First, the bad news
Consider the human race. We are capable of incredible things--beautiful things! But we are also capable of horrible, unspeakable evil. In fact, when we look inside ourselves, when we are quiet and honest, we see just how flawed and broken we ourselves are.
the Bible teaches that each person capable of making moral decisions has exercised that power to do evil (Rom 3:23). We've all done bad things. You know, those things we try to forget, to push back into the recesses of our mind. We are capable of doing good things, and we have done good things. But we are not good. We have broken God's moral laws.
We are guilty.
the Bible also teaches that God is perfectly just. He is the standard, the measuring stick, and source of justice. And justice demands that evil be punished.
Can you imagine a judge who refused to punish murders? That would be an outrage! How much more of an outrage if the being who serves as the very standard of justice refused to punish those who commit crimes against Him. Justice demands punishment.
So here's where we are: God is just, and we are guilty.
That's the bad news.
Now, the Good News
God is not only just. He is also loving. In fact, just as God is the measure of justice, so too is He the measure of love. He loves humanity... He loves YOU!
But this places God in a dilemma: One the one hand, He must administer justice as the judge, but on the other hand, because of His love, He intensely desires to reconcile with us.
Justice demands punishment. Love desires reconciliation.
And in this dilemma we see the marvelous wisdom of God.
Enter, Jesus.
God looked down at the hopelessness of you and I to save ourselves from punishment (after all, how can the justly condemned justify themselves?) and decided to make away out.
Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, a person of infinite worth, voluntarily took the punishment that we deserved (Isaiah 53:4-5).
He served as our substitute and our representative. He took our place and acted in our stead (2 Corinthians 5:21).
And, having endured that punishment, the demands of God's justice were satisfied. The pardon is now freely offered to all!
In this way, God can "be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26)!
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
But . . .
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
He. Saved. Us.
not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
(Titus 3:3-7)
The pardon must be accepted
In America, the president can issue a "presidential pardon." This pardon is unilateral. No matter the nature of the crime, one's record is wiped clean.
Notice, however, that this pardon does nothing for the personal morality of the individual. Rather, the pardon is only concerned with the individual's legal status. It is now as if they were never guilty.
However, it is possible for a criminal to be offered a presidential pardon and to refuse it. If the pardon is refused, torn up, then it has no effect.
The pardon must be received.
The point is this: God has offered you unilateral pardon. But, you must receive God's pardon.
It is this act of receiving that Peter emphasized at the end of the very first gospel sermon ever preached:
" 'Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.'
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'
And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.'
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls."
(Acts 2:36-41)
Have you received the pardon?