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Christianity is very simple. It was never meant to be complicated by religious people. What most people do not understand is that Christianity is the fulfillment of the goal of religion, which is to have a genuine relationship with God. This relationship with God is obtained though faith in the death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.
The basic premise of the Christian faith, is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). A lot of people think they are “good” and will be accepted by God, but the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” covers the sins of the heart and thought life. Have you ever lusted after something that belonged to someone else? Have you ever had a bad thought, or harbored hatred toward someone in your heart? Then you’ve broken the tenth commandment. Even when we think we’ve kept all ten of them, we can be mistaken. Take the rich young ruler, for example (Mark 10:17-22). He thought he had kept all the commandments his whole life, but when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor and then come and follow Him, the young man could not give up all his “great possessions.” The young man had broken the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). The young man’s possessions had become more important to him than God and he could not leave them. The young man turned away from Jesus to go back to his idolatry, and Jesus continued walking on to the cross in the distance.
Jesus gave His life in order to take all our sins upon Himself. His soul was made an offering for our sins (Isaiah 53:10). His righteousness is imparted to us so we can be accepted by God and receive eternal life in heaven. No one can make himself righteous enough to be received by God, for as the Prophet Isaiah has said, “All our righteousness are as filthy rags”(Isaiah 64:6).
“He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5,6).
Copyright 2021 by H.D. Shively
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