Monday, June 1, 2009
Welcome
This site will endeavor to present clear explanations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The "good news" about what He has done, and what we should do with it. This is a new idea for me, so hang in there while it grows to fruition.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ (~20 min)
The word "gospel" means "good news." So the message that Christians bring is "good news." The Bible calls it that, I didn’t make it up.
There is a specific reason why Jesus, back in 1st century Israel, commanded his disciples to spread this “good news.” This “gospel” is provided by God as an answer, and an antidote for the “bad news.” In reality, Christianity's "good news" can only be properly understood in contrast to some "bad news."
The message of the Bible is that as a human person, you are already immersed in "bad news." We label and categorize the bad news constantly. We notice it in others, as well as ourselves. We tend to be offended by what we perceive as the "bad" in other people, but we also recognize some "badness" in ourselves. Inconsistencies, moral mistakes, hasty bad choices, carefully planned bad choices, lies, desires to cheat, and get what is not rightfully ours. We don't completely measure up to our own goals and standards that we wish for ourselves, do we? Put a law or some other standard in front of us, and we start getting a twitch to find a way around it.
As people, we often tend to trivialize the "badness" that we notice in ourselves, and usually resort to comparing it against other, more stark examples of "evil" that we have seen, so as to quickly make ourselves not seem so bad. We attempt to justify our own "bad" choices because our own self esteem and mental state can be pretty fragile, and absorbs a lot of stress when forced into a corner and told, "you have been bad."
And when we do look around, searching for someone that we perceive as "worse" than ourselves, it is not very hard to find one. It does not take 5 minutes to learn about a shady character who is "worse" than you. And since it is SO easy to find a "bad" example of a human being, that must mean that, comparatively, I am pretty good. I mean I don't do any more "wrong things" than the average guy or gal. And if we're talking averages, it means we're talking about socially acceptable norms, right? After all, everyone can't be wrong, can they? You can’t single me out for something that EVERYONE is doing!
Ah, yes, THAT is the crux of the argument, right there, isn’t it? We tell ourselves,
"I am at least average, morally speaking." OR
"I am above average, morally speaking."
And that is usually enough to quiet our conscience, and close the conversation.
Thoughts like that are common to all people, everywhere. They are part of the human condition.
Christianity tells us that all the "bad news" in the world is the result of enmity between people and their God. A separation that they have from their Creator. Or, more pointedly, the “bad things” in YOU are the result of the separation that YOU have from YOUR creator. The Bible teaches that we were created by a personal, powerful, knowledgeable being, who designed us to live in a particular relationship to Him, a parent/child relationship with Him, if you will. However, the wonderful possibilities of that relationship are currently missing. On hold. Withheld from each individual person, because of the "badness" that we talked about above. The Bible describes our initial separation from God as, “…having no hope and without God in the world.” God’s character and integrity simply do not permit Him to have close relationships with people who are in rebellion against Him, and nurturing the “badness” inside themselves. This is often summarized like so, “God is Holy, and we are not.”
Christianity is a faith which is built on the idea that the Bible is a book of sacred “Scriptures,” (writings) which have been revealed by God, to men, to be dispersed to all, so that human kind can get an objective idea of what our Creator thinks of us, our circumstances, our morality. Not only does God provide His viewpoint on our behavior, customs, and choices, but He also issues commands that He expects us to obey. Internally, the Bible states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...” Go ahead and do a double-take on that last sentence if you need to. Yep, it does say “God-breathed.” That is the claim which the Bible makes about itself. Words written down with God’s own authority. The Bible has accumulated a LOT of credibility in theological, archaeological, and academic circles for many centuries, but ultimately you must decide whether you believe in its authority. However, what you decide has no bearing on its truth. It will remain true, whether you believe it or not. The “New Testament” part of the Bible is a book of the writings of 1st century men who were directly in contact with Jesus Christ, and were commissioned by him to spread his message, both of judgment and of hope. The Bible was “compiled” by what we now know as the “Catholic” church back in the 4th century, but was certainly not written by them. In their own words, the church “received” the Scriptures, and canonized (officially designated as part of the Bible) only the writings which were known to have been circulated and used in the churches since the 1st century, and were traceable back to the 11 apostles of Christ, plus Paul, the honorary 12th apostle, who also saw Christ after his resurrection. That is a process you can read about separately if you desire. These “God-Breathed” Scriptures say that our Creator is offended by the "badness" that we choose to do, and for the sake of brevity, I'll boil it down to two reasons why:
Let me ask you, have you ever thought about the question of WHO is in charge of making sure that justice is done on earth? Well the Bible says that God, the Creator of the earth, and the people on it, is also the judge who works out justice therein. That is really quite a natural and reasonable thought. Any parent easily identifies with the notion that he or she has the right to make judgments between/among the children whom they have “created” and provide for, to see that order and fairness are maintained. God expects no less.
Incidentally, if you don’t wish to believe that ultimately there is justice for this world, you may have trouble processing the words that are to come after this. The most world renowned philosopher of the Enlightenment period, and quite possibly since, was Immanuel Kant. The work of Kant is used as doctrine for study in legal training, and instruction in ethics. He is a titan of philosophical thought, and his work forms the springboard for virtually every twist and turn of philosophy since then. Kant made a simple statement about justice in this world, “If justice goes, there is no longer any value in men's living on the earth.” Justice is necessary for life and morality to be meaningful. This world needs justice, both temporally (now), and ultimately (after death). Though it may not always be upheld in the legal systems of this world, (which Kant had a lot to say about!), justice must be done in the ultimate sense, or else life would be completely hopeless. Take it from the most recognized and acclaimed philosopher of this millennium. The world needs justice for life to be worth living.
The idea, in a couple quick Bible quotes:
Biblically, what we are facing here in terms of justice, is that God, in order to be a "good" or "righteous" judge, MUST do what is RIGHT and FAIR to see that justice is served for the inhabitants of His created world. What’s implied there is that "good" deeds will be rewarded, and “bad” deeds will be punished, right? In fact He says it straight out, several times,
‘..treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds.” Romans 2:5-6
Ok, not so much implied, but actually spelled out. God will make sure that justice is served.
