Are you more like Adolf Hitler or Christ?
Without Holiness, no one will see the Lord, says Hebrews 12:14.
The Bible states that no one will enter heaven without perfect holiness. Matthew 5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The apostle Peter quotes Leviticus 20:26, in I Peter 1:16, “Since it is written ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.'” This isn’t a hyperbolic statement; God demands perfect holiness before entering heaven.
How is it possible to be as holy as God? Even if we were to try our best to not sin, we still sin, for Jesus said in Matthew 5:22, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; …whoever says, ‘You Fool!’ will be liable to the hell fire.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:28, “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart.” These two commandments alone will keep anyone from being holy, besides all the other commandments.
What are we to do? With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Jesus is referred to as the holy Son of God, and He lived a perfectly holy life. No one else has even come close. Who do you personally identify with more, is it Adolf Hitler or Jesus Christ? If you think that your life resembles Jesus more than Hitler, you are sadly mistaken, for Jesus is in a completely separate league. Although you haven’t murdered 6 million Jews or personally started WWII, you are still closer to Hitler than Christ. Christ is beyond pristine; Jesus is thrice holy. You have never read in the scriptures that God is love, love, love, or gracious, gracious, gracious, but you have read that He is Holy, Holy, Holy, in Isaiah 6:3.
Whereas, we have murdered by hating people, we have been envious, lustful and proud. We have lied, stolen and at times shown no mercy to people. Oh yes, we are much more like Hitler, than Christ, and we all deserve the wrath and full judgement of hell. But God, because of the great love with which He has loved us has opened our eyes to the Gospel. Jesus left heaven and lived a perfect righteous life for 33 years; at which time He suffered greatly and died on the cross. Why? So, His Father could forgive us the debt of sin that we have accumulated over the years we have been alive.
Then, grace upon grace, Jesus rose from the dead and God transferred the righteousness of Christ to our account, so when the Father looks at us, He sees is the perfect righteousness of His Son in us. Not only are we forgiven but declared righteous in the courtroom of God. This is how we become righteous enough to enter heaven, through the alien righteousness of Christ Jesus given to us when we believe!
It’s called alien righteousness because it isn’t within us, it comes from Christ who gives it to us by faith. This act alone separates us from every other religion on this planet, because every other religion is man’s attempt to reach God through self-awareness, mediations, good works, or even suffering martyrdom. Nothing we do can ever make us righteous in the sight of a thrice holy God. What man cannot do; God did by sending His Son to live a righteous life, a life that we cannot live, to die for our sins, sins we cannot pay for. Salvation is of the Lord.
If you are a believer in Christ and you have made yourself weary trying to earn God’s favor, stop and rest in the finished work of Christ. John 6:29, Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” God does the work, our task is to believe!
Strive no more and rest in the arms of the one who said, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
John, a disciple whom Jesus loves.
