JESUS Is Our Peace with God: Part IV

The Humility of Jesus Christ

John 1:1-2

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

The Word of God has always existed in perfect fellowship—peace—with God, before the world began, before you and I were born.

As we have seen, we deserve death because of our sins. We do not deserve peace with God and cannot earn it by doing good things or by following religion.

God knew that unless He did something on our behalf, we would be condemned to an eternity separated from His holy presence, with no chance of being reconciled to Him whatsoever.

Although He did not have to help us, God chose to love us. And God, Who is love, did so in a way that is at once incomprehensible, awe-inspiring, humbling, and infinitely wise: God gave His only Son. The Word, who was God and was with God, became the Son of God.

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we have seen His glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.

God's only Son's name is Jesus. He is called the Christ (the Anointed One). He was born of a woman, just like you and I, but His Father was and is God (Matthew 1). He is, therefore, the Son of God and the Son of Man, possessing both a unique relationship to God and a body like ours. So, He did not inherit the sinfulness that we are all tainted with, but He was still a legitimate human being.

Why did God send His Son?

The Apostle John declares,

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the works of the devil.

(1 John 3:8)

Jesus came "to destroy the works of the devil." These evil works are sins, as the first part of the statement makes clear: “the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”

In order to do this, Jesus had to live a perfect life in place of sinners like you and I who could not and would not do it for ourselves, and then die for our sins, satisfying the justice God requires and allowing us to partake of His righteousness.

Hebrews 5:7-9

In the days of his flesh,
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears,
to Him who was able to save Him from death,
and He was heard because of His reverence.

Although He was a Son,
He learned obedience through what He suffered.

And being made perfect,
He became the source of eternal salvation
to all who obey Him…

Although it was unspeakably difficult, Jesus did what we could not do: He did not sin. Not only did He do everything that His Father, God, commanded Him to do, but He did nothing that was against God’s will. In other words, He did everything that was right for Him to do and He did nothing wrong. I cannot fathom the difficulty that Jesus experienced in living perfectly up to God’s standards for every second, minute, hour, and day of His life, but He did it.

But a life of perfect obedience, while incredible and necessary for our sakes, was not sufficient to pay the penalty for sin, much less earn peace with God for sinners like you and I. Since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a), Jesus had to do more: He had to be obedient “to the point of death” (Ephesians 2:8). And not just any death would suffice; He had to endure death on a cross, because it was the will of God.

Jesus described the manner in which He would die – being lifted up on a cross – and the reason that God sent Him, to save the world through Him. The Apostle John recorded His words:

No one has ascended into heaven
except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

(John 3:13-18)

In accordance with the plan of God, Jesus died an excruciating physical death on the cross, which is possibly the cruelest form of execution ever devised by human minds. However, the slow suffocation and physical torment He experienced on it paled in comparison to what He had to endure on a spiritual level.

Isaiah 53:3-12

He was despised and rejected by men;
a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as One from whom men hide their faces He was despised,
and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus was not just dying physically in our place; He was experiencing the terrible separation from God that we would otherwise have to experience. And, as the Son of God who had enjoyed constant fellowship with God since the beginning, it was unspeakably terrible.

On the cross, the torment was such that Jesus, despite the suffocation induced by crucifixion, “cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?’ which means, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” shortly before taking his last breaths (Mark 15:34).

The Apostle Paul, a man personally sent by Jesus to preach about Him, wrote this:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person —
though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die —
but God shows His love for us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:6-8)

Jesus Christ died for us while we did not deserve it. Nothing we could do would earn us peace with God. We were "still sinners". But, like a king’s son paying the impossibly high debts of foreigners, Jesus stood in our place and took the pain and death we deserved.

It was not a quick and painless act; quite the contrary. Our sins deserved to be punished wholly and thoroughly, painfully and permanently. Jesus suffered throughout His life. He was tempted, mistreated, mocked, tortured, and betrayed. Eventually His sufferings culminated in His death on the cross.

