The Traffic Light Illustration

This illustration is used when presenting the gospel to get the point across that the penalty for breaking the law of God must be paid!

Suppose you drive through a red light, and an honest police officer sees you and stops you.  He must issue you a ticket because you have broken the law.  Even if you say, “Officer, I’m sorry I broke the law,”  he will still, if he’s an honest police officer, have to give you a ticket.  The law is the law, and there is a penalty for breaking the law!

It is the same thing with the law of God.  We all have broken God’s law, for the Bible says “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”  The Bible also says that “sin is the transgression of the law”  (1 John 3:4). The wages for breaking God’s law is not a traffic ticket, no, the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

We can either pay the wages of sin and die eternal death, or we can accept Jesus’ death on Calvary’s cross as payment for our sins.  We paid the fine in Him if we accept the atonement He has made for us!  Praise God!