Now let me ask you a question...have you ever treated someone unfairly? Stop and think for a second, and try to recall a specific example. If nothing comes to mind, then think about this one...have you ever insulted someone? Did a living, breathing, thinking human being, one of God's created creatures, ever have their dignity and value diminished by words that you spoke to them in anger, or ridicule? How about this...did you ever get mad at someone (parents/boss/God) for giving or withholding something from you, only to later realize that it was for your own good? So you ultimately thank them now, but you were UN-justly angry at the time, right? Because strictly speaking, if it was for your own good, then you did NOT have a just cause to get angry. Do you get the picture here yet? These are just a few small examples of the ways that people harm/wrong one another every day.
Here is the deal. God is watching and "writing" ALL of those things down, because it is His job to administer justice, and that means vindicating all of those people who were harmed. So if you have ever done any type of harm to, or assaulted the dignity of another human being, then your name is on His list. That’s only fair. That is what justice means. It is EXACTLY fair and right that the same "bad" things that you did to others should be spoon-fed back to you. But wait...its not always that straight-forward. What about when your bad deed either directly or partially causes someone else to do something “bad”? What if, when you unjustly spouted off at your parents, you caused other damage that you don't even know about. What if the words you said to your teacher caused her so much anguish that she could not sleep at night. What if she began to feel that all of her hard work was in vain, and even question her own faith in God, etc? What if she later lost her temper and insulted someone else because of the stress you were putting on her? Or could not perform her job properly, which led to mistakes that got someone else hurt? You can see where this is headed. Measuring the full direct and indirect consequences of bad behavior can be a pretty staggering task. For a “judge” to truly be able to make correct rulings, the “judge” must have FULL access to ALL of the pertinent information about the case, correct? Indeed, God does have access to every possible aggravating or extenuating piece of data, and will bring it all to bear when making His decisions about your consequences.
“.. there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13
The point is, for the sake of justice, God keeps track of ALL of the circumstances, as He must, in order to fairly consider all the factors when coming up with the perfectly fair consequences that He MUST pour out on you, so that justice is done.
Ask yourself, is there anyone out there in the world, somewhere, asking God for justice, that I should be worried about? Is there someone currently pleading to God for justice against ME? Yikes. I hope not, because God will take a perfectly honest, objective look at the plea, and He WILL deliver justice, in His own time. Remember,
So God could just make sure that everyone gets the same level of "good" or "bad" sent back to them, that they dish out to others, right? Would that cover it? Well, if God was only interested in getting justice on behalf of other people, then that might cover it. But…
…we also have to consider offense #(1), listed earlier. The Scriptures also teach us that our insolence and defiance against God himself is even worse than the bad things that we do to other human beings. He is infinitely more worthy of praise, thanks, and goodwill than any human being is. People have their value because they are created by God. That is why insulting/mistreating them is considered a "sin" against God. But if that is so, then how much GREATER is the evil of DIRECTLY insulting God himself? Disobeying Him? Refusing to acknowledge His work or participation in some circumstance of our life? This is precisely where the water gets so hot that we are cooked. The Bible portrays God as a good, righteous, just, benevolent Creator, who is personally responsible for every good thing that happens to us in our lives. And we take most of it for granted. And that offends God. IMMENSELY.
Here is the kicker, when God sees a person mis-treating another person, He MUST record that in His book, right? Justice to be done in that situation, sooner or later. When God records an instance of a human being insulting someone else's dignity, or even refusing to bestow on someone else an honor or respect that they rightfully deserve, He is obligated to deal with it, because true justice demands that everything is made right. Good deeds should be rewarded and bad deeds should be punished. But unfortunately for us, when *God*, sees an offense against *God*, He must also avenge that. Even if He is good, benevolent, patient, etc., He can’t just go around saying “Aw, gee, I forgive you,” because to do so would require tampering with the scales of justice, and it would make Him an unjust judge, who could not be trusted. If God just decided to overlook the violations and rebellions against Himself, then someone REALLY GOOD (Him) would be getting deprived of justice. In order to be perfectly fair, God cannot cut any corners, right? So every human violation against Him must go on His list.
Now ask yourself this...is an insult to one person just as bad as an insult to another? Is it possible that it could be more offensive to insult your dear old grandmother, whose age caused her to forget the chocolate chips on top of your home-made cookies, than it is to insult a street hoodlum, who is threatening to beat you up? Does it seem reasonable that there would be differing degrees of offense, depending on whether the person insulted was actually somewhat deserving of it or not? If grandma does not deserve the insult, but the street hoodlum does, would it be a "worse" thing to insult grandma?
Yes. There are (obviously) degrees of guilt here, depending on the circumstances, and the quality or nature of the victim in question. Well, to be blunt, God is better, and more deserving of justice than grandma is (rest her soul). And when you insult/disobey/refuse to acknowledge Him, you have committed "badness" on a MUCH larger scale than you even realize. And being a judge, and upholder of justice, HE MUST VINDICATE everyone who is wronged, including Himself. And He must do it perfectly in accordance with the degree of the wrong. He considers who the accused is, and who the victim is, and ANY/ALL aggravating or extenuating circumstances. Certainly the character, quality, integrity and intentions of the victim factor into the final sentence. Think about it. If you ever end up in court, as a victim, you will certainly be hoping for a judge who considers exactly those things!
God, as our benevolent Creator is deserving of honor, respect, dignity, even worship and praise for the things that He, (1) has done, (2) continually does, for us and on our behalf. To refuse to honor, acknowledge and thank Him is a trespass of a serious magnitude. His perfectly good, benevolent, patient character and flawless integrity serves to magnify our guilt, because not only have we insulted “someone,” but we have insulted a REALLY, REALLY GOOD “someone”, who absolutely did not deserve it.
In the Bible book called Romans, chapter 1, God convicts the world in general of this saying,
As a result of humanity’s refusals, the list of God’s judgments ensues…
At this point you have seen a description of what the Bible calls “sin.” You can see that God does NOT like it. We are all guilty of it, and all of it is recorded, and must be accounted for, so that the “victims” (including Himself) receive the justice that they deserve, and cry out for. So the million dollar question now is, HOW can we make things right? What type of sentence will the judge of the earth hand out to us, so that we can serve our time, and be restored to good standing in His eyes? What price do we have to pay for our “sins?”
