Title: The Last Page of Human Beings
the last page of human beings
Lectures on Acts (9)
“Listen to this, men of Israel, as you also know that God gave great power and wonders and signs among you through Jesus of Nazareth, witnessing him before you. By the hand of those who did not exist, he crucified them, but God raised them from the pain of death, for he could not be bound by death. David pointed to him and said, "I have always seen the Lord before me; do not let me be moved." For he is at my right hand. Therefore my heart rejoices, and my lips rejoice, and my body dwells in hope, for you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you let Your Holy One suffer corruption. You show me the way of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence” (Acts 2:22-28).
There is no righteous
After the Holy Spirit came, he received power and became bold, and he boldly continued his sermon to the Jews gathered from all over the world. The point is that in the last days, God's promise that those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved was fulfilled through Jesus of Nazareth, who was recently crucified. The last days have already begun, but only by confessing that Jesus is the Christ and calling on His name will we be saved.
In other words, if they admit that they are sinners and do not feel the need for salvation, they will not call on the name of Jesus Christ even when the last days come. It is because they believe that no matter how prevalent sin is in the world, it has no relation to them. Even those who are respected by everyone in the church, if they say that they are righteous rather than sinners, it means that they are outside of faith or salvation at all. For such a person, Christianity is merely a decoration for broadening the scope of their academic and religious knowledge.
What about your case? Do you really consider yourself a sinner? Are you proud that you used to be a sinner, but now you are not? Or are you trying to be righteous? So, regardless of whether he thought he was a sinner or a righteous man, what was the basis for his view?
In order to identify yourself as a sinner or a righteous person, you must have your own clear standard for the nature of sin. In other words, whether or not they realize the necessity of salvation depends on their definition of sin.
The most common crimes that come to mind are murder, robbery, violence, rape, and fraud. But frankly, very few people suffer from these sins. Next is alcohol, gambling, sexual depravity, luxury, and greed. However, in this respect, there are many people who are quite free and righteous, that is, those who are praised as righteous outwardly, morally and personally, outside the Christian faith.
However, there is another sin that unbelievers overlook or do not understand. It is a sin committed through words and even thoughts. As Jesus pointedly pointed out, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). At this stage, very few people can be free from sin.
In other words, even in ethical sin, strictly speaking, there is not a single person who is not a sinner. Yet, while evangelizing, many unbelievers insist (?) that they do not need to believe in Jesus because they have never broken the Ten Commandments. It means that you have never committed a crime such as murder, robbery, violence, or adultery. If the essence of sin is so simple, almost all such criminals are quarantined in prison, so the world must already be turned into a paradise for the righteous. At least that's how the world should be. But, as everyone admits, why does it still remain a place too difficult and terrifying to live uprightly?
I had a dream in which someone died and stood before the judgment seat of God. With a ledger that recorded the deeds of one's life, it was decided to settle accounts with God. On the first page, he wrote the sins he had committed in fairly large letters, and he remembered most of them. It was a sin committed by action. On the second page, it was written quite densely in small print, and I remembered some of it, but it was a sin committed with words. On the third page, even under a microscope, it was written in black and white letters. I couldn't remember at all because of the sins I committed in my thoughts.
I was breathing a sigh of relief rather than whether it was over now, but I found that there was still one more page left in the ledger. When God opened the chapter, there was no writing and it was completely black. When I asked, “God, what is this page?” I was told, “This is your soul.”
Most unbelievers regard only sins committed in deeds, and sometimes even errors in words. We admit that only those who are religiously and ethically very pious can sin even with their thoughts. On the other hand, in Christianity, the essence of sin, precisely what God evaluates, is the completely blackened soul inside man.
Because of the fall of Adam, all human souls are born corrupt. Beyond the level of refusing to turn away from God, they hate and even hate Him. You only live your life according to your own desires and feelings, and that is original sin. They seek only to eat, drink, and wear for the sake of comfort and abundance on this earth. And all other moral sins are derived from that original sin. As in the case of the person in front of the court of courtesy, black ink is cut out through thoughts, words and actions from the last chapter, the black ink of the deepest part of human beings.
The concept of sin of unbelievers
There are surprisingly many people who pride themselves on being righteous and good, even among church members. If they accidentally commit a sin, they use the excuse that the world is so evil and full of temptations that they have been assimilated without realizing it. Also, trying to adapt to the world had no choice but to justify it as if it was not a sin because other people behave the same way. Furthermore, they believe that one's own nature is inherently good. That is why I believe that even if you try to correct the sins you have committed sometimes, you can not commit them again. Also, because I'm busy, I don't have the opportunity or time to do that, but I'm confident that if I set my mind and practiced, I can become truly good and holy.
Sin is never such a simple and easy thing to think about. Seeing Jesus' disciples eating without washing their hands, they accused the Pharisees of breaking the law. But Jesus answered them this way. “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11). “Do you not know that everything that goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and is thrown away? For these things defile a person, and eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person (Matthew 15:17).