first man had a choice to love and obey God, or not. Genesis 2:15-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” We sin because we are not perfectly pure like God. Our free will naturally tends toward self-interest. Sometimes we select an option based on fear. Romans 14:23 clarifies, “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Sin reveals our need for God’s help.
3. Why the penalty is so high
The penalty prevents pride.
Why is the penalty for sin set so high? So that only God can pay so high a price. God raised the price tag so far above what any of us could pay so that we would have to humbly ask Him to pay the way for us. See, my ego wants to try earning my own way into eternity with God, but I do not have the spiritual wealth necessary to satisfy the amount owed. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” First Peter 2:24, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” My payment due is the full weight of the ocean of God’s wrath. Only one Man can satisfy that penalty. According to Romans 5:9, “We shall be saved from wrath through Him [Christ Jesus].” Second Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift.”
4. How God resolved this problem
God reconciled the conflict by sacrificing Himself.
Romans 5:10, “We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” God set the relationship between you and Himself at peace through His Cross. “For it pleased the Father that in Him [speaking of Christ the Son] should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him [that’s Christ our Sacrifice] to reconcile all things unto Himself [God the Father] … And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death” Colossians 1:19-22.
5. My responsibility
Accept the simple facts.
The gospel is great news. Great news should be believed. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” declares Mark 1:15. That means, exchange whatever else you were believing and trade-up to receive the pure gospel, with joy!
Acts 16:31, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Romans 10:8-11, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him [Christ] shall not be ashamed.”
We each will meet God face-to-face quite shortly. Please be ready. God wants you to hear and receive the good news of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ alone.
First John 4:14-16: ”And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
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