Is it possible to speculate or know ahead of time what our sentence would be? Lets recap what we owe. The debts that we owe God could be summarized something like this:
A brief illustration about the dilemma of trying to “make it up”:
But, in fact, we have done more than just withhold from Him the honor that was due. That’s not our only problem. We also have transgressed against Him, directly. We have cursed his name, slandered Him, accused Him of evil and carelessness, spoken poorly of Him, and possibly even abused His servants or representatives at some point. What would we possibly hope to use to pay for THOSE sorts of things? Hopefully you can see what I’m trying to express here. The debts that we owe to God because of our sins against Him are vast. And because they are committed against such an awesome, perfectly righteous, benevolent character such as His, our guilt is compounded. A single defiance against Him is a thousand times worse than a sin against grandma, or even a king or a president, because the QUALITY and DISTINCTION of His character puts theirs to shame. We simply do not have access to any sort of currency that could be considered legal tender for making this debt right. It is way above us. Some have said that sin against God is basically at the level of treason against the political ruler of the universe. Indeed, even if we could sell ourselves into slavery to Him, we could never do more work in a day than we owed Him for that day. We could never make any payments on the principal, as it were.
At this point, our situation looks desperate, and even hopeless. If you have read this entire conversation, you are becoming acquainted with need for a “Savior.” If God really is going to judge the world in justice, then we are in very HOT water. But remember, at the very top, we said there was “good news.” Does it have to do with bailing us out? YES.
Christianity has a word that you may have run across: “Saved.” Have you heard this word tossed around by Christians? Wondered what on earth they were talking about? Didn’t care? Well you should care by now. You and I DO need to be “saved,” because if we have to face pure justice at the hands of God, “life after death” would not sound like a blessing at all. We would be begging to escape from it. Please just give me death! Don’t put me into the hands of an “all-seeing” righteous judge called God!
What does “saved” mean? It means that your debt has been paid off. It means “saved” from having to make up for all those bad things you’ve done. A “saved” person is one who no longer owes God any back payments at all. A person whose sin has been explicitly forgiven by God Himself. A free person, accepted by God, and now welcomed into His presence, without any enmity between the two.
Am I kidding? No way. Then by what mechanism can this “saving” come about? What happened to the debt of the person? What about all those ramifications of his or her sins? Does a saved person escape from the consequences of sins? What about justice?
Listen. This is THE most important part of Christianity, period. It is the *reason* why Jesus existed on earth at all. Without this answer to this question, there would be no Christianity! The Scriptures teach us that God Himself has intervened in human history to provide a substitute, who is capable of satisfying the demands of justice on your behalf. Specifically, God provided a person to endure your punishment for you, so that you could escape with your life. Everywhere you look in Scripture, you’ll see this “substitution” theme,
That Jesus Christ was sacrificed for us is crystal clear. God verified that He accepted the sacrifice by afterwards raising Jesus Christ back to life, after He had been dead. But to what end?
The answer is so that WE (you and I) can receive the “gift of righteousness.” God provided a fountain of His own righteousness which can be accounted to you, since you blew it and failed to live a life of righteousness on your own. God provided this for us through the life, suffering and death of the man, Jesus Christ.
You may have noticed the recurring theme.
While he was teaching in Israel, before his death, Jesus said, “... I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” You see, the Bible takes great pains to teach us that Jesus was not ONLY a mere man. He was the incarnate deity as well. God dramatically entering into human history, to fulfill a specific need that humanity could not satisfy for themselves. The “Son” of God, veiled in human flesh. He was able to sacrifice his life for us, and then take that life up again (resurrection). The fact that He lived a perfect, sinless life of obedience for 30 years meant that He could not stay dead. Death could not contain Him, so to speak, because death is punishment for sins, and Jesus had not committed any. He was exempt from the power and permanence of death. If you like C.S. Lewis “Narnia” stories, (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe), you may note that this concept was known as the “deep magic” of which the White Witch was unaware. If you kill someone who has not sinned, they just come back alive again. In other words, there was no legal reason why Jesus should stay dead, because he was NOT a sinner like the rest of us. This made Jesus the perfect candidate for the most amazing “swap” in the history of, well, .... anything.
God loved us, and saw our predicament. He knew that we could not escape, nor could He legally let us off the hook, without satisfying His own commitment to justice. But He can, and does, have a plan where the punishment still gets paid, but we can have our record cleared.
Imagine yourself in a holding cell at the jailhouse, awaiting your sentence. Your orange jumpsuit identifies you as one of the convicts in “lockup.” But someone comes in and offers to exchange your orange (jail) jumpsuit for his majestic, glimmering white robe of royalty, and that robe-owner will actually put on your orange threads and do your time at the jail. The one who is pleased to make the trade with us is Jesus. The orange jumpsuit we give him is our history of sin, our entire criminal record. The robe that he gives us is his righteousness. We get to wear it, and show up in court with it. When we arrive for our judgment, we notice that the judge is wearing an identical white robe! God considers it our outfit, since we are always seen wearing it. We’re not tricking Him. He is the one who hatched the “exchange” plan to begin with, because He is patient and merciful and kind, and wanted to provide us a legal way out. God looks at the prison roll, and sees that your cell is occupied, and that orange suit with your number on it is present and accounted for in the jail. The time is being served, the penalty is being paid. And God is good with that. In His design, the judge does not see any lack of justice happening, even though the penalty is getting paid by a substitute. He allows this. The nature of this “swap” is some kind of mysteriously deep transfer, in which all the requirements are satisfied.
Its tough to clarify the details of why this swap is allowed. The Bible does not break that down in detail for us. But it does say that the judge Himself instigated the plan, for our benefit, and that we are complete fools if we neglect it. There is no second option to choose from. Somehow the value that God placed on that self-less sacrificial act of the sinless Jesus was sooo high, God has declared that it is able to count for the sin payments of all Christ’s people. You could say that the robe that Jesus has is PERFECT, so finely woven and durable that its able to be worn over and over and over again by every criminal who He lends it to. It is of the ultimate, FINEST quality, and never can absorb a single spot or blemish. As many who fall down before Him in broken, humble contrition, asking to wear it, will be able to. And they will make it out of court free. To speak somewhat crudely, the wearer will find Jesus’ white horse outside, and the keys to His home in the pocket. It is a complete exchange. The sinner gets all the benefits that Jesus earned for living 33 years without a single offense. Jesus takes all the condemnation that the sinner had. That is what is meant by “saved.”
