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Before
the world
was created God knew that the most degenerate creature of all would
swagger into His Eden and unleash an evil that would wreak havoc for
eternity. The accursed seed which this creature planted through the
cooperation of Adam and Eve has become the mother of all earthly evil
from that day to this. And what is this unleashed evil? Nothing more
and nothing less than sin.
Sin is
any thought, attitude,
choice, word, or deed, or any combination thereof, which results in
unnecessary harm being done to anyone who is in any way adversely
affected by it. Sin becomes attractive to us when distrust of God is
united with self-centeredness. We are guilty of having sinned when we
know the right thing to do and either deliberately do what we know is
wrong or willfully or negligently do nothing when we ought to do
something.
Sin
presents itself as the elixir
of life – as the remedy for current or future needs, wants,
happiness, and security. But sin’s facade is a farce. Hidden
under its attractive exterior is a demonic monster which is the cause
of all senseless, unjust, and unnecessary poverty, hunger,
homelessness, loneliness, emptiness, divorce, broken homes, heartache,
dissipation of mind and body, disease, aging, and death itself.
Yet the
evil is not only in sin,
it is in us as well. The evil in us is exposed when we seek our good at
the expense of God and anyone else harmed by our self-centeredness. We
have only to look at those our sin unnecessarily harms to see the truth
of this. And though most of us don’t think about this, the
one we
mistreat first and foremost is God, himself.
Our sin
contributes to the reason
God’s creation is progressively being destroyed, and to the
increase of evil in our world. Choosing to sin is choosing to join with
other human beings in spurning God and consorting with His arch enemy,
the devil. When we sin, we not only mistreat God, we harm those God
loves – from those we supposedly love the most (spouse,
children,
extended family, dear friends, valued co-workers), to those with whom
we have repeated relationship (friends, neighbors, employer,
co-workers, church members), to those we hardly know (people in other
ethnic or social groups), and to those we will never know in this life
(other nations and people groups). Our sin is part of the reason God
endured the heart-wrenching sacrifice of His son, Jesus, on the cross
at Calvary. Our sin is part of the reason Jesus personally endured the
sufferings of being beaten, mocked, unjustly condemned to death, and
then crucified. And though these things are bad enough, this is just a
short list of how God has been and is being mistreated by us when we
sin.
The
writer of Hebrews said a
similar thing when he said that if we go on sinning willfully, we
trample underfoot the Son of God, and regard as unclean the blood of
the covenant by which we are sanctified, and insult the Spirit of
grace. (Note: Hebrews 10:29)
But our
sin not only mistreats
God, it unnecessarily harms our fellowman. And though we may not harm
others in all the ways listed below, this list gives us some examples
of the ways sin unnecessarily hurts others. Therefore, sin breeds
political tyranny, oppression, torture, slavery, prejudice, murder,
rape, pornography, adultery, physical abuse, brawling, rioting,
stealing, lying, cheating, alcoholism, drug addiction, fits of rage,
verbal and emotional abuse, taunting, faultfinding, manipulation,
exploitation, hate, anger, slander, jealousy, bitterness, impatience,
disrespect, unkindness, unforgiveness, gossip, arrogance, vanity,
laziness, apathy, negligence, and deceitfulness.
Remove
sin, and such things as
love, happiness, and peace are free to flourish. Eliminate sin, and
patience, kindness, honesty, moral decency, faithfulness, and
gentleness will become the norm. Put an end to sin, and mutually
satisfying relationships, happy homes, emotionally healthy families,
good communities, and a safe world will be possible. Oust sin, and
authentic security, wholesome pleasures, the provision of every need,
and the promotion of all that is good will fill our world in abundant
measure.
But how
do we get rid of sin,
once and for all? By getting rid of sinners – either through
the
means of repentance and faith in God, or through banishment.
God
created us as
rational beings with the ability to think, conceptualize, reason, and
remember. With rationality comes the ability to choose, including
choosing between what we know is right and what we know is wrong. Sin
cannot work its destructive forces without created, rational beings
choosing to sin. In other words, where there are no created beings
choosing to sin, there is no sin. Therefore, when we, God’s
created, rational beings, voluntarily and deliberately choose to
repeatedly and unrepentantly do what we know is wrong, the only way to
remove sin is to remove us.
Removing
sinners to bring an end
to sin is what God has chosen to do. In fact, the penalty for sin is
removal, banishment, eternal damnation to hell, or as the Apostle Paul
says in Romans 6:23, death. The death referred to is not the end of
existence, but the removal from God’s presence to a place
devoid
of God and all the good He has for those who love Him and live
according to His will. This means that this place of banishment is
totally controlled by the forces of evil, the mindset of
self-centeredness, and the ways of sin – which is why
banishment
to this place is the worst form of death.
But you
may ask, isn’t it
cruel for God to torture sinners by damning them to hell for eternity?
Why not just end their life so they are no more?
This is a
good suggestion, but it
overlooks two facts which are important to God and the end of sin.
First, we are created in the image of God, which makes it possible for
us to live in intimate fellowship with Him forever. Second, we are
created to be loved, valued, respected, protected, and a contributing
part of a loving, caring community. Sending sinners into oblivion
rather than to the eternal fires of hell would send the message that
these two facts are so unimportant that they can be ignored. To
understand this more fully, consider the reasoning below.
The first
problem with ending a
sinner’s life so he is no more is that God created us in His
own
image, which makes it possible for us to live in intimate fellowship
with Him forever. Now, being created in the image of God does not mean
we are exactly like God. It means there are certain things about God
which are also true about us. One of those things is, once we are born,
we live forever. And it is this likeness to God, along with all the
other likenesses that enable us to participate in a never-ending
relationship of intimate fellowship with God. Therefore, like God, our
life has no end, and like God, we can enter into and maintain
meaningful and intimate relationships.
To say
our life has no end does
not mean we will not die physically. However, physical death is not the
end of our life, it is the end of our life in this world for the
purpose of limiting the amount of time we have on earth. Such a limit
has three purposes. First, it gives us a designated period of time in
which we can respond to God’s invitation to repent and put
our
faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ – which enables
us
to be reconciled to God and equipped to live with Him forever. Second,
it limits the amount of sin we can commit or teach and encourage others
to commit – thus slowing the spread of sin on the earth. And
third, it limits the amount of harm we can do to others.
Yet in
spite of dying physically,
we are created to go into the next world and live forever. Therefore,
the solution to our sin problem is not oblivion after physical death,
but repentance and conversion while we yet live in this world. And in a
similar way, the solution to the world’s sin problem is to
remove
unrepentant sinners to a place all their own – where they can
no
longer harm those effected by their selfishness and sin.
