How Should a Christian Vote?
Legislating Morality #2 – Same Sex Marriage
Selected Scriptures
We are, in these days leading up to the election seeking to gain from God’s Word some counsel on “How a Christian Should Vote”. So far we’ve discovered that ultimately and foremost, God is the authority. There is no authority other than God’s and He has chosen to share it with governments.
Because of that we are to honor our God-given leaders and seek to live peaceably with others. Fortunately, we as Americans have been blessed with the privilege of being involved in the selection of our leaders, and through them, the formulation of our laws. And since we have the privilege of being God’s representatives on the earth, as well as the responsibility of being salt and light in the world, we, as Kingdom citizens are to make sure our vote and our actions represent the values of God. Ultimately, that’s all that matters.
When processed in that way, the kingdom of God is too important for me to merely vote party affiliation or even what I think is best. I must weigh my decisions by the Word of God and try to comprehend the impact that will have on the plans and purposes of God in the world.
Now as you know, God’s Word is reliable counsel. If it’s good enough to teach and preach on Sunday morning and to guide our finances and families and faith, it’s good enough to guide us in the selection of leaders and moral issues.
Some of you have probably seen the ad on the screen. It is a personal message from Billy Graham regarding the upcoming election.
“The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren, and this great nation is crucial. As I approach my 94th birthday, realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God.”
There is a plethora of issues today before us that desperately need the wisdom of God. While we don’t have time to deal with all of them, we are focusing on two that are hot topic items in today’s society. One is abortion. We looked at that last week. The other we will consider today is the issue of Same-Sex Marriage.
Although the issue has been before us for some time now, and many states are now performing or allowing same-sex unions, it really came to a point of national interest last May when President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage and then again this fall when the Democrats, by way of their official party platform, announced their support as well.
So as we did last week, let’s look at the platforms of each, then look to God’s Word. .
The Republican Platform actually contains several references to the defense of traditional marriage including religious freedom, protection from activist judicial decisions and support for military couples.
But the primary position statement is found on page 31 of the Platform and is entitled “Preserving and Protecting Traditional Marriage”
The institution of marriage is the foundation of civil society. Its success as an institution will determine our success as a nation.
It has been proven by both experience and endless social science studies that traditional marriage is best for children.
Children raised in intact married families are more likely to attend college, are physically and emotionally healthier, are less likely to use drugs or alcohol, engage in crime, or get pregnant outside of marriage.
The success of marriage directly impacts the economic well-being of individuals. Furthermore, the future of marriage affects freedom. The lack of family formation not only leads to more government costs, but also to more government control over the lives of its citizens in all aspects.
We recognize and honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the many burdens of parenting alone, even as we believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage. We embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.
Just to add to that, Romney has voiced his opposition to same-sex marriage as well. During the 2006 campaign, he said, “Like the vast majority of Americans, I’ve opposed same-sex marriage, but I’ve also opposed unjust discrimination against anyone, for racial or religious reasons, or for sexual preference. Americans are a tolerant, generous, and kind people. We all oppose bigotry and disparagement.
But the debate over same-sex marriage is not a debate over tolerance. It is a debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage and it is a debate about activist judges who make up the law rather than interpret the law.”
His official positions are:
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Marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
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Supports a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.
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In favor of recognizing domestic partnerships that include the opportunity for shared health benefits and rights of survivorship.
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Every child deserves a father and a mother.
On the same day, May 9th of this year, when Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage, Romney said, “. . .I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name," Romney said. My position is the same on gay marriage as it's been from the beginning, and that is that marriage is a relation between a man and a woman. That's the posture that I had as governor and I have that today."
We find on page 53 of the Democratic Platform, which, by the way is entitled “Moving America Forward, an article entitled “Freedom to Marry”:
“We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.
We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.”
President Obama has flip-flopped on the issue numerous times and, as I mentioned, announced in May of this year his support for same-sex marriage.