That is a mind blower, to be sure, but it is the story of the Bible. The Bible says that, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice the words you just read, “whoever believes in Him.” Did you notice earlier that I said, “able to count for the sin payments of all of Christ’s people?” How would someone get to be one of “Christ’s people?” Look above at all those verses where we get his “righteousness.” See how many times you read, “through faith”, and those “who believe.” You become his by trusting in Jesus Christ to pay your debts. When He shows up at your cell and offers you forgiveness and righteousness and a changed life, you bow down before Him, you cry out and let him know you are powerless, guilty, and convicted. You tell him that you understand now that he is your only hope. You sign on the dotted line and give yourself to him, trusting that he is good and true and whatever he leads you into afterwards will be worth it. You believe God’s word where it says that Christ’s righteousness counts for you through faith, and that you are accepted by God strictly because of the exchange, because of those things of His that you are wearing. Show to God that you are broken down, sick and tired of sin, and fully convinced that you cannot escape its power without a rescuer to save you.
Why did God do it this way? Why the exchange, the ability to be justified by someone else’s righteousness, instead of our own? God has made it abundantly clear that He will not allow for any boasting of goodness among human beings, so He leveled the playing field completely. The mechanism for getting us joined up with Christ, and getting his righteousness onto our account, to pay our debts, is simple faith. *Faith* may sound simple, but it is a BIG internal change in a person. A complete change of heart, where we lay down our hopes and dreams and trust in Christ for whatever He may give us. We go to him with the attitude of, “wherever you are going, I will follow. Whatever you will give me I am happy to accept. Just please don’t leave me on my own anymore, because I will perish without your help. My sin will destroy me. It just keeps piling up and I’m powerless to stop it. There is no hope for me except you.” Some would say that justification by faith sounds too simplistic. But remember the 2 reasons why God did it by faith, (1) Because it could not be earned anyway by any person using their own efforts or “goodness” and, (2) God is emphatic that no person shall be able to boast that he/she is better than the rest. Salvation had to be done in such a way that man could not claim the credit for himself.
So who is Jesus? How can he provide such saving power for me?
It may be difficult to comprehend the idea that humanity could have a Savior, that He could be born of a virgin woman, live a sinless life, be unjustly killed by his contemporaries, and rise again from the dead. All the while, in those very acts, accomplishing the “redemption” of all those who put their trust in Him. Nevertheless, this is the plan of God to save us, which is revealed in the Bible. The Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who exists in three distinct but not separate “persons”. This is the idea of the Trinity. The Bible does not say the word Trinity, but clearly describes all three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit as distinct and yet united. Christians are simply using the word “Trinity” to summarize that “3-in-one” aspect of God, as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures.
Jesus took for himself the title, “Son of God,” which is why we call him that. He is the one whom the Father sent to accomplish our redemption, i.e. to pay the debt for our sins against Him. God worked out the substitutionary plan, in order to provide a means of escape for us, while still maintaining His justice. There couldn’t simply be a “sweeping under the rug” of our sins. They can’t just be ignored, forgotten, or arbitrarily forgiven. That would be a perversion of justice. All of the sins that we’ve committed, all the debt that we owe still must be paid for. God cannot for one instant compromise on His justice. Nor would He want to, because He is altogether good within Himself, and He delights to see justice done. But someone has to be punished for your sins, and mine, and everyone else’s. The fact is, EVERY SIN WILL BE JUSTLY PAID FOR. The question is, will you take your little empty bag of good deeds, and offer it to God, against a background of the cries for justice that rise up against you? Will you plead with Him to become unjust, *just this once*, and let you off the hook? If you do that, you will most definitely spend your eternity trying to pay back an impossible sum. Never making any dent in the principal, so to speak, as we saw earlier.
Or, will you hand yourself over to the mercy of the court, and follow the instructions that the Judge has issued: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” There is but one means of satisfaction for the charges recorded against you. The perfect man has offered to exchange His record for yours. The Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to perform this sacrifice on your behalf. To rescue you, as it were. Will you shrug or scowl at Him and go “shopping” for a different means of escape? On this account the Bible says, “There is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we MUST be saved.” And also, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
Indeed, the answer to the rhetorical question is “Never.” We cannot escape. To walk away free from the judgment of God, you would need to have lived a life without debt, a life of perfect righteousness and obedience. But you have not. You and I have no righteousness of the sort that God considers. You will only get by on someone else’s. If you’re going to get into the kingdom of God, you’re going to need the “gift” of righteousness. A gift that comes to you from someone else, freely given, not earned, not deserved. Its just a gift, from a kind, benevolent Giver. “The righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all, and on all who believe.”
There is a specific reason why Jesus, back in 1st century Israel, commanded his disciples to spread this “good news.” This “gospel” is provided by God as an answer, and an antidote for the “bad news.” In reality, Christianity's "good news" can only be properly understood in contrast to some "bad news."
The message of the Bible is that as a human person, you are already immersed in "bad news." We label and categorize the bad news constantly. We notice it in others, as well as ourselves. We tend to be offended by what we perceive as the "bad" in other people, but we also recognize some "badness" in ourselves. Inconsistencies, moral mistakes, hasty bad choices, carefully planned bad choices, lies, desires to cheat, and get what is not rightfully ours. We don't completely measure up to our own goals and standards that we wish for ourselves, do we? Put a law or some other standard in front of us, and we start getting a twitch to find a way around it.
As people, we often tend to trivialize the "badness" that we notice in ourselves, and usually resort to comparing it against other, more stark examples of "evil" that we have seen, so as to quickly make ourselves not seem so bad. We attempt to justify our own "bad" choices because our own self esteem and mental state can be pretty fragile, and absorbs a lot of stress when forced into a corner and told, "you have been bad."
"Everyone does it. It used to be a big deal, but its just accepted nowadays."
"Its just business. Nothing personal."
"I was getting a raw deal anyway, so he deserved it."
"It would have happened to them sooner or later. It was inevitable. So what if I was the one?"
"Well, maybe so, but I'm nowhere near as bad as (insert_name) is."
And when we do look around, searching for someone that we perceive as "worse" than ourselves, it is not very hard to find one. It does not take 5 minutes to learn about a shady character who is "worse" than you. And since it is SO easy to find a "bad" example of a human being, that must mean that, comparatively, I am pretty good. I mean I don't do any more "wrong things" than the average guy or gal. And if we're talking averages, it means we're talking about socially acceptable norms, right? After all, everyone can't be wrong, can they? You can’t single me out for something that EVERYONE is doing!
Ah, yes, THAT is the crux of the argument, right there, isn’t it? We tell ourselves,
"I am at least average, morally speaking." OR
"I am above average, morally speaking."
And that is usually enough to quiet our conscience, and close the conversation.
