God is Perfectly Righteous
God is Perfectly Gracious

There are people in this world we could describe as Gracious. Gee Walker (mother of murdered teenager Anthony Walker) publicly forgave the two men who carried out the brutal murder of her teenage son. This is Grace many of us could never achieve.

There are too those who are righteous. Think of the judge in this same case, it was a perfectly acceptable thing to do to pass judgement on the killers and enforce prison sentences. For simplicity, we will say this is Truth (Right).

Grace and Truth, as we have mentioned above can be found together. Consider a Judge… he may well be lenient when passing sentence, if he witnesses remorse in the accused and wishes to show grace.

So what is Perfect Truth?
God is perfectly Righteous (True). The bible says of God “He cannot look upon sin”. (Sin is disobedience to God, the bible tells us that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”). Perfect Righteousness demands that all sin be punished, and the bible tells us its punishment… “The wages of sin is death”. Perfect Truth demands that even the smallest sin (maybe a white lie) be punished.

And Perfect Grace?
Perfect Grace, demands that the worst sinner be irrefutably forgiven.

Impossible to understand? How can God be Perfectly Righteous and yet Perfectly Gracious?
God has met the demands of his Perfect Righteousness and his perfect Grace in the giving of his own son “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” – The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to meet the demands of God Perfect Righteousness, he (a sinless man) took the punishment for all our sins.

So I’m forgiven?
No, forgiveness comes when a man or women, realises their sinfulness and the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died in their place. They place their faith and trust in him and come to the point where they completely rest in him. Consider this… you are alone in a storm tossed sea, fighting to stay above the water, you’ve no life boat whistle or means of escape, when suddenly a life ring is tossed to you, are you safe? No, it’s not good enough that the ring is available, you need to embrace it and rest in it, let it carry you to safety.