God could have created robots that could only obey Him. But He created man in His own image, with the freedom to choose. Adam chose to sin and his descendants are born separate from God. They have to make the choice to be part of God's Family - to be saved.
God did not leave man without hope, He made a way for man to be saved.
John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. {17} God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
All we can earn by our actions is the same thing Adam earned - death. Eternal life comes as a free gift from God.
Rom 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin pays us what we earn--death. God gives us what we need--eternal life. Which do you want? We have a choice: serve sin and die, or serve Christ and live forever.
Sin pays fair wages--eternal death. God, through His love gives what is not earned--eternal life. Are you content with your wages or will you accept God's gift. Until you accept God's gift, you are lost.
Rom 3:22-23, We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. {23} For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
In the past, all have sinned. In the present, all fall short of God's standard. We all miss the mark and that is another definition of sin.
Jesus is the Only Source of Salvation
People search for life in a lot of places, but it has only one source.
Acts 4:11-12, For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ {12} There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them."
The Cross Teaches us Love
His death showed His love for us and showed us how to love one another.
John 15:12-13, I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. {13} And here is how to measure it—the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.
The world teaches there is only selfish love. The world does not know God, even though He loves it.
If people would just open their eyes they would see God's love in action all around them. Without the sacrificial love of God's people, this world would have self-destructed a long time ago. In the end God will withdraw His people and the world will be destroyed.
God is Just and the Justifier
Rom 3:25-26, For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. {26} And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
God will not sin. He will not break His law. He is Just. He honored His Word so much He took upon Himself flesh and submitted to it.
He did not just remove our dept. He paid it. That showed the dept was true. We were sinners. We did deserve death.
But once He has paid the dept we are justified. We become the same in His eyes as if we had never sinned.
As the song goes:
I owed a dept, I could not pay,
He paid a dept, He did not owe.
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