Sunday, April 12, 2020
Paul summarizes the Gospel in Romans 3:23-25,
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with underserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.”
We have all sinned. The reason that sin is a problem is because sin separates us from our loving Heavenly Father.
Father God wants to be close to us, so He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin. The scripture says, “God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people.” It makes God angry when we sin, but He took all the anger out on Jesus. What does God think about sin?
Look at what He did to Jesus on the cross.• He was beaten with a cruel whip full of sharp pieces of rock.• A crown of thorns was placed on His head.• He was nailed to a cross and His blood poured out.
The Bible says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” In other words the penalty for sin is death. Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross so that we could live.
All of that is tragic, but it pales in comparison to the most tragic thing of all. Jesus, the righteous one, literally became sin on the cross. This was so painful that the Father had to turn His back on Jesus.
Jesus cried from the cross, “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” We will never fully understand the price that Jesus paid for us or the pain that He went through, but we do know why it happened. It was your sin and my sin that sent Jesus to the cross. He didn’t deserve to die, but He went to the cross willingly.
Why did Jesus die? He wants you back. When you make a decision to receive freely what God did for you and give your life to Christ, then Father God looks at you through Christ. He doesn’t see your sin. He sees you as righteous and welcomes you into His family.
Resources from Mark Harper SuperChurch.com
Now it’s time for review. How much do you remember?
