Fourth Sunday of Lent
Are you righteous – as righteous as God? Are you as holy as He, whose holiness and righteousness are brighter than 10,000 suns?
Of course, you are not. And neither am I. And that should be a very serious problem because, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, without holiness, “no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)
As I thought about that text, and of my own utter lack of the holiness required by God, John 14:6 dropped into my thoughts. You might know the verse by heart. Jesus told His listeners: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
For decades I thought that verse had only to do with the forgiveness of sins – which it certainly does. But I suddenly realized this morning there is something more – much more – involved in the Lord’s words.
No one who has ever lived has ever been holy enough in and of themselves to meet God's requirement for utter holiness. No one has ever, or can ever, completely fulfill His commandment: “Be holy for I am holy” (see 1 Peter 1:16).
THAT is why no one can so much as even approach the consummately holy God, much less stand in His presence – UNLESS our holy God makes it possible to do so.
Enter Jesus.
St Paul gives us a number of clues to how that all works. Here is one: “He [the Father] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Here is another: “But by [the Father’s] doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
And one more, only for the sake of time: Paul writes to the Christians at Rome: “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3).
In other words, God imputes (synonyms of ascribe, attribute, assign) – God the Father attributes to everyone who is IN Christ because of their obedient faith – the Father imputes to us the same holiness and righteousness as of Jesus Himself.
NO WONDER the Lord told His listeners back then, and His listeners today, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
So, reader, here is the critical question: Knowing no one can come into the Father’s presence apart from Christ, are you ‘in’ Christ by your obedient faith in Him? If not, your position can immediately change for the better – if you turn your life and lifestyle over to Christ.
Please hear this: Scripture warns the hesitant again and again: “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)