Effie Darlene Barba

Why did Christ have to Die?

Isaiah 53: “ ²For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

³He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

⁸He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

⁹And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

¹¹He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

I do feel that it is necessary to belabor the importance of understanding the true depth of God’s glorious holiness and justice, our depth of unworthiness, and the extreme cost of our salvation. Without this understanding, there is no real salvation. Unless our hearts are touched by God’s greatness, His holiness which forces us to understand our personal unworthiness; then, there is no hope for truly accepting this wondrous gift of justification. We cannot understand the cost of our being declared just; unless we first understand our guilt. We cannot understand our guilt unless we first see God’s Glorious Holiness and Perfection and thereby understand that He must be Just in His Righteousness. If He were not Just in His punishment of Sin then His Righteousness would not be Perfect. He cannot be both Righteous and Holy as the Creator of the Universe unless He demands full payment for sin. My personal sin required a death penalty and by all rights I deserved to be the one to die; yet, Christ took my penalty upon Himself. Too often we seem to want to declare ourselves, “Not so bad” and compare ourselves to other humans instead of recognizing the perfect Holiness of God as being the only comparison that matters in the determination of our guilt.

So often, we hear people proclaim that yes they believe in Christ; but that they don’t believe themselves to be a sinner. Other people believe that if they are “good” then God will accept them. Some want to follow after Christianity because they want to gain heaven, prestige, a better life, and the gifts of God. Too often, I fear they do not understand the truth of salvation and are much like the crowds that followed Jesus because of His miracles. Even Judas believed that Christ was the Messiah who had come to set up His kingdom. Judas believed that when Christ set up this Kingdom that he, Judas, would be the treasurer with great wealth; yet, he never saw “the holiness of Christ”, nor did he realize the depth of his own sinfulness, or that Christ’s death and resurrection would be his only chance at justification before a mighty and Holy God. The crowds who had witnessed the miracles of Christ and who ushered Him into Jerusalem were the same as would later cry out “Crucify Him.” Thus I fear that many proclaim the name of Christ or follow after Christianity that never knew the power of Saving Grace and thus are not truly His Child. By no means am I in this trying to say that I, so unworthy to be His Child have any way of discerning the truth of another man’s salvation. Nor am I to be able to discern by even their outward walk; for I am certain that there are many who may have walked more uprightly than I who have never come to a saving knowledge of Christ. My desire is that I and you both know the difference between following after Christ and being known by Christ. After, Christ even said, “²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7. I, daresay, that there is one question which I have asked myself and anyone who claims to know God. “If God were to give you nothing in return for your praise, and there was no chance for heaven; would you see Him worthy to be praised anyway?” If you can answer that question as yes, then I would propose a second question. “Have you ever come to that moment in which you saw God as Gloriously Holy and by thus recognizing His Magnificence you saw yourself as being wicked and unworthy to stand before Him?” If your answer is again yes, then there is a third question, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God died to pay your penalty for sin and thus becoming the only way to make a way for sinful man to have communion with a Righteous and Just God?” Once again, if your answer is yes then I propose one final question. “Have you asked Him into your heart that you may seek and savor Him?”

Christ took upon Himself God’s entire wrath toward sin. As I have indicated above this means little to anyone unless they by the help of the Holy Spirit’s prompting come to realize the magnitude of that wrath and the Supreme Holiness of God. Only then can a man become overwhelmed by the love that God has. If I am unable to see my own unworthiness of such an act of Mercy then I cannot understand the Greatness of the price that Christ has paid. He, who knew no sin, paid the price for my sin and in thus doing has proclaimed me Just and righteous before God. In the same moment of my greatest unworthiness, I have become greatly significant to God because of faith in Christ. Not because of any works of my own have I been made His beloved; but because of what Christ did and my acceptance of His gift I have become His beloved. Any goodness that I may then demonstrate comes out of His love flowing through me and back to Him in praise as a perfect and beautiful music to magnify His Glory which somehow brings my being ever more present to sharing that glory step by step until I shine forth His Glory and appear in His likeness one day. 2 Corinthians, “¹⁷Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

