Mike Novotny - Sin is that Bad
The other day I got a really deep theological question. See if you can figure it out with me. "God could have chosen to redeem man by any method of his choosing. Is there any indication of why he chose to accomplish this by sacrificing his son"? That's a good question. Christians always talk about, "Jesus died for me" or "He died for my sins". But why? Why did there have to be a cross? Why did there have to be a son of God, giving his life and rising from the dead so that you and I could be brought back into the presence of our Father in Heaven?
The book of Hebrews gives an answer to that question when it says this, If you've read the Old Testament, you know it was a graphic book. Animals being brought to church and slaughtered. And maybe you read it and you say, "Well, that's not very nice to animals" and, and, "Why would God do that? Why kill bulls and goats and lambs and call that worship? What does that have to do with Jesus"? And the answer is pretty profound. The answer is, because your sin is that bad and your God is that good. When we see grotesque sacrifices and, most importantly, when we see Jesus being tortured, and in agony on the cross, we're reminded that sin, to God, is that bad.
There's no such thing as a little sin, a little bit of gossip, a little bit of lying, a little bit of selfishness. A little bit of trying to get my way in marriage. A little bit of greed, a little bit of judgment when I see people who look like that or act like that. But that's so bad to God. It's like an animal whose throat is slit and it bleeds out on the floor of the temple. It's like the Son of God on a cross, crying out, "God, why have you forsaken me? Why did you abandon your own son"?
Your sin, you know, is that bad. The wages of sin, the book of Romans says, is death. Yet, at the same time, it proves that God is that good. If that's what it would take to save you, that God would love you so much that he would give up anything, even if it was the only son that he had, he was willing to do it because he's a God of grace and a God of mercy. A God who wasn't going to wait until you were good enough to save yourself. You couldn't. And so that same passage from Romans says, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord".
So, why did God choose to sacrifice his only son? So that we would know how bad sin is, and how incredibly good our Father in heaven is too. Do you want to grow deeper in your understanding of God's amazing and transforming grace? We want to help. "Set Free by Grace" is a brand new devotional book that gives you 365 days, all focused on the one thing that your heart craves and your heart needs, God's grace. It's our thank you gift to you for your support.