When God the Father was confronted with a world [that is, in Adam] that had sinned and rebelled against Him; did He drop a bomb on them?
(a) No; He did what the unfallen universe thought was unthinkable: He frankly forgave them and granted the sinners a judicial verdict of acquittal.
(b) Now the Father was free to treat sinners as though they had never sinned.
(c) The name for this action is GRACE.
(d) Romans 5 describes what happened:
"God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the GIFT that came to so many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ" (vs. 15, NEB).
(e) This marvelous gift of grace does not belittle the seriousness of the sin that we have committed; the true dimension of the guilt of our sin is the murder of the Son of God.
(f) What kind of sacrifice can balance that account of our guilt?
(g) Someone holy and innocent must take our place and "pay the price of guilt."
(h) This is a legal or judicial "verdict of acquittal" that Christ accomplished for us and gave us as a GIFT.
(i) The Father so loved us that He gave us His only Son to die our second death.
(j) All He asks from us [read John 3:16, please] is to "believe" what He has done.
(k) And that word "believe" means to express a heart-felt appreciation for what it cost Him to save us.
(l) And that heart-appreciation melts the stony heart, and changes us--that is, converts us.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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