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REACHING CAMBODIA

Taking the Gospel of Jesus to the unreached peoples of Cambodia

Who is Jesus?
And why does it even matter?

Some excellent questions... and I'm glad you asked.

If you've ended up on our webpage, and find yourself wondering why we would even bother moving our life to another country to share about Jesus. Then you're probably asking the above two questions. 

There are a few important things to understand, before describing who Jesus is... So let's look at them below.

  1. GOD IS HOLY - The first thing we need to understand, as mere human beings, is that God is Holy. But not just Holy... He is sovereign, perfect, powerful, and creator of all things. He is beyond what we can even imagine. And He is worthy to be worshipped and obeyed, by His entire creation. This is important to grasp, because any God who not perfect and holy in every way, is NOT worthy of any worship.

    But what do we mean by Holy?

    Well... in Biblical terms, Holy means a number of things... set apart, pure, perfect, clean, and righteous... just to name a few. But let's just focus on the main ones... "set apart" and "pure or clean".

    Firstly, God is "clean, pure, and just"... This may seem obvious, but it really is important that we begin by recognising this truth... "God is perfect". Otherwise, how could He be God? Isn't God meant to be perfect?

    Secondly, God is "set apart" from us... this is for a really good reason. As with a bag of bad apples, we might "set apart" the one good apple from the bad ones. In order to keep it from being contaminated by the others... In the same way, God must be kept "set apart" from us, to ensure He stays "pure and clean".

    That brings me to the next important thing...
  2. PEOPLE ARE UNHOLY - When we really dig down deep into the hearts of people, we have to come to one conclusion... the hearts of people are evil. That might sound a bit extreme at first. But believe me it's true.

    Let me explain...

    While the human heart is indeed filled with many wonderful characteristics... like love and joy. When we keep digging we always find some not-so-nice things, such as selfishness, pride, arrogance, greed, and lust.

    Just think about it... how many lies have you told in your life (and be honest)? Or how many times have taken something that didn't belong to you (like pirating movies or music)? Have you ever disrespected your parents? Have you ever looked at someone with lustful thoughts?

    All of these things (and many more) are serious violations of Gods Law, as outlined in the Bible. We've come to know these violations as sin, and all of our sins are based on a kind of selfishness common to all mankind.

    So when we dig down deep, when we really look hard at our inner self... it's not difficult to find that all people are UNHOLY... and God is the only truly HOLY one, that ever existed.

    And for this reason, we have a BIG PROBLEM...
  3. THE PROBLEM - So in light of these two realities... God is HOLY, and people are UNHOLY... we are faced with a BIG problem... Holiness and unholiness don't mix!!!

    You simply cannot mix holiness with unholiness, otherwise, one contaminates the other, or one is destroyed by the other. They are completely incompatible... it's like saying that light can mix with darkness... they cannot... it's one or the other, light or dark. When the light is turned on, the darkness is destroyed.

    As another example, if you have some perfectly clean water, and mix in some dirty water, even if it's only small. That water is no longer perfectly clean. It's now contaminated. It doesn't matter how much dirt you put in. Even the smallest amount, changes the pure water, to impure water.

    But because God is so perfect and so powerful... if you try to mix unholiness with His Holiness, the unholy is destroyed, by the sheer power of His glory and majesty. A bit like light, destroying the dark. This is demonstrated multiple times in the Bible, when unholy people try to touch Holy things, or they walk into a Holy place, without first purifying themselves... they literally die on the spot!!!

    That's a big problem for us... because, all of us, will someday inevitably cross that line from this life, to the next. Every single one of us will face the judgment of God at some point... there is no avoiding it. And when we're standing there, with all of our sin's, all of our unholiness, in the presence of a Holy God, we are in grave danger. And if we're asked to show why He should let us into His Holy Kingdom... what can we say?

    In the Bible... we are told how mankind has been trying to find their own answer to this question, for thousands of years... By following the Law, sacrificing animals, presenting gifts, and performing rituals... all in an attempt to make ourselves Holy and presentable to God. But quite simply... it's never enough. Because no matter how hard we try, there's no amount of obedience, no sacrifice, and no ritual, which is perfect enough, to truly cover or takes away our sins. 

    And compounding all this... a truly "Just" God must punish us for those sins... we wouldn't ever think a judge was just, unless he gave a decent sentence to a criminal... the criminal must be punished. And how often do we find ourselves saying words like "the victim is suffering for the rest of their life, but the perpetrator gets to go home!!! It's simply not justice!!!"? We never feel like criminals have truly done their time, especially victims of assault, rape, or murder. It's like there's no punishment which can truly atone for the crime.

