When Ugly Turns To Beautiful

UGLY SWEATER, UGLY SIN . . .  We tend to treat sin as though it is an ugly sweater that has become fashionable. "If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."  1 John 1:6-8 "The barrier I have met is almost total absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin."  C.S. Lewis Jesus came to satisfy the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin.    "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."  Romans 1:18 "He (Jesus) is the propitiation (payment) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."  John 3:36 Our sin is such an offense against God that only sending His Son into this world could rescue us from sin's grip and satisfy the wrath we deserve. Our sins are not merely a mistake, but a moral transgression against a holy God. "Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness."  1 John 3:4 A BEAUTIFUL EXCHANGE . . . Jesus took the ugliness of my sin, so I could be clothed in the beauty of His rescuing grace. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:21 "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds you have been healed."  1 Peter 2:24 God's response to our rebellion was to give us Himself.  John Newton, near the end of his life said, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things:  that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This He set aside, nailing it to the cross."  Colossians 2:13-14 "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  Colossians 1:13-14