USA Today reported: “President Obama became the first U.S. president to endorse same-sex marriage today, telling ABC News that it "should be legal."
"I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told ABC's Good Morning America.
After years of what he had called an "evolving" view of the issues, Obama said family and friends gradually persuaded him that gay and lesbian couples should be treated the same as heterosexual ones. His comments also came within a few days of pro-gay marriage statements by Vice President Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.”
In last election’s campaign, when asked about same-sex relations, Barack Obama said, “I will tell you that I don’t believe in gay marriage, but I do think that people who are gay and lesbian should be treated with dignity and respect and that the state should not discriminate against them.
So, I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other. I don’t think it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state. If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans. That’s my view. But we can have a respectful disagreement on that.”
Now the “obscure” passage in Romans he referenced is the text we looked at last week from chapter 1. It talks about how God’s wrath is revealed against all manner of sin, and toward the end of the discussion Paul lists some specific outward sins that illustrate this inward sin problem that has God so riled up. And in that list he specifically mentions homosexuality.
But the main point of the passage is that all are condemned under sin, and that introduction about sin eventually allows Paul to explain that even though we are in a mess, God has provided a free gift called salvation through Jesus Christ. It’s hardly obscure! Romans is the premier book of the New Testament when it comes to explaining the doctrine of salvation and every verse God placed there is relevant.
And yet, in the president’s theology, Jesus allowed room for same-sex relationships based on the Sermon on the Mount, the book of Romans is obscure and Jesus and Paul disagreed on the subject.
In fact, if you read his comments or listen to him speak he says his change in position came through the influence of his family and seeing committed, long-term relationships between practicing homosexuals and lesbians.
He alludes to his faith and references the Scripture, but not once does he mention the authority of God’s Word and shows his ignorance of it by misinterpreting the two passages he does reference.
And he’s not alone. It’s interesting to me how the Bible is either avoided or misinterpreted when it comes to this issue. In one article that was published just this week, the author said this:
“There is no legitimate, lawful reason to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples that can withstand any sort of scrutiny. Marriage, in the eyes of the law, should have no religious aspects.
It is a matter of the state; it is a contract between two people. People cannot claim religious reasons on why same-sex marriage should not be legal, because that would violate the principle of separation of church and state.”
That’s just one example of those who want to discount the significance of the Word of God in our morality and civilization. Others read only what they want to read or re-interpret the Bible to meet their needs. So just to set the record straight, let’s just take thoughtful, analytical look at what God does God say about it.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
Genesis 1:1
Now that verse is extremely important because there are three questions every person must answer one way or another:
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
The first question is the most important because if you don’t know where you came from, you won’t know why you are here, and you’ll have no idea where you are going.
So Genesis answers the first question very clearly. The story unfolds in six days of creation:
On the first day, God separated the light from the darkness.
On the second day, God separated the sky from the water.
On the third day, God separated the land from the water.
On the fourth day, God set the stars in the sky.
On the fifth day, God created the fish and the birds.
On the sixth day, God created the land animals and as the crowning act of creation, God created Adam and Eve.
And that is where we really need to focus in.
Genesis 1:26-28
Did you catch that? Here is the original blueprint. This is God’s design from the very beginning.
Note the words “image” and “likeness” The Hebrew words are synonyms that tell us that man is created to be like God. We talked a little bit about that last week in our discussion concerning abortion.
One of the premier reasons we don’t kill babies is because every one of them is a unique creation in the likeness or image of God.
But let’s go a step further today. What does it mean in regard to marriage and relationships to say we are created in God’s image?
First, the image of God means that we are forever separated from the animals.
If you have a dog, no doubt you love your dog. If you have a cat, you probably love your cat.
You may have hamsters or rabbits or even a snake or a lizard or a frog or some goldfish.
But your pets are not made in the image of God. You are, they aren’t. There is a great gulf fixed between Adam and Eve and all other creatures. That gulf is labeled “the image of God.”
