Guide to Atonement

Chapter 2

Before we can receive God’s blessings we have to know what is available to us and we have to believe that we are worthy to receive them. So often we cheat ourselves out of His blessings because we are plagued by the misconception that we have to be perfect people. God didn’t make any perfect people except for His Son, Jesus. No matter how hard we try to ‘do good’ and to ‘be good’ we are going to mess up.





Romans 3:22-24 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.





God is rich in mercy. He is kind, compassionate, and helpful. God is rich in grace. His love and mercy are free. He is the God of love and peace.





I have seen devout men and women of God get out in left field. No one has said that life is easy. Sometimes we get caught up in how life is unfair or how people are unfair and we feel self-pity. “Why doesn’t everyone treat everyone with love and respect? Why is there war and prejudice? Why don’t people treat other people the way they want to be treated? Why do I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb because I try to live my life as a Christian? Why do people persecute me because I have morals and values and standards that I set for myself and my life? Why do I feel like I won’t fit in and I won’t succeed in their dog-eat-dog world?”





I can definitely relate to this. When I was in school I was called a Jesus freak and a bible lover. As a teenager I was left out of the ‘in’ group. As an adult I found myself having to work twice as hard as everyone else because the others would single me out and work against me. But that’s okay. I learned how to keep records of precise times and events, lists of when and what I did and copies of my work. God expects us to do our best. But he doesn’t expect us to be doormats. Even Jesus got mad when He called the scribes and Pharisees whited sepulchers.





Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? For ye are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.





Stand up, people. What comes after self-pity? I know. I’ve been there before. Defeat. We allow our minds to defeat us. We lose sight of what we stand for and what our main goal is in life which is to be the best child of God that we can be. And our second goal is to win people to Christ by witnessing and by example.





What happens next? We say something wrong. We do something wrong. We get so caught up in whatever our situation is that we fall wayward. We get out in left field. Then we try to rationalize what we have done and deceive ourselves because we took our lives out of God’s hands and tried to do it on our own.





Next, come guilt. We beat ourselves up. We think that we are so bad that God will never love us again. We think that we are not worthy of His love. We give up because we don’t think that we are good enough for God any more. Then the devil has won. And we have lost until we realize that God loves us and is willing to forgive us of our sins.





I John 1:8,9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.





All that we have to do is confess our sins and asks God to forgive us. When we do He will be faithful and just to forgive us. He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a powerful love that God has for us, His children. How eager God is to forgive us and welcome us back into His arms. In Luke 15 we read about the prodigal son. Jesus gives us examples in parable.





Luke 15:4-7 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninty and nine just persons, which need no repentance.





Not only must we seek forgiveness from God we must also forgive. We need and desire God’s forgiveness. We need to forgive each other. God expects us to treat one another with the same unconditional love, tenderheartedness, and compassion that He so freely gives to us. It is so easy to hold a grudge or to remain bitter or angry for days, weeks, months, and even years after someone has done us wrong, It hurts so deeply to be done wrong by our friends and loved ones as well as by our peers that bitterness and anger are easier to face and deal with than our true feelings.





Matthew 5:44-48 But I say unto you, Love you enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.





How do we achieve spiritual perfection? How do we feel worthy of His most gracious excellence?





I Corinthians 2:9-14 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.





We have the spirit which is of God in us. We no longer belong to this world or the ways of this world.





Romans 8:5-7 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.


Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.





God will reveal things to us through our spirit that carnal people will not understand.





Ephesians3:16-20 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.





Our ways aren’t their ways any more. They are God’s ways. You can not expect a carnal man to understand why Christians act out of love instead of selfishness. You can not expect a carnal man to understand why you will endeavor to be honest no matter what the consequences are. You can not expect a carnal man to understand why you pray for someone who has done you wrong instead of acting out of spite and revenge.





Romans 12:17-21 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.





You can not expect a carnal man to understand why you are not materialistic and that your riches are waiting for you in a better place. A place where there is no strife, no turmoil, no anger, no hate, no sickness, no dying, no sadness, and no loneliness.





Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.





LOVE. When we love someone else, unconditionally as God loves us we reach that plateau of spiritual perfection. LOVE. God is love. We have God, in Christ, in us. We are full of love. It has to show. In I Corinthians the apostle Paul tells us about charity, which is love.





I Corinthians 13:3-8a And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind, charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth:





That beautiful, pure, powerful love dwells in us. We have God’s Spirit in us and as such we want to love, to help, to pick-up the broken hearted. We want to share God’s love and His Word so that other people can experience it, can live it; can have the peace of mind and heart that comes from being a child of God.





In your walk as a child of God, you will come across those who say, “I am a Christian.” But they do not treat you with the love that you know they should possess. Do not let what other people do cause you to falter by the wayside.





Some of us will have family members who will ridicule us because they are carnal. Pray for them. They do not and will not understand until they become children of God. Be an example. LOVE. It gets really hard sometimes because as Christians it is sometimes hard to find a comrade at work or at home or at school. Use God’s promises and know His love.





God wants for His Word to be heard all over the world. There is more than one way to witness to people. Standing up for what you believe in is a way of witnessing to people.