The
second problem with ending a
sinner’s life so he is no more is that it would devalue
God’s purpose for life and life itself, and such devaluing
would
encourage sin rather than discourage it.
Think
about this: what
self-centered person wouldn’t choose the pleasures and
treasures
of sin, even though they are temporary, if they knew that at the end of
their time on earth they would go off to oblivion? The reality is, if
life has no value, if we only exist for today, if there is no judgment
and no lasting punishment for wrong doing, if we can eat, drink and be
merry for tomorrow we die – and that’s it, why do
what you
know is right when doing what you know is wrong is so immediately
rewarding? Therefore, because the rewards of sin – such as
fame,
fortune, power, luxury, happiness, pleasure, excitement, and
entertainment – are so gratifying, and if we could be selfish
and
sinful without the fear of eternal consequences, the problem of sin
would be even worse than it is today.
However,
God’s purpose for
life and life itself are precious, and worthy of being pursued,
treasured, and protected – not only for ourselves, but for
every
other human being who has ever been born or ever will be born on this
earth. In like manner, relationships built on mutual love and trust are
precious and worthy of being pursued, treasured, and protected.
We see
the truth of this in the
command, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and in
God’s hatred of sin, and in God’s promise of a
final
judgment where sinners will be separated from the righteous as sheep
are separated from the goats. We see the truth of this in
Christ’s death on our behalf – a death which brings
us
redemption from the penalty, power, and practice of sin so we can be
reconciled to God and live with Him forever. We see the truth of this
in the fact that we have been created in the image of God and given the
gift of being eternal once we are born.
We
confirm our belief in and
commitment to this truth by choosing faith in God over going our own
way, in choosing the way of love over self-centeredness, and in
choosing fellowship with God over the pleasures and treasures of
sin.
This
raises another question.
Couldn’t God take away our ability to choose between right
and
wrong so we would only do what is right and good? Yes He could. But if
He did, we wouldn’t be rational beings anymore, and we
wouldn’t have the capacity to love.
Without
the ability to choose, we
would be programmed beings. We would be like computers programmed to
function according to their designer’s wishes, or like
animals
acting according to instinct. This would put a stop to sin, but it
would also put a stop to rational, freely-chosen, voluntarily shared,
intimate relationships of communion and companionship built on mutual
love and trust. To those who know the unequaled worth of voluntarily
shared, intimate relationships built on mutual love and trust, solving
the sin problem by taking away a person’s ability and freedom
to
choose is no solution at all. Truly, the prospect of a loving
community, a love ruled kingdom, a people group who love God supremely
and all others as themselves, is so attractive that it overshadows the
horrendously painful cost of sending those who want no part of such a
community to their own place where they can live self-centered lives
for the rest of time. Therefore, the most reasonable way to protect our
ability to choose between right and wrong so that we are able to engage
in meaningful relationships built on mutual love and trust, and solve
the sin problem at the same time, is to banish unrepentant sinners.
Keep in
mind, however, that the
freedom to choose provides the opportunity to change sides. Having the
ability to choose means we can avoid banishment by voluntarily and
deliberately repenting of sin, turning from our sinful ways, trusting
in God, receiving His gracious gift of salvation from the penalty of
sin, taking hold of the freedom He gives from the power and practice of
sin, and pursuing a life of godly love. It means we can, by an act of
our will, set our mind on God and godliness rather than self and
selfishness. It means we are capable of loving God supremely and
verifying that love by our freely-chosen words and deeds. Freedom to
choose gives us the power to affect our future – that is, to
sow
what we wish to reap, for surely we will reap what we have sown.
However,
damning sinners to
eternal banishment in hell creates an excruciatingly painful problem
for God. As loving parents deeply love each of their children, so God
loves every one of us. As loving parents hope for the best possible
relationship with each of their children, so God wants a voluntarily
chosen, deeply personal, meaningfully intimate, emotionally
impassioned, unequivocally trusting, mutually satisfying, never-ending,
reciprocal relationship with each one of us. Nothing less is
satisfactory. And because He loves us so much, losing just one of us to
the place of no return breaks His heart.
Yet in
spite of what God wants,
we, of our own free-will, have chosen to sabotage our relationship with
Him. He created us, yet we take what belongs to Him and go off on our
own to live as we please in order to please ourselves. He loves us, yet
we distrust His love and doubt His motives – preferring the
pleasures of self-centeredness for a season over the riches of a loving
relationship with Him for eternity. He has given us every reason to do
what we know is right, yet we deliberately and repeatedly do what we
know is wrong. We are willful, intentional sinners. Therefore, God
faces the loss of every one of us to banishment in hell. (Note: Mark
12:28-31; Romans 3:23, 6:23, 8:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Ephesians
5:25-32)
Driven
by love,
God has taken corrective action to solve this desperate situation
wherein all His beloved earthly beings are doomed to eternal
banishment. Through the death and resurrection of His son, Jesus
Christ, God has made it possible for us to be rescued from the power
and practice of sin in this life, and the punishment for sin in the
life to come. He has re-opened the door to relationship so we can be
reconciled to Him and enjoy a mutually satisfying love relationship
with Him, forever. And, He has made available to us everything we need
to live a love-controlled life from the day of our salvation, forward.
And in doing all this, He has done for us what we could not do for
ourselves.
Therefore, by His power, through His
wisdom, and
because of His love, God has solved the sin problem. His solution is
truly the best solution, as we can see by the fact that it satisfies
the following important requirements:
| 1. | Justice must be served. | |
| 2. | Freedom of will must not be compromised. | |
| 3. | A perfect substitute must take the sinner’s place in paying the penalty for sin. | |
| 4. | It must be evident to all that God infinitely loves us and wants a mutually satisfying relationship with us. | |
| 5. | Salvation from the penalty of sin must be granted to all who repent of sin, trust in God, and devote themselves to loving as God loves. | |
| 6. | Repentant sinners must be freed from the enslaving power and practice of sin. | |
| 7. | Forgiveness must be complete, that is, it must result in a restored relationship between God and the forgiven sinner. |
God’s
plan
to rescue sinners from the penalty of sin and restore them to full
membership in His family so they can live with Him forever is
unquestionably and indisputably just. Consider the supporting evidence
to this fact.
When
asked about the greatest
commandment of all, Jesus responded by saying, “The foremost
is,
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with
all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength,’ and the second is this, ‘You shall love
your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater
than
these." (Note: Mark 12:30-31)
Sin
violates these two
commandments. Therefore, sin’s crime is the unjust and
unnecessary harm it does to others, beginning with God and extending to
those we hardly know or do not know. The sinner’s crime is
willfully doing what he knows is wrong, or neglecting to do what he
knows is right, so that unjust and unnecessary harm befalls all who are
affected by his sinful choices and behavior. Therefore, doing what we
know is wrong is not simply breaking the law, it is also causing harm
to others that they should not have to experience and endure.
