"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." — Jesus  (John 3:16-17)

... no one will be declared righteous in (God's) sight by observing the law (of Moses); rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. —the Apostle Paul  (Romans 3:20)

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. —the Apostle Paul  (Romans 7:18)

"Sin" simply means "missing the mark" or the requirement.  Whose requirement?  God's requirement—God's standard for Himself. "Righteousness" is another word for God's standard for Himself.  It's no wonder we need help—none of us can meet that requirement.

But sin also means something else—rebelling against God.  We are all rebels who at least once in our lives have said, "I'm doing it my way— not Yours, God."  Even people who have never heard about God's way have rebelled against their own standard of right and wrong—in other words, they have at least once done something they would consider "wrong" behavior for others.  We even rebel (sin) against our own standards.

We worship whom or what we obey—whose way we choose, whom we listen to, whom we believe.  That's who our god is.  Whether we rely on or consult a religion (instead of God Himself), or a horoscope, a psychic, science, money, our comfort, or our own intelligence and abilities—it doesn't matter.  If we consult these and take their "advice" instead of God's, we've made one of these our god and master.

And when it all comes down to it, don't we usually end up obeying ourselves over everyone else?  Whenever we choose our way over God's way, we become our own god.  Every one of us, at one time or another, has done this.  Therefore, we've chosen to do two things:  

• Cut ourselves off from our source of life and love (God), and 

• Rebel against the King of the universe (oops!), which also makes us guilty of treason.  Think about it—just about every human government in history has assigned the highest penalty (usually death) for treason.  So if treason is the charge, and we've cut our own life source, then it's not so surprising that God says,

 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."   (Romans 6:23)

Ahh ... but did you notice what came after the "but" in that verse?  It's time to celebrate instead of giving up!  Because instead of executing us rebels for treason, God executes Himself—His Son, Jesus—in our place, raises Jesus back to life ... and then offers to adopt us as His own children!  That's the Good News, the Gospel, the "Jesus story"—God has made a totally reliable, unchangeable way for any of us to be rescued and brought back onto His compassionate, welcoming arms.  Even while we're rebelling directly against Him, He's giving all He's got to bring us back and give us real life.  It's a wonderful gift of a way, and the only requirement is to accept it.  And it gets really simple:

"He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."  (1 John 5:12)

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  (Romans 4:3, quoting Genesis 15:6)

This is critical—notice that is says that Abraham "believed God," not "believed in God."  Abraham simply believed what God told him and believed God would keep His promises.  That's IT—THAT'S faith.  It's that simple—so simple a child could understand it.  (Is that why I wrestled with it all those years—mistakenly thinking faith had to be some complex, difficult thing?)  God just wants us to believe Him when he tells us something.  And He doesn't require "blind faith"—He first showed Abraham that He—God—was faithful, reliable, ultimately wise, powerful, and GOOD.  And God does the same for us.  If you read the New Testament stories of Jesus, it's obvious that He is the Son of God and the Jewish Messiah/Savior.  What you must decide is if the Bible is telling the real story.  There's ample, solid evidence for that—no blind faith required, but belief based on truth.

For those of you who know the Garden of Eden story, think about this—Adam and Eve's first sin in the Garden of Eden wasn't simply eating the one type of fruit God had said not to eat.  God had told them not to eat it, or they would die.  In other words, God was telling them, "Watch out—that fruit looks good, but it's deadly for you.  Believe me—I know; I made you myself, and I know what will hurt you or help you."  So what was man's first sin?  The first sin was NOT believing God, and believing instead that they—along with Satan masquerading as a serpent—knew better.  It makes Adam and Eve sound like absolute idiots—believing a serpent instead of the compassionate, totally good, wise, and powerful God that they knew intimately ... until we realize that we do it ourselves every day when we decide to do things "our way" instead of God's.  Even Christians do this—the only difference is that we know we do this and have accepted God's gift of rescue from the eternal death penalty and His help for living our lives now.  We are "sinners saved by grace" who are improving little by little with Jesus' constant help.

Also notice the word "credited" in the verse about Abraham above—God was forgiving and saving the Old Testament believers based on the credit of what Jesus would do on the cross.  All those Old Testament sacrifices of lambs and the believers' trust in God were a way of "charging" sins on "Jesus' credit card" until Jesus came and paid off the account forever on the cross.  (And now that Jesus has paid that account, we just give our debt directly to Him.)  And remember that Abraham (the father of the Israelite/Jewish nation) lived 400 years before the Law of Moses and the Old Testament sacrificial system—so it's obvious that the Law and the sacrifices were not what saved people.

So if Jesus hadn't eventually come and paid that huge, stored-up debt in the "sin account"—for the people who lived before His earthly life and for all of us who would live after Him—all humans would be lost and out of hope forever.   Now that's definitely a desperate "need" for help.  And Jesus was the only One Who had enough resources to pay that debt for all time (absolutely no sin—a perfect life, finally meeting God's standard for righteousness).  THAT's why what Jesus did was absolutely critical ... and that's why Jesus made this controversial yet extremely logical statement: 

"I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  (John  14:6)

(I finally understood this when I heard this explanation from Charles Stanley's InTouch ministry, during his April 19, 2000, radio message, called "The Cross: A Debt Paid in Full."   That's when I finally understood this "time-traveling credit account," as I'd call it.  The "time travel" aspect was the key for me.)

(God's promise to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, 2,000 years before Jesus' birth:)  "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."  (Genesis 12:2-3) 

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:4-5)

"I, even I am He Who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more."  —God, talking to the prophet Isaiah about His people (Isaiah 43:25)

Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you."  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. —God, talking to the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 35:4-6)

When John (the Baptist) heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask Him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"  Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."  (Matthew 11:2-5)

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  
See, your king comes to you, 
righteous and having salvation, 
gentle and riding on a donkey, 
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.   
( Zechariah 9:9)

The next day the great crowd that had come for the (Passover) Feast heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem.  They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, "Hosanna!"  "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Blessed is the King of Israel!"  Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it ... .  (John 12:12-14; this event is also found in the New Testament books Matthew, Mark, and Luke)

(Pilate asked Jesus,) "Are you the king of the Jews?"  "Is that your own idea,"  Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about Me?"  ...  Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me."  "What is truth?"  Pilate asked.  (John 18:33-34, 37-38)

. . . "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father."  (John 14:2-7, 9)