Second, the image of God enables us to know God personally.
There is in each of us the ability to know God and the “God-shaped vacuum” that makes us want to know him. Again, your dog doesn’t pray and your cat doesn’t seek the Lord because they can’t. A dog is a dog and a cat is a cat, and they can never know God personally in the way we can know God. The same is true for horses and hippos and bobcats and earthworms.
Only humans have self-consciousness and God-consciousness. Only we can make conscious moral choices to do good or to do evil. And only we can know the God who made us.
Third, the image of God imparts true significance to every individual completely apart from our circumstances.
Every person who is born on the earth is made in God’s image regardless of race, color, nationality, gender, age, or physical condition. Everyone who hears my words is made in God’s image. Everyone who lives in America, black or white, young or old, male or female —everyone is made in God’s image.
It is your birthright as a member of the human race. You are made in God’s image and no one can take that away from you.
Fourth, the image of God teaches us what marriage is meant to be.
Three times verse 27 uses the word “created,” emphasizing the unique thing God was doing in creating man as male and female. Here we find the basic pattern of life established. Humanity is forever divided into two groups—male and female. God designed marriage to be one man with one woman for life. The details will be fleshed out later but the basic principle appears in this verse.
And underscore the fact that verse 27 presents both male and female as bearing the image of God. There is equality here and also a crucial difference.
I noticed it a pretty good while ago. Boys are not girls and girls are not boys. And to recognize that truth and honor it as God designed means we are to raise masculine men and feminine women. That includes every expression of life including how we act and dress and how we properly relate to each other. And it also teaches us that we deeply need each other.
Fifth, we learn that the first biblical purpose for marriage is procreation.
Verse 28 explains that we are to “be fruitful and multiply” and fill the earth. But verse 27 shows us the only way that can happen—as men and women come together in marriage to bring forth children with God’s blessing. Marriage is for more than procreation, but it is not less than that.
So that’s chapter 1. That’s the big picture. Then we move into Genesis 2.
Now chapter 2 begins to give us some detail and it brings us back to day six to do it.
We first see Adam alone in paradise, which God says is not good (v. 18). He needs a companion, so God promises a “helper” suitable for him. The Hebrew word means “one who comes alongside to complete what is lacking.”
Please note that “helper” is not a man or a group of men. No man was ever meant to find his deepest significance in his friends at work or his fishing buddies. Nor is that helper an animal. That’s just messed up. Nor is he meant to find his completion in one woman after another. God’s answer to Adam’s loneliness is a woman, one woman and only one woman.
When Adam names the animals (vs. 19-20), he discovers the perfect balance of God’s created order:
“There is Mr. Giraffe and Mrs. Giraffe.”
“There is Mr. Alligator and Mrs. Alligator.”
“There is Mr. Baboon and Mrs. Baboon.”
“But for Adam no suitable helper was found” (v. 20b). So God puts Adam to sleep, takes a rib and fashions Eve, and brings her to Adam who exclaims, “Aha!” or “Behold!” or “Wow!”
Then he adds, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (v. 23). Don’t miss the significance of that last phrase. The man is created first, and the woman is created from the man.
No wonder Adam was stunned. As he looked at Eve, he saw someone who was just like him, but amazingly different; equal but not identical.
Then comes the single most important verse in the Bible relating to marriage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (v. 24).
Here is God’s definition of marriage. It is one man and one woman becoming one flesh. The Bible offers no other definition, and no other definition is possible. This is God’s blueprint for marriage. It is the Creator’s original design.
Now notice the pattern we see developing:
Humanity is divided into male and female.
They (the man and the woman) are to multiply and to rule over creation.
The woman is created out of the man.
The man leaves his parents for the woman.
The man and the woman form the marriage relationship.
Move to chapter 3
As we turn the page, we come to the entrance of sin into the world. For time’s sake, let me summarize the passage for you.
