How to know God
Our sin has separated us from God (Genesis 3)
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Genesis 4-Malachi 4)
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matthew-Luke)
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life (John-Jude)
Life that's eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5)
God created us to be with Him. (Genesis 1-2)
In these two chapters God creates all of the universe and everything in it (Genesis 1:1), including the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. God created Adam and Eve with purpose. He called them to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28) and fill the earth with their offspring. He gave them the mission of taking care of the earth and tending the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15.)
God made them to be in complete fellowship with Him and with each other. Their nakedness (Genesis 2:25) represented the fact that they had no sin and therefore no shame, with nothing to hide from God or from each other. They regularly communed with God in the garden and had sheer bliss, pure happiness and unadulterated joy. It was during this time that they were living every day as God intended, in right relationship with each other, God and His creation. The only command God gave to them was not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the same way God made us to be in fellowship with Himself. God's desire is that you and I be in absolute and perfect relationship with Him. God created us to be in harmony with all of heaven and all of earth.
Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)
When Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6), and thereby sinning, they immediately became aware of their disobedience. They sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame and hid in the garden from God (Genesis 3:7,8). Now they were hiding from the One with Whom they used to fellowship with regularly. Men and women have been hiding from God ever since, covering their sin and shame with the fig leaves of religion or philosophy.
God confronted them face to face. Their sin brought immediate and future consequences. The immediate consequences were being banished from the garden (Genesis 3:23,24), experiencing difficulty in childbirth (Genesis 3:16) and having their work transformed from something they loved to something
they hated (Genesis 3:17-19).
The future consequence for Adam and Eve was physical death. God had promised in Genesis 2:17 that the day Adam sinned by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would "surely die." Spiritually, Adam and Eve died the day they sinned in the garden. Their souls became immediately polluted by sin and selfishness. As a result, all of their offspring (and that includes you and me) have been born sinful and selfish. Through Adam, every person ever born is born deprived and depraved – deprived of God's fellowship and depraved to the core (Romans 5:12-14).
When confronted by God the blame game begins. Adam blames Eve (Genesis 3:12) and Eve blames the devil (Genesis 3:13). Humanity has been playing the blame game ever since. What began as paradise unraveled with a single choice to disobey God and listen to Satan instead. Every war, famine, argument, sin and tragedy can be traced back to the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve disobeyed and turned their backs on God for a taste of fruit.
Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. (Genesis 4 - Malachi 4)
From the beginning, humanity has attempted to remove the stain of sin by good deeds. When Cain offered God vegetables as an appeasement for his sins, God rejected this offering (Genesis 4:1-4). As a result, of this rejection, Cain became infuriated and out of jealousy killed his brother Abel.
In Exodus, the second book of the Bible, God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), not to save them from their sins, but to show them that they couldn't live up to His perfect standards on their own (Galatians 3:23-24). But instead of looking to Him in faith, many of the Jews looked to themselves and thought they could please God in their own strength. But God looked upon their "righteous" deeds as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Even the best of their good deeds were corrupted by selfish motives.
In Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, God gave the Israelites the sacrificial system. Every time a Jew sinned, he or she was to sacrifice an animal without any blemishes (Leviticus 4:27-31). Think about that. If you were a Jew in the Old Testament and had to make a sacrifice every time you lied, lusted, gossiped, complained or argued, you would soon run out of animals.
The sacrificial system was meant to point inward, upward and forward. It pointed inward to convince people of their sinfulness. If people were honest before God, then they would soon realize that they could never make enough sacrifices for their sin. It pointed upward to make people trust in God for their salvation, rather than in sacrifices that they could make (Psalm 51:16,17). It pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, Who would someday come to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of the Jewish people, some of whom realized they were sinners and needed God to save them (Psalm 51:1,2), but most of whom trusted in their own goodness instead of the mercy and grace of God (Isaiah 64:6).
Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew-Luke)
When Jesus came to the earth, he came as the fulfillment of God’s law (Matthew 5:17) and as the ultimate sacrifice (Luke 24:45). He lived the perfect life that we could not live and died in our place, for our sin. When He died upon the cross, He spoke the words, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What He meant by these three words was that the price for our sins was paid completely. He was both fully God and entirely man. As a perfect human, He could die for other humans. And as the true and living God, His payment for sin was infinite.
Three days after dying on the cross, Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:6). He was seen by over 500 witnesses (I Corinthians 15:6) on at least 12 separate occasions over the course of forty days (Acts 1:3). Because He died, our sins are paid for entirely. Because He rose from the dead, we know that Jesus was Who He claimed to be, God in the flesh.
Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life. (John-Jude)
The amazing thing about eternal life is that it is a free gift given to us by God through faith alone, and not as a result of any of our good deeds (Ephesians 2:8,9). Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died on the cross, and all we must do is receive the gift of forgiveness through faith by turning from our sin with a heart of repentance. When we believe that Jesus died for our sins and trust in Him alone, we receive eternal life, are passed from death into life and are guaranteed a home in heaven (John 5:24).
Salvation is not achieved by good deeds but received through faith. It's not a matter of trying but trusting. When we believe, we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of salvation. As a result of this salvation, the new child of God seeks to honor Christ in all aspects of life.
Almost the entire New Testament is dedicated to talking about this salvation and the implications of it in our everyday lives. From John through Jude the disciples of Jesus show us how to live as Jesus intended, serving each other in love. This is the heart of the gospel message!
Life that's eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)
The Bible promises that when we trust in Jesus, we enter into a personal, permanent relationship with God which begins the moment we believe (John 10:10). This life involves the joy of a real, exciting relationship with Jesus every single day through prayer, worship and living in the strength that God provides through his Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
The other part of the reality of this life is that it does not end – we will one day be with Jesus forever and ever in heaven someday. Once we receive it is ours forever and we are His forever!
The last chapter of the last book of the Bible makes it clear that we will "rule and reign forever" with Jesus (Revelation 22:5).
You can receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior by turning to Him with a simple prayer of commitment. Here's an example:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me, even when I've ignored you and gone my own way. I am sorry for my sins and I realize I need you to help me to turn from them. Please be merciful and forgive me of all my sins. Thank you for dying on the cross in my place. Come into my life and make me the new person you've called me to be. I accept your free gift of salvation and eternal life. Now give me the strength I need to follow you. Amen."
If you have made the decision to trust in Christ, please let us know! Call one of our pastors at 630-466-7198. We will give you some free materials and help you in your life as a new believer.
If you want to learn more about your relationship with Jesus Christ, check out the devotional series “
