At colleges and universities, parking comes at a premium. The vast number of vehicles competing for a limited spaces results in a fierce battle to locate a spot. Consequently, students take liberties with the rules. Administrators and campus police recognize both the scarcity and the indiscretions, and exploit these violations to gain revenue by issuing parking tickets, the bane of campus life.
The fees aren’t usually high, but cash is always scarce, and many students procrastinate their payments, often stuffing the unpaid bills in the glove box. This behavior allows them to put the tickets out of sight and out of mind so they don’t have to deal with the unpleasantness of the violation along with the inevitable expense. Unfortunately, this tactic gives them a false sense of security they have “scammed the system”. It’s only when their car gets towed that scofflaws are forced to deal with a whopping bill, plus penalties for late payment and towing. When that dreadful day comes, many students find they have insufficient funds to pay the bill.
Our spiritual life resembles the unpleasant reality of parking tickets on campus. Through His Law, God has set down the rules for us to follow. In spite of our best efforts, we sin.
Sin is a violation of God’s Law, just as a parking ticket is a violation of Earthly law. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Sin makes God angry and His punishment is death (Romans 6:23) which means eternal separation from Him and torment in Hell.
Most people try to hide their sin, much like the way they hide their unpaid parking tickets. Trying to cover up sin dates from first man, originating with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This first couple tried to hide their sin from God using fig leaves, but to no avail. They found out you can’t game the system. Trying to hide sin from God never works, it only increases His wrath. What He wants us to confess our sins and receive forgiveness (1 John 1:8-10). Unconfessed sin means God’s wrath is being stored up against us and He always demands payment. Someday the bill for your sins will come due. Ask yourself: Will you have sufficient funds to pay?
Our debt to God is vastly larger and much more egregious than most people imagine. As fallen beings, we are accumulating a staggering debt in God’s eyes. This debt is so large there is no way to pay it. Even if our only sin were one little white lie, none of us would be able to satisfy our debt to God.
To make matters worse, Satan confuses us into thinking our sins are minimal, not as bad as the next person’s violations. Satan also encourages us to believe we can do enough good deeds to pay for our sin. Nothing is further from the Truth. None of the works we perform can earn us a reprieve, and without payment, God will not let anyone into His Heavenly Kingdom. Even our good deeds are considered filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
The Good News comes through our Savior Jesus Christ. His blood sacrifice on the Cross has paid the debt to God for all our sins. God has accepted this payment as full and sufficient compensation for the sin of all men. This includes you and me. All a person has to do is accept this free gift from Him. Without acceptance, there is no salvation. It’s analogous to having purchased a winning lottery ticket – unless you accept the gift and redeem the ticket, the ticket goes unpaid and you don’t receive the benefit. People rarely fail to redeem lottery tickets, but most people refuse to redeem the ticket for salvation offered us through Jesus Christ.
In our prideful and independent flesh, we are programmed to rebel against God. To complicate matters, man has an insatiable desire to contribute to his own salvation. But salvation comes by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24, 28, Ephesians 2:8-9), and through Him alone (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus paid our debt in full and offers us a free ticket into Heaven. People with unpaid tickets for their sin will not be allowed into God’s eternal Kingdom and will be banished to the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20, 20:14).
If you have not repented of your sins and claimed Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have the equivalent of an unredeemed lottery ticket – you cannot win the prize, you cannot scam they system, you can only lose. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as LORD of your life, you have unpaid debts for your sin. Just as God insisted the Israelites look upon the snake Moses made in the desert to save them from the bite of the serpents (Numbers 21:6-9), God insists you look upon His Son and call upon His Name to save you from the venom of your sin (Romans 10:9-10).
We have all sinned in God’s eyes, but it is normal for God to offer us a way out of our predicament of unpaid “tickets”, i.e. sin. God presented Jesus Christ as a perfect sacrifice of atonement, and through faith in His blood we are saved. God did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the debt for your sins unpaid (Romans 3:25). God wants all to come to salvation, not wanting anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus paid your unpaid ticket into Heaven. Will you accept Him today?
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