What did the Zen Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor?
“Make me one with everything”
In the punch line to that very bad joke, “Make me one with everything…” is the answer in the life quest for every human being.
How can a human being find peace in this life? How can we find peace that comes from knowing that you are one with your creator? How can we know for certainty that when we die that we will go to heaven and have eternal life?
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
The Bible describes the fact that eternal life, finding peace and becoming one with your creator, is found by first experiencing forgiveness from God. Now here is where it becomes really interesting, because God’s definition of forgiveness is much different from our definition of forgiveness.
The definition of human forgiveness is to forgive a person for a penalty that they deserve. When someone hurts or offends us, we make a conscious decision to let go of our hurt feelings and anger and allow this person to continue to be our friend.
The Definition of God’s forgiveness is “To carry forth the penalty that is deserved.” The Bible says that “The soul that sins will die”
Ezekiel 18:4
“Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die
According to the Bible, every person born has sinned and is therefore worthy of having the death penalty carried out against them by God. The “Good News” is that the Bible also says that “God was not willing that we should have this penalty carried out against us.”
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The Father devised a way that He could punish His Son instead of carrying out the penalty upon us, so that we could receive a pardon and go free.
When Jesus died, He was paying the penalty that all of us deserved for our sins. But here is what is very interesting: The Father did not simply forgive the penalty that we deserved, He punished His son and thereby satisfied his justice, enabling Him to remove our record of wrong forever. God had said that “The soul that sins will die…” He could not just simply let go of the sins we committed, as when someone sins against us. The Father carried out the punishment He promised. If the Father did not punish sin as He said He would, He would not be Righteous and Just. Instead of punishing us, He punished Jesus.
Matthew 26:28
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Hebrews 9:22
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
This is why no person can be saved apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus death on the Cross satisfied the righteous requirement of God’s Law. Only when you put your complete trust is what Jesus has done for you, are you saved. Your choice is to either believe it and be saved, or not believe it and be lost.
Acts 10:43
To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
This idea of “Remission of Sins” is very different from the kind of human forgiveness we give to another person when they offend us. The “Remission of Sins” means to have a penalty earned, paid for the sin. Whoever believes in Jesus death and Resurrection for their sins receives from God the removal of every sin they have ever committed. In reality, it is as if they had never sinned forever.
But how does this happen? How can our record of wrong be erased by Jesus dying for us? The Bible records that this happened when Jesus died, that as He died, he paid paying the penalty for us.
Hebrews 9:22
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.
When Jesus died, He was not dying for something that He had done He was dying for everything that we have done. You are forgiven because Jesus took the penalty you deserved. Once this truth gets down deep into your heart, it will drastically affect every part of your life.
All guilt should be gone. You should have a tremendous self worth, because the God of the Universe loved you so much that He allowed His only Son to died for you. You should be able to easily forgive all other sins committed against you by other people. You should have a deeply humble attitude about yourself.
If we find that any of these four things are missing from our life, then it may be because we have not yet fully understood what Jesus has done for us. Jesus gave an example of these four things:
Number one: All guilt should be gone.
John 8
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Jesus condemned the sin, but not the person. “Neither do I condemn YOU”, BUT He condemned the sin…”Go and Sin no more!” When we feel guilty, it is because we have not had our guilt discharged yet.
When we understand that we have been forgiven by Jesus for everything we have ever done, then all of our guilt should be gone. If we find that we still feel guilty, it may be that we have not fully accepted the fact that our sins have been paid for by Jesus sacrifice. Jesus said that He does not condemn you for your sins when you come to Him for forgiveness, this knowledge should set us free from the guilt we feel from committing sin.
Many of the mental illnesses that people suffer from today can be traced back to guilt for past mistakes. When a human being commits wrong over and over again, there is a build up of guilt. When this guilt becomes too much for the persons emotions to bear, they often begin to develop psycho semantic symptoms. Symptoms such as depression, anxiety, multiple personalities, and many others. I believe personally, that many of these external symptoms are linked to an internal failure to deal properly with past guilt.