Therefore, sin is wicked. Indeed, it is reprehensible.
Because
every sin, great or
small, victimizes someone, every sinner who knowingly sins is guilty of
deliberately (willfully and knowingly) harming others. Because sin is
driven by distrust of God and self-centeredness, every sinner is guilty
of unnecessarily harming others for selfish reasons.
Now, it
is not the size of the
sin, but the willingness of the sinner to self-centeredly (or
selfishly) and unnecessarily harm others which makes him a threat to
the well-being of those affected by his choices and behavior.
Therefore, to both punish sinners and protect their victims from
further ill-treatment, every sinner must be banished to a place where
they no longer endanger the well-being of others, including God.
Most of
us believe that the size
of the sin ought to determine the degree of our guilt. In other words,
we judge the degree of sin’s evil by the amount of harm it
seems
to do. For example, we judge rape as horrendously evil while lying is
judged as bad, but not nearly as bad as rape. On this basis of
judgement, we believe rape deserves a more severe punishment than
lying. Therefore, it makes no sense to us that God would send the liar
to hell along with the rapist. In fact, we are skeptical of
God’s
sense of justice in condemning the liar to hell when what he has done
doesn’t even come close to being as evil as what the rapist
has
done – at least in our estimation.
Who has
the problem, God or us?
We do. We do not like to decide how evil something is on the basis of
motive (distrust of God, self-centered self-seeking), or on the basis
of inconsideration for the well-being of others (willfully doing what
we know is wrong at the expense of others), because it makes the liar
as guilty of eternal damnation to hell as the rapist. And of course, if
the liar is as guilty of eternal damnation as the rapist, we are as
guilty as the rapist, too.
To have
to admit that we,
small-time sinners at worst in comparison to big-time sinners, are as
guilty as murderers and rapists, is not something we want to do. In
fact, we can’t imagine thinking of ourselves as that bad. And
so
we don’t. We maintain our sense of minimal guilt by believing
the
degree of guilt is, and ought to be, determined by the size of the sin.
We reinforce our sense of minimal guilt by seeing ourselves as
well-intentioned sinners who make mistakes, even though we make the
same mistakes (commit the same sins) over and over again. And we
comfort ourselves by seeing ourselves as far better than the more
heinous sinners who deliberately do what they know is wrong.
Therefore, we convince ourselves
we would have to tell a lot of lies to equal one murder and take
advantage of a lot of people to equal one rape. And so we do tell a lot
of lies, or continue to commit whatever other favorite sins we have.
And in so doing, we force others to endure our hurtfulness without
relief, which after a time makes some of our victims feel so much pain
that it’s as if we murdered or raped them.
Thankfully, God is wise where we
are foolish. God judges the evil of the sinner, not by the degree of
harm done, but by the willingness of the sinner to deliberately
victimize another person for selfish reasons. He judges, not by the
size of the sin, but according to the motive whereby the sinner
willfully places his own interests above the good of others. This is
why Jesus makes love of God and others the two greatest commandments,
and why Paul says, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore
love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Note: Romans 13:10)
Truly,
the threat to the
well-being of each one of us is not the size of sin, or sin itself, but
the person who will willingly, intentionally, selfishly, or even
carelessly do what he knows is wrong, and in so doing, willingly,
intentionally, selfishly, or even carelessly harm others for his own
benefit. Therefore, the liar is as evil as the rapist because both
willingly and deliberately promote and protect their own interests at
the expense of others.
For this
reason, justice demands
that every sinner, regardless of the size of sins committed, be
punished by banishment to a place such as hell. Justice demands that
sin’s punishment be as certain as death so only a fool would
think he can get away with sinning. Justice demands that
sin’s
punishment be impartially applied without regard to nationality, ethnic
group, color, family background, social status, economic status, or
religious affiliation. Justice demands that sin’s penalty be
equally applied to those who have heard the Gospel and those who
haven’t, to those who are glad they’ve sinned and
those who
are sad they’ve sinned, and to those who repent as well as
those
who don’t.
This may
seem severe, but it is a
necessary application of justice given our inclination to act
selfishly, to knowingly and willfully sin, and to determine how good we
are by comparing ourselves to those we deem worse than us. Indeed, only
when justice is served will the world know that every sinner will be
punished for any and every sin willfully, knowingly, and deliberately
committed. And only when justice brings us to the new heavens and new
earth will God and all who live with Him forever be protected from the
unjust, unnecessary suffering caused by sinners.
It is
true that God is patient
and merciful with unrepentant sinners, even though they continue to
cause others unnecessary suffering while He pleads with them and waits
for them to repent. But don’t ever take this to mean God is
soft
on sin. It means He is strong on pursuing every sinner and ensuring
they have every opportunity to repent and be saved from the penalty of
their sin, because He doesn’t want any sinner to die in his
sin.
(Note: II Peter 3:1-9)
God wants
to rescue sinners from
the penalty of sin and restore them to full membership in His family.
He wants each one of us to live with Him forever. His plan for doing
this begins with a just punishment of sinners. Every sin is equally
penalized (the penalty of sin is death, that is, eternal separation
from God) and every sinner equally punished because all sin is the
result of sinners voluntarily and deliberately doing what they know is
wrong at the unjust and unnecessary expense of others. And because
unrepentant sinners would contaminate heaven with the evils of sin just
as they have contaminated the earth, God banishes them to hell where
they can only harm each other by their self-centeredness and sin.
This
matter of
choice was looked at earlier in the chapter. Nevertheless, it is of
such importance as to deserve a second look. Let us begin by
considering several truths concerning relationships.
First, far
more often than not, when people approach the end of life their focus
turns to relationships – the value of relationships, the
improvement of weak ones, the repairing of damaged ones, and the
restoring of broken ones. Second, when people feel lonely, they most
often look for a meaningful relationship of communion and companionship
to remove their loneliness. If they cannot find fulfillment in a
relationship, they then look for a sense of comfort and love in other
things (i.e., drugs, alcohol, food, possessions, work). Third, God made
humankind for one primary purpose – shared relationships of
communion and companionship built on mutual love and trust. Fourth,
meaningfully intimate, mutually trusting, mutually satisfying,
reciprocal relationships of communion and companionship are of
unequaled value to the happiness and well-being of everyone.