Centuries before all this actually happened, a prophet of God, Isaiah, foretold the sufferings of Jesus:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him;
He has put Him to grief;
when His soul makes an offering for sin,
He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied;
by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and He shall bear their iniquities.

(Isaiah 53:10-11)

Jesus, God's "Righteous One," paid the debts we deserved to pay when He died on the cross. Notice in the last part of the passage above that Jesus would "make many to be accounted righteous" and He would "bear their iniquities."

This is incredible news. Jesus took the punishment for our sins ("iniquities"), so that we do not have to be punished for them.

If we believe that Jesus did this for us and trust Him instead of any of our good works, religion, or anything else, we are "accounted righteous" in God's sight. Because of Jesus' death, we can be declared righteous, and we can be forgiven by God for the sins we have committed.

These are great and glorious truths. However, if Jesus had remained dead, our penalty for sin would have been paid, but we would not have eternal life and peace with God. We would have been freed from the death we deserved to die, but we would not have been granted life, fellowship with God and His Son. Praying to His Father, Jesus stated, “And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). We could not “know” Jesus if he had remained dead.

It is therefore wonderful that God, in addition to taking out the wrath we deserved on His Son, also raised His Son from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life as well. But, not only did God raise Jesus, but He also promoted Him to a unique position; He made Him Lord. The implications of this are quite important.

We'll look at that in the next section, if the Lord wills.

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All emphases are mine.
All Bible quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
All pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ are Capitalized.

For the previous part of this series, go here.
For the next part of this series, go here.
To go to the beginning of this series, go here.

JESUS Is Our Peace with God: Part III

Can following religion
achieve peace with God?

We've already seen that doing good things cannot earn us peace with God.

Now we'll look at religion. Can dedication to religion - any religion, even Christianity - achieve peace with God?

In this section, I’ll be using the term “religion” in a different sense than it is commonly used. Essentially, religion is an attempt to earn peace with God by observing standards—even God’s standards.

Religion is at odds with the Gospel, because the Gospel presents the fact that only Jesus is our peace with God, while religion asserts that we can earn peace with God by doing good things. Essentially, following "religion" in an attempt to earn peace with God is very similar to attempting to be a morally excellent person, which we looked at in the previous section. However, religion as a means to salvation is particularly problematic, because it affects people who claim to believe in Jesus as well as others.

This distinction may seem strange or confusing. However, I bring it up because there are many people who think they have peace with God because they practice the Christian religion. That is, they may attend church, read their Bibles, or sing in the church choir. But the Christian religion is not necessarily the same as a true positive relationship with Jesus.

Jesus is not just a part of the Christian religion; He is the all-important fundamental Person that must be recognized by everyone, "Christian" or otherwise, in order to have any hope of salvation at all.

We'll examine a religious approach to earning peace with God and contrast it with the Gospel. Then, we'll look at why Jesus is the way, and no religious leader or religious act can commend us to God.

One form of religion is “legalism.” We looked at this a bit in the previous section. Legalism is when a person takes the Law of God, which is intended to point out our sinfulness and our need for a sinless Savior, and attempts to follow that Law to earn peace with God instead of trusting in the Savior.

One can be a legalist using the Law of God revealed in the Old Testament. Or, one can be a legalist by following any other set of rules found in any other scriptures, creeds, or doctrines, even if the person makes them up him or herself.

A legalist ignores God’s offer of eternal life in Jesus and attempts to earn his or her own salvation by obeying the Law perfectly, even if he or she “also” believes in Jesus. Instead of relying on Jesus to save him or her, a legalist tries to save him or herself by their own actions. As we’ve seen so far in this series, that is a foolish thing to do, doomed to end in failure, since none of us are or can be as perfect as God requires.

The Apostle Paul, who was personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to speak about His death and resurrection, wrote this to believers in the region of Galatia:

Galatians 1:1-10

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but
through Jesus Christ and God the Father,
Who raised Him from the dead—
and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us
from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father,
to Whom be the glory forever and ever.
Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him
who called you in the grace of Christ
and are turning to a different gospel—
not that there is another one,
but there are some who trouble you
and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel
contrary to the one we preached to you,
let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again:
If anyone is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to the one you received,
let him be accursed.

