Man’s evilness, is what God uses to save man

 30For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now e receive mercy. 32For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counsellor?”
35“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”

36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

God is an amazing God, isn’t he? Let’s go with a bit of history of the human race here. Let’s start off with the origin of man’s sin. The garden of Eden. From there, man’s disobedience to God, earned him death. God warned man that if he was to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die.

Well, the serpent came in, cast doubt and the woman ate, then man. I’m not going to go into the details of this transaction, that will be an article for another day. Suffice to say, that was a bad move and showed the true heart of man, he wanted to be God.

From this point on, man became evil. Oh from our perspective, we help our families and neighbors, you wouldn’t steal anything at work knowingly. You wouldn’t murder anyone and the list goes on with what you wouldn’t do. But all those are related to other humans. The 10 commandments are very strategically structured.

The first 4, are directed from man to God. I’ll have another article breaking down the 10 commandments at a later date. But for now, let’s just look at the breakdown quickly. The first 4, directed towards God. Then there’s a shift, towards man.

None of us are capable of holding to any of these commandments if we’re honest. It’s not that they are too much but that they are a reflection of God’s character. With God being perfectly holy, and we being perfectly unholy, that causes a problem.

If you have read the bible, in any capacity, you will see that man is incredibly fallible, and seems to screw up more often than he has victories. Nearly ever chapter you read in the bible, there are some atrocities going on. I’m not going to list them all here, it would simply be a redaction of the Bible. So let me just say this, man is evil before God. You may not always see it, in others, or in yourself, but don’t be fooled, before God, man is evil. Evil actions, evil thoughts, evil motives, everything.

So with that being said, since we offended God so badly and desperately, what are we to do to reconcile ourselves with the Holy of holies?

Well, God had a plan from the beginning. God being just, also has to judge sin. He has NO choice in this. It’s the only way a just judge should be. Anyone committing a crime must pay the penalty. Otherwise, his justice and legal judgment are compromised, and reputation will be tarnished to the point of even potentially losing his seat.

But with God, he keeps his reputation, he keeps his judgment and that’s a sad reality for us. Since He demands perfection, and we can’t attain it, we are to face his judgment. There’s no way around it. And if you’re truly going to look at yourself in the mirror, you can list off the things you have done to break his law.

So, if you broke his law, and he demands justice for it, how are you going to pay for it? Well, according to the bible, it’s an eternal judgment. I don’t agree with it, since I have many loved ones that aren’t saved. But it’s not my law they broke, and I’m not God.

The only other way out is through the blood of His Son, Christ.

This is where the text above is opened up and explained. God knew we were wicked men and women. God knew He needed a sacrifice to atone for sin. He also knew the animals and offerings given in the Old Testament were only temporary and not satisfactory long term.

So He used what is called compatibilism to accomplish His solution. The evilness of man, to give mercy to man.

We are so evil, that when Christ came, God knew that man would want nothing to do with his own Son. So the few years that Christ was on earth, he was hated. Not because he was helping and healing people, but he was making the claim to be God.

The Pharisees hated him to the point of wanting to kill him. Christ preached repentance and turning from our sins and looking to him.

He didn’t just point out a better way to live, he was the way, the truth and the life. We have to go through Him for life eternal.

Now, the way Romans describes this, is that God loved the world so much, and wanted to shower us with such mercies that He knew we would hate Christ to the point of death. So God used our own hatred towards Him, our own disobedience towards him with His Son.

That’s when the cross happened. It was the only way for us to be reconciled. Someone perfect had to die. All the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were only foreshadows of what was to come. None of them could save anyone.

They were foreshadows of Christ himself, the perfect lamb of God. The entire old testament, with the continuous sacrifices were demonstrating a future event, and giving the people a future hope.

So now, the only way to be saved, and escape the wrath of God, is to put your faith in Christ, and Christ alone. If you’re sick of your sin, and realize there are consequences to your actions and thoughts, you’re not wrong. Hide in Christ, while you are still able.