But to
have a meaningful
relationship with anyone, we must be able to love. We must be able to
promote and protect their good. If we do not seek their good, that is
if we do nothing when we should do something or if we deliberately harm
them, we will give them just cause to distrust us. When we give them
just cause to distrust us, we also give them sufficient reason to
believe we do not really love them. In other words, our unloving,
selfish, unkind choices and behavior drive them away from us rather
than endear them to us. Our sin drives a wedge between others and us
rather than drawing them closer to us. Our sin damages the relationship
rather than strengthens it. Therefore, being able to love is vital to
the promotion and protection of shared relationships. And remember,
love fulfills the law. (Note: Romans 13:10)
Yet there
is another side. Being
able to love is not enough. God could have created us so that we could
do nothing other than what is loving and right. But that is not enough
when it comes being loved. And here is where we clearly see the
importance of free-will.
To feel
loved, to be certain that
we are loved, to have an unwaveringly secure sense of acceptance and
belonging in a relationship, we must be able to know that the one
loving us is loving us of his or her own free will. This means that for
each party in the relationship to feel loved, each party must have the
ability to choose who they want to be in relationship with, the depth
of relationship desired (i.e., marriage, friendship, casual,
superficial), how they will treat the other person, the extent of
self-sacrifice, if they will be faithful to the agreed on expectations
of the relationship, and how they will handle failure. Freedom to
choose these things is the only way to validate that love and not
self-interest, or love and not appeasement, or love and not jealously,
or love and not fear of loneliness, is the motive behind seeking
relationship. Therefore, mutually satisfying relationships can exist
only where there is freedom of will – where each party has
the
choice to love or not love, yet chooses to love.
Remove
freedom of will and people
would be like computers or robots who think, choose, and do according
to the way they are programmed. Assuming God is doing the programming,
people would think, say, and do what is loving and right. Yet they
would not do what is loving and right because they wanted to, but
because they could not do anything else. They would feel no attraction,
affection, devotion, or passion toward anyone – only
instinctive
duty. They would seek the good of others out of unintended obligation,
not because they cared. They would serve and please out of involuntary
servitude, not from kindness or tenderness or compassion. Experiencing
deeds of love on this basis may be enjoyable for a time, but it holds
no hope for the deeply satisfying joy gained from being voluntarily and
cheerfully loved.
Therefore, no one, including God,
finds lasting, satisfying joy in being treated in loving ways by
someone who has no choice in whom or how he loves. We all, God
included, want to be loved voluntarily and cheerfully, not grudgingly
or out of necessity. It is for this very reason that God created us
with the ability to choose – with a free-will which enables
us to
decide if we will love, whom we will love, and the depth of
relationship we will seek with those who respond to our love.
Yet
in creating us
with the ability to choose, God risked losing everything, because
inherent in our ability to choose love is the ability to choose
self-centeredness. Therefore, to gain voluntarily chosen, deeply
personal, meaningfully intimate, mutually trusting, mutually
satisfying, reciprocal relationships of communion and companionship
with us, God risked losing us to self-centeredness and sin.
From
God’s perspective,
loving relationships are so valuable, so precious, so in the interest
of everyone, that they outweigh the losses caused by freedom of will.
And the losses are many, because many choose self-centeredness over
love and sin over doing what they know is right. But, freedom of will
also gives us the ability to repent of our selfishness and sin. We can,
through an act of our will, put our faith in God and choose the way of
love.
Therefore, having been created to
experience the greatest possible good from shared relationships built
on mutual love and trust, God’s plan to save us from the
penalty
of sin accomplishes its purpose without compromising our freedom of
will.
Any
plan to rescue
us from the penalty of sin must do at least two things. First, it must
ensure justice is served. And second, it must convince us that sin will
not be tolerated and that the motives behind sin are heinous.
Therefore, God made eternal banishment the punishment for rebelling
against Him, and in so doing, willingly hurt others when we know what
is right yet do what is wrong. This means every sinner owes the debt of
eternal damnation separated from the presence of God.
If
God’s plan is going to
be both just and accomplish its intended purpose of justifying sinners,
then not even He can forgive sin. Every single sin must be paid for. He
can forgive sinners, however, but only if someone provides a perfect
substitute to take the sinner’s place in paying the penalty
for
the sinner’s sin. And, in keeping with God’s
purpose, the
only perfect substitute is a perfectly sinless and therefore guiltless
person who voluntarily takes the place of a self-centered, willfully
sinful sinner.
Not
wanting to lose a single one
of us to banishment in hell, God provided the perfect substitute to
take our place. And that perfect substitute is God, himself, who in the
person of Jesus Christ became the perfect substitute who willingly,
lovingly, and compassionately paid the penalty for our sin.
And why
did He have to pay the
penalty for our sin? Because there is no human being who
could
take our place. Every man, woman, and child who has ever lived has
sinned. This means each one of us must pay sin’s penalty for
our
own sins. So even if we wanted to pay sin’s penalty for a
loved
one, we couldn’t. This leaves God as the only other being who
shares enough likeness with us to be a legitimate substitute in paying
sin’s penalty on our behalf. In addition, He is the only one
who
could enter our world as a human, face our kind of temptation, and
remain sinless.
Choosing
the right time, Jesus
Christ came to earth in human form. He was fathered by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary. He was raised by ordinary parents in an
ordinary home. In his adult years, he brought God’s love and
truth to many through his words and miraculous deeds. Yet he was
despised by the religious leaders of his day, falsely accused,
condemned as a threat to Rome’s rule, cruelly tortured, and
unjustly crucified. Upon dying, he descended into Hades (the domain of
the dark forces of evil). On the third day he was raised from the dead.
Now he is in heaven with his Father, Jehovah, our God. By means of his
condemnation, crucifixion, trip to Hades, and subsequent resurrection,
Jesus, the perfect substitute, paid the penalty for every
sinner’s sin. This means we can be forgiven and freed from
sin’s penalty.
Jesus’ horrible death and
descent into Hades was the act by which God took our place in paying
the debt we owed for our own sin. Jesus’ resurrection was the
act
by which God broke the power of sin’s hold over us and
guaranteed
us eternal life with Him and all who love as He loves. (Note: Romans
3:21-26)
For a
study on how one man,
Jesus, could pay the penalty of sin for all mankind, read the
following:(1) Romans 5:12-21; (2) THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE SERIES, The
Letter to the Romans, William Barclay, pp. 77-82; (3) TYNDALE NEW
TESTAMENT COMMENTARIES, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, F.F. Bruce,
pp. 125-133; (4) COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, Charles
Hodge, D.D., pp. 142-191.
