RIGHT ABOUT WRONG

For me, one of the strongest, deepest, most compelling reasons for believing the Bible is because it has the most accurate explanation for what is wrong with us… I have never run into anything remotely like the Bible when it comes to an accurate fix on what is wrong with the human heart…

The New Testament Church got its definition of sin from the Old Testament, the only written Word of their day. It defines the problem for which the New Testament presents the solution. The Law and the Prophets relentlessly expose the nature of human sin from God’s perspective.

For several years now I have studied the last half of the Old Testament carefully, and from that reading I compiled a huge list of God’s creative descriptions of sin. I’ve boiled the essence of that list into the following descriptive phrases in the language of today:

• Going our own way
• Doing our own thing
• Defiantly resisting authority
• Stubborn disobedience
• Willful rebellion
• Defensive and antagonistic attitudes
• Self-centered focus
• Compulsively competitive nature
• Addiction to control

This analysis of sin… is as powerful in provoking the human conscience today as it was two thousand years ago.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-24 NKJV) 

-- Adapted from “Follow Me: Experience the Loving Leadership of Jesus” by Jan David Hettinga

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KNOWING GOD AND OUR SINFULNESS

“Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”  (Romans 3:19-23 NLT)

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing neither God nor our own sinfulness makes for false peace and the absence of truth. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance, because He shows us both God and our own wretchedness and He brings true peace through the cross.  

-- Adapted from Blaise Pascal

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