Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus Came for Sinners
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Romans 5:6-11
Jesus Died for Sinners
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
John 3:16-17
Jesus Saved the World
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Acts 4:8-12
Salvation is Found Only in Jesus
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.11 He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Jesus makes it clear that He came to earth to save sinners...That is the good news, because we sin...And even though we are sinners and we do sin, He still came for us and to save us...This shows His great LOVE for us...Not only did He come for sinners and to save us -He died for us on the cross for us and for our sins...Our sins are what put Him on the cross...And so St. Peter said that salvation is found in no One else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved...Jesus came for an immoral group of people, taught them (and us), and then died for us...This is called the Atonement...God sent Jesus for us...God sent us a Savior, to be saved from our sins...
What this means for and to each of us maybe different...Theologians may see the death on the cross of Jesus for sinners as the way God reconciles man and his nature of sin -as the only way for payment for our acts of immorality and sin...They may also see it as the end of the early sacrifice of animals -now we can confess our sins and pray to God and also to and through His Son...Some people may see the crucifixion and His death as the ultimate of God's Love -sacrificing the Only Child and Son He had for humanities sake...
These are all good or great reasons God sent Jesus to atone for our sins..But Jesus died in an unjust way...He was not guilty of anything -except being the Son of God...And man's misunderstanding of even that may have caused us to crucify Him (what a sin that was)...Someone or a group or all of mankind had to pay for our sins...Humanity has this huge sin debt and someone had to pay for it...All of our debts need to be and get paid...God chose to pay our debt not with money or wealth or material things, which we think of as security and a vital part of our lives -and quite a normal way to pay for a debt...He chose to pay our immorality debt, in a most unusual way -in the death of His Son...Maybe He did this so we would always remember the cross and our atonement because it is such an unusual way to pay for a debt -that His Son did not commit...
For me my sin debt payment is the Greatest Sign of Love, His Love...The Greatest Sign of Forgiveness One can show...I know I could not pay for my debt other than with His help...I realize that I sin, and that He came for me...I thank Him and praise Him for that -because without Him, I can see I am lost...And (listen to this) because of my debt and Him helping me, I get to have eternal life in heaven with the One that actually paid for my debt...How gracious and how great a story can this be...I am the problem, and my LORD and my Father in heaven sends His Son to die for me, and then I get to go to heaven to meet them...And all He asks of me is for me to believe in Him and I shall not perish but I can have eternal life in heaven with Them...What a great sign of Love...I understand the words how Great Thou Art...