WRITTEN OFF
Peter JeямАery
M
y wife had an accident in our car, the result of which was that the car was written off. It was not a bad accident and thankfully no one was hurt, but the insurance company decided that our eight year old Ford was a write off. It was not worth the cost of the repairs to put it right. It was scrapped. As God looks at mankind ruined by the ravages of sin he says, it’s a write off. ere is no possibility of repair. at is why the New Testament language describing men and women in sin is extreme. Sinners are not sick needing healing; they are not scarred needing patching up; they are dead, needing new life. e problem is not moral or social, it is spiritual. It is to do with the relationship between the holy God and his sinful creations.
Man is not as God made him. He was made in the image of God but sin has shattered that image. At the beginning of time man was the final and greatest act of creation, because man was made in the image of God. is was not a physical image but it means that man is distinct from every other creature in that he has a capacity for fellowship with and enjoyment of God. ere was a sweet and blessed oneness between God and man. Everything needed for life and happiness God gave man. at is how God made man. Sinless and perfect. But things changed!
Man as sin made him ere are people today foolish enough to think that sin makes no difference. It is played with,
applauded, made the centre of entertainment and generally looked upon as harmless. en we wonder why the world is in the mess it is, with so much war, crime and turmoil. e world is as it is because man is not as God made him, but as sin has made him. What has sin done to men and women? Man was made sinless but when sin entered his nature (we read of this in Genesis 3) everything changed. Man led by Satan rebelled against God and this ruined man's relationship with God. e result was that man becomes alien to God and sin reigns in his life. And because of sin, death now becomes a terrible part of man's experience. e image of God was shattered. Of course sin makes a difference. Men and women are now enemies of God and come under divine wrath and judgment.
Man as Christ can re-make him In spite of our sin God still loves us and seeks to re-make us and destroy the influence of sin in our lives. e gospel tells us how God does this. In Ephesians 2:10 we are told that the Christian is God's workmanship, and in John 3:3 Jesus uses the phrase 'born again' to describe how this work of re-making begins. God sent Jesus into this world to deal with human sin and to save sinners. is he does by becoming the sinners substitute. He takes the responsibility for our sin and this frees us from the guilt and punishment. e sinless Jesus faces the wrath of God instead of us. is is what the cross is about. On the cross, death, the punishment
for sin, falls on Jesus instead of upon us. e substitute bears the penalty we deserved...Death. e prophet Isaiah says of Jesus….. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; ….by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6
The whole thing is incredible but true. is is the gospel and it is an amazing message. Now as a result of what Jesus has done, God is able to forgive us for our sin, but more than that, he makes us new creatures with a new nature and a renewed relationship to himself.
e saved sinner is accepted as a child of God. He is born again. He has new life in Christ. All this is offered us in the gospel. To the guilty sinners comes the offer of a full pardon for all sin and adoption into God's family. Without this we are in a hopeless and lost position. “And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son Of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11)
peter@peterjeffery.org.uk
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