Senselessly,
we’ve distrusted God’s motives, discarded His love,
disregarded His wisdom, disobeyed His commands, and distanced ourselves
from Him so we could go our own way and do what we pleased, as we
pleased, when we pleased. We have favored self-love over
God’s
love, self-determination over God’s authority, and sin over
doing
what we know is right. We are, by our own choosing, intentional sinners
who have deliberately and repeatedly done what we know is wrong; and
we’ve done it at the expense of others. We are, because of
our
sinful choices and behavior, justly judged to be debtors –
sin
debtors – owing what can only be paid at the expense of our
lives. Therefore, because of our indebtedness, we are condemned to
eternal banishment from God’s presence and all who love as He
loves.
Yet God
stepped in, and on our
behalf and He graciously paid this debt which we could pay only at the
terrifying cost of eternal damnation. Though this was a debt He
didn’t owe, He paid it just as fully as if He did. Though the
payment of this debt cost Him the unthinkable when it would only have
cost us what we deserved, He paid it as if it were a privilege for Him
to do so.
Why would
God pay an outrageous
debt incurred through traitorous rebellion against Him? Why would He
sacrifice that which was dearest to pay a debt for which He had no
responsibility? Consider the following two reasons in answer to these
questions.
First, He
paid our sin debt
because He dearly loves us like a loving father loves his children. As
a loving father, He fervently seeks our good, and the good of everyone
affected in any way by whatever He does for us personally. As a loving
father, He longingly desires a shared, intimate relationship of
communion and companionship with us. As a loving father, He zealously
does everything feasible to make it possible for us to be reconciled to
Him when we alienate ourselves from Him. As a loving father, He
earnestly calls to us, pleads with us, woos us, and comes to us in
various ways in an effort to convince us to give up our rebellion and
return to Him and His way of love. Therefore, as a father who loves His
children, God willingly and eagerly came to our aid and paid our debt
so we would not have to spend eternity separated from Him.
Second,
He paid our sin debt
because He loves us like a loving husband loves his wife. As a loving
husband, He yearns for fellowship, companionship, and an endless love
relationship with each of us – the kind of intimate, mutually
satisfying, mutually loving, and mutually faithful relationship that
lovers passionately desire with one another. In other words, He
doesn’t want to have to live without us. So He stepped in and
took our place, paying the penalty for our sin so we could be forgiven
and live with Him forever.
What
greater proof do we need
that God loves us – that He loves us more than
we’ve ever
been or ever will be loved by anyone in this life? Yet His love does
not begin and end with this gracious payment of our sin debt. He does
not expect us to be content with this one time show of love, even
though it is an unsurpassed show of love.
Therefore, God not only saves us
from the penalty of sin, He reconciles us to Himself and restores our
relationship with Him to one of mutual love and trust. He not only
restores us to the status of adult children in His family, He takes up
residence in us so our fellowship can be deeply intimate and
uninterrupted. He becomes our provider and protector so that whether we
face abundance or poverty, praise or persecution, good health or
sickness, life or death, our lives are completely safe in His hands. As
our lover, He endlessly does everything necessary to make the
relationship we share our most treasured, intimate, satisfying, and
secure relationship. Surely, God’s love is wondrous,
immeasurable, and endless. (Note: John 3:16, 15:13; Romans 5:6-8;
Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 John 4:9-10)
God wants
us to know He paid the
penalty of sin on our behalf – out of love for us. He wants
us to
know that though we ought to fear Him, we no longer have to fear
eternal damnation if we will repent, trust in Jesus’
redemptive
work, turn from our sin, and pursue godliness. He wants us to know He
is eagerly and longingly inviting us to share an intimate, mutually
satisfying, mutually faithful relationship of communion and
companionship with Him. And He wants us to know all this so we will
repent of our rebellion and sin, turn from our wicked ways, and come
into the warm embrace of His love. Therefore, God solved our sin
problem in such a way as to convince us of His love – a love
which is all the more appealing because He never allows it to
compromise justice.
The wise
see God’s love as
perfectly pure, and the hungry feast on it. If you cannot see the worth
of God’s love, or understand it, ask God to help you. Make
Ephesians 3:14-19, your daily prayer until you understand the depth of
love God has for you. (Note: II Corinthians 5:14-15; I John 4:18,19)
God
is very
patient with us because He does not want anyone to suffer
sin’s
penalty of banishment. He wants everyone to come to repentance so they
can be forgiven and reconciled to Himself – living with Him
and
all who love as He loves, forever. Therefore, God uses His gracious
loving-kindness rather than His formidableness (that part of His
character which arouses fear and dread in us) to try and persuade us to
repent. (Note: II Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4)
However,
God will not bring even
one unrepentant sinner into His eternal kingdom. He will not forgive
anyone who knows what is right yet willfully, deliberately, repeatedly,
and unrepentantly continues doing what he knows is wrong. To do so
would be to unleash an evil that would ruin heaven just as sin has
ruined the earth. The nature of sin and the destructive forces that are
unleashed by the self-centeredness of sinners demands that only those
who repent of sin can receive God’s saving grace. (Note: I
John
3:1-10)
To repent
of sin is to change
your mind about the nature of sin. Where once you believed it wise to
do what you knew was wrong, you now choose to believe it is the most
foolish, self-centered, unnecessarily-harmful-to-others thing you could
do. To repent of sin is to change your mind about the character of God.
Where once you believed Him harsh and untrustworthy, you now choose to
believe He is loving and good. To repent of sin is to change your mind
about yourself. Where once you believed self-centeredness was vital,
now you choose to believe the denial of self is vital. Where once you
believed you knew better and could care for yourself better than God,
now you choose to place your well-being in His hands and live according
to His Word.
Having
been created with the
ability to choose, we will continue to choose self-centeredness over
love and sin over doing what we know is right if we do not repent.
Therefore, any plan to solve our sin problem must place the requirement
of repentance on every sinner who wishes to receive God’s
redemptive salvation, provided through His son, Jesus Christ, and
reconcile us to God.
It is
possible all this talk
about repentance is either unfamiliar or makes you feel uncomfortable.
And either case is possible because many teachers and followers of
current Christianity wish to de-emphasize repentance or leave it out
altogether. In fact, many in the Christian religion say that placing
any requirement on God’s free gift of salvation, such as
repentance, is heresy.
But is it
heresy? Can something
be heresy when God, speaking in the Old Testament, John the Baptist,
Jesus, Jesus’ disciples, and the Apostle Paul all taught
repentance as a requirement for salvation? (Note: II Chronicles 7:14;
Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 55:6-7; Ezekiel 33:11; Matthew 3:2-11; 4:17;
Luke 5:31-32; 13:1-5; 15:7; 24:45-47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:29-32;
8:20-23; 17:24-31; 20:18-21; 26:16-20; Romans 2:4; II Timothy 2:24-26;
Hebrews 6:1-2)
Ought a
sinner be forgiven and
released from having to pay the penalty for his sin by agreeing or
believing that God is God, that Christ died to pay the penalty for
every sinner’s sin, that no one can pay their own sin debt
apart
from spending eternity in hell, and that depending on
Christ’s
payment is essential for release from condemnation? Ought an adulterous
husband be forgiven and taken back by his wife with open arms by
agreeing or believing that she is his wife, that he has been
unfaithful, that he should love her exclusively, and that he needs her
forgiveness before it is okay for him to come back home?
