OK. The trouble is that the standard's way too high for us. We keep failing and acting in a self-centered way. Isn't that God's fault for making us that way? But God made mankind good; we decided ourselves to ignore him.
So we're stuck and we can't help ourselves. What can we do? Nothing-- any more than a bankrupt man can help another bankrupt man. That's the problem. We need cash. But God isn't only perfectly good and perfectly fair, he's also perfectly loving-- he wants the best for us. His solution was surprising (to say the least)...
Now this is the strange bit. How can the death of a man 2000 years ago affect anything today? Well, I've heard it explained like this:
God held up his hand to condemn the sinful world.
God held up his hand in blessing over Jesus.
And he crossed his hands.
That was the cross where Jesus died. God was the only one with enough credit to pay off the world's overdrafts. So Jesus, God himself, was condemned, while we, the guilty ones, were put right with God (even though our sins were our own fault).
It is a free gift; we have nothing we could pay anyway. The trouble is that we all sin by nature; we can hardly help ourselves; we even call it Human Nature. So even if we were all clean from our sins and we got into heaven, we would spoil everything by continuing just as selfish as before.
The solution is this. Even a free gift has to be claimed. And God has promised that he himself will change anyone who wishes, so that they become more like Jesus. The Christian way of putting this is that he sends his Holy Spirit to live in your heart. That way he makes you into a new person: you turn away from your old life, and tell God that you'll live his way from now on. (If he's your Saviour, he must also be your Boss.) It's not like a New Year's Resolution; it's more like a marriage vow (but you do get supernatural help to keep it). It's starting a new life, which is why some people call it being born a second time. (The idea comes from the Bible, in the third chapter of the book of John. Actually the whole of John is a good place to start investigating what Jesus taught. Which is good, because CICCU are giving out several thousand copies of the thing next term...)
OK: to sum that last bit up. Some people rush up and ask whether you're saved. But there are three kinds of "saving" used in the Bible, and they always come together in order:
| Tense | Description | Meaning | When | What theologs call it | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ...was saved | Saved from the penalty of sin. i.e. your guilt (before God) is taken away | When you accept Jesus | "Justification" | coming soon |
| 2 | ...am being saved | Saved from the power of sin. i.e. it has less and less hold over you | Every day of your Christian life | "Sanctification" | coming soon |
| 3 | ...will be saved | Saved from the presence of sin. i.e. it won't trouble you ever again! | After you die here... | "Glorification" | coming soon |
