Worst for Best | Core Christianity
Have you ever wondered why God can’t just forgive and forget?
- Because of JUSTICE, He DEMANDS payment.
- Because of MERCY, He DELAYED payment.
- Because of GRACE, He MADE payment.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (p. 1,789): “For I DELIVERED to you as of first importance what I also RECEIVED: that Christ DIED for our SINS in accordance with the SCRIPTURES, that he was BURIED, that he was RAISED on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he APPEARED to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
Paul starts with the HISTORICAL FACT, adds the GOSPEL, provides SOURCES, and gives a short CONFESSION.
1 Timothy 1:15: “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save SINNERS” and I am the WORST of them all.”
Fifth Core Belief: Jesus DIED for my SIN to RECONCILE me to God.
1 Timothy 1:16: “But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime EXAMPLE of his great PATIENCE with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.”
BOTH the WORST and the BEST need GRACE.
Romans 3:20: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the LAW comes KNOWLEDGE of sin.”
Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to ABOLISH the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to ABOLISH them but to FULFILL them.”
Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be PERFECT, as your heavenly Father is PERFECT.”
Romans 3:21-22: “But now the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who BELIEVE.”
Something can be TRUE, even when we don’t fully UNDERSTAND it.
Faith RECEIVES God’s promise. Jesus doesn’t make my UNDERSTANDING a condition of RECEIVING grace.
Romans 3:23-25: “For ALL have SINNED and fall short of the glory of God, and are JUSTIFIED by his grace as a GIFT, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by FAITH. God DESIRES justice. God ENACTS justice.”
Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a RANSOM for many.”
Hebrews 9:25-26: “But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to REMOVE sin by his own death as a SACRIFICE.”
Romans 3:26: “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has FAITH in Jesus.”
The question is not do you completely UNDERSTAND it, but have you RECEIVED it?