By Mike Peek

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23). What is the glory of God, what is the standard of God's glory? Jesus, the glory of God, never did wrong, always did right, and always from faith. 1) Sin is doing what you know is wrong. (1 John 3:4) 2) Sin is not doing what you know is right. (James 4:17) 3) Sin is whatever is not from faith. (Romans 14:13 The word of the LORD came to the prophet Ezekiel saying, "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die." (Ezekiel 18:4). Is He speaking of the death of the body? He is speaking of the death of the soul in hell, "the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) The Lord God goes on to say that the righteous man will surely live (Ezekiel 18:5-9). But here is the problem; "there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sin...

The apostle John said in his first letter how we may know who is of God and who is not. “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:4-6) For this reason the Lord said when speaking to Nicodemus; "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth com...

Matthew 28:16-20 NASB 16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Revelation 1:8 NASB 7 Behold, HE is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, " who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:17-19 NASB 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, ...

The meaning of this verse is amazingly profound and a truth beyond that of mere men; "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," ~Rom.3.23.NASB. I have spent much time contemplating Romans chapter 3 and especially Romans 3:21-26, which is at the heart of the gospel. I had so focused in on Romans 3:25 and especially propitiation that I missed something, the heart of this passage is not propitiation, it is the Glory of God. What is the glory of God? What is the standard of God's glory? Think about these words, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Jesus Christ is the glory of God, Jesus Christ is the standard of God's glory. Therefore when the scripture says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", what it is saying is this. YOU HAVE MISSED THE MARK OF GOD'S GLORY, WHICH IS TO LIVE A LIFE JUST LIKE THAT OF GOD'S SON, JESUS CHRIST. Jesus Christ the only Man to live, who never sinned, gave up...

The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, CHAPTER 2; OF GOD AND OF THE HOLY TRINITY, Paragraph 2; “God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and He hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleases; in His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain; He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He is further pleased to require of th...

My last writing was on the words repent and repentance, dispelling the common misunderstanding of these words, and declaring what they actually mean. To repent means to change your mind, and repentance means to have had a change of mind. I first began to follow Christ through the seeker sensitive movement over ten years ago; at least I thought it was Christ that I was following. The church I was going to began to read, “The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren”. We had broken up into small groups, we were to read 1 chapter from the book a day for 40 days during our own time; and then once a week the small group would meet and watch a video, after the video we would have discussion time. Now I remember this well, because it was a great pivotal point in my coming to the Lord. I read the book each day without fail, and meet with the small group. Then on whatever chapter that a prayer of salvation had been explained, I prayed the prayer asking Jesus into my heart. Now I do no...

My purpose for writing today brothers and sisters, is to define repentance. I think there is much misunderstanding about this word. Many use this word, but their understanding of the word is limited, and in a lot of instances, incorrect. Someone might say, "We are only saved by the grace of God through faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Someone else might say, “You must repent and believe to be saved. Paul said in Acts 17:30, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent”. So which is it, are we saved by the grace of God through faith, or are we saved by repenting and believing? The answer is,repentance comes from God, and you cannot have faith unless you have repentance; the problem is definition. Many take the word repent and its counterpart repentance to mean som...