For am I now seeking the approval of man,
or of God?
Or am I trying to please man?
If I were still trying to please man,
I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Apostle Paul was convinced that no one--not himself, nor even "an angel from heaven"-- could or would change the Gospel. In fact, he was so convinced of the truth of the one Gospel that he was willing to suffer beatings, stoning, imprisonment, shipwrecks, and execution for his steadfast pursuit of his goal of preaching the Gospel, primarily to non-Jews, all over the world (see 2 Corinthians 11).

That one true Gospel is concisely proclaimed in the earlier part of this passage:

“…the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be the glory forever and ever.”

“…Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead.”

Jesus died. He died for our sins, in order to deliver us from the present evil age and the wrath of God that is coming upon it. This was all done according to the will of God. God, His Father, raised Him from the dead. Implicit in this passage is the fact that we can be called children of God if we believe in Jesus. The Apostle Paul insists that there is no other Gospel, no other way to be delivered from the present evil age, than to accept and truly believe the news about Jesus.

Many have come after the Apostle Paul claiming a different means of peace with God than Jesus. Some add things to the Gospel. Others claim that Jesus did not really mean what He said, that He did not really die, that He was not really raised from the dead, or even that He did not really exist.

However, although many have claimed to see visions from God or heard directly from angels, none of them are speaking the truth if what they proclaim does not line up with the one true Gospel. Unlike those who came after him, the Apostle Paul was personally sent by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to testify to the truth, and he did not pull any punches in declaring that "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

The Apostle Paul did not shrink back from the truth of the Gospel, that Jesus, not legalistic obedience to Jewish laws, is our peace with God.

In fact, even when the Apostle Peter (otherwise known as Cephas), who was likewise personally sent by Jesus, failed to consistently uphold that truth, the Apostle Paul confronted him:

Galatians 2:11-21

But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face,
because he stood condemned.

For before certain men came from James,
he was eating with the Gentiles;
but when they came he drew back and separated himself,
fearing the circumcision party.
And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him,
so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step
with the truth of the Gospel,

I said to Cephas before them all,

"If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew,
how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
yet we know that
a person is not justified by works of the Law
but through faith in Jesus Christ,
so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be
justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law,
because by works of the law no one will be justified.

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ,
we too were found to be sinners,
is Christ then a servant of sin?
Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down,
I prove myself to be a transgressor.

For through the law I died to the law,
so that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith
in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I do not nullify the grace of God,
for if justification were through the Law,
then Christ died for no purpose."

Here, the Apostle Paul declares that "works of the Law" (legalism) cannot justify us in the sight of God. The Apostle Paul argues, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose." If it were possible for us to obtain salvation by observing the Law, then Christ Jesus died needlessly, and God was a fool for executing His Son.

The Apostle Paul, prior to meeting Jesus, was a legalistic, committed Jew. He was committed to wiping out believers in Jesus, and he would persecute them and drag them to prison. He knew the Law of God inside and out. But, he didn't realize until after being saved that Jesus is the fulfillment and the end of the Law.

Justification, as the Apostle Paul rightly states, comes not through the Law, but through Christ Jesus. Or to put it another way, peace with God is only found in Jesus, not in obedience to the Jewish Law.

To return now to religion in general, some who have examined the claims of the various religions of the world claim that they are all basically the same. In other words, they claim that the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are basically compatible with the teachings of other religions and that practicing any religion should amount to the same thing. I’ll not dwell on that argument here, but I will say that the problem with such a perspective is that Jesus Himself disagrees with it, insofar as it applies to having peace with God.

Jesus boldly and categorically declared,

“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
(John 14:6 b)

Having been asked by one of His disciples what the way to God, the Father, is, Jesus did not mention joining a certain denomination of church or reciting a certain creed. He mentioned Himself. No one has eternal life except in Jesus. No one is in the truth unless he or she is in Jesus. No one comes to God except through His Son, Jesus.

