I am a Good Person.

I am a good person.  

Can't my goodness make me acceptable to God?

        The Bible states, "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" (Proverbs 20:6)  By what standard are you judged?  By your standard--you proclaim your own goodness--or by God's standard?

        Can you imagine being found guilty of a crime, and as the judge is pronouncing your guilt and sentence, you interrupt and tell the judge he is all wrong because you think that you have done more good in your life then bad? or, that you don't consider that which you were found guilty of to be a crime at all?

If you were the judge what would you say?

        It is unreasonable, a fantasy, and intellectual blindness to think that you will tell God what is right and wrong when you stand before God, the Judge of all the earth.

         In the Second Psalm (in the Bible) the conflict between God, Who is the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all, and rebellious mankind is spoken of.....

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

        You can remain in your rebellion against God, but your end will be--the righteous judgement and the wrath of God.  Three truths regarding God and your goodness/righteousness are essential to understand.

(1)    God is absolutely holy.  "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." (Psalm 145:17); and "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1John 1:5)  God hates sin with a passion; sin is abhorrent to God.  In Proverbs 6:16-19 it is written, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:  a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,  an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,  a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

(2)    To be accepted by God based upon your good works and good intentions would mean you would have to be absolutely sinless.  God Himself is the standard of righteousness.  The Bible is clear regarding God's standard of righteousness, the Law of God, and what is required--"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)  To break God's Law is to rebel against and offend God Himself.  The breaking of God's law is sin, see 1 John 3:4.  And the result of sin is "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23)  You might say, God is that picky?  You can take that attitude if you want; but, the truth is God is that HOLY and He is not going to change for you.  You are His Creature; it is your responsibility to bow to God.

        Before we go to the final of these thee truths read all of Romans 6:23.  I only quoted part of it above.  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  God knows that you cannot keep His holy Law and out of His great LOVE has provided a way of salvation from your sin and the wrath to come; but, he will not force it on you, it is a gift to be received.  Consider, if God had appointed, back when he made the everything, that you would have to come to Him based on your works every single one of us would be eternally condemned.  You should be thankful God does not look to you best efforts to be justified.

(3)    God sees things in you that you do not.  Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."  And in another place we are told, "...the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." (1Samuel 16:7)  God sees all the little twists and working of our hearts.  God knows you better than you know yourself.  God has judged already, pronouncing, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:9-10)  And, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)

I have two things left to say in this little blog article.

First--
        God's Judgement on you is...

Psalm 14:1-3

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

Second--
        God's love upon you is...
        Since God was so loving as to deal with your sin in all its ugliness, you do not have to be afraid of facing up to your sin before God.  God has dealt with all your sinfulness in His Son, Jesus Christ.

"For he [God] hath made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2Corinthians 5:21)

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" (1Peter 3:18)

        When Jesus Christ hung on that Roman cross in agony God poured out His wrath due to you upon God's own Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)  The blood Jesus shed in the atonement (satisfying payment) to God for all your sin and my sin.  "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" (Colossians 1:14)  Redemption is to purchase.

My friend, God love you!    God commands all men to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

Please feel free to email me.

What Does it Mean to be Born-again?

        The term "born-again" was first spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ very early in his earthly ministry as it is recorded in John's Gospel chapter 3.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

    By the way, the kingdom of God is bigger than Heaven, but includes Heaven.  So, Jesus was saying, that except you are born again you are not going to Heaven.  There have been so many opinions as to what the Lord Jesus meant here, as to make people tired of the whole thing.  A drunk finally gets sick of booze and kicks the bottle, cleans himself up, and becomes more reliable and hard working; some would say he was 'born-again.'  Some cults relate being born-again to water baptism.  There are a significant number of people in 'church' circles that claim to be born-again but their lives show no essential difference from before they made that claim.  Is being born-again just religious speak with no real substance?  From all the talk and different opinions one might think that the Lord Jesus left us all hanging as to what he meant and no one really knows.

       That could not be further from the truth.  When you set aside all the commentators and go directly to the source, The Bible, Jesus explained himself very clearly.  And from there, Jesus' Apostles gave us more explanation.

        Go and read the full conversation in which Jesus first speaks of being born-again--John 3:1-21.  The man Jesus was speaking to did not understand, asking, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?"  The Lord then gives a two-part answer.  (1) Jesus says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."  (2) And then, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

        I would like to take the second statement first since it is the clarifying statement of the first statement.   "That which is born of flesh is flesh..."--here you are.  You are flesh and your were born of your mother, as everyone is.  This is physical birth brought about by physical generation of life.  Then Jesus says, "...and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  These are parallel statements.  Notice, "the Spirit," is a proper name and that is the name for God the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, to be born again is an act of God whereby he makes a man something he was not before--God generates spiritual life in a person; obviously, not having possessed that spiritual life before.    You say, I have a lot of questions about that.  Nothing wrong with honest questions.