At first
glance, the answer to
both questions seems to be yes. But think for a moment. Can an
adulterous husband enter into a reconciled relationship with his wife
by agreeing with or believing in certain truths? And in like manner,
can a willful sinner enter into a reconciled relationship with God by
agreeing with or believing in certain truths? The answer to these two
questions is a resounding no. Why? Because agreeing with certain facts
or believing in certain truths does not automatically result in changed
behavior.
Think
about it – what
unfaithful man wouldn’t gladly agree with certain facts and
believe in certain truths if he could have his wife, his family, his
home, and his adulterous relationship too? And in like manner, what
willful sinner wouldn’t gladly agree with certain Bible
truths
about God, sin, Christ, and eternity if it meant he could have heaven
while continuing to practice some of his favorite sins here on earth?
Once
again, think about this
– if we would tell a wife not to take her husband back as
long as
he wanted to continue his adulterous relationship, why would we expect
God to do differently with us? If we think it reasonable to judge the
agreeing husband as unworthy of restoration because of his continued
adulterous behavior, shouldn’t we think it reasonable for God
to
judge us in the same way?
If we can
see the difference
between the husband who says some right words and does some right
things in an effort to get back home, and a husband who is genuinely
repentant and proves it by ending his adulterous relationships,
can’t God see the difference too? If we know that a wife who
would take her husband back under these conditions would be setting
herself up for more unnecessary heartache and suffering,
can’t we
know the same would happen to God if He took us back under these
conditions?
So why
all the confusion and
disagreement when it comes to repentance as the first step in receiving
the gift of eternal salvation? It is my opinion that we want freedom
from the penalty of sin without having to be holy. We want eternal life
in heaven without having to be godly in this life. We want God to be
faithful to us without having to be faithful to Him. We want God to
love us unconditionally without having to love Him with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength. We want God to do good for us according to
our expectations without having to do good for Him according to His
expectations. We want to be served without having to serve. We want God
to pay a debt He does not owe to free us from a debt we cannot pay
– with no strings attached. In other words, we want the best
of
both worlds. We want to be able to sin enough here on earth to make us
happy in this life, and then go to heaven when we die to make us happy
in eternity.
Such
reasoning is faulty in that
it disregards specific truths clearly stated in God’s word,
shows
disrespect for the great cost to God of His gift of eternal life,
furthers selfishness under the guise of religion, works against loving
God as we ought, and encourages shrewd bargaining rather than saving
faith.
And why
isn’t it saving
faith? Because saving faith changes our life – from the
outside
in and from the inside out. It changes our thinking, our desires, our
motives, our speech, and our behavior. It changes our allegiance from
self to God. It changes our focus from self-centeredness to love. It
changes our desire from doing as we please to doing what we know is
right for the good of everyone affected by what we do. It opens the
door for God to come in and deliver us from the power and practice of
sin as well as the penalty of sin.
The
reality is, without
repentance, we will think today as we thought yesterday. We will live
by the same underlying principles now as before. We may modify a few
principles, change a few behaviors, and make some different choices,
but if we never repent of pride, we will continue to treat ourselves as
superior and God as inferior. If we never repent of self-centeredness,
we will continue to value selfishness above love. If we never repent of
our distrust of God, we will continue to distrust Him when He
doesn’t live up to our expectations. If we never repent of
our
sin, we will continue to practice those sins we think essential to a
happy, secure, peaceful life. And if we never change our mind about the
reliability of God’s Word, we will continue to go our own way
when we think God’s Word points us in the wrong way.
Saving
faith begins with
repentance. Repentance brings us into a reconciled relationship with
God – through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, and it
leads us
into a serious pursuit of godliness that is recognized in a changed
life that the Bible describes as Christ-likeness. (Note: Acts 2:37-38;
Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 7:21-27; Romans 6:1-18, 8:12-13; 2 Corinthians
5:14-15, 7:1; Philippians 3:7-14)
God’s
plan
to save sinners did not begin and end with saving us from the penalty
of sin. His plan saves sinners from the penalty, enslaving power, and
practice of sin. Indeed, to save sinners only from the penalty of sin
would be irresponsible, for it would deny the value of love, ignore the
importance of justice, reinforce self-centeredness, leave saved sinners
unchanged – generally speaking, and leave the saved
sinner’s part of the world in the same dire condition as it
was
before he was saved. Therefore, saving sinners from the penalty of sin
without freeing them from the enslaving power and practice of sin makes
a mockery of both love and justice.
For
example, though saved from
the penalty of sin, the born-again sinner would still be ruled by his
selfishness, pride, ungodly passions, unloving attitudes, worldly
thinking, and other ungodly ways. This would make a mockery of love,
because the born-again sinner would continue to be unloving in his
treatment of others.
In a
similar way, to save sinners
from the penalty of sin without freeing them from the enslaving power
and practice of sin makes a mockery of justice. The punishment for sin
is death (eternal banishment in hell), and every sinner owes this debt.
To maintain justice, the debt must be paid. This is especially true for
those who seek to be saved from this debt, for to forgive the sin debt
without paying the debt is simply unjust. Therefore, Jesus died on the
cross to pay our sin debt – not so we could go on sinning
without
fear of eternal banishment, but so that God could forgive us without
violating justice.
To save
sinners from the penalty
of sin without freeing them from the power and practice of sin is to
prevent them from becoming like Christ – which is what makes
them
a Christian. To become like Christ, sinners need a changed mind, a
changed heart, changed thinking, changed desires, and a changed life
whereby they increasingly become more and more like Jesus. And to do
that, sinners must be saved from the penalty of sin as well as the
enslaving power and the practice of sin.
To save
sinners from the penalty
of sin without freeing them from the power and practice of sin is to
imply that such evils as selfishness, pride, anger, envy, lying,
cheating, and hidden forms of sexual immorality are
unavoidable
and therefore acceptable ways for Christians to live. In other words,
only saving sinners from the penalty of sin sends the message that hell
is the evil to be avoided, not sin and all the harm it does to our
relationship with God, to our own character, ways of thinking, and
choices, and to those who are the victims of our sinful ways.
To make
the avoidance of
punishment the primary motive for trusting in Jesus for eternal
salvation is to perpetuate selfishness. Therefore, to save sinners from
the penalty of sin without freeing them from the power and practice of
sin is to leave them in the same selfish condition as before being
saved.
