The Key to Peace

The poet has said,

"O precious Bible! burning words from heaven, We'll ever cherish thee in our heart, Sweet is the counsel by thy pages given' On life's dark ocean, our only chart. O precious volume! only in thy pages We read the duty of all our race; Only thy sunbeams, shining through the ages, Reveal the wonders of saving grace."

Oh, my grandson, it is a glorious thing to understand what God requires of us and to live by it! To accept Christ as our Saviour, Lord, and Master, to strive sincerely and devotedly to follow in the path that He has mapped out for us in this life, is the most wonderful, the most reasonable, and the most satisfactory way to live. It means peace in our hearts, peace of mind, contentment, happiness, hope, and an assurance of a life beyond the grave that shall never end. What a glorious plan God has made for all who will love and serve Him with all of their hearts!

Oh, how sad to see so many go through life and face death without a hope of living in heaven with God forever in the end of time! How can anyone be so ignorant or be filled with such a lack of wisdom! It is beyond me. We all have to die, which is a proven fact. What then! Why try to get around it? It seems that every person should open his heart and mind to the Word of God and accept Christ with an open mind and consider it the greatest privilege in this world to live for Christ, the Creator of all mankind. We should be like Job of old who said, "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." Job 23:12.

Many times we read in the New Testament that "it came to pass." The prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled. Read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah and he describes Christ's crucifixion and atonement work with such accuracy of detail that the inspiration of the prophet is assured. He wrote this 712 years before Christ was born. He only had from the prophets before him the fact that God had told them that God was going to send a Messiah. So only God could inspire Him to write in such detail about his sufferings and death. Oh, there are so many proofs that the Bible is true! Jesus spoke about the Old Testament, "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" John 5:46, 47. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. He wrote things that were told to him from the beginning. It all harmonizes with the rest of the Bible. The early people were careful to keep accounts and told them to their children. They were written when writing was available (or began).

What Is Sin?

When I was a child and teen-ager, I was taught by my parents what the Bible said was right and what was wrong. Many other doctrines in the Bible were taught to me. I read them in the Bible, believed them, lived by them, and was blessed in my soul and life. There came a time in my life that I began to desire for God to teach me personally what was right and what was wrong. I never doubted that the Bible was true but I wanted to say that I believe this or that because God's Word says so. I began to search things out in the Bible. I believe God wants each of us to have this firm foundation to stand upon. So my dear grandson, you are not different from your grandmother. When I finished my search I was glad that I could say I believed this or that because it says in the Bible thus and so. I didn't believe it because someone else said it, but because God had said it. This is the way I want you to know it.

There is one thing that I had when I began my search, that was the Holy Spirit as my teacher. The Bible tells us definitely that "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." I Cor. 2:14. Since the Bible was written by "holy men of God" who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" and it is not "of any private interpretation," then we need to have the Holy Spirit to reveal, or help us to understand all of the Word of God. (II Peter 1:20,21). Yet there are a lot of the basics that we can know. I do hope that you will understand what I write to you by the help of the Holy Spirit.

First, let us know what sin is. In other words that would be what is wrong. When we find out what is wrong then we can know what is right. Sin means "Willfully breaking religious or moral law." (Web. Dic.) The Bible also gives us the definition of sin. In I John 3:4 it says, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth [or breaks] the law [of God]; for sin is the transgression [or disobedience] of the [God's] law." Then in James 4:17 we read, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." We see that sin is either a direct disobedience of God's Word or a willful failure to live by its requirements. It is a serious thing to disobey God's law because it involves the destiny or end of our soul. It means living in either eternal torment or eternal bliss. To commit sin is a terrible thing and a very serious thing. That is the reason we need to search the Scriptures to find out how to live pleasing to the Lord in this world. We can't do this within ourselves. God had a plan for us by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our salvation, so through Christ we can live right.

If sin is disobeying God's Word then we must find out what it says in the Word of God so we can live up to it. First we want to find out why we sin, and then get rid of the cause.

You, of course, know what the Bible tells us about Adam and Eve in the beginning and how they obeyed the devil who talked to them through the serpent. He got Eve to disobey the only commandment that God had given them. She ate of the fruit, which was forbidden, and gave to Adam and he did eat. (Gen. 3rd chapter). They no longer could talk to God as before, but hid themselves. Sin separates us from God. God called to them and said, "Where art thou?" They said, "We hid ourselves because we were naked." God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree whereof I commanded you not to eat?" Of course, we realize that because of sin, they knew they were naked. Before they had sinned, they didn't think anything about their nakedness. But after they sinned they made themselves clothes of fig leaves. No doubt they thought quickly of something or they would have chosen something more substantial than leaves. The leaves would soon dry and crack, but they were so ashamed of their nakedness because of their sin. Not only did they need a covering for their bodies but they also needed a covering for their souls. God can't look upon sin with any pleasure. Sin will cause us to be cast out of His presence. But oh, the Lord is so very merciful and He told Adam and Eve that He had a plan for them, so their sins could be covered as well as their bodies.