Can you make up for your own sins? No. First, picture that a country legislates a littering fine of $ 500. The next day, you litter and was caught red-handed by the police. Can you implore the police and the judge saying, “Please do not punish me. I will pick up what I littered.” The police will tell you, “You must pick up the garbage but I still have to punish you because you broke the law.” The reason is very simple: a righteous police must punish lawbreakers. Otherwise, he is irresponsible. Similarly, the holy and righteous God must punish sinners or He will be unjust and unholy.
Second, you cannot make up for your sins as the Bible states: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), that is, your good deeds are not good enough and fall short of God’s standard because only infinite holiness and complete dedication can please Him. Plainly said, as sinners with hearts clogged with sin, how can we be completely devoted? You will be punished in hell with a body that can feel both physical pain and spiritual torment. If life imprisonment and capital punishment frighten you, hell is a thousand times more terrifying because the damnation of hell is not only extremely painful, it is eternal and there is no way out of it.
Praise the Lord, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Pet 3:18). Jesus took God’s punishment for you: “We have been crucified with Christ.” The moment you accept Jesus as your Saviour, you are crucified with Him. In other words, God has already punished you. Jesus took the punishment of death for you and God is no longer angry with you because all your sins are forgiven. “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;” “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God “(John 3:16; 1:12).
In a few days’ time, we shall remember the Lord’s suffering for us on the Good Friday. On the cross, He suffered extreme physical pain. But it was more painful for our Lord to be abandoned by the Heavenly Father because He took on Himself our sins. Sin broke the fellowship between God the Father and God the Son. The Lord suffered in His spirit for you. But thank God, the Lord Jesus triumphed over death and rose from the dead three days later.
Dear child of God, the Lord suffered extreme pain for you. What hurt did you suffer for Him? When He wants you to forgive, how can you say, “I can’t. Please empathise with me?” When He wants you to worship and thank him on Sunday, how can you find all sorts excuses saying, “I am very busy. It is inconvenient now?” When the Lord wants you to seriously pursue spiritual growth, how can you be lukewarm? The Lord sacrificed Himself to save you, gave you eternal life, promised to always love you and take care of you. Yet when He wants you to give to His work, how can you say, “I have a heavy financial burden?” Yet, you have money for entertainment and to buy expensive things. The Lord wants you to put him first in your life. How can you say: “Let me finish my business first. We’ll talk about that later?” Yet, you have time for recreation and do things that are dispensable? Child of God, you are too ungrateful and you hurt the Lord.
Imagine when you are about to perish in hell and you beg the Lord to save you, the Lord says: “I love you but for me to die on the cross, I can’t. Please understand.” But the Lord did not treat you this way. Even though He knew crucifixion was very painful, He gave you the first priority and died for you. How can you not love the Lord sincerely? When we get together on the Good Friday to worship and thank the Lord, let us also be determined to follow the Lord and let Jesus be the Lord of our lives.