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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Peace with God |
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Fourth
Sunday in Advent December
19, 2010 Why
You Need Peace with God At
some point in life, most people feel a need to make peace with God.
Do you? Why? Is it
because you are good and righteous? Or is it because you are aware of thoughts and actions in
your life that are offensive to God and need to be dealt with before you
meet Him? Don't you think you
have to make peace with God because of your offenses?
Don't you have the uncomfortable idea that God is angry at you for
your sins, and you have to make up for them somehow?
Isn't this the very essence of what you mean by making peace with
God? Truly, you need peace
with God.
The Bible Speaks "All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "God
is angry with the wicked every day" (Ps. 7:11). "It
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
(Heb.9:27). "Who
can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of
His anger?" Na. 1:6. "And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books
according to their works" (Rev. 20:12). "And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake
of fire" (Rev. 20:15). "This
is the second death" (Rev. 20:14).
Why
You Can't Make Peace with God But
how can you ever make up for offending God?
Can you give Him a gift to appease Him?
Is God so weak that He can be bought by bribes? And
what could you give that He doesn't own already?
Can good works make up for your sins?
Even if you could be perfect from now on, would that erase the sins
you have already committed? No, your sins are a barrier to peace with God, and there is
nothing you can do to atone for them.
You cannot make peace with God.
The Bible Speaks "What
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mk. 8:37). "The
soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ez. 18:20). "For
the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 3:23). Peace
with God Is God's Gift It
is impossible for you to make peace with God, but it is possible for God to make
peace with you. He has
accomplished a great Miracle which is able to cover your sins and to bring
you into absolute peace with Him forever. He did this by becoming a Man
and dying on the cross. He took your sins upon Himself and He suffered and died for
them on the cross. And He
offers peace as His free gift to you.
The Bible Speaks "I
am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by
Me" (Jn. 14:6). "I
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God"
(Ez. 18:32). "For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 3:23). ""For
Christ... hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God" (1Pet.3:18). "Christ
died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3). "Christ
died for the ungodly" (Rom.5:6). "Being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him"
(Rom. 5:9). How
You can Receive the Gift of Peace with God You
receive His gift by faith. Faith
believes Jesus is God who became Man to pay for your sins on the cross.
Faith trusts Jesus Christ's death on the cross as the payment for
your sin and the means of your peace with God.
Faith accepts peace with God as the gift of God.
The Bible Speaks "Therefore,
being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ" (Rom. 5:1). "For
by grace are ye saved through faith" (Eph 2:8). "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). "For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 3:23). Receiving
the Gift It
really is that simple. You
could not make peace, so God did it for you, and offers it to you as a
free gift. All you have to do
is accept it. If you want to
receive this gift, simply ask God for it.
Simply and honestly pray; God,
I have sinned, and cannot atone for my offenses. I
believe Jesus Christ did atone for them by His death on the cross. I
ask You now to give what I could
never earn for myself, peace
with You. Amen.
God's
Promise to Believers "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" (Jn.
3:16). "I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand" (Jn. 10:28). "Let
not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father's House are many Mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto
Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto
Him, Lord we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father but by Me" Jn. 14:1-6.
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