God’s intention for
born-again sinners is that they be changed into the likeness of Christ
so that they will, on a daily basis and in practical ways, love those
around them as they love themselves. In other words, God wants saved
sinners to treat their families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and
fellow citizens in ways that mirror His love for us. He wants them to
seek the good of others just as He seeks our good. Therefore, to make
this kind of life possible God saves us from the power and practice of
sin as well as the penalty of sin.
It is
irrational
to think that the God who commands us to love Him with all our being
and to love our neighbor as ourselves would rescue us from the penalty
of sin without also rescuing us from the power and practice of sin.
After all, it is in being saved from the power and practice of sin that
makes it possible for us to live according to God’s commands.
Does this
mean that once we are
saved from the power and practice of sin we will no longer sin or even
want to sin? Does this mean we won’t have to intentionally
resist
the devil, flee youthful lusts, and put off the old nature with its
sinful ways? Does this mean we won’t have to deliberately and
purposefully pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, and put on
Christ-likeness. No! No! No! We must still do all of this. What changes
when we are saved from the power and practice of sin is that we are no
longer slaves of sin, which means we no longer have to sin, and we are
able to pursue godliness. (Note: James 4:7; Romans 6; 2 Timothy 2:22;
Ephesians 4:17-32)
Therefore, putting an end to sin
does not begin in heaven – it begins when a sinner repents,
trusts in Jesus for eternal salvation from the penalty, power, and
practice of sin, and is born again. It begins in you and in me when we
repent of sin, receive God’s gracious gift of salvation,
place
our life in God’s hands, and proceed to live according to
God’s Word so as to become holy in all our behavior just as
God
is holy.
The
reality is, Jesus’
death on the cross both paid the sin debt and broke the enslaving power
of sin over us. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same
power of God that protects us from ever again being tempted with a
temptation too strong for us to resist. The Holy Spirit enters our
being and empowers us to do what we know is right as we choose to do
what we know is right. The Bible, which is living and active, teaches
us what God wants us to know, it reproves and corrects us, it is our
primary tool for training in godly living, and it gives us the means to
resist the devil. Prayer tells God where we think we need help in
living the Christ-like life here on earth. The Body of Christ (the
local church) is our support group in dying to self and coming fully
alive to the ways of God. In all these things, God displays His
commitment to save us from the enslaving power and practice of sin
along with saving us from the penalty of sin. (Note: Titus 2:11-14; 1
Corinthians 10:13; 2 Peter 1:2-11; Romans 6:1-14)
God
understands we are human.
Therefore, He does not deal with us according to our sins, but as a
father has compassion on his children, so God has compassion on us as
we make an honest effort to live according to His will and word. And
yet, as born-again Christians, He wants us to go forward and sin no
more. He knows that in our humanness we will sin, but He also knows we
no longer have to sin because He has saved us, not only from the
penalty of sin, but also from the enslaving power and practice of sin
– in this life and in the life to come.
Most
often,
forgiveness must go both ways because of the failure of both sides to
love as they ought. This is not the case between God and us. He has not
failed in any way to love us as love loves. In fact, He loves us
perfectly, fully, selflessly, and faithfully. We are the ones who have
failed to love. We are the ones who have sinned – not just
against our fellowmen, but also against Him. He has desired and sought
relationship with us, from the beginning. We are the ones who have
pulled away, ignoring His presence and resenting His demands
– as
if they were a difficult burden or an impediment to happiness or are
harmful to our well-being. And yet, His demands are the path to an
abundantly better life that can only be obtained by trusting Him
implicitly and living according to His will and word. Therefore, God
needs no forgiveness from us. We are the ones who need forgiveness from
Him. (Note: John 10:10)
The
purpose of forgiveness is to
bring reconciliation and restoration to damaged and broken
relationships. Forgiveness accomplishes this by calling both sides to
resolve their differences, repair the damage done by past wrongs
committed, and return to treasuring, nurturing, and protecting the
relationship.
To
accomplish this, the one who
has done wrong must repent of his wrong, confess his sin, repair or
make amends for whatever damage he has done, and demonstrate his
commitment to the good of the other through his subsequent words and
deeds. The one wronged must lay to rest the remembrance of what was
done and the hurts associated with it. He must put out the welcome mat,
open the door to re-established trust, and renew his efforts at
building a meaningful relationship of communion and companionship with
the one who sinned against him. These steps enable both parties to
begin anew to build their relationship on mutual love and trust.
Unfortunately, many people think
forgiveness is necessary while reconciliation is optional. Nothing
could be further from the truth. And we see how true this is in
God’s Word and in His life-example of love.
Love
seeks the good of others,
friend and foe alike, just as God seeks to the good of everyone,
believer and unbeliever alike. However, seeking a person's good does not
mean we have a good relationship with them. It simply means we are
committed to living according to the principle of love in spite of
their attitude and behavior toward us. The perfect example of this is
God. He is unequaled in loving everyone, including those who reject,
and even hate Him. But do not confuse His love with forgiveness. He
does not forgive everyone He loves. In fact, far more are unforgiven
due to unrepentance than are forgiven.
The proof
that forgiveness and
reconciliation are inseparable is found throughout the Bible, but two
verses will be enough to make the point.
In
Matthew 5:45, Jesus tells us
we are to love our enemies (seek their good) just as God loves His
enemies. Jesus verifies God’s love for His enemies by
pointing
out that God causes the sun to shine and rain to fall on the righteous
and unrighteous alike. This means God seeks the good of everyone by
providing them with the basic necessities of life, be they friend or
foe. In return He receives praise, honor, trust, love, companionship,
and intimate communion from His friends (the kind of behavior which
promotes and protects meaningful relationships). However, from His foes
He receives distrust, disrespect, hostility, hatred, and rejection (the
kind of behavior which damages and destroys relationships). Yet in
spite of their treatment of Him, God is not mean-spirited toward His
foes. But neither does He forgive them so as to grant them salvation
from the penalty of their sins. Purely and simply, He loves them, and
in all ways seeks their good. But He will not forgive them until they
repent and show themselves sincerely desirous of being reconciled to
Him. This is an example of love which harbors no ill-will toward an
enemy, yet does not forgive the enemy until he genuinely seeks
forgiveness.
In 2
Corinthians 5:19, the
apostle Paul says that God worked, and is working though Jesus Christ
to reconcile His enemies to Himself. The word reconcile comes from the
word conciliate. To conciliate is to restore a relationship through the
restoration of good will, harmony, and compatibility. This kind of
restoration requires dealing with the differences which caused the
breakdown of the relationship. Of course, the differences must be dealt
with in a manner which removes them and creates an atmosphere for
mutual love and trust to be rebuilt. This requires the involvement of
both parties. The wrong doer must repent of his wrong doing, change his
ways, and in so doing, seek to repair the damage done. The one wronged
must lay to rest the memories of the wrong done and invite the wrong
doer to join him in rebuilding and restoring their relationship.
