WHY DID THE LORD JESUS HAVE TO DIE AND SHED HIS BLOOD? John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ My dearly beloved friends, one thing we must always remember is that the Lord God Almighty is holy and He will not compromise His holiness for anything. Hence sin cannot exist in the presence of God. Hebrews 12:14 says ‘without holiness no one will see the Lord.’ Sin separates us from God. What is sin? Disobedience to God’s word is sin. The small lies you say, the unclean thoughts in your mind, the immoral lifestyle, partaking in liquor, smoking, the lustful things you watch on TV and the internet, anger, hate, jealousy, pride, gossip are all examples of sin according to the Word of the Lord (Romans 1:29-32, Ephesians 5:1-7, Colossians 3:5,8). Sin separates you from the Holy God and sin has a consequence. Romans 6:23 says ‘For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ What is this death that is spoken of here? All men are destined to end their life here on earth. However my friend, after that begins the most important phase of your existence. This is called eternity. Earth is a temporal journey. Once we complete this there exists only one of two places where we can go – Heaven or hell. Both are very real and they exist. If you are living in sin and you close your eyes on earth you will end up in hell and this is eternal death where you are tormented in the lake of fire forever. Now you may say it is hard to live a sinless life. Indeed that is true. Romans 3:23 says ‘For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’ Yes we are all sinners by nature. Hence it is hard to change our nature on our own strength. We need help. We need a Saviour. Good works and deeds will not earn us merit to enter Heaven. We cannot enter Heaven by the good deeds we do. There is only one way to eternal life. That way is Jesus because only He had the authority as the Lord of all creation to say the following - John 14:6 ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.’ Only belief in the Lord Jesus can save us from sin and eternal death (hell). John 3:17-18 says ‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’ Why is Jesus qualified to save us from sin? Why did He have to die? Why did He have to shed His blood? Hebrews 9:26-28 says ‘He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly await for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin for salvation’. To put way sin, a sacrifice is a must because without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). For example if someone is taken into custody and if the bail money is not paid he or she will be locked up by the police. However if someone steps in and says I will sign as a guarantor then that prisoner is released. A sacrifice by someone is required to obtain release from judgement. In the same way for all the sins we have committed, hell is the prison sentence for us. Someone has to come forward to sign as a guarantor for us. Who is that some one? The Lord Himself became a sacrifice for our sins (John 6:51). Furthermore the sacrifice for sin had to come from someone who is sinless Himself. No point in one sinner trying to free another sinner is there? Who is that sinless one so? Hebrews 4:15 ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.’ 2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ Yes only Jesus was without any sin at all. Only He was worthy of making that sacrifice of dying on a cross and shedding His blood for the forgiveness of the sin of all. Because of His sacrifice on the cross when we receive Jesus as our Lord, His blood washes away all our sin and all our sins are forgiven (1 John 1:9). He then gives us His own Spirit to come and dwell in us to help us to overcome and live a holy and righteous life (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Holy Spirit is our helper and He is all that we will ever need to live this life on earth victoriously till we reach Heaven (John 14:26). So if you repent of the way in which you have lived your life thus far and ask the Lord to forgive you and receive Him into your life, the Lord will forgive you and wash away all your sin and come live inside of you in the person of His Spirit. From then onwards you will receive strength from His Spirit to live a holy life even as you make that decision to walk away from that old lifestyle dominated by sin into the new life the Lord Jesus has given you. Ephesians 4:22 -24 says to put off the old life of sin and put on the new person in Christ and the Holy Spirit will be with you every step of the way to guide you and help you in your walk with Jesus (John 16:7-11). So my friend only through Jesus can you enter into eternal life in Heaven and there is no other way (Acts 4:12). God bless you. (Romesh Daniels).
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:25:53 +0000
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