Romans 3:23-26: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

   In our culture sin is no longer an issue. Although many of us will admit to making mistakes or errors of judgment, very few will actually say “I have sinned.” It is not popular to talk about or point out sin today because in its very definition sin implies the existence of God’s punishment. However, it is very difficult, probably impossible to understand God’s goodness without understanding the wrath that sin brings about,… the wrath that sin brought about on Jesus the Christ on the cross He was crucified.

   The cross was God’s perfect answer to a terrible dilemma. Because our Creator is Holy and Just the sin of the people could not go unpunished. Even forgiven in God’s heart, in order for sin to be removed from our lives, a death sacrifice had to take place. That was the only way to save mankind from the eternal effects of sin. 

   If you still don’t believe in judgment of sin I challenge you to take all the distractions away and focus for a while on Jesus’ last week and especially on His last day. 

   From the joy of seeing the Messiah come to Jerusalem to the overtaken by sin minds shouting “Crucify HIM!” you can easily witness the gangrene of sin spreading and overwhelming people’s minds. That is what sin does! And God’s wrath and justice takes a King adored, a truly innocent human being, to the cruelty of punishment suffered because the sin of humanity came to rest upon His shoulders. God’s LOVE ever present, yet off the cross Jesus cried to the Heavens in loneliness and anguish.

   No, the punishment was not directed at Jesus, He died an innocent man, but at our sin on Him for just as now His righteousness covers and envelops us so did our sin covered and enveloped Him that day. Not of Him but of us, so today the righteousness we have is not of us but of Him.

   SIN is punished and God’s righteous wrath against it is to be feared just as much as His grace is to be loved.

   Run the race, don’t find yourself on the wrong side of grace,... it may be undeserved and free but it still requires acceptance, which requires faith....