Do you know why Jesus had to die?  Let me tell you a story that might help make it clear.

Do you have a car?

Well, let’s say you are speeding home this weekend at 105 mph.  A policeman catches you on his radar and you get busted.  They impound your car and bring you straight to the courthouse to face the judge.

Well, the good news is that the county you got busted in just happens to be the county in which your dad is the judge.  So you’re thinking that he loves you he'll let you off and everything will be fine.

But just as you are entering the courthouse, you consider that your dad is a really good judge.  He never punishes the innocent.  He always punishes the guilty.  He is a good and just judge.

Now you’re a little nervous.  Which is going to win out, his love or his justice?  He’s your dad and he loves you so he’ll want to do good to you.  But he’s just.  He’s a good judge and therefore he’ll want to follow the law and render a just verdict.

What do you think he’d do?  Which would win, love or justice?

Let me walk you through a scenario that shows how he might solve the dilemma.

You stand before your dad the judge and he says to you, “Son, this officer says you were going 50 mph over the speed limit.  How do you plead?”

What would so you say?  [Guilty.]

Yeah, that’s a good idea, because you are guilty.

So he look at you and says, “That will be $500 or a week in jail.  Guilty as charged.”  And he bangs down the gavel.

Well you don’t have any money, so the bailiff comes to take you away so you can start serving your time, when your dad, the judge, stands up and says, “Wait a minute.  Bring him back here.”  Then he stands up, takes off his robe and walks down from behind the bench.  Then he reaches into his coat pocket, takes out his checkbook, and writes the court a check for $500, the exact amount of your fine. Then he offers it to you.

He is just, so he declares you guilty, since you are.  And he demands that a penalty be paid.  But he loves you, and so he has determined to pay that penalty himself, on your behalf.

Now as he stands there offering you the check, what do you need to do?  [Accept or reject it.]

That’s right. You can accept his payment on your behalf, or for whatever reason you can reject it.

That story is, I think, a great picture of what God has done for us.  If there are two things primarily true about God they are that He is loving and He is just.  Those two things put Him in an interesting situation when it comes to us, because every one of us has broken His laws.  We are guilty before Him. So which would win out, His love or His justice?

The Bible says that He declared us guilty, because we are, and demanded that a penalty be paid.  Then He left heaven, came to earth, became a man, and died to pay our penalty.  See, we didn’t owe a $500 penalty, so He didn’t just write a check.  The Bible says that sin earns us a death penalty, so He died to pay that (Romans 6:23). *

God will save and give eternal life to those who accept His offer on His terms: place your faith and trust in Jesus who gave His life for you (Acts 16:30-31), turn from your sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, as you continue to walk in the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus will continue to cleanse you from all sin (1 John 1:7).

So He came to us to offer His life on our behalf.  Just like your dad with the check, He stands before you and says, “I have paid the price for your transgressions.  All you need to do is accept it.”

Won’t YOU?

-- David A. Sargent

* Adapted from “The Judge Illustration” in www.cru.org

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org