    The simple truth remains... no one can ever atone for their own sins, nor will anyone enter into Heaven based on their own merit... except for Jesus, the one who came down from Heaven.

    So that brings me to the next point... "Who is Jesus?"
  4. THE SOLUTION - Well, to put it simply, Jesus is the solution to humanities greatest problem.

    According to the Bible, Jesus, the Son of God, who had no sin, became sin for us, that through Him, we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus voluntarily gave up His place in Heaven, to come to earth as a man, and take all of our sins upon Himself, and be punished on our behalf. His sacrifice was the one and only, truly perfect and acceptable sacrifice to a Holy, Righteous, and Just God.

    This is difficult for us to comprehend... especially those of us from western cultures. We simply don't understand the sacrificial process as a means to holiness. It's not in our culture.

    But think about it this way, for a moment... there's no greater sacrifice than giving up ones own life. Therefore, death has to be the only acceptable punishment for all sins. But if we all died for our sins, none of us would be left... and God loves us too much to allow that to happen.

    So in His wisdom, God determined that a substitute death was acceptable. And throughout Biblical history, the people of Israel (God's chosen people), have taken animals like, goats, cows, sheep and birds as a substitute for themselves, and sacrificed them on an alter before God. All in an attempt to transfer their sinfulness to the animal, as it gives up it's life, on their behalf.

    I know this sounds rather grotesque, but it's the way of many cultures around the world, but they sacrifice to other gods... which we'll get to later.

    The simple fact is, that God accepted a substitutionary sacrifice, to take away our sins, and make us Holy.

    But the problem is still not solved, by these "so called" substitute sacrifices. Quite simply, no sacrifice is perfect enough to truly atone for all our sins. And the unfortunate fact is, that God's people became comfortable with sinning, then making a sacrifice, sinning, then making another sacrifice... just keep sacrificing and we'll be right. And soon, God became displeased with these sacrifices... as nobody really repented. They'd just go right back out there, and keep on sinning.

    God always knew this would be the case, so from the very beginning, He planned one sacrifice which would end them all. We're told in the first few chapters of the Bible, that God was planning a Messiah... One man, who would set us free from our sins, forever.

    And through the Old Testament, we can read countless prophecy's about Him. Over and over and over again, the Bible speaks of a coming Messiah. And this Messiah is described with incredible accuracy... Accuracy you need to see for yourself, in order to believe.

    So, around 2,000 years after God gave His Law to the people of Israel, He sent His Son, Jesus... to become that Messiah, that Saviour, that Sacrifice, which would take away our sins, by transferring them to Himself, and in exchange, He would transfer His righteousness to us... And when we stand before God, on the day of judgment, we can have that answer we desire most... "My sins are atoned for... my guilt has gone... I've been made Holy... Because of the blood of Jesus!"

    This is why Christians call it "Good News"... Jesus took away our sins, gave us His righteousness, and welcomed into His family as His brothers and sisters, and fellow children of God.

  5. WHERE TO FROM HERE? - Of course, it didn't end with Jesus death... None of this would mean anything, without His resurrection from death. The Bible tells of many witnesses who testified to the resurrection of Jesus. Just as was prophesied in the Old Testament, as well as by Jesus Himself.

    And this resurrection, demonstrated His victory over sin and death, and how He can now set us free from the burden of sin in our own lives... We are raised to new life, by placing our trust in Jesus, and turning away from our sins.

    So now that you know who Jesus is... Now that you know why He came... Why don't you take the time to thank Him for His sacrifice on your behalf? Confess your sinfulness, and turn away from those sins. Tell Him you trust in Him, and His sacrifice, as the only acceptable way to reconcile yourself with the Holy God.

    Don't assume you'll never sin again... we are all sinners and we all continue to make mistakes. But as you grow in your relationship with Jesus, and invite Him to send His Holy Spirit to live inside you... He will begin a transformation in your heart, and with time, you'll become increasingly dissatisfied with your sin. You'll begin to hate the things God hates and love the things God loves. This is the process we call "sanctification".

    "Sanctification" is a big word, I know... but it simply means that God will slowly begin to make you more and more like Jesus, in character and nature. And slowly but surely, with an ever increasing glory... you'll eventually enter into eternity looking just like Jesus.

    God Bless and please do let us know if you'd like to talk more about Jesus...

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