Finding Forgiveness at the Cross
For God so Loved the world…
Download the printable pamphlet here!
Download the printable pamphlet here!
Revelation 4:11 ¹¹ “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
When God created the world He created everything very good (Genesis 1-2). The crown of His creation was man (Adam & Eve). When God created us He did so in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), which simply means that we are moral beings with the unique privilege and purpose of reflecting God’s character here on earth; and God is holy (absolutely pure and separated from sin) and righteous (does what is good and true). There was perfect, loving fellowship between God and man.
One day, however, man sinned against God by disobeying His command (Genesis 2: 16-17; 3:1-7). The result of this sin was broken fellowship between God and man, as well as guilt, curse, and death—physical and spiritual (Genesis 3:8-24).
1 John 3:4 ⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Romans 3:23 ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
What is more, Adam is the representative head of all mankind; therefore, when he sinned we all sinned in him. In other words, we are all born into sin, having sinful nature, and are spiritually dead at birth (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3). This spiritual deadness is characterized by alienation from the life of God and a hard heart toward God (Ephesians 4:18). The wickedness of mankind is great in the earth, and the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Due to sin, the wrath of God in righteous judgment will come upon the world (Ephesians 5:3-5; Colossians 3:5-8). God is holy and righteous, and therefore cannot be indifferent toward sin or simply forgive us of sin without the due penalty paid. An earthly judge would not be good if he was indifferent toward criminals or let guilty criminals go free. How much more the Judge of the universe!
There is yet hope:
Romans 6:23 ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You see, God promised to provide a Savior who would take away sin and restore man to rightful fellowship with Him (Genesis 3:15. 21). There is only one way by which we may escape this judgment to come—God's way; for there is only one name under heaven by which we may be saved. This is the name of Christ Jesus, the holy and righteous one (Acts 3:14; 4:12).
On the cross, Jesus took the place of sinners, bearing the guilt and penalty of sin upon Himself, for all those who would ever believe.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ²¹ He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God gave proof of this by raising Jesus from the dead, giving eternal life through Him and declaring Him to be the Son of God (Acts 17:31; Romans 1:4; 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22). The only way that we, as sin-stained men and women, may stand before the holy and righteous God is through the holy and righteous Son of God, Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5 ⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Just as Adam is the representative head of all mankind, so Christ is the representative head of all those who believe in Him (Romans 5:12-21). Christ’s righteousness is credited to us by faith (Romans 3:20-26). It is by Christ alone through faith alone that we arc forgiven of our sins and restored to rightful, loving fellowship with God. There is forgiveness of sins at the cross of Jesus Christ! This is Amazing grace!