To varying degrees, we act in ways that are opposed to God’s ways.
Just take a quick scan of the news on any given day…racism, murders, sexual abuse, lies, greed, corruption, terrorism, wars, etc. As people we have a great way of messing up our lives and the lives of others. God sees us as lost, blind and under his judgment for our ways.
Think how sickened and grieved we are to hear that an 6-year-old girl is kidnapped from her family for sexual abuse. It’s such an affront to our moral senses, that even those who oppose the death penalty might be tempted.
Well, all of our sin is an affront to a holy God. All of our sin grieves him. We don’t live up to our own standards, let alone his. When honest, we even disgust ourselves at times. So what would a perfectly holy God see?
God says that the penalty for sin is death. This is why, in the Old Testament you see God instructing the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb once a year for the forgiveness of their sins. The lamb died in their place. But that was a temporary forgiveness. They had to do this each year.
When Jesus came, the prophet John the Baptist said this about Jesus, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Jesus came to take the penalty for humanity’s sin, for our sin, in our place. Rather than us die and be permanently, eternally separated from God, Jesus paid for our sin on the cross, in order that we could be forever forgiven and have eternal life.
This is exactly why Jesus came, as our Savior, to save us from God’s judgment, condemnation and payment of our sin. Any sin you have ever committed, or will do, Jesus was aware of while hanging on the cross. Jesus took the punishment for our sins for us.
