The seven most important questions you will ever ask...

Cont.
4. What has God done for this sinful and dying world?
The Bible compares us to lost sheep. We have "gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way." We have gone astray and live with our backs to God, but we are then told "and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." What does that mean?

When I was about 8 years old I thought nothing of throwing a stone the full length of our street, just to see how far it would go. My problem was that I didn’t understand that sometimes actions can have serious consequences.

One day I was in a tree-filled empty lot, three doors along from our house. For some reason I threw a stone into the trees. Suddenly I heard the sound of glass breaking, and high-tailed it out of there like a rabbit that had just seen a hungry fox.

A few minutes later, the fox was at our back door. Then I heard my mom call my name, and then ask, "Did you just throw a stone through Mr. Prescott’s window?" I stepped out of my room and said that I had. I can’t remember anything else about the incident, except that my mom has said a number of times how proud she was that I had done the right thing by telling the truth.

When it comes to the issue of sin, we don’t understand that there are deadly serious consequences. We lie, steal, lust, covet, and blaspheme without too much thought. It’s no big deal. But every time we do so, we smash the window of God’s Law and that Law demands retribution. Now He’s waiting for us to do the right thing and ‘fess up. If we refuse to come out in the open we will pay for it ourselves, and there will be Hell to pay.

So what are you going to do? We have already seen that you can’t justify yourself. Simply do the right thing. Confess your sins to God. He knows all about the broken window, and in His great mercy He has already paid for a new one Himself.

God became a Man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth--a morally perfect Man, then He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. When Jesus was on the cross, the Father laid on Him the sin of us all. Think of it this way again. God is a Judge. We are guilty criminals who have violated His Law. Jesus stepped into the courtroom and paid the fine for us. That means, because of the suffering death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God can legally dismiss our case. He can commute our death sentence and allow us to live! Can you understand that? He took the bullet so that you don’t have to:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:16-19, NKJV).

Do you remember how man-made religions seek justification? Look at what God did through the Savor: "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

This is what makes Christianity unique among other religions. Instead of man seeking justification, in Christ, God justifies the guilty sinner. Everlasting life is a free gift of God, and that brings us to a very important question.

To be continued...