We all need genuine spiritual life.
But our pride keeps getting in the way. Only a small percentage of the human
population is ever willing to yield their lives completely to Jesus Christ.
Most people will try to find some other way to answer the spiritual need in
their lives.
Human arrogance often makes us think that we know what is fair and right. We
do have a sense of what we like and don't like, but we often confuse
"unfair" with anything we don't like or agree with. Our arrogance makes us
think that God is bound to do, and to be, as we prefer. Rather than submit
to God, we expect Him to conform to our whims and ideas.
Human arrogance is a dangerous thing. Scripture says: "Woe to those who are
wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!" (Isaiah 5:21)
God says:
For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55: 8,9)
And arrogance is only part of our problem.
We're ruined by sin, all who live in this world. We need to be changed --
from the inside out -- in order to meet with God's approval. We need what
today's TV networks might call a spiritual makeover.
Jesus tells us that we need a whole new beginning. It will not help us to
simply shuffle our ideas around some, to see if we can get closer to being
right. We need to be born again.
Jesus explains this in the Gospel of John, chapter 3.
But why do we need to be born again? The Lord Jesus explains that until
we're born from above, we can't even see God's kingdom. Spiritual things are
a confusion to us. We are, spiritually speaking, dead in our sins. Until
we're born again, we're dead to the truth about God, about our sin, and
about everything truly spiritual or eternal.
We need new life.
We need a new beginning. We need to be made alive by God's own Spirit of
Life. Until then, we cannot truly worship God. The Lord Jesus said, "The
hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and in truth, for such the Father seeks to worship Him. God is
spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth," (John
4:23-24)
Inspired by the Spirit of God, Paul wrote: I appeal to you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
(Romans 12:1)
We must be born again in order to escape the wrath of God for sin.
All have sinned (see Romans 3:10-23). And so all of us are sinners in the
sight of God -- until we surrender to Jesus Christ and receive the new
birth. The old life is removed, and we are given new life in Christ.
Paul writes: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians
2:20)
Why do we need to have our sins removed?
God always judges sin. The Bible says, "For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their
wickedness suppress the truth..." (Read the whole thing in Romans 1:18-32)
God is truly holy and righteous. He must judge our sins, even if we are
already sorry for them, because no sin is acceptable to Him at all. Every
sin, every wrongdoing must be made right.
Jesus willingly took our place.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He was being judged by God for sin. Not
for His own sin (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21), but for the sins of the
world (Isaiah 53 and John 1:29). For our sakes, Christ became, there on the
cross, the sin of the world, so that you and I could become, by faith in His
name, the very righteousness of God. Christ willingly paid for the sins of
all who will trust in God. His blood was shed for the sins of many, just as
He said.
So Christ Jesus, the Holy One of Israel, the perfectly obedient Son of God,
who had no sin of His own, took on Himself all of your sin, all of my sin,
and the sins of all who will trust in Him, so that "whosoever" may call on
the name of the Lord and be saved.
You and I, when we place all our hope in Him, are made clean in the eyes of
the eternal God, because the shed blood of our Lord Jesus makes us clean.
And that spiritual transformation is a part of what it means to be truly
born again.
God accepts those who accept His Son
The Bible says:
He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does
not believe God has treated Him as a liar, because he has not believed in
the testimony that God has borne to His Son. And this is the testimony --
that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has
the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(I John 5:10-12)
There is one thing we must understand about God: Whatever He says is
absolute truth.
"Every word of God proves true;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him,"
(Proverbs 30:5).
And the psalmist writes,
"The unfolding of Thy word gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple,"
(Psalm 119:130).
And again he says, in verse 160 of the same psalm,
"The sum of Thy word is truth;
and every one of Thy righteous ordinances endures for ever."
God does not speak in order to terrorize us. Nor will He make false promises
just to sooth our fears. Whatever He says is genuine and perfect truth,
always aimed at making human beings understand reality -- both the reality
of a holy God, and the reality of the eternal consequences of our sin and
rebellion against God.
The God who made the entire universe, all the earth, and all living things,
is the living God who reveals Himself to your heart and to mine through the
words of the Holy Bible. He's been speaking to you and calling you to
Himself.
How have you answered Him?
If you answered with anything less than, "Yes, Lord! Here I am!" then you
need to humble yourself and pray now, asking God to help you see His
reality, His truth, His righteousness. Ask Him for mercy.
The Lord God of the universe cares for you.
That's why He calls to you now. If He only wanted to destroy you, why would
He call you to repentance? He speaks to your heart that you might be saved,
be restored, and be fully obedient to His will.
God made us all a great promise through the ancient prophet Isaiah:
Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
(Isaiah 55:6,7)
And our Lord Jesus said, "For the Father judges no one, but has committed
all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor
the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him
who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has
passed from death into life." (John 5:22-24)
We gain when we obey God's call to repent and believe. We gain peace, joy,
life, and hope that goes beyond this passing world. Go to Him now. Trust in
Jesus and live.
Jim
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