The serpent tempted Eve and deceived her.
She took the fruit and ate it.
She gave the fruit to Adam and he ate it.
Thus did sin enter the human race.
Note how the man and the woman both carry responsibility for this act of disobedience.
Eve sins first, but it is Adam whom God holds responsible because he is the spiritual leader of the marriage. By the way, we get a whole sermon from Paul explaining this and it’s impact on our sin and our need for a Savior Who is identified as the Second Adam in Romans 5:12-19.
But notice, both partners sin, both experience shame and guilt, both suffer punishment, and the first couple is cast out of the Garden of Eden together. But there is one other fact to notice. When God pronounces judgment upon the serpent, he adds a note of hope: “
Verse 15
Now just so you are clear, the “you” in this passage refers to Satan. The woman is Eve. The offspring refers to the two lines of humanity—the godly and the ungodly. But who is the “he” who will crush Satan’s head? Notice it is capitalized because it is a reference to Jesus Christ.
The “He” refers to Eve’s ultimate offspring, the promised Messiah who will bring salvation to the world. He won’t be born for thousands of years, but this is the first promise in Scripture regarding Jesus.
And as the “seed of the woman”, through his ultimate death and resurrection, He will vanquish the devil and crush his head.
And please note this: That ultimate Savior is not isolated in that experience. It is not the man alone or the woman alone. But it is the woman who gives birth (through her descendant, Mary) to the Man who brings salvation.
See the pattern? Man and woman are together in God’s plan from the beginning. They cannot and must not be separated. And there is no substitute for the man-woman relationship in God’s plan.
Now let’s move to the New Testament and see how that plan comes together.
Matthew 1:18-25
This famous passage describes the birth of Jesus through the conception of the Holy Spirit while Mary was still a virgin. This is the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15. And you can see the perfect parallel in creation and redemption:
Out of the man comes the woman.
Out of the woman comes “the man” who brings salvation.
It is not the man alone or the woman alone, but the man and the woman together who bring about God’s plan of salvation.
Then notice how Jesus underscores this pattern in His earthly ministry.
One day some Pharisees came to Jesus with a question about divorce. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” When is divorce was permissible? Jesus’ reply is very instructive for our purposes.
Matthew 19:4-6
Doesn’t that sound familiar? Jesus quotes Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24 to answer the Pharisees. For him the matter is solved conclusively by going back to the beginning of the Bible. Those who claim Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality are absolutely wrong.
This passage establishes beyond question that marriage (and thus all lawful sexual relations) is between one man and one woman, inside the marriage relationship.
Homosexuality is ruled out by definition because God designed the human race so that the fundamental relationship would be one man and one woman coming together in marriage.
Now look at Ephesians 5
Here we find the classic New Testament passage on marriage. It begins with an exhortation for husbands to love their wives. Then Paul veers in a new direction. It sounds like it’s going to be a marriage seminar. But notice what happens.
vv. 25b-27
Paul views marriage as a picture of the love that exists between Christ (the groom) and the church (the bride). This means that God has something in mind for marriage that goes far beyond sexual fulfillment and personal happiness.
It is a “window in time” through which we get to see a beautiful, eternal truth. Christian marriage is a divine object lesson through which the world learns something about the nature of Christ and his love for his bride, the church.
That picture demands a one man-one woman marriage. Same-sex marriage destroys the picture of Christ and the church. And please note that in verse 31 Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, the same verse Jesus quotes in Matthew 19.
Thus both Jesus and Paul find the basis of marriage in the very same passage. By the way, Mr. President, they are in complete agreement on their theology. Marriage is a divinely-intended mystery (v. 32) that displays profound spiritual truth through the union of one man and one woman.
Let me show you one more. The last piece of evidence comes from the final page of the Bible.
Four verses from the end of the Bible we find the final gospel invitation of Scripture.
