6.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Jesus Christ is the only one who can pay the great debt of our sin.
• As humans, we often try to take shortcuts:
  - We try to pay for our own sin…
     - by living a good life.
  - We try to find another creature that can pay for our sin:
     - animals,
     - angels, or
     - other humans.
• None of these shortcuts will be accepted by God.
• God wants us to humble ourselves and trust in his mercy.

6.2 Luke 18:9-14←⤒🔗

^18:9 Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.

^18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

^18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.

^18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

^18:13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’

^18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

© NET Bible

6.3 A debt that must be paid←⤒🔗

Our sin is like a great debt that we owe to God. God is just and he will not ignore our debt. It must be fully paid. But how can it be paid? How can our relationship with God become right again?

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus Christ is the only way back to God. Only he can pay the great debt of our sin.

If Jesus is the only way, it means that there are no shortcuts! There is no other way to come to God and to be in a good relationship with God again. But ever since Adam and Eve, people have tried to take shortcuts. We have tried to make our own plans to pay for our sin.

In this lesson we will look at the shortcuts that we as people like to take. We will see why these shortcuts cannot bring us to the right place. They cannot bring us back to God, because they can never pay for our sin. God will never accept these shortcuts.

6.4 Shortcut 1: “I will pay”←⤒🔗

Deep in our hearts we like to think that we can solve our own problems. We like to think that we can pay our own debt. Think of the Pharisee in our passage (Luke 18:9-14). He went to the temple and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.”

The Pharisee was sure that God would accept him because he lived such a good life! He did not steal or murder or cheat his wife. Just as the Old Testament commanded, he gave a tenth of his money to the temple. He even did extra things (which the Old Testament did not command). For example, he fasted twice a week!

The Pharisee thought that he could pay for his sins by living a good life. In his prayer he thanked “God” (verse 11). But in reality he was thanking himself.

The Pharisee followed a “do-it-yourself” religion. “Do-it-yourself” religion is found in every human heart. Just think of Adam and Eve. When they sinned and saw their shame, they made their own plan. They tried to cover themselves with leaves. We are all children of Adam and Eve. We like to make our own plans.

When we look at all the false religions in the world, we see the same thing. Every false religion says to people, “This is what you must do to help yourself.” Even many people who call themselves Christians think like this. They think, “If I pray, go to church, and live a good life, then God will accept me.”

But God does not accept our shortcuts. He sees into our hearts. He sees that even the good things we do are full of sin (Isaiah 64:6). Every day we sin more and more. We make our debt more and more. That is why we can never pay for it ourselves.

6.5 Shortcut 2: “Another creature will pay for me”←⤒🔗

“But wait!” some people say. “There must be someone else who can pay for me!” One plan that people make, is to bring animal sacrifices. Some people think that if they give a bull or a goat to God, then God will forgive them. Some people even get this idea from the Bible.

In the time of the Old Testament, God told the people to bring animal sacrifices. But it was not to pay for their sin. The sacrifices had to teach the people about the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who was coming to take away sins (John 1:29)

God warned the Israelites that they must not think that sacrifices can take away their sin (Psalm 40:6; Micah 6:6-8). Today the time of animal sacrifices is over. Jesus Christ has brought the true, final sacrifice: himself (Hebrews 10:1-18).

Animals have not sinned. Humans have sinned. Animals cannot pay for the sins of humans. The same is true of angels. They cannot pay for our sins. They are not the guilty ones. We are. God is just. He will not let other creatures pay for the sins of humans.

But now someone can ask, “What if I can find another human, to pay for my sin?” That is what many people try to do. They find someone who lived a holy life—Mary or Peter or another “saint.” Or they find a powerful “man of God” who is still alive and who can help them to come to God. Other people trust in ancestors. They think that people who have died can stand between them and God.

But these people forget that all people are sinners. All people need God’s forgiveness—even the best people who have ever lived. No human can pay for another human’s sin, because all of us have a great debt to pay.

No other creature can pay for our sins: no animal, no angel, and no other human. That is a shortcut that God will not accept.

6.6 The only hope←⤒🔗

Do you remember the tax collector in our passage? He knew that he could never pay for his own sin. He knew that it would not help him to give sacrifices or money. He knew that he was guilty before God. That is why he did not even go into the temple. He stood far away and could not even look up to heaven.

The tax collector had only one hope: the mercy of God (Luke 18:13). He did not try to take shortcuts. He knew that only God could help him. When Jesus speaks about this tax collector, he says, “I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee” (Luke 18:14).

Whom will you trust? Will you trust in yourself? Will you trust in another creature? Or will you humble yourself before God, trusting in his mercy? Only God can pay the debt that you owe him. In the next lesson you will see how he did it.