Thoughts like that are common to all people, everywhere. They are part of the human condition.
Christianity tells us that all the "bad news" in the world is the result of enmity between people and their God. A separation that they have from their Creator. Or, more pointedly, the “bad things” in YOU are the result of the separation that YOU have from YOUR creator. The Bible teaches that we were created by a personal, powerful, knowledgeable being, who designed us to live in a particular relationship to Him, a parent/child relationship with Him, if you will. However, the wonderful possibilities of that relationship are currently missing. On hold. Withheld from each individual person, because of the "badness" that we talked about above. The Bible describes our initial separation from God as, “…having no hope and without God in the world.” God’s character and integrity simply do not permit Him to have close relationships with people who are in rebellion against Him, and nurturing the “badness” inside themselves. This is often summarized like so, “God is Holy, and we are not.”
Christianity is a faith which is built on the idea that the Bible is a book of sacred “Scriptures,” (writings) which have been revealed by God, to men, to be dispersed to all, so that human kind can get an objective idea of what our Creator thinks of us, our circumstances, our morality. Not only does God provide His viewpoint on our behavior, customs, and choices, but He also issues commands that He expects us to obey. Internally, the Bible states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...” Go ahead and do a double-take on that last sentence if you need to. Yep, it does say “God-breathed.” That is the claim which the Bible makes about itself. Words written down with God’s own authority. The Bible has accumulated a LOT of credibility in theological, archaeological, and academic circles for many centuries, but ultimately you must decide whether you believe in its authority. However, what you decide has no bearing on its truth. It will remain true, whether you believe it or not. The “New Testament” part of the Bible is a book of the writings of 1st century men who were directly in contact with Jesus Christ, and were commissioned by him to spread his message, both of judgment and of hope. The Bible was “compiled” by what we now know as the “Catholic” church back in the 4th century, but was certainly not written by them. In their own words, the church “received” the Scriptures, and canonized (officially designated as part of the Bible) only the writings which were known to have been circulated and used in the churches since the 1st century, and were traceable back to the 11 apostles of Christ, plus Paul, the honorary 12th apostle, who also saw Christ after his resurrection. That is a process you can read about separately if you desire. These “God-Breathed” Scriptures say that our Creator is offended by the "badness" that we choose to do, and for the sake of brevity, I'll boil it down to two reasons why:
(1) He is offended because His own honor and dignity are insulted when we behave badly toward Him. As Creator, He simply is deserving of our reverence, honor and respect. Indeed, if He is really WHO and WHAT the Scriptures say He is, then He deserves even more....our perfect devotion, and our worship.
(2) He is offended because He has taken for Himself the role of maintaining justice among the creatures that He has created. This means He must be “offended” on behalf of the victims of crimes and injustices, for the purpose of enforcing justice, taking vengeance, and seeking retribution for those victims.
Let me ask you, have you ever thought about the question of WHO is in charge of making sure that justice is done on earth? Well the Bible says that God, the Creator of the earth, and the people on it, is also the judge who works out justice therein. That is really quite a natural and reasonable thought. Any parent easily identifies with the notion that he or she has the right to make judgments between/among the children whom they have “created” and provide for, to see that order and fairness are maintained. God expects no less.
Incidentally, if you don’t wish to believe that ultimately there is justice for this world, you may have trouble processing the words that are to come after this. The most world renowned philosopher of the Enlightenment period, and quite possibly since, was Immanuel Kant. The work of Kant is used as doctrine for study in legal training, and instruction in ethics. He is a titan of philosophical thought, and his work forms the springboard for virtually every twist and turn of philosophy since then. Kant made a simple statement about justice in this world, “If justice goes, there is no longer any value in men's living on the earth.” Justice is necessary for life and morality to be meaningful. This world needs justice, both temporally (now), and ultimately (after death). Though it may not always be upheld in the legal systems of this world, (which Kant had a lot to say about!), justice must be done in the ultimate sense, or else life would be completely hopeless. Take it from the most recognized and acclaimed philosopher of this millennium. The world needs justice for life to be worth living.
The idea, in a couple quick Bible quotes:
“ it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…” Hebrews 9:27
“God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7:11
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.’ Romans 12:19
Biblically, what we are facing here in terms of justice, is that God, in order to be a "good" or "righteous" judge, MUST do what is RIGHT and FAIR to see that justice is served for the inhabitants of His created world. What’s implied there is that "good" deeds will be rewarded, and “bad” deeds will be punished, right? In fact He says it straight out, several times,
‘..treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds.” Romans 2:5-6
Ok, not so much implied, but actually spelled out. God will make sure that justice is served.
Now let me ask you a question...have you ever treated someone unfairly? Stop and think for a second, and try to recall a specific example. If nothing comes to mind, then think about this one...have you ever insulted someone? Did a living, breathing, thinking human being, one of God's created creatures, ever have their dignity and value diminished by words that you spoke to them in anger, or ridicule? How about this...did you ever get mad at someone (parents/boss/God) for giving or withholding something from you, only to later realize that it was for your own good? So you ultimately thank them now, but you were UN-justly angry at the time, right? Because strictly speaking, if it was for your own good, then you did NOT have a just cause to get angry. Do you get the picture here yet? These are just a few small examples of the ways that people harm/wrong one another every day.
Here is the deal. God is watching and "writing" ALL of those things down, because it is His job to administer justice, and that means vindicating all of those people who were harmed. So if you have ever done any type of harm to, or assaulted the dignity of another human being, then your name is on His list. That’s only fair. That is what justice means. It is EXACTLY fair and right that the same "bad" things that you did to others should be spoon-fed back to you. But wait...its not always that straight-forward. What about when your bad deed either directly or partially causes someone else to do something “bad”? What if, when you unjustly spouted off at your parents, you caused other damage that you don't even know about. What if the words you said to your teacher caused her so much anguish that she could not sleep at night. What if she began to feel that all of her hard work was in vain, and even question her own faith in God, etc? What if she later lost her temper and insulted someone else because of the stress you were putting on her? Or could not perform her job properly, which led to mistakes that got someone else hurt? You can see where this is headed. Measuring the full direct and indirect consequences of bad behavior can be a pretty staggering task. For a “judge” to truly be able to make correct rulings, the “judge” must have FULL access to ALL of the pertinent information about the case, correct? Indeed, God does have access to every possible aggravating or extenuating piece of data, and will bring it all to bear when making His decisions about your consequences.
