The arrow of time goes in one direction, forward. We cannot, no matter how we might like to, rewind the clock.  This means that the errors we have made, the things we have done wrong and the words we have spoken, cannot be undone.  The best that can be done is an apology and some kind of recompense, but the stain of wrong doing, sin cannot be removed.

We need to understand that God is Holy and Holy means separate.  God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  Sin and wrongdoing is like darkness.  The spiritual condition of the human being in the scriptures is expressed in the following ways.  All we like sheep have gone astray.  There is none who does good, no, not one.  The heart is deceitful above all things, and  desperately wicked.  If we are darkness and God is light then the moment that light comes into contact with darkness, it extinguishes the darkness.  We cannot erase our past sin and wrongdoing, so how can we get to God since in our natural state we are sinners and would be destroyed in God’s presence?

In many of the world’s great religions, the concept of sacrifice has always provided an answer to the erasing of sin.  The word sin comes from the days when archery was widespread and there were tournaments.  If the archer missed the target it was called a sin.  We have all missed the target of perfection.

Some feel that they can make up for wrongdoing by good works after the event, a kind of scale of balances where if the good outweighs the bad then on balance you will be okay with God.  Even in our culture people are not brought before a court because of any good things that they have done, but for the bad.  So where do we get the notion that our wrongdoing will not count or matter just so long as we do some, or enough good.  This is a fanciful idea in any generation.  How many smallpox, typhoid, ebola or covid 19 germs does it take to infect a person? One.  How many people infected with any one of these diseases will it take to infect a community?  One.  How many sins did it take to infect the whole human race with sin?  One.  So how is it that we think that God will allow you or me into heaven in our natural condition.  The entry criteria for heaven is complete perfection and it is not within a human being’s ability to achieve, so God had to provide it for us.  God will not allow even one sin or person infected with sin into heaven.  We need to be born again of the Spirit of God, completely transformed, in much the same way as the earth bound caterpillar is transformed into a beautiful butterfly.  The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom and as we have been born into this physical world, so we also need to be born into the spiritual kingdom to even see the kingdom of heaven, leave alone get into it.  Let us get this straight, sin is serious and it has to be paid for.  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, that they will also reap. We will either pay for it throughout eternity in hell, or we can choose to have it covered by the blood of Christ shed on the cross of Calvary.  Fear not because this is exactly what the commitment prayer does. The blood of Jesus Christ is the antidote for sin.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, the righteous for the unrighteous. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ He Son cleanses us from all sin.

Let us consider the scenario of a judge and a criminal, the judge is sitting in his seat of judgement and the criminal in the dock having been fairly found guilty through due process of law, with no miscarriage of justice.  Then the judge orders the officers to go out onto the street and arrest someone who is not related to the case, that person is then charged with the offence of the criminal and sentence is duly expedited.  Would not this cry out injustice in any culture?  Shall not the judge of all the earth do right, He is completely righteous, how could He do such a thing by allowing Jesus to die on a cross for the sins of others.  If Jesus was not God, if Jesus was anyone other than God, it would not be just.  God created everything through Jesus, in scripture it is written everything that has been made was made by Jesus.  So if Jesus made it and He put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden and offered the opportunity to man to live independently of God.  It is righteousness that the one who made it should be the one to bring it right.  (8) Related scriptures

RECEIVING JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME

So why is it that we ask a person to receive the Spirit of Jesus Christ into their hearts when first making a commitment.  The following scriptures explain this well.  Romans  ch 8v9 “ Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”  This is the acid test as to whether someone is a Christian or not, do they actually know Jesus personally as opposed to whether they know of Him.  We want people to receive “the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father!” Gal 4v6. “Christ in you the hope of glory” Col 1v27.  What is the role of the Holy Spirit in this?  The Holy Spirit's role is vital, as He is the One who seeds the Christ in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit was the One who seeded the Christ into Mary and He is the One who seeds Christ into our hearts when we receive Jesus by faith for the first time.  See the section on the Holy Spirit to understand how to receive Him in POWER as opposed to initially receiving Him when you first believed as in John 20 v22, when Jesus breathed on them.  (9) Related scriptures