Guitar Jams! Christianity---I don't hate God, so...

I don't hate God... why does the Bible call me an enemy of God?

Romans 5:10 (NIV) "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" This is just one of numerous places in the Bible where people are refered to as "enemies" of God. Doesn't that sound kind of harsh? What does it mean to be an enemy of God? Here's the deal...

It's ALL about God's "HOLINESS"... most people don't really understand the holiness of God. In the simplest of terms... GOD IS PERFECT... in every way... period. And we, i.e. YOU and I are not. And... the perfect holiness of God demans that no, none, zero, zipo... you get the point... sin (imperfection) ever be allowed in His presence... And... that sin must be punished by death.

Now, since every single person is a "sinner," i.e. we've all fallen short of perfection/holiness (MANY TIMES OVER... daily)... that's a dilema for us! Because of our sin we are "marked men and women" we have a death sentence on our heads. It is in this sense that we are called "enemies" of God. It's not that God hates us... HE DOESN'T!!!!! But He hates sin and must destroy it!

This is what makes the Gospel... #1, so wonderful! And #2, such a profound mystery.

#1, It's wonderful because the Gospel is the good news (gospel means "good news") that God loves us so much that he was not willing to let us be destroyed! As a matter of fact... He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to take the sin of the world upon Himself and to take our punishment for us! WE deserved the cross... not Jesus... but His love for us motivated Him to take it for us.

In the above paragraph I just swept over 1,000s of years of history and revelation that lays the ground work regarding WHY Jesus had to die for us and why He died the way He did. But the basic concept is this....

Throughout the Old Testament God revealed his holy standards to Israel (It's not that Israel is BETTER than any other nation... God simply, for His own reasons, chose them to be the nation through which He made Himself known to humanity). Those holy standards taught:

1. what sin was, i.e. falling short of God's standards of right and wrong.

2. how one could receive forgiveness for sin--through SACRIFICE... the penalty for sin was death... God in His love said... "You deserve to die, but I will allow you to offer a sacrifice as a SUBSTITUTE for YOUR sin... God specified what animals could be used for the sacrifice... the biggest deal was they had to be the BEST of what you had. In this way God taught that sin was costly... that the penalty for sin was death... and they only through the sacrifice of another could sin be atoned for (forgiven).

God also instituted a PRIESTHOOD in the Old Testament... these "priests" were to be intercessors (go betweens or mediators) between God and people. The priests taught the people about God... offered up the sacrifices of the people for their sin (and other sacrifices that were offered for other reasons), etc. The priests were sort of a "link" between God and people.

JESUS fulfilled all of this. He is called the lamb of God. He was the BEST God had... He was perfect in every way! You see, I could have died on the cross for you... but it would have been useless, because I'M A SINNER just like you. But when Jesus who was perfectly holy shed His blood for you and me... now that works! This is the crux of the Gospel... Jesus was our SUBSITUTE... He took the punishment for our sin. Get it? Jesus is also called our GREAT HIGH PRIEST... this is absolutely true! He is the ultimate "go between"... the Bible says that Jesus interceeds for us before God 24/7... when I say "us" I mean all who have accepted Jesus as Savior, i.e. have believed that He, indeed, is God the Son... and that He died for our sin! If you believe that and have asked Jesus to be your Savior and have committed your life to following Him as your Lord (i.e. boss, leader, king.... you get the idea)... then you are a Christian (a follower of Jesus Christ).... and as a result you are forgiven of your sin, and you stand clean before God... THAT is what Romans 5:10 is all about!

Romans 5:10 (NIV) "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

Listen, if you have ANY questions about this...EMAIL ME! I would love to help you any way I can!

Your friend,
Pastor Brad