“.. there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13
The point is, for the sake of justice, God keeps track of ALL of the circumstances, as He must, in order to fairly consider all the factors when coming up with the perfectly fair consequences that He MUST pour out on you, so that justice is done.
Ask yourself, is there anyone out there in the world, somewhere, asking God for justice, that I should be worried about? Is there someone currently pleading to God for justice against ME? Yikes. I hope not, because God will take a perfectly honest, objective look at the plea, and He WILL deliver justice, in His own time. Remember,
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.’Everyone gets what’s coming to them, eventually.
So God could just make sure that everyone gets the same level of "good" or "bad" sent back to them, that they dish out to others, right? Would that cover it? Well, if God was only interested in getting justice on behalf of other people, then that might cover it. But…
…we also have to consider offense #(1), listed earlier. The Scriptures also teach us that our insolence and defiance against God himself is even worse than the bad things that we do to other human beings. He is infinitely more worthy of praise, thanks, and goodwill than any human being is. People have their value because they are created by God. That is why insulting/mistreating them is considered a "sin" against God. But if that is so, then how much GREATER is the evil of DIRECTLY insulting God himself? Disobeying Him? Refusing to acknowledge His work or participation in some circumstance of our life? This is precisely where the water gets so hot that we are cooked. The Bible portrays God as a good, righteous, just, benevolent Creator, who is personally responsible for every good thing that happens to us in our lives. And we take most of it for granted. And that offends God. IMMENSELY.
‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people I must be glorified.’ Leviticus 10:3
Here is the kicker, when God sees a person mis-treating another person, He MUST record that in His book, right? Justice to be done in that situation, sooner or later. When God records an instance of a human being insulting someone else's dignity, or even refusing to bestow on someone else an honor or respect that they rightfully deserve, He is obligated to deal with it, because true justice demands that everything is made right. Good deeds should be rewarded and bad deeds should be punished. But unfortunately for us, when *God*, sees an offense against *God*, He must also avenge that. Even if He is good, benevolent, patient, etc., He can’t just go around saying “Aw, gee, I forgive you,” because to do so would require tampering with the scales of justice, and it would make Him an unjust judge, who could not be trusted. If God just decided to overlook the violations and rebellions against Himself, then someone REALLY GOOD (Him) would be getting deprived of justice. In order to be perfectly fair, God cannot cut any corners, right? So every human violation against Him must go on His list.
Now ask yourself this...is an insult to one person just as bad as an insult to another? Is it possible that it could be more offensive to insult your dear old grandmother, whose age caused her to forget the chocolate chips on top of your home-made cookies, than it is to insult a street hoodlum, who is threatening to beat you up? Does it seem reasonable that there would be differing degrees of offense, depending on whether the person insulted was actually somewhat deserving of it or not? If grandma does not deserve the insult, but the street hoodlum does, would it be a "worse" thing to insult grandma?
Yes. There are (obviously) degrees of guilt here, depending on the circumstances, and the quality or nature of the victim in question. Well, to be blunt, God is better, and more deserving of justice than grandma is (rest her soul). And when you insult/disobey/refuse to acknowledge Him, you have committed "badness" on a MUCH larger scale than you even realize. And being a judge, and upholder of justice, HE MUST VINDICATE everyone who is wronged, including Himself. And He must do it perfectly in accordance with the degree of the wrong. He considers who the accused is, and who the victim is, and ANY/ALL aggravating or extenuating circumstances. Certainly the character, quality, integrity and intentions of the victim factor into the final sentence. Think about it. If you ever end up in court, as a victim, you will certainly be hoping for a judge who considers exactly those things!
God, as our benevolent Creator is deserving of honor, respect, dignity, even worship and praise for the things that He, (1) has done, (2) continually does, for us and on our behalf. To refuse to honor, acknowledge and thank Him is a trespass of a serious magnitude. His perfectly good, benevolent, patient character and flawless integrity serves to magnify our guilt, because not only have we insulted “someone,” but we have insulted a REALLY, REALLY GOOD “someone”, who absolutely did not deserve it.
In the Bible book called Romans, chapter 1, God convicts the world in general of this saying,
“..because, although they (mankind) knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” v.21
As a result of humanity’s refusals, the list of God’s judgments ensues…
“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves...” v.24
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions…” v.26
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…” v.28
At this point you have seen a description of what the Bible calls “sin.” You can see that God does NOT like it. We are all guilty of it, and all of it is recorded, and must be accounted for, so that the “victims” (including Himself) receive the justice that they deserve, and cry out for. So the million dollar question now is, HOW can we make things right? What type of sentence will the judge of the earth hand out to us, so that we can serve our time, and be restored to good standing in His eyes? What price do we have to pay for our “sins?”
Is it possible to speculate or know ahead of time what our sentence would be? Lets recap what we owe. The debts that we owe God could be summarized something like this:
(1) Respect for the other people He has made. We should not have harmed any of them. However, they should not have harmed us either. There is a sort of equality among we human beings which makes it seem like maybe amends could be made. We can somewhat imagine how our debts to other people could be made right. We would just have to go back and “undo” whatever bad things we did to them. For some small transgressions or abuses we could surely make amends. If we stole $20. from a person, we should have to repay the $20., right? Or with interest? Interest??? Yikes, the money thing is sort of a slippery slope. What about someone who we slapped in the face, can we …unslap them? I guess we would just have to apologize to them. But that doesn’t really “undo” anything, does it? Maybe we would have to insist that they slap us in the face. But what about the loss of dignity that they experienced? Did their own child see that slap, and lose some respect for them…which played itself out as 20 years of disrespect toward a parent, which started just because of that one slap? Eh, the more you think about this, the harder it seems. But what about the BIG ones, such as what if I ran over a child with a truck because I was drunk? How do I undo that? That one is impossible, right? Yep, it turns out that most of them are impossible if you really think about it. You cannot really “undo” the bad things that you have done to other people. For all practical purposes, it would be too hard, mostly because you don’t possess any “thing” you can hand over to a person to make up for the stress, embarrassment, or suffering that you caused them. In some cases a remediation does exist, but in many others it does not.
(2) Respect and obedience toward God, the infinite, almighty, benevolent Creator, to whom we always owed our love, praise, thanks, devotion, worship and obedience. We have withheld these things from Him, and spitefully insisted on our independence from his rules and influence over us. How to make it up? Pay attention here, because this is the heart of the matter. What we have always owed God has been our absolute all. Our honor with our lips, and with our thoughts, and our complete service with our physical abilities. He is our Creator, and has always been good to us. We have always owed Him everything we had. If we have always owed Him everything we had, and we didn’t give it, what can we give Him now, to make up for that? All that we have left? Would that be enough? Not really.
