Fearing God, man needs to make alterations and changes in life. Let me try to explain. God is our judge, because He is the Creator. He created us by His on design and His purpose, Ephesians 1, to live a certain lifestyle. That life is "rigid" because it pertains to those things deemed "good" by Him, according to that design. Everything cannot be good, because the distinction between good and evil. God has given warning concerning anyone calling "Good evil" and Evil good", Isaiah 5:20. So the life He chose for man to live was good, and all else is basically evil.
Because we find ourselves having done evil, even though we may be basically good over all, God condemns us because of that evil done. So if I do nothing, then my fate stands as lost. 2 Thessalonians 1:7, states God's vengeance is on everyone that (1) does not know God, and (2) does not obey God. Continuing in that text, is another group of those who are serving God, some having left this life, and are recognized by God and Christ, as redeemed from the earth. Thus, there is hope for mankind, conditional hope. The foundation of this hope is "forgiveness".
God required a sacrifice for man's sinning, from the time Adam & Eve first ate of the forbidden fruit, Genesis 2, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Man's plight was death ! God was loving and forbearing, and held off the impending judgment of death. Genesis 3:22-24, God drove them out of the garden of Eden, leaving them accursed. The Devil was cursed and a prophecy made concerning Christ, the son of woman, vs. 15. So there was hope for man's salvation in the future. That could take place only through "forgiveness".
In Hebrews 8:7-13, the writer quotes a prophecy from Jeremiah 31:31ff, giving the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There wasn't the forgiveness under the old law, so everyone was under bondage to sin. The Israelites were commanded to "remember" their sin on a yearly basis, along with their guilt before God. They did so with a yearly sacrifice of bulls and goats. Even the priests offered blood for their own cleansing before God, prior to the sacrifice for the nation. Under the new covenant, forgiveness would be given, "I will remember their sins and iniquities no more", for a perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the Son of God, who came as a man, was tempted as a man, and chose not to sin, NOT ONCE. Then He offered Himself as a sacrifice to the sins of men, conditionally. We have to obey God to receive this "forgiveness". The contrast is seen in Hebrews chapters 9 and 10.
This process is commonly referred to as "God's Scheme of Redemption", and we will discuss this process in our next lesson. At what point will God forgive me?
Forgiveness is an accounting term, meaning to remove a debt, to honor a debt as paid in full. We now can forget that debt and move on. We have a debt with God, because of our sin, our life is broken and we die.
Because we find ourselves having done evil, even though we may be basically good over all, God condemns us because of that evil done. So if I do nothing, then my fate stands as lost. 2 Thessalonians 1:7, states God's vengeance is on everyone that (1) does not know God, and (2) does not obey God. Continuing in that text, is another group of those who are serving God, some having left this life, and are recognized by God and Christ, as redeemed from the earth. Thus, there is hope for mankind, conditional hope. The foundation of this hope is "forgiveness".
God required a sacrifice for man's sinning, from the time Adam & Eve first ate of the forbidden fruit, Genesis 2, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Man's plight was death ! God was loving and forbearing, and held off the impending judgment of death. Genesis 3:22-24, God drove them out of the garden of Eden, leaving them accursed. The Devil was cursed and a prophecy made concerning Christ, the son of woman, vs. 15. So there was hope for man's salvation in the future. That could take place only through "forgiveness".
In Hebrews 8:7-13, the writer quotes a prophecy from Jeremiah 31:31ff, giving the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There wasn't the forgiveness under the old law, so everyone was under bondage to sin. The Israelites were commanded to "remember" their sin on a yearly basis, along with their guilt before God. They did so with a yearly sacrifice of bulls and goats. Even the priests offered blood for their own cleansing before God, prior to the sacrifice for the nation. Under the new covenant, forgiveness would be given, "I will remember their sins and iniquities no more", for a perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the Son of God, who came as a man, was tempted as a man, and chose not to sin, NOT ONCE. Then He offered Himself as a sacrifice to the sins of men, conditionally. We have to obey God to receive this "forgiveness". The contrast is seen in Hebrews chapters 9 and 10.
This process is commonly referred to as "God's Scheme of Redemption", and we will discuss this process in our next lesson. At what point will God forgive me?
Forgiveness is an accounting term, meaning to remove a debt, to honor a debt as paid in full. We now can forget that debt and move on. We have a debt with God, because of our sin, our life is broken and we die.