Thus far, we have seen that Jesus' Apostles and He Himself testified that He is unique. In addition, His Father, God, validated Him as well. The following passage demonstrates this:

Matthew 17:1-8

And after six days Jesus took with him
Peter and James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

And He was transfigured before them,
and His face shone like the sun,
and His clothes became white as light.

And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah,
talking with Him.

And Peter said to Jesus,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

He was still speaking when, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed them,
and a voice from the cloud said,

“This is My beloved Son,
with Whom I am well pleased;
listen to Him.”

When the disciples heard this,
they fell on their faces and were terrified.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and have no fear.”

And when they lifted up their eyes,
they saw no one but Jesus only.

Although Moses and Elijah were great prophets of God, there is no comparison between them and Jesus. To even speak of them in the same category as Jesus, as Peter did, is disrespectful, and when we lift up our eyes toward God, so to speak, Jesus stands alone.

To sum up, let us consider these words of Jesus:

Matthew 7:21-27

“Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one who does the will of My Father
who is in heaven.

"On that day many will say to me,
'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name,
and cast out demons in Your Name,
nd do many mighty works in Your Name?'
And then will I declare to them,
'I never knew you; depart from me,
you workers of lawlessness.'

“Everyone then who hears these words of Mine
and does them will be like a wise man
who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house,
but it did not fall,
because it had been founded on the rock.

"And everyone who hears these words of Mine
and does not do them will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell, and the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

The will of Jesus’ Father is not that we live a perfect life or do many great things in an attempt to earn our own salvation. Rather, God's will is that we believe in and obey His Son.

John 6:28-29

Then they said to Him,
"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"
Jesus answered them,
"This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

John 3:35-36

The Father loves the Son
and has given all things into His hand.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God remains on him.

Religion cannot save us; only Jesus can.

But, this may be a surprise: Believing in God cannot save us either.

As we know, some people believe in a subjective sense of God. Some people think that they are God, or that everyone is God. Others believe in multiple Gods or Goddesses. Others think God is a state of mind. Some even misquote and misappropriate Scriptures to ‘prove’ these things.

None of those beliefs matter very much in the final analysis. What is most important is not what we believe about God, but what we believe about His Son. If we believe in Jesus, our thinking about God will be corrected accordingly, since we will come to realize that Jesus is God's Son and that God is holy.

The only eternal life that God has given us is in His Son, Jesus. Jesus alone is our peace with God.

Why? What makes Jesus so special? Why is peace with God found only in Him?

We're finally going to get there with the next parts of this series, Lord willing. See you then.

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All emphases are mine.
All Bible quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
All pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ are Capitalized.

For the previous part of this series, go here.
For the next part of this series, go here.
To go to the beginning of this series, go here.

JESUS Is Our Peace with God: Part II

Can our good deeds
earn peace with God?

If we know that it is our sins that separate us from God, we may think we can do good things to make up for them. Many people live this way in an effort to get their good works to outweigh their bad ones. Perhaps, one might think, God will overlook the evil and focus on the good.

Fortunately, God did not leave us without a way to tell whether good deeds can actually win peace with Him or not. He gave us His Word, which tells us exactly what His standards are. As we will see, God's standards for someone trying to earn his or her own righteousness are very high.

Let's start with a familiar passage. God spoke to the people of Israel, giving them commandments which they had to follow. We know colloquially of a few of them as the "Ten Commandments." Here they are (although they sure look like more than ten to me):

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

“I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.

“‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image,
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is on the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them;
for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me
and keep My commandments.

“‘You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain,
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
who takes His Name in vain.

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,
as the LORD your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.
On it you shall not do any work,
you or your son or your daughter
or your male servant or your female servant,
or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock,
or the sojourner who is within your gates,
that your male servant and your female servant
may rest as well as you.
You shall remember that you were a slave
in the land of Egypt,
and the LORD your God brought you out from there
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore the LORD your God commanded you
to keep the Sabbath day.

“‘Honor your father and your mother,
as the LORD your God commanded you,
that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you
in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

“‘You shall not murder.

“‘And you shall not commit adultery.

“‘And you shall not steal.

“‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“‘And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
And you shall not desire your neighbor's house,
his field, or his male servant, or his female servant,
his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. "

According to this passage, God required the Israelites to be very upstanding citizens, to say the least, if they were trying to earn peace with God.

For example:

God required that the Israelites, and any who would worship Him, "have no other gods before" Him. But, we have already established in Part I that none of us have consistently kept this commandment (according to Romans 1 and 3). We do not necessarily worship the sun, moon, or statues, but we do devote ourselves to our own pleasures and desires, giving ourselves the credit for our achievements instead of God.

Jesus explained the true depth of the other two commandments that I placed in bold above: adultery and murder.

On adultery, Jesus said:

"You have heard that it was said,
'You shall not commit adultery.'

But I say to you that
everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members
than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members
than that your whole body go into hell."

(Matthew 5:27-30)

And on anger, He proclaimed:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old,
'You shall not murder;' and
'whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'

But I say to you that
everyone who is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment;
whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council;
and whoever says, 'You fool!'
will be liable to the hell of fire.

So if you are offering your gift at the altar
and there remember that your brother
has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and offer your gift."

(Matthew 5:21-24)

We can see here that God's standards are much higher than a superficial reading of the commandments might seem to indicate. They extend beyond deeds into thoughts, motives, and desires. While we do not always act on our sinful impulses, God knows that we sometimes would if there were no consequences.

Due to my own lust and anger, I know that I have already failed to meet God's criteria; in His eyes, as far as my own righteousness is concerned, I am a murderer and an adulterer.

Consider each of the commandments for yourself. Have you broken any of them? If so, you have disqualified yourself from peace with God. But don't take my word for it. James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, wrote this:

James 2:8-11

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

But if you show partiality,
you are committing sin
and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

For whoever keeps the whole law
but fails in one point
has become accountable for all of it.

For He who said, "Do not commit adultery,"
also said, "Do not murder."
If you do not commit adultery but do murder,
you have become a transgressor of the law.

James doesn't pull any punches in telling us this. But maybe that's just his opinion. Let's turn to another writer and see if there's any disagreement.

Psalm 15

O LORD, who shall sojourn in Your tent?
Who shall dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly
and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

This Psalm, written by the king and prophet, David, seems to agree with the sentiment expressed by James. For example, can any of us honestly say that we have done "no evil" to our neighbors? While I aspire to this standard, I can't honestly say that I meet it every day.

But perhaps the testimony of James and David is not convincing enough. Well, here is what Jesus told a man who wanted to know how he could earn eternal life through good deeds.

Matthew 19:16-22

And behold, a man came up to Him, saying,
"Teacher, what good deed must I do
to have eternal life?"

And He said to him,
"Why do you ask Me about what is good?
There is only One Who is good.
If you would enter life,
keep the commandments."

He said to Him, "Which ones?"

And Jesus said,
“'You shall not murder,'
'You shall not commit adultery,'
'You shall not steal,'
'You shall not bear false witness,'
'Honor your father and mother,'
and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'”

The young man said to him,
"All these I have kept.
What do I still lack?"

Jesus said to him,
"If you would be perfect, go,
sell what you possess and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven;
and come, follow Me."
When the young man heard this
he went away sorrowful,
for he had great possessions.

Now, there's a man who was morally superior to me. He had not, to his knowledge, committed any sins! He, in his own eyes, was nearly morally perfect. But he failed to do two things: He did not "go, sell what [he possessed] and give to the poor." He also did not follow Jesus.

Jesus went on to explain something about this rich man.

And Jesus said to his disciples,
"Truly, I say to you,
only with difficulty will a rich person
enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again I tell you, it is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this,
they were greatly astonished, saying,
"Who then can be saved?"
But Jesus looked at them and said,
"With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible."

(Matthew 19:23-26)

The rich man, because of his riches, had a greater responsibility than a poor man: He had to give up those riches. He failed to do so, and he also failed to follow Jesus. Therefore, he could not earn peace with God either, although he was unaware of any other sin in his life. In fact, failing to follow Jesus was really the most critical issue. On another occasion, Jesus had the following interchange with some Jews:

Then they said to Him,
"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

Jesus answered them,
"This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him Whom He has sent."