A brief illustration about the dilemma of trying to “make it up”:
So it is with our debt to God. For 24 hours each day, since our birth, we have owed him our absolute devotion, worship, and obedience. Well, we got behind fairly quickly on that, and incurred a debt. But even if we do our best for Him on each and every brand new day forever and ever, we would only be meeting the requirement for that current day. We can’t earn anything extra to pay Him back for the times we have wronged Him in the past.
- Lets say each day you have a daily allowance of $20., and that’s all you can get.
- You do your best possible work, and you get $20.
- But each day you owe everything you have to someone else.
- One day, you spend $5. on yourself, and only pay your creditor $15. Now you are behind by $5.
- For the rest of your life, you work every day, and keep handing over your entire allowance.
- Will you ever have a means to pay back the $5. that you got behind? What if you got a raise?
- Nope, a raise would not help, because the requirement is everything you have, daily.
- If the requirement each day is everything you have, then it is impossible to ever have anything extra with which to make up for that $5.
But, in fact, we have done more than just withhold from Him the honor that was due. That’s not our only problem. We also have transgressed against Him, directly. We have cursed his name, slandered Him, accused Him of evil and carelessness, spoken poorly of Him, and possibly even abused His servants or representatives at some point. What would we possibly hope to use to pay for THOSE sorts of things? Hopefully you can see what I’m trying to express here. The debts that we owe to God because of our sins against Him are vast. And because they are committed against such an awesome, perfectly righteous, benevolent character such as His, our guilt is compounded. A single defiance against Him is a thousand times worse than a sin against grandma, or even a king or a president, because the QUALITY and DISTINCTION of His character puts theirs to shame. We simply do not have access to any sort of currency that could be considered legal tender for making this debt right. It is way above us. Some have said that sin against God is basically at the level of treason against the political ruler of the universe. Indeed, even if we could sell ourselves into slavery to Him, we could never do more work in a day than we owed Him for that day. We could never make any payments on the principal, as it were.
At this point, our situation looks desperate, and even hopeless. If you have read this entire conversation, you are becoming acquainted with need for a “Savior.” If God really is going to judge the world in justice, then we are in very HOT water. But remember, at the very top, we said there was “good news.” Does it have to do with bailing us out? YES.
Christianity has a word that you may have run across: “Saved.” Have you heard this word tossed around by Christians? Wondered what on earth they were talking about? Didn’t care? Well you should care by now. You and I DO need to be “saved,” because if we have to face pure justice at the hands of God, “life after death” would not sound like a blessing at all. We would be begging to escape from it. Please just give me death! Don’t put me into the hands of an “all-seeing” righteous judge called God!
What does “saved” mean? It means that your debt has been paid off. It means “saved” from having to make up for all those bad things you’ve done. A “saved” person is one who no longer owes God any back payments at all. A person whose sin has been explicitly forgiven by God Himself. A free person, accepted by God, and now welcomed into His presence, without any enmity between the two.
Am I kidding? No way. Then by what mechanism can this “saving” come about? What happened to the debt of the person? What about all those ramifications of his or her sins? Does a saved person escape from the consequences of sins? What about justice?
Listen. This is THE most important part of Christianity, period. It is the *reason* why Jesus existed on earth at all. Without this answer to this question, there would be no Christianity! The Scriptures teach us that God Himself has intervened in human history to provide a substitute, who is capable of satisfying the demands of justice on your behalf. Specifically, God provided a person to endure your punishment for you, so that you could escape with your life. Everywhere you look in Scripture, you’ll see this “substitution” theme,
“he himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross…” 1 Peter 2:24
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53
“so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” Hebrews 9:28
“having become a curse for us.” Galatians 3:13
“to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
“He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians. 5:21 (1st half!)
“The just for the unjust.” 1 Peter 3:18
That Jesus Christ was sacrificed for us is crystal clear. God verified that He accepted the sacrifice by afterwards raising Jesus Christ back to life, after He had been dead. But to what end?
The answer is so that WE (you and I) can receive the “gift of righteousness.” God provided a fountain of His own righteousness which can be accounted to you, since you blew it and failed to live a life of righteousness on your own. God provided this for us through the life, suffering and death of the man, Jesus Christ.
“The righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all, and on all who believe.” Romans 3:22
“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Romans 4:22
“Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4
“He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians. 5:21 (2nd half!)
“not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” Phil. 3:9
“..much more those who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness” Romans 5:17
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,” Titus 3:5
“so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19
You may have noticed the recurring theme.
Jesus gave himself up as a sacrifice, as a payment for our sins, so that we could receive his righteousness, to count it on our behalf, declaring us INNOCENT in the sight of God.
While he was teaching in Israel, before his death, Jesus said, “... I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” You see, the Bible takes great pains to teach us that Jesus was not ONLY a mere man. He was the incarnate deity as well. God dramatically entering into human history, to fulfill a specific need that humanity could not satisfy for themselves. The “Son” of God, veiled in human flesh. He was able to sacrifice his life for us, and then take that life up again (resurrection). The fact that He lived a perfect, sinless life of obedience for 30 years meant that He could not stay dead. Death could not contain Him, so to speak, because death is punishment for sins, and Jesus had not committed any. He was exempt from the power and permanence of death. If you like C.S. Lewis “Narnia” stories, (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe), you may note that this concept was known as the “deep magic” of which the White Witch was unaware. If you kill someone who has not sinned, they just come back alive again. In other words, there was no legal reason why Jesus should stay dead, because he was NOT a sinner like the rest of us. This made Jesus the perfect candidate for the most amazing “swap” in the history of, well, .... anything.
God loved us, and saw our predicament. He knew that we could not escape, nor could He legally let us off the hook, without satisfying His own commitment to justice. But He can, and does, have a plan where the punishment still gets paid, but we can have our record cleared.
