The Antidote to Sin in All Its Forms Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: The Antidote to Sin in All Its Forms -------------------------- Date: 8/19/2002 Keywords: "believe” “judge” “judgment” “salvation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: John 3:16-17* 16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. Questions 1. From this six-part study on John 3:9-19 (that started 6 days ago with the study entitled, ““How can these things be?”), what is the relationship between judging and believing?   2. Are you a spiritual skeptic who enjoys judging to condemn or scoff at believers in Christ? Or have you opened you eyes and ears to God, and are you willing to trust him?   Practical help Perhaps if your assignment was to save the world from death caused by sin, you might have come up with another method (many religious people have attempted to do this throughout the history of the world). Most likely your method would be some activity. Perhaps you would require a certain numbers of prayers, or you might require a certain number of good works in order to end poverty, or perhaps it would be a monetary payment. Whatever method man might conceive, it boils down to us expending some energy on behalf of ourselves. The problem with this “cure” for sin is that it (1) condemns some who would not have the mental or physical skill necessary to cross the man-made finish-line, and (2) it instills in those who do cross the line a form of pride that unfortunately is the mark of sin itself. Sin at its core is selfishness. It is putting ourselves above God and declaring ourselves good enough. “Look at me, God, I crossed the line. I don’t need you. I can do it myself.” God’s solution was to come to earth in the form of a man and live a sinless life. Then he would offer his sinless life as an atonement for sin, in the same way the animals were sacrificed in the Old Testament as sin offerings for the children of Israel. Only Jesus’ sacrifice would be good enough offered once for all. What does this require from you? Simply belief. But it is in accepting Christ’s work on your behalf that you then begin to understand what sin is doing to you. Salvation may be free to you, but it cost Jesus his life. Relying upon this fact is the antidote to human pride, self-sufficiency and sin in all its forms — including porn. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---