(John 6:28-29)

But, we will get to what that means in a later part of this series, Lord willing.

On another occasion, Jesus told a parable to illustrate the difference between a man trying to earn peace with God by perfectly obeying the law (a Pharisee) and a man who knew he was hopelessly evil (a tax collector) but asked God for mercy.

Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and treated others with contempt:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus:
‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

But the tax collector, standing far off,
would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast,
saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,
rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In the Jewish society of the day, tax collectors were despised for their extortion and fraud of their Jewish brothers. They would become rich by cheating their fellow Jews, taking more taxes than were actually owed, and pocketing the change. Jesus' original audience understood this. Therefore, Jesus did not need to explain that the tax collector was right to call himself "a sinner." Not only was he a sinner, but he was one of the worst in a Jew's eyes.

But in God's eyes, it is not those who believe themselves to be righteous who are actually counted righteous. It is rather the ones who know that they are not good enough to merit God's peace whom God extends mercy to.

To sum up, the tricky thing about trying to earn your own righteousness is that there is absolutely no room for error. If you have wealth and wish to enter the kingdom, you must give it all away and follow Jesus, or else, like the rich young man did, you sin. If, like the Pharisee in the parable, you feel righteous but speak against those who are not as righteous as you are (even though they may be wicked and hated people!) you sin. And any sin, no matter how small in our eyes, is sin enough to disqualify us from the holy presence of Almighty God.

Luke 18:15-17

Now they were bringing even infants to Him
that He might touch them.
And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to Him, saying,

"Let the children come to Me,
and do not hinder them,
for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly, I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
like a child shall not enter it."

There is only one way to receive the kingdom of God. Instead of demanding that God grant us salvation and life based on our good works, we must simply trust, as a child does. But Who are we to trust in, and why are we to trust Him? We will examine that question, if the Lord wills, in Part IV and the following parts of this series.

We have touched on the inability of religion to save us from God's wrath in this section. However, because religion and the Gospel are so often and so easily confused, we will take one more section to distinguish the two before moving into the heart of this series.

See you then, if the Lord wills.

---

All emphases are mine.
All Bible quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
All pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ are Capitalized.

For the previous part of this series, go here.
For the next part of this series, go here.
To go to the beginning of this series, go here.

JESUS Is Our Peace with God: Part I

Who deserves peace with God?

In order to appreciate peace with God, we must first recognize our natural state: hostility against God.

We enjoy many things as a result of God’s provisions for us. To name a few, we enjoy some or all of the following: oxygen flowing through our blood, strength in our bodies, sight, the taste of foods, and fellowship with other people. Many of us are blessed with homes, jobs, cars, or other material luxuries. Some of us even have loving family members, fulfilling careers, or college educations.

All good things come from God.

John answered,
"A person cannot receive even one thing
unless it is given him from heaven."
(John 3:27)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights
with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
(James 1:17)

Unfortunately, in one way or another, we do not show our appreciation to God for these things in the way that we should. And in declaring our own self-sufficiency by failing to honor God, we deserve God's wrath.

Guided by God's Spirit, the Apostle Paul wrote the following passage concerning this very situation:

Romans 1:18-23

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them,
because God has shown it to them.
For His invisible attributes, namely,
His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived,
ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made.
So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God,
they did not honor him as God
or give thanks to him,
but they became futile in their thinking,
and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man
and birds and animals and reptiles.

Notice what the Apostle Paul writes.

Firstly, he argues that we all know from "the things that have been made" that we see all around us that God does exist. We can "clearly" observe God's "eternal power and divine nature" by observing the complexity and beauty of the things that He has created. The testimony borne by the stars, the flowers, the animals, and the basic laws of the universe, such as gravity, to name just a few, is unanimous: God exists, and He is greater than us. He deserves our honor and praise. We are "without excuse" for recognizing the existence of our Creator.