I listened to an interview by Jeffrey Dahmer from his prison cell where he described the fact that he had never been told that there was a God to whom we were all accountable. Because he believed that there was no God, no one to whom we were accountable for our actions, we could do whatever we wanted to do. What Jeffrey Dahmer did not count on was the fact that as a result of all of his actions, he inflicted upon himself untold guilt for his actions.
While in prison someone explained the good news of Jesus Christ to him and he realized there is one God to whom all of us are accountable for our actions. He realized that all the guilt that had built up inside of himself, was due to the penalty for these actions having not been carried out. He accepted Jesus Christ offer of forgiveness for all his sins, and for the first time in his life experienced a removal of the guilt and real peace in his life.
If a person can understand that Jesus has completely removed all of wrong that they have done, then many times this knowledge can bring tremendous healing to their mind.
The Second thing a true knowledge of what Jesus has done for you should do for your life is that You should have a tremendous self-worth. A lack of self worth or “Self Esteem”, happens when a person sees their self as not being worthy of love, attention or of being of much value in this life.
Again , this can often be traced to past failures.
Either their own past failures, have build up inside their heart and have made them feel worthless, or past failure by other people, committed against them have made them feel like a failure.
There is also what we call “a false sense of self worth” where a person acts as if they are not worth anything, to draw attention to themselves. The Bible teaches that you were loved by God so much that He allowed His only Son to come to earth, become a tiny infant and grow into a man, then die for all of your sins.
If the Father did not love you as much as He loved His only Son, He would not have allowed Jesus to become a man die for you!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
If today you do not feel like a worthy human being remember this fact; God saw you as so worthy that He allowed His only Son to die for you. Do you feel unloved? God loved you so much, He allowed Jesus to leave the glory of heaven and give all this up for you. Do feel like you will never be good enough? Remember you don’t have to be good enough, because Jesus was good enough for you. When you accept what Jesus has done for you, in the record of heaven you are without sin and perfect in the sight of God.
Matthew 13:44
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
You are the treasure.
The Field is the Earth.
The man who found the treasure is Jesus.
Jesus surrendered his power as God, His position as ruler and judge, His glory that He had for all eternity, so that He could humble Himself and become a servant for you, to die for your sins.
Don’t miss the last part of Matthew 14:44, “For Joy over You, Jesus gave up all He had…”
Matthew 13:44
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Hebrews 12:2
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross
The “Joy that Jesus saw before Him was the knowledge that when He took upon Himself all of your sins and paid for these, that you would be able to live with Him forever in the Glory of His Kingdom.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it something He would Hold on to, to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Can you imagine that? The God of the whole Universe set aside for a time, some of His power, some of His knowledge, some of His glory, so that He could become just like you and take your place at the judgment of sins.
The issue of Jesus becoming a servant for us as he submitted Himself to the Father, is a topic of great controversy. Many people find it hard to accept that Jesus was God while he existed as a man due to the fact that He was constantly calling God “His Father” and presented Himself as being in submission to God. The following are some examples of Jesus setting aside His Omniscience, his knowledge and His Glory where He appears to not have the attributes of God:
Matthew 24:36
Jesus said: “But of that day and hour (Of His return) no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only
In the context of this verse in Matthew 24:36, Jesus is speaking of the Rapture of the church. He reveals that one day in the future He would come from heaven and remove all those who believe in Him from the earth, before the final 7 year Tribulation period upon the earth.
When asked about the timing of this event, Jesus said, at that point in time, that He didn’t know when it would happen. Now one of the qualities that God possesses is that He knows all things. What makes Him God is the fact that there is nothing He must learn, but that He has complete knowledge about all things. There is nothing that has happened or will happen that takes Him by surprise. We call this ability, “Omniscience”, the ability to know all things.
We know that in various other places, Jesus confirms the fact that He is God, the creator of the Universe. And yet, here in verse 36 of Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of one of the most important events in all of human history and says that He doesn’t know when it was going to happen. How can this be?