        Notice, being born-again is not something you can do for yourself.  Who ever heard of a baby conceiving and birthing itself?  Being born-again is a supernatural event effected by God in a person.  The Apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit describes it in these words, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2Corinthains 5:17)  This new birth makes a person different on the inside--in their soul.

        Now, on to the first statement Jesus made to answer Nicodemus's question.  Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit..."  What is this "born of water"?  Is that a reference to baptism?  There is no verse in the Bible that calls baptism a birth.  But there is James 1:18, which says, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."  Then, again the Apostle Peter says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1Peter 1:23)  According to the Bible the Word of God is the "seed" by which we are born-again by the Spirit of God.

        This is because the Word of God genders faith in the hearts of men who will receive it.  It is simple, you could never know what God requires you to believe except from the Word of God.  Consider the following Scriptures...

Romans 10:17
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Hebrews 4:2
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

        The New Birth is only effected in those that believe the Word of God, including the Gospel which is in the Word of God--"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)
        Therefore, God the Holy Spirit effects the new birth upon the repentant believer in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  This is exactly what Jesus told Nicodemus as recorded in John 3.  Nicodemus asked, :How can these things be?"  How is this possible?  Jesus explained, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)  Moses lifting up a serpent (made of brass) on a stick is a reference to an event in Israel's history.  See Numbers 21.  There are many truths taught in this historic event; but, for time, note the obvious, that the brass snake was lifted up on a stick and any bitten by the poisonous snakes were saved by God through the act of faith (they believed and then obeyed)--look and live.  Jesus said, "so must the Son of man be lifted up."  The Lord spoke of being "lifted up" two other times.  In John 8:28, "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he..."  And then, finally, in John 12:32-33, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die."  That is, lifted up on a Roman cross--crucified.  Jesus was telling Nicodemus that which made the new birth possible was Him being lifted up in death.  Therefore, you can neither be born-again by your own power, or because you deserve to be.  The basis by which God gives the new birth to men is the sacrificial work of Christ Jesus for you.

This all begs the question(s), Why do I need to be born-again?  Am I not good enough as I am?

Ephesians 2:1
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;..."
Ephesians 2:5
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)"
Colossians 2:13
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;"

        The Bible describes man before being born-again (quickened--made alive) as dead in trespasses and sin.  In fact, you and I were born with a sinful nature.

Romans 5:12
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

        The first man, Adam, willfully sinned against God, and all his children (you and me) are born with a nature completely at odds with our Holy Creator God.

Psalm 51:5
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."

        King David testified about his sinful heart; that he was conceived with it.

Romans 8:21
"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

        The Apostle Paul said that just as men and women who are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, so the rest of creation "also shall be delivered" from the bondage of corruption.  Meaning, the sinful condition into which each of us is born is also called "the bondage of corruption."

        God cannot leave you in your sin and bring you to live with Him.  Your sin is not just a few acts you do.  Certainly you do sin, and that is offensive to God.  You need to be forgiven.  But the reason you commit acts of sin is because you are a sinner by nature.  If God were to forgive you, but leave your nature as is, you could never be allowed into God's presence.

1Corinthians 15:50
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

        God is amazing.  He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, who humbly became a man, sinless, and Jesus willing took your death and the wrath of God belonging to you upon Himself and died and shed His precious life blood to pay your sin debt before God.  He calls sinners to repentance and wants to forgive you based upon His shed blood; but, he does so much more to fit you for eternity with God; he will, by His Spirit, make you a new creature on the inside, and then one day in the future, at the resurrection unto life, give you an immortal body.

        I hope you will read more from this blog, compare what I am saying from the Bible yourself.  All Bible quotes are out of the King James Authorized Bible, which is the pure unaltered Word of God in the English language.

The Tragedy of the Religious Lost

The Tragedy of the Religious Lost

Our Scripture text is Matthew 9:1-8, and particularly verse 8.

Parallel passages to our text:    Mark 2:3-12 & Luke 5:18-26.

You may ask, “These people glorified God and acknowledged His power; why is that a tragedy?  The tragedy is that they missed the forest for the trees.  They marvelled at the healing of this palsied man (paralysis) and gave God they glory but they missed the reason that the Lord Jesus healed this man’s physical ailment.  Jesus healed this man to show the truthfulness of his claim that he has the power to forgive sins.  To miss how God forgives sins, and who can forgive sins, is to remain un-forgiven—lost—and die and enter the judgement of God condemned. 

It is a tragedy when people remain in their sin when there is forgiveness in God’s Son, Christ Jesus.  And it is a double tragedy when religious people talk of God, see some of the works of God, but refuse to see their sinful state before God and God’s gracious gift of forgiveness and eternal life through faith in his Son. 

So, let us continue…

What does it mean to be lost?

