Do You Know What He Has Done?

Regular readers of this blog know that a good many if not all of the posts appeal to readers to repent of their sins and commit their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The irreligious and unbelieving who read these posts likely respond, “Why does it always come down to religion?  Why is it always about God and Jesus?  Why can’t I just live my life in whatever way seems best to me without hurting anyone else, forget religion, and be left alone?”

Those who ask such questions do not comprehend the enormous magnitude of their own spiritual poverty and brokenness before God. They also do not comprehend the even greater magnitude of what God has done about these things in Jesus Christ. 

The issue between God and Man is the same now as it has always been: sin.  Sin, suffering and death exploded onto the scene shortly after Creation because of Man’s prideful decision to reject God’s rule in his life. Man broke his relationship with God expecting to begin making his own decisions as an equal with God. But rather than becoming God’s equal, Man ended up thrust into spiritual darkness horribly separated from God.  

Man did not anticipate that rejecting God would mean moving forward in the world for generations to come with a broken spirit, a darkened mind, and a degraded, corrupt nature.  He also did not anticipate that by refusing to serve God, he would become a slave to his own sinful nature instead. The sinful nature is Man’s relentless, inner craving to rebel against God, shatter His Laws, recklessly hurt himself and others, and earn God’s harshest judgments.  

This is the legacy that we human beings collectively inherited from our fallen ancestors, and it continues to corrupt and destroy everything we do in life.  Even when we try our very hardest and best to treat others well, act honorably, do good deeds and “get things right,” our motives are almost invariably tainted with selfishness and corruption that we don’t even recognize.  

Worst of all, without divine intervention, this unbreakable cycle of sinning against God and insulting Him and His righteousness inevitably ends in both physical and spiritual death. Isaiah 64:5-6 says that “…You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved.  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.”  

But the Good News is that at the time of our original rebellion, God in His perfect foreknowledge and infinite mercy already had a plan of redemption in place that would provide for our eternal salvation from sin and death if we would only accept it. Have you ever carefully and seriously contemplated in your heart exactly what it is that God has done to save us?—to save you?

The Bible says at Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  It also says that while you deserve to die for your sins and be cast permanently out of God’s presence into outer darkness and torment in a place called Hell, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.  

To believe in Jesus means you must first believe by faith that He is the Son of God, an incomprehensible concept for the other monotheistic religions of the world.  You must also understand and believe by faith that God Whom you have deeply offended by your sins offered Jesus as a substitute sacrifice to take the pain and insult of your sins upon Himself and die on the Cross for you so that you might be released from your guilt and be forgiven. This is the essence of forgiveness, for the one offended by evil or injustice to take the pain and insult of the offense upon himself and release the offender from his moral debt. 

Finally, to believe in Jesus means you must repent of your sins, receive God’s Holy Spirit and be born again, forsake your old way of life, and walk in the forgiveness and newness of life that God has freely given you.

Now do you get it?  Do you know what He has done?  If so, receive God’s great gift of salvation in Jesus today!