Remember that when Jesus said that He didn’t know the day of His return, He was in the position of being a servant to the Father for all of us. He willingly set aside some of his glory, His knowledge and His power as God. After Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, you can be assured that this knowledge of all things was restored to Him. Today Jesus knows the exact hour He will come for us at the Rapture.
Philippians 2:8-11
8 And being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Notice in the context of this verse that it was after Jesus laid down His life and was Resurrected from the dead that the Father restored to Him the former Glory, Power and Position Jesus had before He became a servant for us.
Why did Jesus set aside his ability to know everything as God? He was demonstrating for us what it is to become a servant to someone else. Jesus set aside for a time, some of his power as God, so that He could become your servant and die for your sins. Later Jesus used this example that He had made by His own life, as a pattern for us to follow in submitting ourselves to each other. A correct knowledge of these facts of how greatly you are valued by God and Loved by Him, should give you great self worth.
The God of the universe loves you!
He died for you!
He is coming again for you.
We do not receive our self worth from what other people think about us, or from that the world says about us, we get our sense of worth from the fact that Jesus died for us, and that He values us more than even His own life.
The third point in our study of the Cost of Forgiveness, is that because you understand how much Jesus has forgiven you and how much it cost Him to forgive you, that it should be a very small thing for us to forgive what other people have done to us.
Matthew 18
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.
32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’
34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Here is the Bottom Line: You and I owed to God, a debt for our sins that was so astronomically great, that we could never repay it. When we came to God in Jesus name and asked Him to forgive us, He did. If we truly have a deep inner sense of how great our sin is, and how much it cost Jesus to forgive that sin, then we should find that it is very easy to forgive others for what they have done to us.
If we find that we cannot easily forgive others, then we need to go back and re visit exactly what it is that Jesus has done for us when He died for us. Once we have a deep understanding of what it cost Jesus, and just how much we have been forgiven of, then we will find it much easier to forgive other people for what they do to us.
Finally: The fourth thing that should drastically affect our life and our heart is that we should feel a deep sense of humility and brokenness once we have seen Jesus hanging there on the Cross for us, taking our place. Knowing that it was our sin that placed Jesus on the Cross.
We should never again think of ourselves as being better than someone else who doesn’t yet know about Jesus Christ. There is no difference between us and the worst of sinners, except that we have come to a knowledge of what He has done for us. We should never again be prideful about our accomplishments. Knowing that every step of our life has been by the hand of the Lord and by His great power, Grace and Love, and not our own, should bring us to a great sense of humility and thankfulness.
Finally, We should desire that we would begin to be the kind of servant to others that Jesus has become to us. Jesus said it like this:
Luke 22:25-27
25 … “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.
27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.
Is the servant greater than the master? If you have chosen to accept and follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior, are you greater than Jesus? He said that the greatest in His eyes, is the one that humbles himself and serves others. Serve how? By making it possible for other people to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this is the highest calling of the one who knows Jesus.
How can we make it easier for others to know Jesus? When you attend your local church during a Wednesday or Sunday you should greet those who are there for the firs time and make them feel loved and welcome. Remember you are standing in Jesus place, representing Him.
When you encourage and pray for the people who come to church, you participate in their salvation, by making it easier for them to know Jesus. When you help keep the building and facility clean, you help create an environment that makes it easier for people to know Jesus. When you give your tithe and offerings to the Lord, you provide the finances necessary for ministry to continue. When you teach the children in Sunday School or assist a teacher in Sunday School, you are helping a little child know Jesus, there is no greater calling that this. When you participate in the worship team, you are helping prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Word of God, so that they can know Jesus deeper. When you tell other people what Jesus has done for you and what He means to you in your life, you are making Jesus know and fulfilling the purpose you were created for.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul describes for us what the Rapture will feel like in our bodies:
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed
In that same context, of knowing that at any moment the Rapture can happen, Paul closes that Chapter with this:
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
It is important to remember that Jesus can come for us at any moment. Until that happens, we still have a lot to do here. To make Jesus known, to serve Him with all of our hearts, and to Remember what Jesus has done for us at the Cross. To daily remember what the cost of our forgiveness was…
