God created you, and He created me, and everyone and everything in this whole universe. He knows everything there is to know about you. What you think about, how many hairs you have on your head, whether you had anything to eat last night, what you plan to do today. He knows all of it, and there is nothing hidden from Him. He is everywhere at once. He is all knowing. He is all powerful. He is God, who created all things, and our finite minds can barely grasp how much He truly loves us, and seeks our hearts daily.
Psalm 139 declares:
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
Yet for all that, He desires one thing above everything else, to have a personal and intimate relationship with you. Isn't that amazing? Our natural minds will say, "How can a God who is so big, that He created everything in this universe, think of little ole' me?" Compared with Him, I am but a small speck. It's easy to think that way when you consider the enormity of the universe, and how big God must be if He created everything. All the creator of the universe wants is you.
John 17:3 In this verse, Jesus clearly tells us:
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 3:16 says:
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God loves you. He loves you more than you can ever know. I want you to think about the person in this world that you personally love the most. Is it your spouse? Your parent(s)? Your child? Think about how they make you feel. How it feels when they are not around and you miss them. How it would feel if they went away and never came back. Human love is very intense. It can be so deep and so passionate that it literally hurts sometimes, can it not? Yet our capacity to love is so finite, so small in comparison to an all-loving God. We cannot fathom the degree to which God loves us, it's impossible for our minds to understand it.
So, we have established that God loves us, and that He wants to be pals with us to the Nth degree. What's the problem? Why can't we get close to Him? Why does it feel like He is a million miles away from us, or does not hear us? My friend, the answer is very simple. Sin. Sin is the thing that keeps most of us from having a personal relationship with Almighty God. All of us sin. It's in our nature. Aside from the shed blood of Christ and the grace of God, we all fall short in this area. There is not one single one of us who can say we have never sinned once. In fact, the only one who can say that is Jesus. Alright, I am getting ahead of myself so let me slow it down and get some perspective on this sin thing.
What is sin?
James 4:17
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
1 John 3:4
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
Who has sinned?
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 5:17
17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
What is so bad about sin?
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
Alright, based on the above scriptures, we can establish some very clear facts about sin. Sin is knowing in your heart to do good and not doing it. Sin is also disobeying God's laws. God's laws are very extensive. Most people only think of the ten commandments when they think about God's law. When you study the old testament, especially the first five books of the bible, you understand that God placed some pretty hefty requirements on the nation of Israel. In fact, in seems like God was always angry and always eager to deal out punishment on his people while poor Moses had to plead with God not to destroy His people. For those who truly know God and have a relationship with Him, we know that nothing can be further from the truth. However, to the person who does not know God, it seems like God is a pretty hard to please person.
Yes, God did lay out His law with Moses, and He gave us the ten commandments, but He also gave instructions for the tabernacle, gave the laws for the Levitical priesthood, and laws about what to eat and what not to, and about marriage, and about cleanliness, and just about everything the people of Israel dealt with out there in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years. I know thats alot of stuff to digest and I am getting off the point a bit. However, know this: God is a holy God. Holy means seperate, and other. In other words, God is so far above us, than none of us can measure up to Him, and live according to all that God requires. That's the whole point God made in the first five books of the bible. He wants to establish a relationship with us, but He needs us to know who He is, and about His majesty and holiness before we can truly understand His nature.
God had a plan to deal with the sin problem all along. He sent His Son, His only Son Jesus to make a way for you and I to be able to have our sins taken away, so that we can have that deep, personal, intimate relationship with Almighty God. Let's explore a few common questions.
Why Jesus?
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Why did Jesus have to die?
1 Peter 3:18
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us[a] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
We have established two more very important facts here. First, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through Me." This is pretty clear and straightforward. Why do you suppose God made it so simple? Why didn't God make many ways to get to Him? Surely God loves us and wants to make sure we go to heaven, why is Jesus the only way? The reason is because only one person could have paid the price for us, the Man who knew no sin, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.
In old testament times, in order for a person to deal with their sins, they had to sacrifice animals on the altar of God, and that shedding of blood could only cover their sins, it could not completely eradicate them. I know it sounds gross and inhumane by today's standards, and thank God for that. However, back then that's what was required, and it was merely a shadow, or a type for what would take place in the New Testament.
The second fact we established was the reason Jesus had to die. The answer is to bring us to God. The bible tells us elsewhere that without the shedding of blood, there can be no solution for sin. Hence, we had the old testament sacrificial system which has now been replaced by one sacrifice to cover all sin, the death of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life willingly. Jesus, the Son of God said to Pontius Pilate, and I am paraphrasing here, "You could not have the power to kill Me unless God gives you permission to do so. I have the power to call legions of angels to my defense. However I lay myself down willingly."
Isn't that awesome? Jesus gave his life for all of us, and not just the good people either, or the ones we think are cool or special. In fact, He gave His life for even the worst sinners among us, so that if we would only believe in Him, and accept Him as Lord, we might be saved, go to heaven, and have intimate friendship with God Himself.
Alright, thank you so much for hanging in with me so far with this message, I know its long, but it's so important to establish some critical truths for you to understand what's happening here. It's decision time. All of this stuff is wonderful, but it's not an automatic thing. It requires something from you. In order for you to be saved, go to heaven, and establish a relationship with God, you must make an important decision. In fact, this is the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. In fact, this decision will affect you for eternity.
God is not a rapist. He is not going to force Himself on you. He is a gentleman, and He loves you, and He gave you a free will for that very reason. You must personally respond by trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord. You must respond with belief in Christ Jesus.
Romans 10:9-10
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Respond by receiving Jesus as Lord...
John 1:12
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Would you like to accept Jesus as Savior right now? You can you know. Right now, right where you are sitting as you read this. It's easy, and I promise you that you will never regret making this decision, unless you choose not to make a decision.
Pray this prayer out loud, and understand that this is real. This prayer will save your life for eternity...
Dear God, I know that my sin has separated me from you. Thank you that Jesus Christ died in my place. I ask Jesus to forgive my sin and to come into my life. Please begin to direct my life. Thank you for giving me eternal life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Did you just pray that prayer? If you did, and if you were sincere about it, then congratulations, you are now born again, you are now a child of the Most High God.
Right now you may be saying, "Andy, so where do I go from here?" It's pretty simple. First, if you are not already doing so, begin attending a bible believing church regularly. I would love to tell you to come to our church, and believe me, we will be happy to have you, however I know people reading this may be in different parts of the world. Make sure that whatever church you go to is a bible believing church first and foremost. The Word of God has to be number one in your life.
Second, begin reading your bible regularly, every day if you can. Start with the New Testament, specifically the book of John. John is an excellent place to start for any new believer because it establishes who Jesus is and why He loves you so much. Once you have gotten yourself well established in the New Testament, then you can start to read the old testament. This will give you important perspective on where we were, and strong contrast to where we are now as a body of believers.
Lastly, you should pray. Pray to the Father in Jesus' name every day. In fact, you should pray all the time. What is prayer? Simply talking to God, that's all. You can talk to God just like you are talking to your best friend. It may feel awkward at first, but after a while, it will get easy, trust me. Get to know Him, draw close to Him, and He will return the favor in spades. Walking with God is the most wonderful joyous thing you will ever experience in life. I don't promise you it will always be easy, but I do promise that it will be worth it.
I sincerely hope that you made the choice to establish an intimate and personal relationship with God today. If not today, then perhaps tomorrow? However I do caution you, tomorrow is promised to no one. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. I urge you to make this decision now, or at the very least, as soon as you possibly can. Don't wait until it's too late. The consequences are just not worth it.
May God richly bless you and establish you in all your paths.
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