Revelation 22:17
The Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit, and the “bride” is the bride of Christ, the church. This is the same image Paul uses in Ephesians 5. Thus on the very last page of the Bible, we find the same truth that we found on the first page.
The church is feminine because brides are feminine because marriage is between one man and one woman because God created the human race male and female. It all fits together.
So here is my conclusion: The male-female, one man-one woman relationship is fundamental to the entire Bible. It starts on the first page and continues to the last page. Rather than being some small side issue that we can ignore, it is part of the very fiber of the biblical message. And until you grasp the truth about the male-female, one man-one woman relationship, you will never properly understand …
The purpose of creation.
Why God made you.
What it means to be male or female.
The purpose of marriage.
How sin entered the world.
The promise of salvation.
The coming of Christ.
The nature of salvation.
The relationship between marriage and the church.
And God’s offer of salvation.
All those things are bound together with interwoven strands of biblical truth. They cannot be separated.
It’s all of God, it’s all true, and it all belongs together. God created us male and female so that we would relate together in marriage as husband and wife. This is God’s plan. And it is good.
And to deny that truth or pervert that truth or ignore that truth or seek to redefine that truth is to attack the very nature of God and His Word and His plan for humanity.
God established the pattern of one man-one woman marriage on the sixth day of creation. Every variation from that is a move in the wrong direction. The point here is not only that so-called same-sex marriage shouldn’t exist, but that it doesn’t exist. In fact, it can’t exist.
Those who believe that God has spoken to us truthfully in the Bible could never come to the conclusion that the committed, life-long partnership and sexual relations of two men or two women is marriage. It isn’t. God has created and defined marriage. And what he has joined together in that creation and that definition, cannot be separated, and still be called marriage in God’s eyes.
Same-sex marriage isn’t marriage at all, from God’s point of view. Therefore, I will never be guilty of voting for someone who believes it is.
Now, I want to add one final though before we finish. On both sides of this issue there are those who want to make it an us/them kind of conflict. Those who support homosexuality want to look at the church as their enemy. They accuse us of hate speech and bigotry and discrimination.
The church often looks down its spiritual nose at those who are involved and think of ourselves as better than they. But I want to remind you of something: We’re all in the same boat. No matter who we are or where we come from, we’re all sinners desperately in need of God’s grace.
The Bible says in Romans 3:22b-23, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Note that little phrase—"no difference.” No difference between rich and poor, young and old, black or white, male or female, and in this case, no difference between gay and straight. We all stand condemned by our sin and all of us are under the judgment of God. Our sins may not be exactly the same, but we are all sinners nonetheless.
In fact, in that regard, I suppose homosexuals are born that way. I’m not talking about genetics and predisposition, but in nature. We are all born with the potentiality of every sin in the universe.
And a homosexual may accuse me of hate speech if I condemn his sin, but the most loving thing I can do is tell him the truth and point him toward God’s grace.
In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Philip Yancey comments that grace shocks us in what it offers. It is truly not of this world. It frightens us because of what it does for sinners. Grace teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. We would save the not-so-bad. God starts with prostitutes and then works downward from there.
Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it, and hardly appreciate it.
Think about it like this:
Most of you will remember Jeffrey Dahmer. He was the notorious serial murderer who sexually abused his victims, then dismembered and ate them. After he was arrested and imprisoned, he professed faith in Jesus Christ. He confessed his sins, and cried out to Jesus for forgiveness and was saved. We’ll never know the full story of what happened because he was beaten to death in prison not long after that.
When we think about Jeffrey Dahmer and the possibility that he might truly have been saved after those heinous crimes, our theology forces us to admit, there is grace even for people like Jeffrey Dahmer. We may not believe it happened, but it can happen. God is certainly that big and loving, right?
But that statement, true as it is, reveals at least as much about us as it does about him.
All of us would like to think and in we do think that we are “better” than he is. Or we’re not as “bad” as he was. I make no bones about the fact that I think I am “better” than Jeffrey Dahmer. I’ve never done the things he did.
