• God's Standard For Sin

  Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Dec 30, 2010 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  None

  Tags:  Judgment

  Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

GOD'S STANDARD FOR SIN

At a former church, a youth leader came up to me one day and said, "I'm trying to figure out the way God judges sin. The best I can figure it, I assume he grades on the curve like they do at school. You know, 70% good is a passing grade."

I had bad news for him. God has a standard and it's not 70%. James 2:10 tells us, "For whoever keeps whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." This means we can be like Ivory soap, 99 and 44/100% pure, and still miss the mark if being graded on who we are and what we've done is our plan for justification. This is precisely why salvation by grace is so necessary.