In Christ Alone, I Find My Peace

Matthew 23:23-28

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
[Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
[Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Religious people (on the left and the right) are so concerned about what the outside looks or acts like, that they fail to realize that only Jesus can change a person where it matters – on the inside. Trying to talk about faith in Jesus and trusting in Him alone with a religious person is like speaking a foreign language. The religious always couple faith with works. If you aren’t “doing” the right things you aren’t ‘in Jesus.’ Or rather, if you are not doing things like they think they should be done, you are just not a “good” Christian. It’s all about appearance.

Religious people will turn on you if you don’t say things right, or don’t push for more rules. They will denounce you if you play ‘heathen’ rock music in church, or if you are friends with people they deem unworthy. They will turn their backs on you if you vote the ‘wrong’ way, or read the ‘wrong’ things. They will use threats of hell to bring you back in line. But Jesus has taken that threat away.

Hebrews 2:12-15
“Saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
“And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
“And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

We are all unworthy. We are all sinners in need of THE Savior. That’s why Jesus died on the cross. He makes us acceptable. Nothing I could do will ever add to what Jesus did. Nothing I ever do will take Jesus’ love away from me.

Change comes from the inside to a heart that has called on the name of the Lord, to a heart that has been set free, for in Christ, you’re free indeed.

I’m just a simpleton, who chooses to simply believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by Him. In Christ alone I find my peace.

Keep up the gospel of peace Pastor James. Rock on Bro!
DJ GlenMC aka Glen McClead