Sin and Redemption are very serious subjects and of vital importance to
every man, woman and child. You cannot
put off deciding about them. If you are
not a Christian, I am speaking to you.
If you are a Christian I am speaking to you too. Both of you have something to decide TODAY!
SIN
What is sin?
Sin is “missing the mark.” (Luke 17:3, 1 Tim. 6:21)
Let me help you understand what missing the mark is like. Think of the sport of archery. You gain the
best points hitting the bulls-eye, then a little less if your arrow hits in the
ring just around the bulls-eye, and a little less in the next ring around that. There are a total of ten rings around the
bulls-eye. The bulls-eye is the mark to
hit. When you sin you are not hitting the bulls-eye. You are missing the mark. In an archery team a member who misses the
bulls-eye very much is cut off from the team and let go. Just how serious is God about when His people
miss the mark? This is what He says in
Numbers 15:30-31 AMP:
“But
the person who does anything wrong willfully and openly, whether he is
native-born or a stranger, that one reproaches, reviles, and blasphemes
the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people…because he has
despised and rejected the word of the Lord, and has broken His
commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon
him.” Numbers 15:30-31 AMP
Sin is against God. It is a
reproach and a rejection of Him. It sets
itself up to destroy God. If you allow
sin preeminence in your life you set yourself up to destroy God and all that
is His. But you say you love God? “So if we
say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and
move and are walking about in darkness, we are both speaking falsely and do not
live and practice the Truth which the Gospel presents.” (1 John 1:6
AMP) I recently heard a preacher say, “I know you have not been persuaded
because you’re still acting the same way!”
I ask you again, “Just how serious is God about missing the mark?” Romans 6:23a tells us that if you sin you
die. Just one sin is enough to
kill you. Let’s go back to Numbers 15
and we’ll see that verses 32-36 make it quite clear that God was deadly serious
about sin:
“While the Israelites were in the
wilderness, they found a man who was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought
him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it was not
certain or clear what should be done to him.
And the Lord said to Moses, The
man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with
stones without the camp. And all the
congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him to death with stones,
as the Lord commanded Moses.” (AMP)
Does
your mind cry out, “That’s not fair? He
was only gathering sticks, probably firewood for his family’s fire!” When I read this scripture, this is what I
thought; but when you really examine what was going on you understand, sin is
sin. The man should have gathered enough
firewood for two days on the day before the Sabbath. That is what all the rest of the Israelites
did. Yet because of laziness, or
thinking it would not hurt this one time, or for whatever reason he
decided to disobey God’s law to suit himself.
Whether we feel justified in doing it or not sin is sin and it has a
death sentence attached to it.
Have
you ever sinned? Then you are under a
death sentence.
REDEMPTION
What
is redemption?
To
pay back, buy back or make amends.
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary defines redemption by a
number of verses and states, “The idea running through all these texts, however
various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt
against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood
or life, which he surrendered for them, is the ‘ransom’ by which the
deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal
consequences is secured.” (Acts 20:28; 1
Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus
2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9).
Isaiah
53:5-6 clarifies it this way: “But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to
obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that
wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own
way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.”
(AMP)
Now the second half of Romans 6:23 comes into force, “… but the
[bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus
Christ our Lord.” God, knowing our frailties, made a way for us
to still live. He Himself paid the price
of our sin. He took our death sentence upon Himself:
“Now it is an extraordinary thing for
one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and
lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. But God shows and clearly proves His [own]
love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah,
the Anointed One) died for us.
Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and
brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's blood, how much more
[certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of
God.” Romans 5:7-9 AMP
Romans
5:18 tells us that this act was a “free gift”.
Now has come the point when you have to
decide. You see, a gift does no good
unless it is received. I may hold out a
Rolex watch for you, but it will not be yours unless you reach out and take it.
If you KNOW without doubt that you are redeemed and going to heaven then
this message should propel you to reach out and share that redemption with
everyone around you. Sharing the gospel
is how the redeemed live. Are you living
like the redeemed? Dr. Martin Luther
King once said, “Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that
matter.” I challenge you redeemed, be
silent no longer; start living like you are redeemed!
If you ARE NOT SURE you are redeemed and going to heaven then this
message may be your last chance to make sure.
If you have not accepted the free gift of redemption then you are still
under a death sentence. Do not delay any
longer. Accept the gift of salvation
held out to you right now. In your own
words:
1) Tell Jesus how you have sinned and ask Him to
forgive you.
2) Reach out and take the gift He has given to you by
dying in your place for your sins.
3) How?
4) Thank Jesus for dying on the cross for your sins and
receive Him as the One who saved you from death and gave you eternal life
You have to choose today. What
will you choose?
“For my determined purpose is] that I
may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders
of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way
come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over
believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed
[in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] that if possible
I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from
among the dead [even while in the body].” Philippians 3:10-11 AMP
