God understood our problem and knew that we could do nothing about it.  Because God loves us, he sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to earth to bridge the chasm of sin that separates us from him.

Why Jesus Can Bridge the Gap

There has never been anyone like Jesus. For Starters, Jesus was not conceived in the womb of his mother thorough natural means.  Rather, he was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a young virgin named Mary.  Because of his supernatural conception, Jesus, who is wholly God, also became wholly human.

                Though Jesus is God, he chose to lay aside the privilege of his deity to live on earth as a man.  The Bible, describing the sacrifice Christ made in becoming a man, says that Jesus “made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.  And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminals; death on a cross “(Philippians 2:7-8).  It is extremely important to note that Jesus did not cease to be God when he came to earth.  He simply laid aside his divine privileges and walked the earth as a man.  In doing so, he was personally able to experience the gamut of human emotion, ranging form happiness to deep sorrow.  He felt what it was like to be tired, cold, and hungry.

He came to this earth with a clear objective in mind: to bridge that gap between us and God. 

The Problem: Sin

          The Bible clearly identifies our serious problem as sin.  Sin is not just an act but the actual nature of our being.  In other words, we are not sinners because we sin.  Rather, we sin because we are sinners.  We are born with a nature to do wrong.  Kind David, the Old Testament Israelite ruler, wrote, “For I was born a sinner – yes, from the moment my mother conceived me “(Psalm 51:5).  Because we are born sinners, sinning comes from “within.”  According to the Bible, the problem is within!  Scripture tells us, “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked.  Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). 

 We are not basically good – we are basically sinful.  This sinfulness pills out into everything we do.  Every problem we experience in our society today can be traced back to our refusal to live God’s way.  Clear back to the Garden of Eden, Adam made his choice, and he suffered the consequences of it, setting the pattern that all humanity would follow. 

 The Bible explains, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race.  Adam’s sin brought death so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned…. Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone “(Romans 5:12, 18)

When the Israelites of the Old Testament sinned, they would have the high priest go into the Temple and offer an animal sacrifice to God to atone for their sins.  In a symbolic sense, this was a way of putting one’s sins on the animal, which stood in the place of the guilty person.  The Bible teaches, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins “(Hebrews 9:22).

                The sacrificial rituals carried out by the Israelites in the Old Testament foreshadowed what Jesus would do when he came to this earth.  He took the sin of the sin of the world upon himself when he hung on the cross so many years ago.

Numerous Old Testament prophecies pointed not only to his birth and life but also to his death, including the way in which he would die Jesus knew from the beginning that he had come expressly to die for the sins of humanity.  He also knew that this sacrifice would be made on a roman cross.  He began his final journey to the cross of Calvary at a place called Caesarea Philippi, and he often spoke of his impending death with his disciples.

  Scripture records, “From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem and he told then what would happen to him there.  He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and at the hand of the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.  He would be killed, and he would be raise on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).

                He was eventually arrested on false charges after Judas Iscariot; one of his own disciples betrayed him.  But it was no accident.  If humanity was going to be put in touch with God and have the barrier that separed them removed, something drastic had to be done.  In essence, with one hand Jesus took hold of a Holy God, and with the other hand he took hold of the sinful human race.  As crude nails were pounded into his hand, he bridge the gap for us!

                We must not forget , however that three days after his crucificficion, Jesus rose from the dead if it is true that  “you can’t keep a good man down ,”then it is even truer that you can’t keep the  “Son of God down!”

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Ø  One definition of sin, derived from the Greek word hamartia, is to “miss the mark.” As far as the mark of perfection goes, we miss it by a mile. Although our sinful nature makes it impossible for us to be up to God’s standard, we cannot blame sin on our nature alone.  Sin is also a deliberate act.

v  SIN IS A DELIBERATE ACT(Ephesians 2:1-3).

Ø  Another word for sins in Ephesians 2:1 is transgressions or trespasses.  This word speaks of a lapse or deviation from truth.  In contrast to simply “missing the mark,” this is a deliberate action.  Because sin is a deliberate action, we cannot blame our sin on our society or our environment.  Everyone has chosen to do what was wrong.  If we protest this point, “we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth”(1 John 1:8).

v  THE ULTIMATE PENALTY FOR SIN IS DEATH(Romans 6:23).

Ø   According to the Bible, we have offended a Holy God.  We have not done this once or twice, but so many times that we are unable to keep count.  Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death…”  Wages are something that you are paid for work rendered.  In other words, you earn your wages.  Because we have all repeatedly sinned, we have earned the penalty of death, which is eternal torment and punishment in a place called hell.

Yet in all this talk of falling short and it seems that we have done nothing right.  God has given us a way to escape the penalty of our sin.  He has made it possible for us to have a relationship with him an enjoy the hope of eternal without punishment.

Take time to re-read the week’s devotional and next week we will enter what the solution is.

----March 27, 2008-----------

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In fact, not a single day passes that we do not face the same test that was set before Adam.  God has given us the Freedom to choose between two separate paths: the path that leads to life and the path that leads to death.  The Bible says, “Today, I have given you the choice between life and death between blessings and curse.  I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make, oh that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19).