God's Mercy

GOD LOVES YOU

So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

GOD created you in his own image, enabling you to relate to him. God loves you and desires to have a relationship with you! He wants to speak to you in His loving, peaceful voice. He wants to listen to you as you tell Him your most personal thoughts. Jesus said that God, the Father in Heaven, cares so much about you that, “...even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Being created in God's image also means you have the responsibility to reflect God's attributes to the world. You were originally created to be God's image-bearer.

WE'VE ALL SINNED

For all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

Sin can be defined as missing the mark. All of us have been in school and received a test paper back that had an “x” beside each wrong answer. Whether we missed the question because of ignorance, poor study habits, lack of interest or carelessness, we still missed the question and fell short of a perfect score. Sin can also be defined as breaking the law of God. Those who have broken the speed limit and received a speeding ticket know what it feels like to be guilty of breaking the law. Sin is much more serious than bad grades or traffic violations. Sinning is committing, in our thoughts or actions, such spiritual crimes as murder, hatred, immorality, lust, greed, dishonesty, just to name a few. We have all sinned. Sin makes us less than the complete humans God intended us to be. Sin corrupts our original nature as God's image-bearers.

SIN LEADS TO DEATH

...the wages of sin is death...

Romans 6:23

We eventually pay for our negative deeds. We "earn" the wages of our actions. All of us have missed the mark or broken God’s law, so all of us are guilty and death-worthy. This is because the path of sin takes us away from God, who is Life. That means we’re traveling away from life and toward death; we're headed toward moral death, emotional death, physical death and spiritual death. Some of us may find ourselves caught up in addictions, crime and violence. Or, we may find ourselves plagued by feelings of insecurity and fear, loneliness, failure, and personal guilt. Often, we simply have a nagging feeling deep down inside that something is missing, and we can’t quite figure out what. We have all distanced ourselves from God by our own choices, which make us less than the people God created us to be. Ultimately, if we are not rescued or “saved” from the path of sin, we will suffer the eternal death and misery of being separated from God in hell.

JESUS SOLVED OUR SIN AND DEATH PROBLEM

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross,

so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;

by his wounds you have been healed.

1Peter 2:24

The same Bible that tells us those who sin must die, also tells us that, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus Christ is "God with us." God became a sinless human (as only God could) and lived among us in the life of Jesus Christ, the Son. The Father sending his Son, is actually God sending his very self for us! A study of the Trinity may help shed light on this mystery. Jesus volunteered to die on our behalf, like a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. Jesus himself said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Jesus was innocent, so his blood was pure and untainted by sin. Since our blood supplies life to every cell in our body, imagine the life-giving power from the blood of Jesus to us! Jesus was innocent, but carried our sin to the cross and was put to death in our place (Isaiah 53). Therefore, our sin was condemned in the flesh of Jesus on the cross (Romans 8:3). John 1:14 says that the Word, which surely includes the law of God, was made into flesh, as Jesus. So, when he died, he took the condemnation of that law down with him, making it inoperative. Also, on that cross, the evil of this world and of the devil was exhausted on Jesus until it was depleted, defeated, and could do no more. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead proving that God, the Father, had accepted his payment for our sins and that we were rescued from all that evil. Jesus rose to life as the first member of a new and improved humanity. He wants to make us like himself. Jesus now waits for us to accept what he did for us, so he can speak to the Father on our behalf.

THE SOLUTION IS A FREE GIFT

...but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23b

Finally, some good news! Wages must be earned, but a gift is freely given. Becoming a Christian, which is a child of God, is a gift that we were chosen to inherit, along with all good and perfect gifts, from God. If we accept this gift, he saves us from our sin without making us pay for it, and gives us his goodness. Ephesians 2:8-9 says we have been saved by grace, which is God's generous gift that comes from his undeserved kindness. It continues that this is through faith, which is when we have complete trust and full assurance that God loves us and wants to save us. Finally, it says all this it not from ourselves, rather, it is the gift from God to us. It's not by out efforts, which means we give God all the credit for this gift. We give God credit by being thankful for everything good in our lives, but especially for this gift, bought by Jesus' own life! We can’t start doing good or cleaning up our lives to earn this gift. We can’t give anything to purchase this gift. God gives it and we simply receive it. We receive this gift by receiving Jesus and believing in his name - that is, we believe what he tells us about himself, who he is and what he did for us (John 1:12-13).

GOD OFFERS US NEW LIFE!

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:

The old has gone, the new is here!

2Corinthians 5:17

Becoming a Christian is something that happens all at once like being born. When you become a Christian you are born again. YOU BECOME A CHRISTIAN THE MOMENT YOU CONFESS JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND BELIEVE THAT HE IS THE RISEN SON OF GOD. You can become a Christian anywhere - at home, in your vehicle, at work, or at school. If you would like to make this commitment and accept the gift of eternal life, here is a prayer you could use:

“God, I know I’m a sinner. Jesus, you shed your innocent blood and died for me. Your blood cleanses the stain of sin and death that marks my life. God, I ask you to forgive all my sins. I surrender my broken life to you, and ask you to make me the kind of person you originally created me to be. Take my failures and give me your righteousness. Make me part of your new humanity. I receive you and I believe in everything you did for me. Jesus, I confess that you are my Lord and Savior. I believe that God raised you from the dead! Thank you, Lord, for saving me and making me a new creation! Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer and you don't instantly feel like the heavens have opened and you're floating on a cloud, don't be discouraged! Sometimes people report such joyful experiences. Sometimes they just know that they made the right decision and have received God's unlimited mercy. There are many things you can do to mature as a Christian. Just to end our discussion, let's quickly look at 4. We also have some resources we'd like to share with you. Go to the prayer request form, ask for Basic Training, and leave your email, we'll send you a PDF and some video links which contain some of the next steps to grow in Christ.

But First:

The Bible is the Word of God.

READ IT!

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.

2Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

Prayer is talking to God and developing a relationship with him.

Whatever’s on your mind:

PRAY IT!

Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)

Going to church is a chance to worship and fellowship.

DO IT!

They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

. Witnessing is telling others what God has done for you.

SAY IT!

...telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Acts 10:36

Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version©, NIV©. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.© Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV© and New International Version© are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.©

Scripture marked NLT is from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004. Scripture marked WEB is from the World English Bible. Public Domain.