Knowing God

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. I John 4:10

[Jesus said], For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3:16-17

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If you are reading this, it is because God has put Himself on your heart and mind, desiring to draw you to Himself, that you may be right with Him. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

God is holy, without sin, totally righteous. Our sin separates us from the Lord. There is no one who has not sinned. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He has also said to us through the apostle Paul that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

When God created Adam and Eve, they were able to enjoy perfect friendship with God, but when they believed Satan's lie, doubted God and chose to disobey Him, sin entered the picture, and death through sin (just as God had promised in Genesis 2:17). It was the death of that perfect fellowship and rightness with God and it guaranteed eternal separation from God.

But from eternity past, God had a plan to make a way for sinful man to be right with Him again, for friendship with Him to be restored, for our sin to be forgiven. And Jesus Christ is that way! Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

How can a person be the way to God? Jesus, God's Son, is the Way to God because He came and took our punishment for sin. Jesus was sinless, and yet He was falsely accused and sentenced to death on a horrible cross, where He died, willingly taking on God's justice and wrath against us for our sin. He not remain dead, for God's mighty power raised Jesus from the dead, making Him victorious over sin and death.

God's Word says in Acts 16:31, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Then, later, if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. We must agree with God that we are sinners in need of His salvation through faith in Christ. God makes it clear in the Bible that there is no amount of good we can do to become "good enough" to please Him in His perfect holiness. But Christ was and is good enough, and as we look to Him in faith, God will forgive our sin and save us from its consequences. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves - it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

I always say too much, I think, when trying to communicate things about which I'm passionate. I will stop here, knowing that God's Word is full of power and that His Holy Spirit draws people to Christ for salvation. I pray that if you are not yet His child, that you soon will be! And becoming a Christ-follower is only the beginning, because calling Jesus Lord of your life means seeking Him, loving Him, obeying Him all your days.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! I John 3:1