This being said then why did Christ have to die and what did He accomplish by taking upon Himself the Father’s entire wrath toward sin? We were created to be the full recipients of God’s love; yet, because of sin He was unable to pour out that love. Additionally, we just as Adam did not even understand what it was to be loved wholly by God. We were incapable of feeling the ultimate joy and inspiration that this union with our Creator could provide. When we are born we merely know that our hearts are hungry for something and we search out pleasures and joys which are mere counterfeits in their comparison to that which can be found in Him. We realize our lack of something; but do not fully understand what it is that we seek. Christ came in an act of full obedience to God, in perfect Righteousness, to suffer temptation, sorrow, hunger, loss, betrayal and death that He might pay the penalty for our sin and forever to destroy the chains of sin’s dominion on mankind. By this, He demonstrated God’s love for you and for me. In this sacrifice, He was magnified as being most worthy of praise and Glory. He came that we might be declared righteous and thus become transformed into His own image worthy of Glory and praise-which reflects back upon Himself. To share in His love, His Joy, His peace we need to be transformed into His image that we might understand and rejoice in that which is His. That transforming work begins the day that we accept Christ as our Savior and is not completed until one day we stand before Him clothed in His righteousness.

We are clothed in His righteousness and declared righteous from the moment we accept Christ; yet, we in practice do not fully perform as such until we grow in that knowledge. A baby when born is dependent upon his parents to feed and care for him. When we are born again into the body of Christ, we have legs much like the baby has been born with; yet, we require nourishment and care to gain the strength to one day walk. As I watch my grandson, Aiden, grow I marvel at how similar at times his maturing has been to that of my maturing as a child of God. He has begun to walk. I watch him walk at times staggering. He falls frequently and frequently must stand again with determination to take more steps forward before again falling. How many times have I fallen in my walk with God!! Yet, each time He stands before me and coaxes me ever so gently to stand again and walk forward. He knows one day that as He continues to strengthen me, I will run and then soar; but, patiently and gently He watches as I fall and get back up to go again. The desire to please Him is always before me. I stand again looking toward Him with the hope to hear Him say, “Well, done my good and faithful child” His love for me as demonstrated by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross compels me to love Him and creates desire to please Him—not out of fear, but love to bring Him pleasure. The more I come to understand His Glory, the more I seek to know of Him. The more I learn of His Sacrificial Love the more I grow to love Him. As I grow to love Him more and learn of His Glory, the more I lay aside all other desire to seek after Him. The more I seek after Him the more fulfilled, inspired, hopeful, and peaceful I feel regardless of my circumstances. The temptations, sorrows, lusts, fears, and disappointments, that this world may surround me with, fade into nothingness. Who I am (my very being, and all that I do) become subject to Him. Again, I am not a finished piece of work and may at moments turn my eyes off of Him; but, I am growing each year toward a closer walk. As He continues to sift the chaff from my life, I know that He will finish this work in me one day. My hope lies in this truth. It is His work for which He paid the dearest price and I know that He will finish it.

Christ had to come to earth to suffer and to die, that I might begin to understand His greatness and holiness. He also came that I might understand my unworthiness. Furthermore, He came that I might be ransomed from my sin and declared just before my Creator. In all of this He declared His love for me and thus demonstrated His Right to be Glorified above all, worthy of all our praise.

Chapter 3 Sin’s Destruction and the Cost of Love

Before I can move on to begin describing the fundamentals of salvation and joy in Christ, there is one more set of fundamental principles that are necessary to understand. I will try to unravel these in as simple of terms as possible. We must first understand our purpose. To understand our purpose we also need to know exactly what were we created for. I did explain this in Chapter 1; but I hope to expound that very subject. Additionally, we must understand why and what went wrong. Third, we must understand the cost to repair the damage. Then finally; how can the repairs be accomplished.