Chapter 15 of Luke’sGospel is often called the Lost and Found chapter of the Bible.  It contains three parables: the parable of the Lost Sheep, of the Lost Coin, and of the Prodigal Son.  In the first two we learn that the Lord seeks the lost, the Lord places great value on men’s souls, and all heaven rejoices over on repentant sinner.  In the Prodigal Son parable we learn of the prodigal’s rebellion, of the prodigal’s lost estate (inheritance), and of the prodigal’s estrangement from his father.  Notice in Luke 15:32 the father describes the repentant returned son as having been once dead and lost and now is alive and found.

The word “lost” is defined as 1) mislaid,  2) ruined,  3) forfeited,  4) not able to find the right way,  5) bewildered,  6) alienated, and  7) shipwrecked (Noah Webster 1828).  To be lost means that by your sinful rebellion you are ruined before God, you have forfeited all claim upon God, and you are alienated from God.

How can I be found?

First, a lost person cannot find themselves.  Sometimes you have to state the obvious.  The prodigal son could not recover his squandered inheritance (estate), it was wasted, gone.  He could not pay back what he did not have.  Also, the prodigal’s father owed him nothing!  You cannot do anything to restore your ruined soul, redeem your forfeited inheritance (life with God), or cancel your alienation from God and restore a blessed relationship with God.

All the prodigal could hope for is the mercy of his father.  God must be merciful to you and graciously redeem you and reconcile you to himself.  Your salvation—forgiveness and restoration—is entirely upon God. 

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Remember, in the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin it is the shepherd and the woman that seek the lost objects.  Likewise, it is God who has taken action to pay your sin-debt, and must take action to graciously bring you to Christ Jesus to be saved.

Second, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come and has given his life a ransom for you.

Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Matthew 20:28, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Romans 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

Romans 5:8-9, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

Third, Jesus Christ, who victoriously rose from the dead, is today seeking out lost ones that he might save them.

Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

John 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Fourth, the Lord Jesus Christ commands all men to repent.  Just like the prodigal son, you need to come to yourself—the end of yourself—knowing and owning your rebellious sinfulness, and count yourself utterly unworthy of forgiveness and reconciliation, and come to God for mercy (Luke 15:17-19).

Luke 13:3, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Mark 1:14-15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Ways of the religious lost.

The religious lost came to hear the Lord Jesus teach:  Matthew 9:8 (with Luke 5:19).  In Mark 4:16-19 we have another parable, the Parable of the Sower.  Notice that both types of people describes in verses 16-19 hear the Word of God for a time joyfully.  You might say, they got religion.  Then they later hear something in the Word of God at which they are offended.  The religious lost like to hear select things from the Bible, but are offended when it convicts them.

Herod the Great was a ruthless and powerful ruler.  In Mark 6:20 it is recorded that John the Baptist preached right at Herod, rebuking him publicly for his sin.  Herod, rather than immediately having John killed, heard him gladly and “did many things.”  The inference is that he did religious things—maybe like praying, offering sacrifices, or giving to the poor.    John’s preaching got to Herod deeply.  But, like many a tragic lost soul, when it came down to choosing between this world or God, Herod chose this world; and, although reluctantly, had John the Baptist beheaded.

The religious lost in Matthew 9:8 came to see the works of God on those others in need.  They like to see the drunk delivered, the religion-less become a church goer, and the loose person become moral—they marvel—they glorify God.

But…

They fail to see their need of a work of God in them to bring them to the feet of the Saviour and redeem them.  The Lord did not heal the palsied man to amaze the crowd; he healed him so that men would know that the Lord Jesus Christ alone can forgive sin. 

The religious lost are blind to their sin because they have faith in their own righteousness; because they mis-use Jesus to build up their own righteousness; because they believe themselves to be the answer to others—“Do like I do and all will be well with you.”; because the disregard the Word of God; and, because they resist the Spirit of God.  The religious lost are blind to the power of Christ to forgive sins—Matthew 9:8—they saw the man healed and paid no attention to the forgiveness of sins.

If you say, ‘You are describing me as a religious lost person, what am I to do?’

Consider these truths…

Your sinful heart offends God and you are condemned already—John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

You have no righteousness with which you can justify yourself before God.  Christ did not come to show you how to make yourself good before God—2Corinthains 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Only Christ can make you right with God by the gracious gift of His righteousness graciously put upon you.  Christ died your death on Calvary.  Christ sacrificed himself to God to satisfy God’s wrath against you.  Christ shed his blood as the payment to God for your soul.  Christ rose victoriously from the dead, which declares to us that He is the Son of God with power to forgive sins and find and redeem lost souls.

Seek God and repent; seek God that he would do a gracious work in your heart and bring you to the feet of the Saviour that you might be saved by Him.

Do not resist the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:51-53, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”

Matthew 12:31-37, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.  Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”