Here’s a question to get you thinking: Why should God forgive you for anything?
Think about it. When God created the universe and world it was good. He looked at everything and was pleased with his creation. There was no death, no pain, no suffering. But Adam and Eve messed that all up. They had a relationship with God, but they threw it all away out of their selfishness. And ever since then people have been turning their backs on God. The world is full of people who have chosen to lie and cheat and steal and murder and hate and abuse one another and live immoral and sexually perverted lives. People ignore God’s commands all the time and choose instead to gossip and let their lusts control them. And it has destroyed our world. What used to be a perfect place of peace and blessings is now a world of death and pain. We can still see semblances of beauty behind the mess we’ve made, but it’s often a reminder of how much human beings have destroyed. So why should God bother with such wicked and evil people who have been so destructive and hateful towards him?
The obvious answer is love. But here’s another question to think about: If God is willing to save you because of his great love–if the love of Jesus was enough to hold him to the cross instead of damning every person who has ever sinned directly to Hell’s fires–if he was willing to go through such pain to be a sacrifice for us, how are you going to respond to that love. Because a relationship only works if the love goes both ways. If you are unwilling to obey God, it proves you don’t love him. Jesus said “Those who love me obey my commandments.”
Here’s my answer to the first question: God forgives us so that we can love him. He wipes our sins away to give us the opportunity to return his love. He cleans up our lives so that we can live clean lives. To many people think God forgives them so that they can have a free ticket to Heaven and be just as self centered as they have always been. So they might say they love Jesus, but their lives show otherwise, because they continue with the destructive sin that proves a lack of love for God. But God saves people so that they can e brand new and live for him instead of themselves. God wants the very best for us, and selfishness and sin are not the best for us. Living in harmony with God and following his commandments is what’s best for everybody. Salvation is not about getting into Heaven. It’s about becoming God’s children and living as family and experiencing his love without measure and sharing that love with the world. But it means cutting the sin out. It means trading our old evil life for a new pure life. And God promises to help us live right every step of the way.
So who do you love?
Here are the verses that you can’t hear in the message:
Romans 5:15-21 (somebody read) And what a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:1-11 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:44 — 20.5MB)
