Thursday, December 1, 2016

There Is No Close Enough With God

My Utmost For His Highest
 
Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10
 
“The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. […] Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). […] There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!” CHAMBERS
 
There is a sense that rises up in us that says “God does not expect you to be perfect. There are some sins that are tolerable to God, certainly not as bad as others. God understands and will not hold them against you.”  I mean really, running a red light cannot be as grave as robbing a bank.  We rank order sins and then draw a line at some point thinking, everything above the line is OK, but I must not do those things that are below the line.  We miss the point of holiness when if we think about sin that way.  God is holy.  He can have no part of sin, any sin.  Jesus died for all sin, not just the big ones.  If you feel guilty, that is good, it reminds you that you are a sinner saved by grace.  The point to take away is not that it doesn’t matter what you do wrong, the point is that we need a Savior to overcome the penalty of sin.  We will certainly choose to go our own way and disobey God, but if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) 
 
There is no close enough with God.  It is either right or wrong.  If we accommodate the sins above the line, they still have an impact on our relationship with the Father.  Our sins are a barrier to our relationship with Him.  There are some who believe that because Jesus died for us and our righteousness is in Him, that what we do doesn’t matter.  If that be true, does it make any sense that most of the New Testament epistles address the sinful failings of the Church – the Believers of that time.  And serve as instruction for the Church today. Satan asked the big question in the Garden. “Did God really say that you shall surely die?”  And he asks us the same question every day.  “Did God really say what you are tempted to do is sin?”  It’s not really that bad.  Think about it.  ELGIN

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