Imagine yourself in a holding cell at the jailhouse, awaiting your sentence. Your orange jumpsuit identifies you as one of the convicts in “lockup.” But someone comes in and offers to exchange your orange (jail) jumpsuit for his majestic, glimmering white robe of royalty, and that robe-owner will actually put on your orange threads and do your time at the jail. The one who is pleased to make the trade with us is Jesus. The orange jumpsuit we give him is our history of sin, our entire criminal record. The robe that he gives us is his righteousness. We get to wear it, and show up in court with it. When we arrive for our judgment, we notice that the judge is wearing an identical white robe! God considers it our outfit, since we are always seen wearing it. We’re not tricking Him. He is the one who hatched the “exchange” plan to begin with, because He is patient and merciful and kind, and wanted to provide us a legal way out. God looks at the prison roll, and sees that your cell is occupied, and that orange suit with your number on it is present and accounted for in the jail. The time is being served, the penalty is being paid. And God is good with that. In His design, the judge does not see any lack of justice happening, even though the penalty is getting paid by a substitute. He allows this. The nature of this “swap” is some kind of mysteriously deep transfer, in which all the requirements are satisfied.
Its tough to clarify the details of why this swap is allowed. The Bible does not break that down in detail for us. But it does say that the judge Himself instigated the plan, for our benefit, and that we are complete fools if we neglect it. There is no second option to choose from. Somehow the value that God placed on that self-less sacrificial act of the sinless Jesus was sooo high, God has declared that it is able to count for the sin payments of all Christ’s people. You could say that the robe that Jesus has is PERFECT, so finely woven and durable that its able to be worn over and over and over again by every criminal who He lends it to. It is of the ultimate, FINEST quality, and never can absorb a single spot or blemish. As many who fall down before Him in broken, humble contrition, asking to wear it, will be able to. And they will make it out of court free. To speak somewhat crudely, the wearer will find Jesus’ white horse outside, and the keys to His home in the pocket. It is a complete exchange. The sinner gets all the benefits that Jesus earned for living 33 years without a single offense. Jesus takes all the condemnation that the sinner had. That is what is meant by “saved.”
That is a mind blower, to be sure, but it is the story of the Bible. The Bible says that, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice the words you just read, “whoever believes in Him.” Did you notice earlier that I said, “able to count for the sin payments of all of Christ’s people?” How would someone get to be one of “Christ’s people?” Look above at all those verses where we get his “righteousness.” See how many times you read, “through faith”, and those “who believe.” You become his by trusting in Jesus Christ to pay your debts. When He shows up at your cell and offers you forgiveness and righteousness and a changed life, you bow down before Him, you cry out and let him know you are powerless, guilty, and convicted. You tell him that you understand now that he is your only hope. You sign on the dotted line and give yourself to him, trusting that he is good and true and whatever he leads you into afterwards will be worth it. You believe God’s word where it says that Christ’s righteousness counts for you through faith, and that you are accepted by God strictly because of the exchange, because of those things of His that you are wearing. Show to God that you are broken down, sick and tired of sin, and fully convinced that you cannot escape its power without a rescuer to save you.
Why did God do it this way? Why the exchange, the ability to be justified by someone else’s righteousness, instead of our own? God has made it abundantly clear that He will not allow for any boasting of goodness among human beings, so He leveled the playing field completely. The mechanism for getting us joined up with Christ, and getting his righteousness onto our account, to pay our debts, is simple faith. *Faith* may sound simple, but it is a BIG internal change in a person. A complete change of heart, where we lay down our hopes and dreams and trust in Christ for whatever He may give us. We go to him with the attitude of, “wherever you are going, I will follow. Whatever you will give me I am happy to accept. Just please don’t leave me on my own anymore, because I will perish without your help. My sin will destroy me. It just keeps piling up and I’m powerless to stop it. There is no hope for me except you.” Some would say that justification by faith sounds too simplistic. But remember the 2 reasons why God did it by faith, (1) Because it could not be earned anyway by any person using their own efforts or “goodness” and, (2) God is emphatic that no person shall be able to boast that he/she is better than the rest. Salvation had to be done in such a way that man could not claim the credit for himself.
So who is Jesus? How can he provide such saving power for me?
It may be difficult to comprehend the idea that humanity could have a Savior, that He could be born of a virgin woman, live a sinless life, be unjustly killed by his contemporaries, and rise again from the dead. All the while, in those very acts, accomplishing the “redemption” of all those who put their trust in Him. Nevertheless, this is the plan of God to save us, which is revealed in the Bible. The Scriptures teach us that there is one God, who exists in three distinct but not separate “persons”. This is the idea of the Trinity. The Bible does not say the word Trinity, but clearly describes all three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit as distinct and yet united. Christians are simply using the word “Trinity” to summarize that “3-in-one” aspect of God, as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures.
Jesus took for himself the title, “Son of God,” which is why we call him that. He is the one whom the Father sent to accomplish our redemption, i.e. to pay the debt for our sins against Him. God worked out the substitutionary plan, in order to provide a means of escape for us, while still maintaining His justice. There couldn’t simply be a “sweeping under the rug” of our sins. They can’t just be ignored, forgotten, or arbitrarily forgiven. That would be a perversion of justice. All of the sins that we’ve committed, all the debt that we owe still must be paid for. God cannot for one instant compromise on His justice. Nor would He want to, because He is altogether good within Himself, and He delights to see justice done. But someone has to be punished for your sins, and mine, and everyone else’s. The fact is, EVERY SIN WILL BE JUSTLY PAID FOR. The question is, will you take your little empty bag of good deeds, and offer it to God, against a background of the cries for justice that rise up against you? Will you plead with Him to become unjust, *just this once*, and let you off the hook? If you do that, you will most definitely spend your eternity trying to pay back an impossible sum. Never making any dent in the principal, so to speak, as we saw earlier.
Or, will you hand yourself over to the mercy of the court, and follow the instructions that the Judge has issued: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” There is but one means of satisfaction for the charges recorded against you. The perfect man has offered to exchange His record for yours. The Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to perform this sacrifice on your behalf. To rescue you, as it were. Will you shrug or scowl at Him and go “shopping” for a different means of escape? On this account the Bible says, “There is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we MUST be saved.” And also, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
Indeed, the answer to the rhetorical question is “Never.” We cannot escape. To walk away free from the judgment of God, you would need to have lived a life without debt, a life of perfect righteousness and obedience. But you have not. You and I have no righteousness of the sort that God considers. You will only get by on someone else’s. If you’re going to get into the kingdom of God, you’re going to need the “gift” of righteousness. A gift that comes to you from someone else, freely given, not earned, not deserved. Its just a gift, from a kind, benevolent Giver. “The righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all, and on all who believe.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)