How Can A Perfectly Holy And Just God Accept Sinners?
Good Morning Friends,
The approach of Hurricane Irma’s first feeder bands over our home this morning reminds me that we need forgiveness, for time is running out and we are still sinners even though we persist in preparation of sanctification the best we can. Regardless of what we would like to control the waves come like labor pains before a birth of a new creation. They come, slow at first and then increase in frequency and intensity. The reality is that the immense size and power of this storm is of epic portions over which we have absolutely no control.
Of course, God is even more epic and can make the rules over nature and will as our nurture, but perhaps you wonder, as I, how God can be so sacred and still be so forgiving. How Can A Perfectly Holy And Just God Accept Sinners?
Scripture: And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.
Colossians 1:21-23 (NRSV)
One sabbath while Jesus was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
Luke 6:1-5 (NRSV)
But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NRSV)
Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?
Habakkuk 1:13 (NRSV)
Message: Friends, sin separates us and just as you, I am blind to much of my sin. The reality is that I am not nearly good enough. So, it concerns me that scripture says that God is too pure to look on evil and cannot allow any sin in his presence. The Bible clearly teaches that God is morally and perfectly holy and hates sin. But, I do not think this is not the whole story. In the Bible Satan and other demons are said to be in God’s presence. They know Jesus. In addition, the prophet Isaiah, himself a sinful man, was in the presence of God. But we also know that God is omnipresent and if God is present everywhere then it seems that the divine would also be in the presence of sinful creatures. So, what are we to make of all this? Maybe, for now, it is not so much about a physical presence, at least until God eventually quarantines evil from good and creates a New Heaven and Earth. Someday those who love God will no longer be in the presence of sin, but until then God tolerates sin to accomplish what needs to be done to save mankind. If God truly could not be in the presence of sin, none of us would be here experiencing God. Thankfully there is the reconciling love of Jesus. Now reconciliation is the act of God to remove the chasm caused by our sins to restore a right relationship with us and others. Those are the most hopeful words to a believer. We harsh reality is that we deserve wrath because of our sinful estrangement. We are totally undeserving of forgiveness. But instead of destroying us, God exercises merciful reconciling love to us. God looks upon us with loving, compassionate mercy, withholding the judgement and fury that we justly deserve and He provides the payment…the atonement. The purpose and the result of God’s perfect sacrifice, in the body of His flesh through death, was to allow Jesus to present us holy, and blameless, and above reproach in the Father’s sight. Friends, Jesus is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ sacrifice and righteousness. So, persevere in the face of life’s storms. Have faith in the work of God in our Savior Jesus Christ. A new day will dawn but it may take three days before we see the light.
Pray we repent. Pray we continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Pray we realize that divine preservation presupposes human perseverance. Pray we accept Christ’s reconciling love. Pray we live in the hope that God owns us and has bought us and therefor will claim us before the Father as holy. Pray as a communion with God in the bread of Presence and wine of Salvation. Pray we believe that Jesus is Lord not just of the Sabbath but of all creation. Pray we avoid the wrath of God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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