Bible Study #7 - Aquitted

There is no one righteous, not even one. For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:10)

This is pretty gloomy huh? It's like "Oh... well I'll never be good enough so I may as well not try right?"

WRONG!

Through Christ's sacrifice we can be SAVED! SALVATION MY FRIENDS! Oh wow... Salvation... Is this something I deserve?

We live in a fallen world that has lost connection with God. The Bible says we're all guilty - that is, we all fall short of Gods standards and that we'll have to give an account of ourselves one day. One what basis can sinners stand before God and be aquitted? It's a sobering question... the good news is that it can happen!

God's standard is nothing short of perfect, it's higher than we can ever imagine!

HOWEVER!

The teaching of salvation being freely available by grace, through faith, is there and it's TRUE! It is a gift from God. When we accept Jesus and what he has done for us, we reciever that gift of eternal life!

When faced with the problem of Sin, God had three possible options:

1. To uphold the law and allow sinners to suffer the consequences - a broken relationship that results in death. God's mercy wouldn't allow hm this option because He loved us too much. Think of how a parent feels about a wayward child...

2. To forgive sinners and disregard his law. God's justice wouldn't allow this option, as it would result in chaos in the universe . On a samller scale, imagine what would happen if people were allowed to disregard the road rules when driving...

3. The third option is the only one that satisfies both God's justice and mercy. He would pay the pentaly for our disobedience, thus upholding the law and at the same time forgiving us!

I, personally, like the third option!

Jesus bridged the chasm that seperates us from God, he also carries us across. From his sacrifice we are considered righteous. Jesus' perfect life stands in place of our life and we're accepted before just as if we'd never sinned!

The Story is told of a big African slave in America who was up for sale. How inhuman can people get, that they can sell a fellow human being as one would sell a farm animal. Well this slave still has some dignity left. He decided that he'd had enough - he would never work again. As he was being displayed before the buyers and they made their bids he should he rasied his chained hands "I WON'T WORK!". One man persisted in bidding as others, realising they would have difficulty wiht this man, dropped out. He was sold to this man.

As the big black man was led to his new owner he shouted at him, "I TELL YOU I WON'T WORK!" The new owner then replied "That's all right I bought you to set you free." The African couldn't belive his ears, he sank to his knees as his chains were removed and said to his owner "I'll work for you for the rest of my life!"

Why would the man choose to work for the rest of his life when he was given freedom?