In Genesis, we are told that God created the heaven and the earth, the seas, the stars, the moon, the sun, the plants, the trees and all the animals. Once He had placed everything needed to supply man’s needs, He created man. Genesis 1: 26 “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” As you will note that here He used the plural–let us, our image. Here He refers to the Trinity which is God the Father (soul-the essence of all), God the Son (flesh) and God the Holy Spirit (spirit). Therefore man was created body, soul, and spirit in the image of God. I do believe that in one of my previous books I erred in an attempt to oversimplify this fact; and, therefore must be very careful to explain this to a greater extent. Man was created with body, soul and spirit. The body is the flesh which desires the basics of needs to eat, drink, urinate, defecate, procreate, and physically survive. The soul is the essence of who we are-our thoughts, our desires to belong, our actions, our life, and that which makes us so very different each from another. The soul is that basic DNA which makes each of us unique within the world—blended with all those social forces which surround us forming our personality. The essence of who we are is our soul. Yet that soul is in the state of eternal death and dying to God when we are born. Our spirit is that driving force toward being fully actualized into something or someone more than this simple flesh with thought and action. That light within our soul is dead to the true light. It is like a beautiful light fixture with all the wires in place, but without the electrical force to illuminate it. The transformer broke and that energizing spirit which can bring the light to glow is cut off from the source of its electricity which is God. He then created woman in the same image to be a “help meet for him.”

So, I have told you why God made woman after He had made man. The question remains why did He make man or woman? Perhaps if we look somewhat closer at man’s creation we may get a hint of why. Everything else was spoken into being except man and woman. Genesis 2: 7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul”. He formed man somewhat like a potter forms a beautiful vessel out of a lump of clay. He gently molded man, like an artist so lovingly creates his masterpiece. With gentle, loving hands smoothing every aspect to make this His most prized creation. Why so much detail and love when creating man? He could have just spoken him into being, but no, He gently and lovingly created him. The point becomes very clear. He created mankind to communion with Him, to talk with Him, to lovingly listen for His voice, to walk with Him in the Garden He had given them, so that He, God, could share His Overflowing Love and Joy. There was great love and care placed into the creation of man. Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:” They knew His voice. They had heard it before on just such an evening and they walked with Him, they talked with Him, they (I suspect) even laughed with Him, and they loved Him. What did God create mankind for? He created mankind to share His love with, to be their friend so that this love would continuously circle back to Him in adoration and praise. Not like the angels who were created to serve Him. Lavishing these His children with everything they needed. He would rejoice with their joy. He would be their gentle teacher, guide, and Father. Much like the triune God who dances in the love of the Son and Holy Spirit, that connecting energy when the human spirit is connected to God as it was meant to be it has life, joy, hope, and peace. You see Christ the Son is not separate in actuality from the Father in the terms as we see a human Father and Son; because Christ did not come after the Father, rather He was forever present—eternal with no beginning in the Father. The illustration of Father and Son was merely the best analogy that could be provided to help these finite human minds to understand that though they are one they are able to love, glorify, respect and enjoy each other in a way that a father can love his son. This is a very complex issue to explain. Yet when we see man in his brokenness we can see that there are three elements that are all a part of us; yet, at times can be separate. Have you ever watched as a person with great spirit of love becomes trapped in a body that is dying, piece by piece. I have worked with a girl who has Freidreich’s Ataxia. She has a beautiful spirit and mind which still cannot help her to move her broken body, much like a progressively worsening quadriplegia. Joni Eareckson Tada has a beautiful alive spirit and mind trapped in a body of quadriplegia. A beautiful mind was a movie about a brilliant mathematician who due to schizophrenia was trapped in a world of thoughts that were crippling to him. All of these are examples of mankind who is body, soul and spirit. The difference is with God there is the perfect embodiment of righteousness, love, joy, brilliance and life such as none of these broken human beings can obtain. Yet, it may help you to understand the triune God who is one and yet three at the same time only unbroken.

He has formed each of us in that same loving fashion as He did Adam and Eve. David said in Psalm 139: 13-14 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s wombI will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” God chose and put together exactly the right DNA strands to form each and every human being. He lovingly created each of us just the way He knew we would be able to give the most beauty and joy. That way each is a work of beauty in His eyes. Exactly the one He wanted to commune with and to be one in spirit with Him eternally. He knew exactly the way He wanted each of us so as to harmonize with Him. Each of us began, were created by God at the point and time of our conception in our mother’s womb. He knew before that we would be here; but we first began at the point He created us.

So what happened?

