September 4 2018 – Click here to listen
I’ve been going around and round with an avowed atheist by e-mail. One of his contentions is that he is a “good” person and has no need to become a Christian. The Bible says in Romans 3:10 – As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous – not even one. The definition of righteous in most dictionaries is characterized as “behavior that is morally justifiable or right.” Such behavior is branded by accepted standards of morality, justice, virtue, or uprightness. The Bible’s standard of human righteousness is God’s own perfection in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word. Thus, God’s laws, as given in the Bible, both describe His own character and constitute the scales of balance by which He measures human righteousness.
Ugh . . .
It’s kind of spooky to think that anyone who is not perfect (righteous) will ever enter the kingdom of heaven, for nothing unclean can be in God’s presence. He is too holy for that. Jesus tells us that “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48) so “as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:15)
One difficult thing I have found in my feeble evangelistic efforts is to convince someone that they are not the good person they think they are according to God’s standards. Today, we are exposed to the worst sins imaginable (and some unimaginable) being fed to us by a media that wants to bring the most salacious, violent, perverted, and sensational depravity that humankind is capable of perpetuating on a 24/7 cycle. Is it any small wonder when folks compare themselves to the evil that is seen on any form of media and then declare themselves saints?
It is a fact that when compared to killers, perverts, criminals, and other assorted “bad” people that society would deem most folks to be “good” people and they would think of themselves in such terms. Unfortunately, society will not judge us on judgment day. That task will be performed by God and justice will be meted out by His standards and not societal standards.
Jesus said that if we even look upon someone with lust we are the equivalent of an adulterer; if we get angry at someone a murderer; a white lie is a violation of the Ten Commandments; cheating on your taxes means you are a thief. Are you an adulterer, murderer, liar and thief by God’s standards? If so you must agree that there must be punishment for those crimes by a righteous judge who must punish lawbreakers. If He failed to do so the judge would not be administering justice and the law would become irrelevant.
The bad news is that true and perfect righteousness is not possible for man to attain on his own; the God standard is simply too high. The good news is that true righteousness is possible for mankind, but only through the cleansing of sin by Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He took the punishment for our sins and thus fulfilled the rigid requirements of God’s law. We have no ability to achieve righteousness in and of ourselves. But Christians can possess the righteousness of Christ, because “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will not see our sin, but instead the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus.
Famous intellectual and former atheist turned Christian C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity: “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.” He of course was talking about being good according to God’s standards. I know I can’t do it, but I am trying. Not long ago I had a heated exchange with someone with whom I’d been friends for years. After this incident we did not communicate for several months. I saw a photo of him the other day in some of my memorabilia and wrote and told him that I was sorry that we had the skirmish and I forgave what he did and asked he would forgive me for what I said in my anger. He wrote me back and told me that he often wished that the incident had not occurred and felt bad about it. He apologized, and we vowed to break bread together sometime soon and reestablish communications in the hopes of rebuilding our friendship. Pride made it difficult for both of us to make this gesture but trying to do the right thing made it possible. The bridge that was burned began reconstruction because I made an attempt to do the right thing to correct doing the wrong thing.
I have many faults and unfortunately break God’s laws frequently. I hate sin and pray that Jesus will control my life in every aspect. My contention is that if we truly are following Jesus we must try very hard to emulate Him in every way. It is what He desires and expects of His children who were redeemed through His grace and mercy. It begins with faith and never ends as we will spend eternity in His loving presence.
Romans 4:3
What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”.