In the beginning God, His Son with Him, created all and is in all.  His greatest masterpiece, His work of art and heart, was Adam followed by Eve.  From God’s lungs, He breathed life into them.  He loved and enjoyed their company as they walked in the cool of the evening, under the stars, in a magnificent garden of paradise that only God could provide. God also gave them the freedom to choose.

Soon the Enemy entered, presenting these first humans with two choices: Follow God or be like the enemy had done, be gods themselves and follow their own ways without God.  These perfect humans, created in the image of their Creator, chose to sin by saying no to God and yes to the Enemy who enticed them to sin—to have what they thought they deserved.  They are no longer perfect, living in a perfect place, with a perfect God.  They were disobedience to God by choosing death over life.

But God knew and God loved.  God also designed the perfect plan to resolve decisions made to sin that led to death. This Plan would reconcile (reconnect the relationship) to God that separated humanity from God. This Plan was Jesus whom God sent to save us and show us who He is and what He does in and for us.

God did not and does not force humanity to love Him back because that is not real love not how the love of God works.  So, God demonstrated His love for us—even while we were yet sinners.  Jesus, His Son, took the punishment for our sins on His shoulders and nailed them once and for all to a cross.  God’s love for his created was demonstrated deeply and compassionately by this act of sacrifice.  He knew exactly what everyone needed most:  Grace.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:16-17

Romans 5, The Message

The Death-Dealing Sin, the Life-Giving Gift

^12-14 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.

^15-17 Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

^18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

^20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

ALL have sinned.  There is no one is good.  No one is perfect.  Only God is Good.  Only God is Perfect.  To believe otherwise is falling for the enemy’s lie yet again—just like Adam and Eve!

God sent His Perfect Son to earth to be Love and Light to all; with a promise to save us from all our sins!  But a sacrifice of perfection had to be made for our sins.  Jesus was indeed that perfect sacrifice for a flawed humanity.  To all who believed in Jesus, all were saved for Life!  Eternal Life! 

God’s aggressive forgiveness, called grace was delivered personally by Jesus, God’s One and Only Son.  Love and Mercy came down to earth and Grace won the battle between the two opposing forces.  Grace still wins for all who believe!

“In a nutshell, we have two choices:  Life or death.  Choose wisely as the consequences of our choices are a matter of life or death!  We are saved from our sins because of God’s love coupled by His mercy and grace.  In short, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve; grace is God giving us something we do not deserve—namely, Jesus!

We are not perfect but we are perfectly forgiven forever!   Pause to pray and be grateful!  Focus all our attention on the One who saves us from our selfish sins of disobedience and sets us right with God who created us!

Are you hurting and broken within?
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin?
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself?
Do you thirst for a drink from the well?
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes
Come today, there’s no reason to wait
Jesus is calling
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy
From the ashes, a new life is born
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood

Oh, what a Savior
Isn’t He wonderful?
Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen
Bow down before Him
For He is Lord of all
Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

The Father’s arms are open wide..

(Come to the Altar, by Elevation Worship. Songwriters: Wade Joye / Christopher Brown / Mack Brock / Steven Furtick) https://youtu.be/VT_br9kJVNw?si=9rmRdzTwA8xmuatS

There is nothing we have done that God’s grace cannot overcome.  Come…

Lord,

Thank you for your aggressive forgiveness that provides the Way back to You who is the Truth who leads us to Life eternal with You!  Thank you, Father God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit who cares, convicts, confronts and encourages us stay connected and in constant communion with our Creator who loves us most!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!