Since you cannot truly love something freely unless you have choice, He gave Adam and Eve a choice. He placed that choice in the center of the garden in the form of a tree and told Adam not to eat of it, for on that day he would surely die. Adam then shared that information with Eve. When it came time for the choice, Satan in the form of a beautiful serpent tempted Eve. Satan’s words began with the same lies he still uses against us. Genesis 3 1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

He began with appealing to her doubt. Having felt God’s love, it was easy to convince her that God surely did not mean that we would die as a result of sin. How could He allow the death and destruction of this His creation which He loved? He then appealed to her pride that she would be like God. She was swayed easily to doubt what God had said. After all, she had heard it from Adam and perhaps he just wanted to prevent her from being like God. Once she had eaten, she gave it to Adam. He didn’t doubt what God had said, but he loved Eve so much that he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. He willfully and deliberately broke the commandment of God. This does not make one less punishable than the other. Both had sinned. With us it is the same, whether it is due to our being easily confused or whether we deliberately disobey, disobedience is still disobedience. Yet, Adam had never known what it was to be without God’s presence. Did he understand the value of God’s presence in his life? Did he appreciate the Glory of God? Did he really love God, his creator or did he just receive the blessings of God much like we without ever realizing the magnitude of God’s all-compelling love for us? I dare to say that if he truly understood the value of what he possessed in God, Adam could never have taken that bite from the fruit of that tree. Instead, he much like we chose to love the creation more than the creator.

At that moment, they knew the difference between good and evil. Before that there was no comparison as all they had ever seen was God’s Goodness, Righteousness, and Glory. You cannot know evil unless you see the evidence that evil exists. Although evil had existed, the protective hand of God shielded them from any presence of evil; because they were alive spiritually until their sin separated their spirit from God’s presence. The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil indeed did allow them to see more fully the righteousness of God; but also to suddenly see the evil which now filled their hearts and soul. Their partition of eating the fruit had suddenly said they did not trust God to provide them with all that was good, and right, and beneficial to their life. They had doubted the sincerity of His Plan for their life. At the point of Adam’s sin, mankind’s spirit became dead to God’s spirit and man’s soul was plunged into eternal death due to that separation. The evil that had existed came into their knowledge and now had become a part of their being. They were now separated from their only source of protection from evil’s effects—God’s spirit and communion with them. They did not immediately die physically, but they did die spiritually. The spirit is what their connecting source to God was. Their spirit had been in communion with God, knew God and was ever in presence with Him. Now suddenly, instead of feeling His love; they felt fear at His presence. They no longer were able to feel His spirit of love toward them, His protection, His guiding hand, nor His giving nature. They were separated from Him and now needed a way back into fellowship with Him. Their peace died, their joy died, their sense of hope died and they now were able to see and feel the evidence of evil surrounding them and within their own hearts. The life essence that had been a part of them was now dead. Their soul was filled with evil and plunged into an eternal death; because their unrighteousness prevented their being able to see the Glory of God. They began to lie and blame others, even God for their failure. From that day forward, mankind was born with a soul dead to righteousness and goodness with a spirit that vainly is in search of some means to rise to become a being that is greater than all this nothingness. That never-ending search for something greater that brings us back to a life of hope, love, joy, and peace can only be found when the spirit is once more joined to that of its Creator. Whatever attempt we might have toward attempting to fill that void with counterfeit spiritual highs; we can never reach that full place of contentment without being filled with the Spirit of God-His love, His righteousness, His joy, and His Peace.

God’s plan was not to with one sweeping hand destroy what He had so lovingly made. Instead, God the Son (his flesh) would have to leave all the comforts, all the glory surrounding His throne to come to earth as a man. He would have to be separated from His eternally present Father (the soul of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit). This would be a tremendous sacrifice. He would do this willingly at such tremendous cost so as to provide a way to restore the communion with mankind. God could not change the nature of who He is. He is perfect righteousness. There is no evil within Him. Man now had good and evil. Nothing could provide a way back, unless perfect righteousness was willing to give everything to provide the payment for the sin. Justice required a payment and God is also perfect justice. The transformer that allowed God’s Spirit to commune with our spirit was dead. Our soul was separated from God’s thoughts and therefore was plunged into eternal death because all true life was in God. There was no means to restore life to that soul so that it could commune with God unless the transformer was restored and the Spirit of God could reach the spirit of man and give it light to bring the soul to life. Again a very limited illustration, but may help you. Frankenstein the monster was a creation of Dr. Frankenstein who had pieced together all the human parts but it lay dead and lifeless until the electricity shot through its body and brought it to life. We are born with a soul that is dead to God and a spirit that must become connected to its life source God that it might become eternally alive.

