Attitude Towards Sin, Part 4

This is our final week of being in 1 Corinthians in our "Attitude Towards Sin" series. As we study chapter 15 we see that it's all about the forgiveness available to us through Christ.

Here's the deal...man was born to be free from sin. (Check out the first 2 chapters of the Bible and see how awesome it was.) When Adam and Eve sinned early on, all mankind from then on was subject to the punishment needed for sin. That punishment is clearly spelled out in Romans 6:23--The wages of sin is death. This isn't only physical death and it isn't only spiritual death...it's both.

Man would have lived forever both physically and spiritually before sin entered the picture. Now we die both physically and spiritually unless our current direction changes. The great thing is that it can change, and only because God loves us so very much.

Death is the punishment that must be payed for our sins. As humans we have two choices...we can die for our sins or someone else can. The problem is that for someone else to take our place they must be under no obligation to die for their own sins. That narrows the long list of candidates down to just one: Jesus. While on earth he sinned exactly zero times. At the end of his life he lovingly accepted your death on the cross in order to die for your sins. All that we have to do: accept that gift.

We've done none of the work in salvation. In fact, we don't even deserve to be saved. But God loved us so much that he sent Jesus and when Jesus came to earth he eventually died in our place. If we accept what he did we can be free forever from the spiritual penalty for our sins.

1 Corinthians 15 addressed two common roadblocks to accepting this gift. (1) If I do enough good I'll balance out the bad and earn a ticket to heaven. This is the basic belief of Islam. Enough good outweighs enough bad and makes us into an overall good person. The problem is that nothing is enough. Check out verse 10 of chapter 15. Paul has done some amazing things in his life. He obeyed the Old Testament law with shocking consistency and yet he expressed the need for a Savior to take his penalty.

(2) I've done so much bad God cannot possibly forgive me. Paul again can relate to this one. Read Acts chapter 9 to see just what bad things Paul did. Paul willingly confesses that he deserves to be the least of all the apostles. And if God can forgive Paul for his sins, he surely can forgive us as well.

We are all at different spots on this journey with God. Some of us have never taken that first step of accepting this gift of forgiveness offered to us. Some of us have accepted that gift in the past but are not living our life any differently than before. Some of us have accepted that gift and are allowing God to use us in amazing ways. Wherever you are on this path, allow God to speak to you regarding the fact that He took your place upon that cross.