Learn an essential spiritual truth. At the very beginning of human history God demanded forgiveness of any sin as the condition of fellowship with him. Christians must understand that before they urge repentance on their unsaved associates, friends and relatives.
The detailed Mosaic emphasis on that necessity continued in Christ’s life, with a specific difference: the SIN offering being a person, not an animal; and offered once for all PERFECTLY, not continually by incompleteness. Still, the most ancient rule applied: the SOMEONE worthy to offer forgiveness had to die before effecting it. Hebrews repeatedly stressed this truth 1:3, 2:10, 7:27-28, 9:11-14, 10:1-4, 11-17. Thus, in selected scriptures, we see Matthew 1:21: the Sacrifice would be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. Luke 1:46-47: Mary admitted being a sinner by needing a Savior. Luke 2:11: the Savior is Christ the Lord. Mark 10:45: Jesus came to serve God by giving his life to pay the price of our forgiveness. Luke 23:34: “forgive them,” Jesus prayed for all involved in his crucifixion. Matthew 27:50-53: the death of Jesus opened the Presence of God to all seeking forgiveness. Acts 2:38: the first Gospel message demanded repentance and baptism for forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 2:1-3 and 10:26-31: warns all humanity that rejecting Christ’s sacrifice exposes the unforgiven to God’s wrath. No mortal can ever soften this harsh truth, let alone eliminate it. Separation from God results when we appear before him unforgiven. This writer once told a congregation that no good people would be in Heaven. This shocked everyone: they were going to Heaven and they were good people. I explained: only forgiven people will be in Heaven, only those accepting Christ are forgiven, only those forgiven can be perfected, and only the perfected can be Glorified, and only the Glorified will be with God Philippians 3:20-21, Revelation 1:12-18. All of which means forgiveness of sin is essential, and Christians must urge the unsaved to accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins and his Lordship of their life. He alone prepares them to face GOD! Why does this series refer to scripture after scripture in both testaments? Because it emphasizes what God said about sin: nothing impure, incomplete, imperfect will ever enter his presence. Because we need to understand what Jesus did about sin: he offered the one and only perfect sacrifice to overcome and remove sin. And we must believe in and obey Jesus to have our sins forgiven! If we don’t believe God’s Word teaching all this, why would we believe a writer writing it, a preacher preaching it, a saved person saying it? Fini
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