Blood is that which pumps through our bodies providing food and carrying byproducts away. It is what traverses every single cell. Only the shedding of innocent blood could cover every single bit of evil that now indwelt man. That was why this was the only sacrifice that could remove the stains of evil from mankind that he might once more be filled with a Spirit Alive To God–the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ would not only have to come to this earth to die a martyr’s death; but He would have to conquer and proclaim victory over death and Satan. There was a moment in time that He would have to bear all the sins and guilts of mankind and in that shame be shunned and forsaken by both God the Spirit and God the Father. Matthew 27: 46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He cried out to both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This for Him was a sacrifice beyond anything else. The horrible beating, human rejection, and cruel physical death were nothing in comparison to His being separated from the Spirit and the Father. It is a sacrifice that goes beyond anything that you and I can imagine. He who had known perfect righteousness, perfect joy, perfect peace, perfect love and perfect glory was suddenly plunged into utter pain, darkness, and hate so that He could overcome death and break the chains of sin forever for anyone who would accept His gift. He did this to pay the sin price for every man or woman that had ever been born, knowing that many would reject this His sacrifice.

From the beginning of time, God, being all knowing, knew each and every person that He would create that would accept His gift of love. He could not bare to lose a single one of those whom would commune with Him. He could not bare to not allow them to be born so that they could participate in this incredible splendor and Glory with Him. He wanted to see each one in their fullest potential. So mankind has continued since that day until now and will continue until the last one has been born of all the ones who would join Him in an eternity of overflowing joy and Glory such as they could never imagine now. He knew that some would refuse His gift of love and be condemned; yet, He could not think of losing one of those precious children that He already knew would choose to be with Him. Matthew 18:12-14 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish”

Let me try to put this in simpler terms. Let us say, that you had every resource at your hand and walked into an orphanage one day where there stood 10 children. You looked into the eyes of each child and saw what great talent they had. You knew that each child that accepted your offer of a home would be able to come to their fullest potential and reach their goals. Each child that rejected your offer would be condemned forever to a terrible workhouse. You pleaded with each and every child to come and live with you. Some refused your offer. Would you stop pleading with each child after the first five? Or would you continue to plead until the very last one had been presented with the opportunity to be saved?

So, God the Son, Jesus Christ came to this earth, separated from His continuance presence of His Father, leaving everything behind. He came to shed His blood so that everyone would have the chance to choose an eternity in the presence of the Father. That is a love beyond anything we can ever comprehend in our humanity. In the Old Testament, a sacrificial lamb was used to represent the Christ who had already determined to come and pay the price. It is through Jesus Christ that we have access to God. Through His payment for us, we can now become reborn spiritually. The spirit that we are born with from our mother’s womb is dead to God’s spirit. We each have a choice to accept the gift that was provided for us from God and become alive to Him–to be filled with His Holy Spirit and communion with Him. If we choose not to accept Him our spirit remains this blend of good and evil-separated from His perfect love. John 3:3-6

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

It is a spiritual birth that we need to join our spirit with His.

So, the price was paid to restore fellowship with God. Now, how do we accept the gift? We only have to acknowledge the fact that we are sinners and need a Savior. We have to ask Him into our hearts. John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”.

From the day that we are born our soul will remain throughout eternity-either alive or in a state of continual death. We have a soul and spirit which can feel love, happiness, pain and sorrow but we are dead to the magnificent glory of God’s love, protection, and companionship.

Some say, oh, there must be many ways? How could a loving God be so narrow minded? Why wouldn’t He be!! He sacrificed everything to provide a way. How could He accept any other way? He gave it all, He provided it all. Were there any other way, would He have sacrificed so much to provide a way? If anything else could have provided for His righteousness, His Justice, and His Mercy all at the same time; then, why would Christ have come to earth to die? John 14:16 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There was one redemption plan and only one. He had paid the full price. He had established the plan and He made it simple and open to anyone who would accept it. It would be the highest insult to God that man would think that he could offer up any other plan.

