Have you thought about Eternity?
Have you thought about what might happen after you die?
Are you ready? If not, please take time to read and think.
God has much to say to us about these topics from the Scriptures. He inspired men by the Holy Spirit to write down what was important to relay to us and we have, for the most part, ready access to a Bible anywhere in the United States. Let’s start at the beginning.
In the Beginning (Genesis), the first three chapters deals with the Creation and the Eventual Fall of Man. God set down two trees in the garden of Eden. One tree was forbidden to Adam and Eve (who were created by God). Eve was deceived by the snake who was possessed by Satan (the accuser) who was the angel who led the rebellion against God in Heaven. God created the earth and created Adam, the first human, out of the dirt and set Adam as the ruler over the earth. Sort of the CEO. Eve was created to be a helpmate and a blessing to Adam. When the snake slithered up to Eve and started talking to her in order to trick her into eating the forbidden fruit. she did eat but Adam arrived and Eve persuaded him to eat the fruit also. At this point, Adam’s spirit died and the relationship with God was severed. From Adam, the consquences of sin infected humanity to the degree that no one in God’s sight would ever be righteous or “good”. We are tainted by disobedience, rebellion, and self-interest. by doing what we want and doing the things we should not do.
Romans 3 lays out the scenario before us. We are not merely good people. We are people born with sin nature within us. We may think we have done some good deeds, said some good words, lived in a proper neighborhood, born into an exalted family, go to the correct church, and people may be inclined to agree that in a sense- you may be a good person because of “….” . We may have the admiration we crave by others or we may not be aware of how much people like or admire us or the lack of. But in the end, it all is worthless.
Truth is… Goodness alone does not guarantee that you will enter Heaven. This is not a relative truth as in the sense of.. “if it is true to you then it must be true for you but not for me”. This is not that kind of truth. That is self-deception that people fall in when they compromise truth.
God judges people differently. The basis of his judgment is on the heart condition of the person. We can be fooled by others but God cannot be fooled by people.
Paul is a Jewish pharisee who has been converted in belief in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua). He refers to the Old Testament Scriptures as he writes in Romans 3: 10-12 that is part of the New Testament:
as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
Wow. That seems so harsh. So difficult to accept in this time and age but it is true that no one is intrinsically good. It is a prevalent view a good person will do deeds and be an upstanding member of the society but that is not how God defines ‘ good’ in His view. It seems that sin has lost its meaning in society. But, the truth of it is that God does not change his view on sin regardless what some people may say.
In this particular passage, Paul the Apostle is explaning the heart condition of humanity. We are all on an equal footing- all equally sinners because our “righteousness” is worthless due to our fallen nature.
Romans 3:23
23for all (AK)have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All have sinned. Yes, even you and I. There is no excuse nor exemption for anyone. We have missed the mark of His standard. Where does Paul get this idea from? From the Old Testament in the book of Genesis chapter 1-3 which recounts the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and their eventual explusion from the Garden of Eden. The tragic result of the disobedience is that all of their descendants who have ever lived are tainted with this fallen nature. No matter what we have done, little white lies to big whopping lies or little crafty deeds that people say would not hurt others as long as “they” do not know or huge, tragic life-changing actions- all are sins.
And God views them all the same: sin.
That sounds so hopeless but is it? Is there even a way to deal with this issue head-on?
I encourage you to think about all of this. Are you sure still? Are you on the fence? If so, I encourage you to go and find a Bible that contains the Old and the New Testaments. Start reading Romans and then The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). They often cite back to the Old Testament, read Genesis 1-3, and also there are footnotes or references to other corresponding passages. I encourage you to check them out and read so keep those in mind as we go along.
Reading a bible is a good way to start thinking and searching what you really do believe. If you do not believe, I encourage you to read, to be sure the foundation of your unbelief is correct or not. And also, you can always pray and ask God to help you.
The next installment: Part II “Who do you say Jesus is?” will be dealing with the subject of the “hope” that God provides through the Messiah and what the Old and the New Testaments have to say concerning the Messiah.