Unfortunately, although we all have that basic knowledge, we do not apply it by honoring God. Consequently, God has a bone to pick with us, to put it mildly.

Secondly, then, the Apostle Paul writes, "For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Instead of honoring the true God, and even while "[c]laiming to become wise," we "became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

In other words, we were so eager to worship anyone and anything but God that we chose to worship images of men and birds and animals and reptiles. And it didn't stop there; many of us have made ourselves the objects of our worship, or else we have elevated other creations to the status of our God.

While there are few people who worship the sun, moon, and stars in these times, there are many who worship other idols: our families, our achievements, our entertainment, or ourselves. While the object of our worship may change, the motivation is the same: We would rather worship a god of our own design than submit to the authority of the true living God.

In addition to being ultimately unsatisfying to us, this lifestyle is greatly dishonoring to God. And, it is common: everyone is guilty.

God does not appreciate our rebellion and will judge it. In fact, He already has begun to judge it, in a sense. Inspired by God, the Apostle Paul wrote these words:

Romans 1:24-31

Therefore God gave them up
in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,
to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie
and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator,
Who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up
to dishonorable passions.
For their women exchanged natural relations
for those that are contrary to nature;
and the men likewise gave up
natural relations with women
and were consumed with passion for one another,
men committing shameless acts with men
and receiving in themselves
the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them up to a debased mind
to do what ought not to be done.
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness,
evil, covetousness, malice.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God,
insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God's decree that
those who practice such things deserve to die,
they not only do them but give approval
to those who practice them.

This passage shows that God has in fact done a very frightening thing to some of us. For some who have continually rejected God, God "gave them up" to go ahead and practice the evil acts that they love to do. For these people, there is no hope of redemption unless God Himself intervenes on their behalf. But, that is something we will return to later in this series, if the Lord wills.

The ultimate penalty, the deserved payment, for our debts toward God, is death. The above passage declares that "they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die...." Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul writes that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). This does not just mean physical death, but spiritual death as well, which is eternal separation from God.

Jesus stated, “And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). In contrast to never-ending fellowship with God and His Son, which is eternal life, we deserve everlasting torment apart from God’s good presence, which is eternal death.

Despite this, we may believe that we are actually 'pretty good' or 'mostly good' people. In other words, although most of us acknowledge a few character flaws in ourselves, we generally tend to believe that we are really not very far off from achieving peace with God. We may think that we are pretty close to being righteous, and all it should take, we think, are a few more good actions for us to earn at least a decent standing with God.

The problem with that thinking is that God disagrees with it. From His heavenly vantage point, He declares the following through the Apostle Paul.

Romans 3:10b-18

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.”

“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

This passage clearly states that “not even one” of us is “righteous” in God’s sight—"none" of us “understands” or “seeks for God.” None of us fear God (“There is no fear of God before their eyes”).

And again, the Apostle Paul writes of the state that we all naturally find ourselves in:

Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedience —
among whom we all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.

Here, we find that God considers us "all" to be "dead in trespasses and sins." We are “children of wrath” and “sons of disobedience,” acting on our “desires” and “passions,” doing what we want to do when we want to do it, regardless of God’s commandments. This passage is emphatic in including all groups of people, not just those of us who consider ourselves worse sinners than others. The Apostle Paul writes that "we all...were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

So, far from deserving peace with God or being even close to it, we are naturally enemies of God because of our sins, especially our sin of ignoring and dishonoring God. And all enemies of God will pay the ultimate price of everlasting torment apart from God.

Revelation 20:11-15

Then I saw a great white throne
and Him who was seated on it.
From His presence earth and sky fled away,
and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne,
and books were opened.
Then another book was opened,
which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged
by what was written in the books,
according to what they had done.
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it,
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them,
and they were judged, each one of them,
according to what they had done.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.

But surely there is some way we can earn our way back to God, right?

Many people think so. Some people live moral lives and others practice religion.

Can either of these things work? We will attempt to answer that question in the next two parts of this series, if the Lord wills.

---

All emphases are mine.
All Bible quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
All pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ are Capitalized.

