In the beginning, God created the world. It was perfect!
God created man (Adam) and woman (Eve) they were perfect too!
They lived in a beautiful garden. God made one rule: DO NOT eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But...The Devil tempted Eve and she took the fruit. Adam had a bite too. They had not listened to God. This was the first sin.
God could not have sin in His presence, so He had to make them leave His beautiful garden. Because of sin, death came in. Death is a direct consequence of sin
Sin was now part of the human race. Since that moment we have not been able to enter into God's presence.
But God did not give up on His creation. He gave them some laws. "If you can follow these" He said "You can enjoy being with me again"
10 Commandments
thou shalt have no other gods before me
thou shal not commit adultery
Thou shal not steal
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt...
But all that did was prove how bad we are! We could never keep all the rules! We lie, cheat, steal everyday! God needed perfection!
God looked down at the world He had created, and decided that something drastic had to be done...
He sent Son to this very Earth. We know this person as 'Jesus'
Jesus lived a perfect life. He healed the sick, gave new meanings to Old Testament scriptures and to peoples lives.
But the many people thought he was upsetting the apple cart. They plotted to have him killed.
Eventually they succeeded. The very person who had created the Earth and everything on it, was crucified on a cross.
Three days after dying. Jesus rose again. This proved that God was pleased with the sacrifice of His Son. God now had a righteous basis to come out in grace and love towards us: sinners!
A bit later, Jesus was recieved back into Heaven. He now waits in Heaven waiting for any who believe on Him. That's all you have to do to enter into God's presence. Believe that Jesus took your place. Repent of your sins and believe in Christ.
Okay, pause here for a second, this is VERY important
As sinners, we all deserve to die. As we said earlier, death came in because of sin. And the Bible says that after death comes the judgment.
We must all stand before God and answer for all the sins we have done in our life.
The little white lies, the second glance at the pretty lady, the little things we take home from work.
All these must be answered for. And just one sin will keep you from God's presence. Adam and Eve only sinned once before God had to remove them from the garden.
Now we have an oustanding debt against us, we are in the red!
And that debt must be paid. Unfortunately, we are totoally unable to pay off even one sin, let alone the hundred and thousands we have against our record!
Now you might say, "Hold on thats a bit unfair, one sin and I can't get into Heaven?" But think about it. God is a Holy God, even one sin is a massive offense to Him. He wouldn't be Holy if He just let one or two sins slide past.
But God provided Jesus- a sinless, perfect man who took on our sins.
Jesus was perfect, He was everything we should have been, and more. So when He died, God was able to place all the sins you have ever commited on Him. He took your place. We are deserving of death. But Jesus died as our substitute. It was important that Jesus had to die, because without a sacrifice of blood, sin can never be washed away. Sin must still be punished by death, but it was Jesus who died, so you don't have to!
A bankrupt debtor cannot pay a debt. A sinner cannot pay for his sin.
Sombody else had to pay. That person was Jesus.
The Bible says that everyone is a sinner. There is no exception. We have all sinned and come short of the impossibly high perfect standard that God has righteously set. Now matter how hard we try we cannot stop sinning. And just ONE sin is enough to keep you out of Heaven. Think how many sins you must have commited in just one week! How far away we must be...
One. Last. Thing...
Even before the world was created God knew He was going to have to send His son to die. He knew that sin would come in. If sin had not come in, we would not be so appreciative of all God has done for us in saving us! God not invent sin, but He used it to give us a fantastic appreciation for all He has done...
...And gave a brand new meaning to the word:
Grace
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
The Gospel of God's Grace
