Man's Problem: Sin - Yet,
each one of us like the rest of humanity has chosen to rebel against
God’s plan (Romans 3:23). Instead of loving God supremely we love
ourselves, we serve ourselves, we please ourselves, and in essence we
worship ourselves (Romans 1:17-32). Instead of living to glorify God,
sinners seek to glorify self. God calls this idolatry, because an idol
is anything that takes the praise, place, or priority away from God (1
Thes. 1:9). Thus, sin is rebellion against who God is (He is holy), His
will (His Plan), and His laws (ex. The Ten Commandments)(Titus 1:9-16).
Because of sin, God commands
everyone, everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). Why do we need to repent?
Because sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). God is the source of
all life, all love, and all knowledge. To be separated from the source
of all things and everything good we enjoy is a hellish thought. The
wages (consequences) of sin is death (Romans 6:23, Ezekiel 18:20). For a
sinner there is a separation of knowing God and enjoying the peace and
blessings of God in this lifetime (John 10:10).
Sinful humanity has tried to ignore
or replace God by being the god of their own life. Through sin they seek
satisfaction, but the lusts and pleasures of sin do not last (Ephesians
4:19), do not ultimately satisfy, and result in physical death
(separation of the body from the soul – Romans 6:23) and eventually
spiritual death (separation from God for all of eternity – Revelation
21:8) if they don’t repent (Revelation 16:9-11).
Why must I die? Because God has
decreed that death is part of the curse/punishment against sin (Romans
5:12). Since He is a holy and perfect God (Matthew 5:48, 1 John 1:5, 1
Peter 1:15-16), He cannot and will not allow one sin or one sinner to
enter and to taint His glorious presence or His glorious Heaven
(Ephesians 1:4, 5:27, 1 Thess. 3:13, Hebrews 12:14). Therefore, God has
decreed that everyone who sins will die, and after death to face a
judgment (Hebrews 9:27). For all those who rejected Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior there is a second death after the judgment when God judges
them guilty and their names are not found in the book of life. Since
their choice in life was to be separated from God and since they
rejected the blood and righteousness of Jesus, they are separated from
God forever and thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20).
Ironically, everyone loves for God
to be perfect in love, but in order for God to be perfect, He must be
perfect in all areas, including justice (Romans 2:5, 3:25, 2 Thess.
1:6-10). Therefore, if God left even one of your sins unpunished, He
would not be perfect in justice. This is why out of His love and mercy
(John 3:16) that He sent His only Son Jesus to pay the penalty for your
sins and to satisfy His perfect justice and wrath against man's
rebellion (1 Cor. 6:9-11, Romans 5:1).
We all are deserve Hell (2 Peter
2:4-6) and God’s wrath (John 3:36) for rebelling against God because if
we are honest, all of us know that God would find us guilty for breaking
some if not all of the 10 commandments (James 2:10). But also consider
your guilt to all the commands and will of God that are clearly spelled
out in the Bible and also the general knowledge of right and wrong that
God has placed on every man’s heart through their conscience (Hebrews
10:22).
Unable to earn God’s forgiveness or
meet his perfect standard of righteous, man realizes they are sinners
(Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16) in desperate need of a Savior: 1. A
perfect man to redeem men from sin by fulfilling all the laws of God and
his requirements of righteousness on their behalf (Matthew 5:17, 2 Cor.
5:21), 2. A perfect representative who would represent humanity
judicially before God and provide justification (1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews
6:20), and 3. A perfect ruler who is not only human but divine – having
the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12), power over life and death
(1 Cor. 15:20-57), and being eternal to provide eternal mediation
between sinful men and holy God (Hebrews 7:25). But without Jesus there
is no sacrifice or solution for sin as on their own everyone is guilty
of sin and therefore a sinner separated, condemned, and awaiting
punishment by God (Hebrews 4:1-13, 9:22, Romans 14:10-12, Revelation
20:11-15).
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