THE WAY

The way of salvation simply has no room for anything but Jesus. Christ Jesus came because we CANNOT do what he did, and we CANNOT be what he was. But, some of today's Christians might be saying... "Didn't Jesus come to be our example?" NO! Jesus came to be our SAVIOR not our example!

No matter how sincere the effort, trying to imitate Jesus will only produce a false, pride filled self-righteousness. To be like Jesus, our righteousness before God must be absolutely REAL. We must be completely free of all pride, and we must be completely sinless! That is... everything we think, say and do must agree perfectly with the will of God. EVERYTHING! No one can meet this standard! We are all hopelessly trapped in a sin nature, the root of which is pride. We are all sinners... and we are all PROUD sinners!

Satan, in the form of a serpent, deceived Adam and Eve into believing that they really did measure up to God's standard of holiness. Therefore, if they ate from the tree, they "SURELY WOULD NOT DIE". (Genesis 3:4) Satan insisted that if they ate the fruit and gained "the knowledge of good and evil", they could see for themselves that they were just like God. Adam and Eve chose to believe Satan instead of God for the truth. They chose to believe in their own holiness! But... when they ate the fruit and their "eyes were opened", their nakedness was revealed, and they instantly realized how sinful and unlike God they were. (Genesis 3:7-11) That's why they tried to hide from God. Unfortunately for them, and us, no one can hide from God.

Adam and Eve failed the test of God-like holiness, because the test of God-like holiness is... having ALWAYS chosen good, and having NEVER chosen evil. Because they chose to be judged according to God's standard of holiness, every one of their descendents is also required to pass this impossible test. (Proverbs 15:3)(Psalms 37:27)(Ecclesiastes 12:14)(John 5:29) Of course, no descendant of Adam has ever passed the test, and no one will ever pass the test! To show us EXACTLY what passing the test really requires, God gave us the Law.

To make sure that all hope in ourselves stays outside the gate, we must remember that the Law applies to EVERYONE (Romans 3:19-20), and the Law requires... ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. (James 2:10) Just doing our best will never satisfy God. If we truly examine ourselves according to what God-like holiness really requires, we should be driven to our knees with despair.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) "No one is righteous, no not even one." (Romans 3:10) God leaves us no choice, but to face up to the truth, we are absolutely defeated and without hope in ourselves. We cannot meet God's requirement. We cannot pass the test. The way of salvation must begin with absolute and utter despair over ourselves, as well as our sin.

This hopeless situation is exactly why our Savior came. He didn't come to be our example. We already had the Law... we already knew what was required... the problem was.... we just couldn't do it! That's why our SAVIOR CHRIST JESUS came to fulfill the impossible demands of the Law for us... "Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets, I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17) Jesus lived a perfectly righteous and sinless life. He passed the test! The Father himself testified right out of Heaven to this fact. "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)

Jesus is the only one who was able to pass the test of God-like holiness, because HE IS GOD! "No one is GOOD except God alone." (Luke 18:19) Just imagine the kind of arrogant pride that is involved, when today's Christians look at the perfect holiness of Christ, and then say... "Yeah... I can be like him!" Just as the requirement of the Law in stone should drive us to our knees in despair, the fulfillment of the Law in the flesh and blood of Christ should also drive us to our knees in despair. If looking to Christ doesn't drive us to utterly and completely despair of any possibility of ever being like him... SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG WITH OUR VIEW OF CHRIST!