When you commit a crime against a state or local jurisdiction, it is a court from that jurisdiction that is given authority to determine your guilt or innocence of that transgression. This is because the law that you have broken was written by the same state or local jurisdiction. It is their law you have broken, therefore, they hold the right to judge you.
When you commit a sin against a holy and just God, it is God alone that has the authority to determine your guilt or innocence, and then to convict and sentence you for that sin. This is because God has established the absolute truths of what is right and what is sin, therefore, He alone holds the right to judge you.
It is because God is a just God that He cannot simply say your sin does not matter and release you from the consequences of that sin. So God chose to send His only begotten Son to pay the penalty for your sins. He did this so that He can forgive, not just some of the people of their sin, but so that He can forgive all of mankind's sin. The authority to forgive sin is God's and God's alone. No priest, pope, ruler, or potentate can do this.
Listen to this podcast to learn how Jesus Christ claimed the power and authority to forgive your sin on this earth. Learn how if you do not seek the forgiveness that Jesus can provide before you die, you will not receive that forgiveness at all.
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