God’s Love: Fixed Our Sin Problem

God solved the problem of sin through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice

     I think by now you understand how destructive sin is in our lives! It is pretty clear something had to be done about it, and that something had to come from God.  Beginning in Genesis 3:15, God revealed His loving plan to deliver people from their sin.

    In Exodus, God revealed to the Jews it was necessary for them to shed the blood of innocent animals to cover their sins. This is called atonement. In Leviticus, the ideas of expiation (to make amends for) and propitiation for our sin (to soothe or win over; appease) became clearly seen in the word atonement. The sacrificial blood was the means of atonement. Moses, who wrote Leviticus said, in Leviticus 17:11,

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

Shedding of someone or something’s blood means taking the life from them, because life is in the blood.  It took death to pay for even one sin, so God chose sacrificial blood as payment for a person’s life.  This allowed us to have a substitute die for us.

     God knew animal sacrifices would never bring complete forgiveness for people’s sins, since the blood of animals had no power to take away their sinful nature, and intentional sins (Leviticus 4 and Numbers 15:22-31). The only blood that has the power to take away all of our sins is the blood of Jesus Christ.  This is because He is the One True God. 

     God accomplished reconciliation with us through the blood of Jesus.  This is because the punishment we deserved, Jesus took on Himself, when He shed His blood by dying on the cross.  He is our substitute.  He died in our place.  His sacrifice made amends for our sins and satisfied God’s just anger, so we could have our sins completely forgiven and be in a close relationship with God.   What sacrificial love!

1. These animal sacrifices allowed people to be able to clearly see their need for the One and Only sufficient sacrifice for their sins, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Read Numbers 15:22-31, John 1:29, Hebrews 9:19-28 & 10:1-4, 10-20 and 1 John 2:1-2 & 4:9-10 and summarize what you learned about Jesus’ sacrifice for us.How does Jesus’ sacrifice show you He loves you?Take some time and thank God for solving your sin problem through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

     God’s Word tells us that He never changes, which means His sacrifice for our sins will always take away our sins.  Its effectiveness to completely take away our sins will never change because God and His promises are unchanging.  I know it is hard for us to understand Someone that never changes!  We live in a world, a society that seems to constantly change. One moment our government is talking about this law, and that we have to follow it. Then we hear they are doing something completely different. Your parents tell you one thing, and get upset when you do the thing they told you to do. Your friend told you he would meet you on Wednesday, but he didn’t show up, and never bothered to call.  Even your church leaders sometimes say one thing and end up doing another. I don’t know about you, but it certainly is hard on me to navigate through a world that is almost completely governed by whims of change.

     God knows how important it is to our psychological health to have security and to be able to trust. This makes sense because God created us to trust, in order that we will want to trust Him. The more we can truly trust people, the less our lives will be governed by fear, insecurity, worry, and anxiety.  If our environment is secure we have peace of mind.  If our environment is insecure it can cause great stress.  Now is a good time to learn about how we can trust God, because He is faithful and unchanging.

God is faithful-what He says, He does! He keeps His promises and is trustworthy!
God is unchangeable, immutable which means He is always the same

• Read about God being unchangeable and faithful from Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 13:8 and James 1:17. 

• What does God being unchangeable and faithful mean to you? Use a Bible verse in your answer. (Examples:  When I am wondering about what I can trust in because everything always changes, shouldn’t I trust in the God Who is always the same? (Malachi 3:6) When no one is faithful to his word, I need to trust in God’s Word because He is always faithful. (James 1:17))

• Because God is unchanging, His love for you will never change!  What does this mean to you? Have you ever loved someone but they were unfaithful to you?  How did it feel?  I hope you can feel secure in the knowledge God will never be unfaithful to you!

• If you are a Christian you should be asking the Holy Spirit to keep you faithful.  We can be faithful by keeping God’s Word, and by saying and doing exactly what we mean. The world of psychology calls this congruence.  God calls it faithfulness. Read Matthew 23:23, Galatians 5:22-23 and James 5:12.  Now write a prayer asking God to help you be faithful.  If you are faithful, you will be as unchanging as you can be. 

• End of the lesson application:    Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind one thing you learned from this lesson that He wants you to remember and make a part of your life.  Be quiet before God and wait on Him to tell you.   Write it down and ask Him to help you to do it! 

This is going to sound odd, but get a newspaper and skim over some headline news and circle each story that hints of sin.  Sin is anything that is not in God’s will.  The point of this activity is to give you a better understanding of sin’s grip on the world. (It would be a good thing to pray for the people in these articles, if you have time.) If you are doing this study in a group setting, bring the newspaper to class and share your insights on sin.