Verse Ref.:
Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
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For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
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To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
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For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
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I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
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Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
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For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
About This Product
Over and over the young man repeated his claim until the judge was forced to silence him.
Kelly had been arrested on the charge of stealing a watch. The watch had been found in his possession, and nobody could deny that the evidence all pointed at Kelly as the thief.
Just as the judge was about to pass his verdict, I approached the stand, wearing my police uniform.
“What do you want?” asked the judge.
“I want to give evidence in this case, Your Honor.”
Kelly immediately protested, speaking to be heard above the others. “Don’t listen to him! He doesn’t know anything about it. He’s out to get me, and he’s only going to tell lies about me!”
It was useless to tell Kelly to be quiet. He seemed to think that because I was a police officer, I was bound to testify against him.
After Kelly finally settled down, the judge told me to proceed.
“A few days ago,” I said, “I was taking two prisoners to the county jail and overheard their conversation. ‘I got Kelly good the other day!’ the one said.
“ ‘How?’
“ ‘I sold him a watch for thirty dollars that wasn’t worth five!’ ”
The whole courtroom looked at Kelly with new eyes. It was clear now that Kelly had been telling the truth — he had not stolen the watch! In spite of all the circumstantial evidence there had been against him, Kelly was let go. The evidence I gave for him more than counterbalanced the evidence that had been against him.
If Kelly had had his way, he would not have heard what I had to say on his behalf. But once his case had been dropped, Kelly was very glad for my testimony.
This is how some people treat God. They won’t listen to Him because they think He is against them, but He is for them!
“God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
Kelly was let go because he was innocent of the charges, but God is righteously gracious toward those who are guilty and who deserve a punishment. That is more than any court of justice can do without sacrificing name and character. But God can be both “a just God and a Saviour” (Isaiah 45:21). He can be “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). He can justify the ungodly.
The great question is this: How can God righteously let a man go free when He Himself has proved him guilty?
The only answer is that there had to be a substitution made for those sins. In the cross God’s love to the sinner is displayed through the gift of His Son. Jesus, God’s Son, was the only One capable of taking the sinner’s place, because He Himself was without sin. He bore the sinner’s sins (1 Peter 2:24), suffered for them (1 Peter 3:18), and died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). This is the way — the only way! — that a sinner can go free. You must accept the gift of the “Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).