Jesus, The Way To ForgivenessMany people think that sin is nothing more than a violation of human relationships. They consider an action sinful only if it is frowned upon by society, if it violates their own conscience, or if it is harmful to someone. To such people, correcting sin is nothing more than making things right with other people. When this is done they feel a peaceful release. But sin is more than this. Sin is any deviation from God's will.
It may be doing what God disapproves.
Or, it may be failing to do right.
The grossest behavior toward another human being is sin only because it violates God's law. After committing adultery and murder, David wrote in a Psalm to God:
This means that sin is more serious than most people realize and it explains the penalty attached to it:
It means, also, that no man is forgiven until all is right with God. The Problem of SinMaking a sinner right with God is not easy -- even for God. God is perfectly HOLY, and holiness makes any truce with sin impossible.
God is infinitely JUST, and justice demands that He punish sin with that penalty which His justice prescribes for the guilty -- death.
These facts involve man in a terrible predicament. He is a sinner. The very nature of God demands separation from man and man's punishment by death. Man is helpless to solve the problem. He cannot deny the fact the he is a sinner, and no good works he may do can make him innocent. A man who has committed an undetected murder is not made innocent by living the rest of his life by the law. Doing other things God has required does not give us credit to apply against our sins. Once we are sinners, we are as dead men.
Solution To The Problem
God's love and grace do not compromise His holiness or justice. He struck the blow which Justice required. But His love provided His own son as a shield to receive the blow in place of sinful man.
These words written hundreds of years before Christ, were fulfilled in His death on the cross. A shield or protection from punishment is called a propitiation.
Truly, JESUS IS THE WAY TO FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
Forgiveness ConditionalThough Christ is the propitiation for "the sins of the whole world", not all will be saved by Him.
Obeying Christ requires BELIEVING, having Faith in Him. If He is THE WAY, we must put our trust in Him.
This faith, of course, must be strong enough to create in us a resolve to turn from sin. This is REPENTANCE.
Our faith must be strong enough to prompt public confession.
And we must believe sufficiently to be BAPTIZED.
This baptism puts us into Christ where we are children of God by faith.
It is when we are buried with Christ in baptism that God makes us alive.
Once we are in Christ and have this new life, we are continually forgiven as we "walk in the light" of truth and righteousness.
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