John 19:30
30Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
I find it funny that yesterday’s sermon in our church had a tidbit that is related to what I am going to discuss today. Romans 3:23 tells us, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s ALL of us, not some or most. ALL. You see, the purpose of Christ’s crucifixion was to fulfill the Law for us and intervene on our behalf because the Law represents God’s perfection. If we could keep all those commandments, then we would be perfect. Turns out, nobody can do it.
So God, being perfect Himself, came down and did it for us. How loving is that? I’m still trying to wrap my head around that God “set us up for failure” by holding us accountable to the Law that he knew we couldn’t uphold and then sent His Son to be sacrificed to fulfill that Law so we no longer are subject to its punishment as we violate it. Keep in mind, the punishment I’m talking about is eternal spiritual death, not the consequences of our sin. If we do wrong, there are still consequences we must face even though our names are written in the book of life.
Think about the people who crucified Jesus. Pharisees and religious scholars. The people that followed them and subjected themselves to these rules of man. These people claimed to be righteous by their works, yet they prosecuted and killed an innocent man. Why? Because He told them they had it all wrong.
So then, how righteous were they? The highest regarded men in respect to religion broke the same rules they were known for righteously upholding. The same continues today. Pious leaders and followers of religion today point fingers at who is right or wrong. Problem is, we’re all wrong. We are all sinners. What right do we have then to dictate what is right or wrong if we are wrong ourselves?
God is the only judge of right and wrong. Even the most religious in our society today are not pure. It’s God’s design. For if we could be righteous on our own, how then would He be God? those who chose to neglect that God even exists simply want to be their own Gods. Sadly, the god of their self will eventually be buried. But our God rose from the dead and is very much alive.
So then, what in our lives makes us think we are righteous? What are we pointing fingers at thinking we have it all figured out? I think that’s the area of our lives we need to reevaluate and let God be the judge.