Ephesians 2: 4-9

“4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. “

Let me try to explain this in a way that you might understand, though any illustration falls very short of the full act. Let’s say that you want to buy a beautiful house set on a hill that expands thousands of acres. The owner knows that even if you work for a lifetime, you will not be able to pay the price for that home. He decides to give you that house and land as a free gift. Beyond that he wants to give you the work force to tend the land and house. His only desire is your friendship and to spend time talking with you, guiding you in the care of that gift, and your trust. You, because of self pride, become offended and say, “No, I will not take the house or your friendship until I can earn it. I will work very hard and one day then you can give me the house after I have earned it.” Year after year goes by and still you have not been able to pay even a small portion toward the price of that house. You have not been able to enjoy the home nor his friendship. You become frustrated, angry, and then blame him for the price being too high. What kind of fool would you have been? Another point is also evident. If you accept the gift, your gratitude and love would command you from inside to try to please the gift giver by caring for the gift. He gave you something very precious and that in its own would cause you to follow his direction in its care out of love not out of labor.

What truly Amazing Grace, Mercy, and Love has been bestowed by God the Father through His Son.Not only did God provide the way and pay the price, He then sent Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit to indwell each of those who accept His gift of love. In John 14, Christ said

16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. ..

25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” He again tells us of this in I John 4:

“13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

For all those who accept Christ as their savior, God provides them with Himself. The Holy Spirit indwells us and we are able then to rely upon His guidance to help each of us to reach our full potential. We are then able to become what God truly intended each of us to be. Our truest beauty and work can only be performed as we allow ourselves to be one with Him. He still allows us choice. We can either listen to His Spirit or we can listen to our fleshly carnal desires. The key is learning how to discern between the two voices at war within us. That is precisely what the remaining chapters of this book are devoted to; although I do feel it is very much necessary to further illuminate the reasons that Christ died and to deal with the affections of our hearts. Do you want men’s best for your life? Or do you want an omnipotent, all knowing God’s best for your life? It is as simple as choosing whom do you love?

My broken heart I bring you Lord

Contrite from my defeat

I long to feel Your love restored

I fall before your feet

I felt the warmth that mercy brings

Your love my sin did hide

You paid the price, as angels sing

“By faith, you’re justified”

And clothed now in your righteousness

Of which I ne’er deserved

My all I give, how could I less

No part of me reserved

I long to see Your face today

To seek You with my heart

Your Glory lights my darkened way

That I shall ne’er depart.

 

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In this world, we search for hope, strength, a place to find peace, and knowledge.  That search leads many in different directions from seeking recognition at work or the community.  We drive ourselves to look better, work harder and always seek the reward of being recognized.  Some go forth to seek it in mere pleasures.  Some seek relief in alcohol and drugs to drown out the feelings of inadequacy or that something is missing.  Yet, it was such a search for truth and meaning that led Nicodemus to Christ to ask further questions.  The following is that story.

John 3:

¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

¹³And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

There is only one way to fill that empty void and to find the only thing that  brings true hope and peace which is to be spiritually alive so that you may have communion with God.  He came to give His life so that you might be born spiritually and forever after know that sweet communion with God.  Sin brought spiritual death into the world; but Christ brought life.  So the question is Are you walking around spiritually alive or spiritually dead? 

Hebrews 10

¹FOR SINCE the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come–instead of fully expressing those things–it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].

²For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had ^[a]once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.

³But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],

⁴Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.

⁵Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];

⁶In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.

⁷Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God–[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.^(A)

⁸When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings–all of which are offered according to the Law–

⁹He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order.^(B)

¹⁰And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).

¹¹Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away–

¹²Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,

¹³Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.^(C)

¹⁴For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.

¹⁵And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said,

¹⁶This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding),

¹⁷He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more.^(D)

¹⁸Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these [sins and lawbreaking], there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus,

²⁰By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh,

²¹And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God,

²²Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by ^[b]that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.

²³So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the ^[c]hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.

²⁴And let us consider and give ^[d]attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities,

²⁵Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.

²⁶For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward].

²⁷[There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God].^(E)

²⁸Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.^(F)

²⁹How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?^(G)