Verse Ref.:
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
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But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Full text of Sorry!
In the parking lot of a shopping center there was a crash — a sound of crumpling metal — and a driver hastily got out to examine the car he had so carelessly hit. Finding the damaged car empty, he took out a piece of paper, wrote on it, and tucked it under the wiper blade. Then he drove away.
Soon the owner of the car came back from her shopping. Shocked and dismayed, she turned to a man sitting nearby.
“Did you see what happened to my car?” she demanded.
“Yes,” he said, “I saw it all. He left a note for you on the windshield.”
Visions of a big repair bill faded. Evidently the man had left his name and telephone number. Relieved, she opened the paper and read one word:
Sorry!
Speechless, she showed it to the man.
“Well,” the man stated, “he said he was sorry; isn’t that enough?”
“Sorry!” Her voice rose to a shriek, “SORRY! But who is going to pay?”
That’s the point. “Sorry” wasn’t enough. “Sorry” paid no bills, made no restitution. “Sorry” would have left the woman’s car as it was. It is good to be sorry for wrong things done, to repent, even to determine to “do better next time,” but there is still the question: “Who’s going to pay?”
We have all done wrong things, broken God’s laws, sinned. Is it enough to tell God that we are sorry and that we won’t do it again? The Bible says that “God requireth that which is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
No amount of reformation will wipe out past sins. There must be an atonement; someone must pay the bill.
Can we ourselves do that? Never. Only One could ever do it — the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth and lived a perfect life down here — but that alone couldn’t save a single sinner. He had to give His life, to die, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Yes, the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and now God can justify all who simply believe and receive the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And then? Then “not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:11). Yes, Jesus paid it all!