I’ve never even thought or dreamed or imagined any of them. So when I say there is grace “even” for the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, while I’m willing to include him in the circle of those God might save, I’m not putting myself on his level because I truly believe I’m better than he is.
But that is defective theology because it’s not enough to say there is grace even for the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer. The truth is there is grace only for the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer. They alone can be saved.
Let me explain what I mean. In Luke 18, Jesus told a story about two men praying at the temple. One of them was a Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.” He might as well have said, “I thank God I’m not like Jeffrey Dahmer.”
And it was true. He wasn’t like the other man. He wasn’t like Jeffrey Dahmer. But he also didn’t experience God’s grace that day. He went home still in his sins.
The other man, a tax collector, broken by his sinfulness, asked God to be merciful and he went home having experienced God’s grace, forgiven of his sins.
Listen: As long as you think you are better than other people, you are not ready to be saved from your sin because you have not yet come to terms with how great your sin really is.
Jesus didn’t come to save “semi” sinners or “partial” sinners or “not-so-bad” sinners or good old boys who need religion. And as long as you feel the need to put some kind of qualifying adjective before the word “sinner,” you aren’t ready to come to Jesus and unless you change, you will never see your need for the grace of God.
I’m not saying there are not moral differences among people. Obviously there are. Think about the moral separation between Jeffrey Dahmer and Mother Teresa. One was a sadistic killer who ate human flesh to fulfill sexual desires, the other an instrument of God’s mercy to multitudes of hurting people. They couldn’t be farther apart.
But perspective is everything. Let’s suppose that we throw Jeffrey Dahmer into the deepest pit on earth. Then let’s travel to the top of Mt. Everest, and from our vantage point let’s look down and jeer at Jeffrey Dahmer and congratulate ourselves for being so far above him.
Now consider what God sees. From heaven as He looks down, it is as if earth is a trillion miles away. What happens to the distance between us and Jeffrey Dahmer? It vanishes from God’s point of view.
That’s why Romans 3:22 says, “There is no difference.” And that’s why the next verse says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We’re all in the same boat—like it or not.
You see, Jesus is the only righteous man who ever lived. And compared to him, I am worse than Jeffrey Dahmer.
Jesus Christ was pure, holy, and perfect in every way. He never sinned, not even one time. Though He was severely tempted, He never gave in. All the rest of us fall so far short that we cannot begin to be compared to Him. He is the only righteous man ever to walk this earth.
And we crucified Him. His reward for doing God’s will was death on a bloody Roman cross. Here is the wonder of grace at work. From the murder of a perfect man came God’s plan to rescue the human race. Out of the worst evil God brought forth the greatest good. And only God could have done it. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
That’s what we were when Christ died for us. Note the little word “still.” We were “still” sinners when Christ died for us. He didn’t die for us while we were still “church members” or “good people” or “law-abiding citizens” or “nice neighbors” or “high achievers,” but he died for us while we were still lost in our sin and far away from God.
That’s the truth about all of us. Christ died for sinners because it is only sinners that can be saved.
How do we come into contact with the benefits of Christ’s death? Reach out with the empty hands of faith and trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior. The door to heaven is marked, “For Sinners Only.” If you are sinner, you can come in. No one else need apply.
Christ died so that sinners like you and me could be saved. Here is God’s call to you and me: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’” (Isaiah 1:18). And here is God’s promise to those who come by faith: “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (I John 1:7b).
What we could not do for ourselves, God has done for us through the death of his Son. The only thing left is to believe in him. Run to the cross. Turn from your sin, lay down your self-will, and lay hold of the Son of God who loves you and died for you. Cast yourself completely on Jesus for your salvation.
If you trust in him with all your heart, he will not turn you away. This is the promise of God to all who believe in Jesus. God help you to trust in him.
Let’s pray