Truly,
without mutual love and
trust, a relationship is at best superficial and at worst unbearable.
Since mutual love and trust require two people committed to seeking
each others good, forgiveness must include reconciliation when a
relationship has been damaged and people have been estranged.
Therefore, God’s plan to
save sinners from the power, practice, and penalty of sin includes
forgiveness – true forgiveness, which is relationship
restoring
forgiveness. If we look for God’s forgiveness from the
penalty of
sin without taking the necessary steps to reconcile with Him so as to
re-establish meaningful relationship with Him, we are looking for a
salvation which does not exist. We may think we are saved because we
have prayed a certain prayer or know certain information about
God’s saving work on our behalf. But, forgiveness is only
given
to those who repent and do what is necessary to restore and rebuild a
shared relationship of love and trust with God, himself.
A
successful
business man built a lavish home on the side of a mountain. The side of
his home which overlooked the beautiful valley below was mostly glass.
The cost of insuring the glass against breakage was so great, he
decided not to insure it. A few years later, a high school senior
– on a dare from several of his friends – took a
slingshot
and broke five panes of glass. Through good investigative work, the
county sheriff was able to arrest the young man who did this
destructive deed.
When the
case came to court it
was revealed that this was not the first time this young man had
destroyed other people’s property. The townspeople wanted him
put
in jail to teach the young man a lesson, and to protect their property
from further damage. The home owner wanted the young man to pay for the
damage since he had no insurance to cover the cost of replacing it.
The judge
knew he had to protect
the townspeople from further acts of destruction and he had to get the
broken windows replaced. Any judgment which did less would be unfair.
Yet he felt compassion for the young man because he knew his decision
would affect the young man for years to come. If he jailed the young
man, he would not only have a prison record, he would be placed amongst
older criminals who might influence this young man to do worse things.
If he made him pay for the damage, the necessity of immediate
employment might mean the hope of college and a better future would be
gone forever.
Feeling
the same love for this
young man that he had for his own children, the judge wanted to forgive
him, and through some form of training, and accountability, set him on
the path to maturity and responsibility. Yet forgiving the young man
would not guarantee future protection for the townspeople nor pay for
the broken windows. He could not expect the townspeople to suffer more
damage to their property just to give the young man another chance to
straighten out. Nor could he expect the home owner to pay for the
broken windows just so the young man could get on with college and a
better future.
So the
judge did some
investigating between the end of the trial and the date of sentencing.
He discovered the arrest and possible jail time had shaken the young
man into seeing the foolishness of his ways. Before the case came to
trial the young man had begun to make serious and personally costly
changes. He changed his friendships so that he was spending time with
young people who were encouraging him to do good things. He found a job
and was already saving money to pay for the damage he caused.
The judge
checked with the young
man’s teachers, his parents, the parents of his friends, and
any
other sensible adult who had observed the young man’s
attitude
and behavior since his arrest. All pointed to a significant and
sustained change of mind and behavior. This gave the judge the
confidence he needed to act with justice, and with mercy –
which
meant no jail time for the young offender.
However,
there was still the
matter of the broken windows. In order to be just, the judge not only
had to protect the townspeople, he had to make sure the windows were
paid for. Only partial justice would be served by the young man
changing his ways. Full justice required changed behavior plus paying
the debt for damage done. To completely forgive the young man so that
he would have no jail time and no expense that would deter his college
education, the judge, himself, paid the cost of replacing the broken
windows.
Therefore, the judge was not only
just, but the justifier of the one who did wrong and owed a great debt
because of his wrongdoing.
The love and
sacrificial generosity of
the judge coupled with the repentance of the young man made forgiveness
reasonable, rational, and sensible. We see the truth of this in the
fact that forgiveness accomplished its purpose.
For
example, forgiveness opened
the way for reconciliation between the young man and everyone else
involved. Reconciliation made it possible for the restoration of
relationships to levels of love and trust. Restored relationships
resulted in lasting friendships between the young man and many others
in the community. And the lasting friendships became the best
protection from further destructive behavior by the young man. Thus
justice was served, a guilty sinner was forgiven, and the good of all
promoted and protected.
Because
sin is so
heinous, so damaging to the well-being of everyone it effects, God
decreed that the penalty for sin is eternal damnation, and therefore
every sin must be paid for. The motive behind sin is so evil that every
sinner deserves eternal banishment to a place where he will experience
the full impact of his selfish choices and sinful behavior.
In spite
of our sin and the fact
we are sinners, God loves us and desires to have a mutually loving,
mutually satisfying, and mutually faithful relationship with us.
Therefore, God has acted on our behalf to free us from the consequence
of our own foolishness. He paid the penalty for our sin so we can be
forgiven and live with Him forever.
God’s mercy is available to
all because He seeks the good of all. He wants everyone to come to
repentance and be reconciled to Him. Yet God’s mercy is only
extended to and experienced by those who voluntarily repent of their
sin and pursue a life of love – love which makes God their
supreme focus, and the good of others equal to their own good.
We may
never be perfect in this
life. Yet when we have repented of sin and trusted in God, we will
persistently seek a fuller understanding of spiritual things and a
maturing participation in the practice of godliness, which is most
readily seen in the ways we love God and those around us. We will
hunger for the qualities of character and behavior which God wants to
build into our life. We will not concentrate on our failures, nor make
any excuses for our sins. Instead, we will pour our energies and time
into heading straight for the goal – to be dead to sin and
self,
to love God supremely, to serve Him fully, and to love others as we
love ourselves.
Do you
agree with God that all
sin is heinous and must be punished? Have you repented of sin, or have
you only agreed to give up certain sins? Are you doing your part in
forgiveness, or do you want God to overlook your sin without a
whole-hearted commitment on your part to put an end to your sinful
ways? In other words, do you want salvation from the penalty of sin so
you can go to heaven when you die, yet still be free to enjoy the
pleasures of sin and the ways of the world in this life? Or do you want
a salvation that frees you from the penalty of sin, the enslaving power
of sin, and the practice of sin so you can love God as you ought and
those around you as yourself? This is God’s salvation
– a
salvation that includes the forgiveness of sins and the reconciling of
your relationship with God.
God is
just, and because of your
sin, justice demands your banishment. God is love, but because you have
damaged and broken your relationship with God, you need to be forgiven
and reconciled to Him. Amazingly, He wants a two-way love relationship
with you in spite of your sin. Graciously, He has done His part. What
will you do?
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