Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned
Romans 5:12
All have sinned, all fall short of the Holiness required.(Romans 3:23)
Sin entered the world/our human lives by one man(Adam) and sin was defeated and conquered through one man(Romans 5:15) that being Yeshua Ha'Mashiach(Jesus Christ)
We are not all punished because of one mans sin, we are punished for what Adam brought into Gods perfect creation, the disposition that we all hold on to, and that is we have a right to ourselves and we are our own god. We either realize that we are not our own (Romans 14:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19) and fully surrender to who we ultimately belong to (Christ) or we just continue living in our natural state, our natural disposition which is ultimately selfishness.
Now to fully grasp forgiveness, to understand who Jesus Christ was, His purpose, and why His sacrifice means anything, we first have to understand the need, we need to understand what we are forgiven from right? We say God is a loving God, we say He is fully of mercy, and make no mistake about it.. He is. However at the same time we also say He is a Holy and Pure and a righteous judge.
"The LORD is righteous, For I rebelled against His commandment. Hear now, all peoples, And behold my sorrow; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.- Lamentations 1:18
We see through out the bible that He is completely both. Holy and pure beyond what we could ever comprehend, He is absolutely a God of justice. The question you should be facing is;
How can a Holy Pure Righteous God look at us with anything but wrath and anger?" and rightfully so! His word says several things about us that should make us understand just how undeserving of Grace we are…
"the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth"
Genesis 8:21
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."
Psalms 51:5
"[There is] none who does good, No, not one."
Psalm 14:3
"The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
"For You [are] not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You."
Psalms 5:4
By our fallen nature we all want what Adam & Eve wanted, and no it's not some fruit from a tree, it's what Satan tempted Eve with back in Genesis 3:4-5.
We want the knowledge of good and Evil, we want to be our own god to decide for ourselves whats right & whats wrong. It's selfishness thats what sin is in a nut shell.
So once again we come to the question;
"How exactly can a righteous God who abhors sin, after all how can God be Holy & Pure/ Righteous if he tolerates Evil, how can He show us mercy? Grace? Love?
remember what Romans 3:23 says..
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:8
"But the Scripture has confined all under sin"
Galatians 3:23
Maybe we can please God by works, earn His Grace & Mercy? a noble concept except for the fact that how can one who is born wretched & Evil a sinner (as the bible plainly states we all are) even begin to do a work that would please a Holy Just & Righteous God? Like the fantastic story "Pilgrims Progress" My iniquities are over my head, they are too heavy for me to carry(Psalm 38:4)
But we are all like an unclean [thing], And all our righteousnesses [are] like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6
So we can't ourselves follow Gods laws and commands because we are wicked and want to be our own god, our works are like filthy disgusting rags in Gods Holy sight and to top it all off we are living in a world that's fleeting and will soon pass away, all it's pleasures are meaningless under the sun(read Ecclesiastes).
Sounds like we are screwed, and WE ARE! this is what I want you to see, more importantly it's what God and His word wants you to see, that on your own BY YOURSELF YOU ARE SCREWED.
That's not what you want to hear is it? and let's be absolutely honest it's not pleasant sounding, and it drives us crazy that we are not in control. This is not something the world is going to advocate, because the world is a self fulfilling place. The world wants you focused on constantly fixing YOU, selling you empty promises of fulfillment and false ways of ultimately fixing yourself, wether that's by giving into selfish desires or taking pills to mask the suffering and struggle you are in. There's no hope and peace in hiding and masking what you are through pills and self help. Again, the fact is YOU can't help you.
Once again we are stuck with where does Gods grace come in? how can we be saved from our enemy(ourselves)/our very nature(sin).
Want to know where Gods grace/mercy comes in? His love and grace you don't deserve? Jeremiah 23:6 says "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" He is our righteousness(LORD here meaning The Lord Jesus Christ) and lets remember Isaiah 53
"But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
Grace you don't deserve is God sacrificing the undeserved, the spotless ultimate lamb Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (Jesus Christ).
"Who is the image of the invisible God"
Colossians 1:15
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
Colossians 2:9
Jesus Christ Himself said if you know Him you know the father, He also said;
He didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)
Christ came to be a sacrifice and through Christ we not only see the justice of God(His wrath), but we see His mercy and love too. Justice and wrath in the fact that because of our sinfulness it pleased God to sacrifice His son Jesus Christ(Isaiah 53:10), and mercy and love in the fact that He was willing to cast all our sinfulness onto Him on the cross instead of giving us all what we deserve.
This and ONLY this is an amazing Grace….a Grace you DONT DESERVE!
All glory to God for His righteousness, His Holiness, His Mercy and Love!
Gods grace, when we ultimately understand it, drives us to want to please Him.
This is a good thing , but it's absolutely insulting when we put "us pleasing Him" above His Grace. Our performance above His sacrifice does nothing but place us above HIM, and it becomes about what we do not what He did.
"Souls are not made sweet by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in - a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This can only eradicate what is wrong, renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner man.
Will-power does not change men. Time does not change men. Christ does. Therefore "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." "
Henry Drummond
