Take a look at 2 Chronicles 6:36 – 39, note the requirements for forgiveness.
Now look at 1 John 1:8 – 10. What is similar? What is different?
The contrast is stark. Under the law there are more requirements. Under grace we acknowledge our sin and are forgiven.
Why?
The Law demands a sacrifice for sin. Christ paid that sacrifice. Once for all. Earlier this week I was talking to one of my friends and he shared his amazement with the atonement. On the cross and in the tomb Christ suffered hell for all of us. Think of that, he suffered as all of the people that have been born such that they will not have to spend eternity in hell. Billions of eternities of suffering in three days.
Thus, we can acknowledge our sin and He can righteously forgive.
Last week one of my Uber drivers was Muslim. We got into a long conversation about forgiveness. He shared that he had to pray over and over and over and over etc., and hope that god would hear. He will not know until he dies whether he has been forgiven or not.
I shared with him the completed work of Christ for his forgiveness, which he summarily rejected. Perhaps the seeds will sprout.
The grace given to us, bought with a horrendously high price by Christ, gives us the unimaginable access to our Lord personally and a certainty of forgiveness before him that no religious system offers.
Be thankful.
The contrast is stark. Under the law there are more requirements. Under grace we acknowledge our sin and are forgiven.
Why?
The Law demands a sacrifice for sin. Christ paid that sacrifice. Once for all. Earlier this week I was talking to one of my friends and he shared his amazement with the atonement. On the cross and in the tomb Christ suffered hell for all of us. Think of that, he suffered as all of the people that have been born such that they will not have to spend eternity in hell. Billions of eternities of suffering in three days.
Thus, we can acknowledge our sin and He can righteously forgive.
Last week one of my Uber drivers was Muslim. We got into a long conversation about forgiveness. He shared that he had to pray over and over and over and over etc., and hope that god would hear. He will not know until he dies whether he has been forgiven or not.
I shared with him the completed work of Christ for his forgiveness, which he summarily rejected. Perhaps the seeds will sprout.
The grace given to us, bought with a horrendously high price by Christ, gives us the unimaginable access to our Lord personally and a certainty of forgiveness before him that no religious system offers.
Be thankful.
Wonderful post; how unbelievably glorious this truth, true liberation! How can we begin to calculate the almost infinite price of God being forsaken by God because of our sin, that it might be forgiven so easily on our side?
ReplyDeleteSeeds of the Gospel sown by the Holy Spirit have the power of germination to eternal life. It may break open that hard soil in a most unexpected way!