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1. God is both our sovereign Creator
and our righteous Judge.
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"You alone are the Lord. You have made the
heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and
all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life
to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You." (Neh
9:6)
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"Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains
sing together for joy before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the
earth; He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples
with equity." (Ps 98:9)
God therefore has the right of ownership over us by virtue of creating
us, and he has the right to punish or reward us by virtue of his royal,
judicial office. And because God is both our Creator and Judge, we
are doubly accountable to Him for all our behavior - word, thought,
and deed.
2. Man was created by God, in God's image, to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. But man sinned against God by disobeying
His holy law. Man therefore separated himself from God's holy and satisfying
presence, and incurred His wrathful displeasure.
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"God created man in His own image, in the image
of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen
1:27)
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"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God." (Rom 3:23)
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"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth
in unrighteousness." (Rom 1:18)
3. Jesus Christ's death was the substitute payment
for the penalty that we deserved for our sin. His death is God's only
provision for the forgiveness of man's sin and the appeasement of God's
wrath against him.
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"All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us
has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of
us all to fall on Him." (Isa 53:6)
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"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but
he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him." (John 3:36)
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"And there is salvation in no one else; for there
is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which
we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
4. We are called to respond to this good news in repentance
and belief - turning away from our sin and self-sufficiency toward God,
and trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the substitute penalty
that we deserved for our sin.
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"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."(Mark 1:15)
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"Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer
and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for
forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem."(Luke 24:46-47)
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