To go to the beginning of this series, go here.
To go to the next part of this series, go here.

JESUS Is Our Peace with God: Introduction

JESUS Is Our Peace with God

Introduction

Romans 5:1-2

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through Him we have also obtained access by faith
into this grace in which we stand,
and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Why is peace with God so important? Why do we need it?
Why does it come “through our Lord Jesus Christ” and not through any other means?

This is a series intended to answer those questions.

---

All emphases are mine.
All Bible quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
All pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ are Capitalized.

This is the beginning of this series.
For the next part of this series, go here.

Was Jesus really crucified?

The Christian Thinktank is a site packed with helpful articles. It helped me extensively when I was searching for logical support for my faith during college.

The site's creator, Glenn, has written a series directed toward Muslims, which concludes with this article. I think it is quite a helpful article, not just for Muslims, but for believers in Christ Jesus as well. For one thing, it clarifies what faith is and what it isn't.

Article excerpt:

All the work required to be done for our redemption from the penalty of our sins, for our forgiveness, for us to be given eternal life, and for us to be adopted as children of God was done by Jesus, on the Cross, in His death--at the command of God the Father.

We receive all this bundle of gifts (forgiveness, eternal life, new relationship with God, ransom from penalty) by simple faith or trust. We do not work, obey, or submit to God to earn forgiveness or to merit eternal life --we work, obey, and submit to God because He has already given to us (for free) this forgiveness and this eternal life.

In fact, as odd as it sounds, we do not ASK God for salvation--we TRUST Him for salvation. We take Him at His word, that He paid the penalty for our sins and that therefore, there is no penalty left for us to pay when we die. We believe His message that He has done this for us for us on the Cross, and the moment we begin to understand, realize, and then rest in that fact--He gives us our new status as forgiven, our new spirit with eternal life in it, our new 'name' before the angels as His adopted children.

Let me be clear what this faith or trust includes (or requires):

1. Faith includes a confidence in God that the death of Jesus did exactly what it was meant to do--pay for our sin-debt
2. Faith includes a heart-to-heart trust in Jesus (and God the Father through Him) as the One who will take us to heaven someday
3. Faith includes the recognition that our rescue from punishment is solely the work of God through Jesus
4. Faith includes the understanding that our rescue does not depend upon anything good we are or do--it only depends upon the perfect work of God in repairing the problem our sin caused in our relationship with Him. We 'turn to God' for our salvation, and 'turn away from' trusting our own good deeds or character for our hope for the future.
5. Faith includes a 'change of perspective' (repentance) toward God--we take His judgment seriously, and we take His provision for our salvation seriously.

Faith does NOT include (or require):

1. Prayer (People can pray to God without actually trusting Him)
2. Public confession of Christ (There are people who make public profession who do not actually trust God; and there are 'secret disciples' who are called believers in the New Testament)
3. Joining a Christian church, or leaving the synagogue or mosque
4. Enduring persecution when there is a different option (e.g., the bible talks about prophets of the Lord hiding in caves to avoid being killed by evil rulers, and Jesus taught us to 'flee from a city' when persecuted)
5. Commitment to 'be good' (this can be something we do AFTER we come to faith, and will result in service to God and others--but it is a result of trust, not a part of trust).
6. Sorrow or guilt over the past (this is an emotional experience that often comes BEFORE faith--helping us realize we need the rescue from penalty that Jesus provided on the Cross--but it is not a part of trust or faith in Christ.)

All of these are good things--many of which God desires for us to do after we have trusted Him for salvation--but they are not part of the faith or trust that God requires of us for eternal life and for forgiveness.

Trust is an internal attitude, a choice or realization one comes upon. When you realize and begin to believe that Jesus was who He (and God the Father) said He was, and that He did the things for our salvation that He (and the prophets) said He did, then your confidence (that this is true) is the core of biblical faith.

Here, again, is the article quoted above.

If you're looking for the rest of the series, it begins here.

"Heart of Stone" animation

This is a 3D animation I created during college: Heart of Stone.



It's primarily based on Ezekiel 36:22-38, especially verses 26 and 27.