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God created man and in the beginning the relationship between God and man was very good. But man chose to disobey God. Man's disobedience made fellowship with God impossible:
For your depravity has separated you from your God;
The Bible teaches how the relationship between God and man can be
restored. In order to understand this, we must first understand some
things about God. God is holy. God is absolutely sinless and perfect in His character.
There is none holy as the LORD. (1 Samuel 2:2)
God is just. Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin. Because God is just, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished.
The LORD...will by no means clear the guilty. (Exodux 34:7)
Holiness and justice are two important characteristics of God. Man is sinful.
Sin is the breaking of God's law, that is, the disobeying of His
commandments in thought, word, or deed (1 John 3:4). Sin is
a great offense to God; it is rebellion against Him.
The separation between God and man is such that man's best efforts cannot
satisfy God's holiness and justice. All his righteous acts are like
filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Man is under God's wrath and must pay sin's penalty.
God is pure, and will not allow any sin into Heaven. "And there
shall not enter into it [Heaven] anyone that defiles, or whoever makes an
abomination or a falsehood...(Revelation 21:27) How can the relationship between God and man be restored? God is loving and merciful.
The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, longsuffering in
wrath, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands
[of generations], forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ... (Exodus
34:6,7) Jesus died as a substitute for sinful man.
Man cannot appease God's wrath through any of his own efforts. But Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, came and livied as a man. He fulfilled God's law
perfectly, and then offered Himself as a sacrifice in order to pay the
penalty for man's sin. Man must respond by believing.
Christ's sacrifice and God's forgiveness are not granted to everyone, but
only to God's children. The gift of adoption into God's family is only
offered through faith in Christ. Man must respond by repenting.
Adoption, forgiveness, and righteousness are freely accessed by faith
alone, but not a faith which is alone. Faith is always evidenced by a
change of life.
God: When you respond by turning from your sin and trusting Christ as Lord and Savior, you have the promises of evernal life, complete forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. (Romans 5:1, 8:1) In prayer tell God...
1. That you recognize your sinful condition before a holy and just God,
and that you are in need of Christ's forgiveness.
Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy
which leads to destruction, and many are they who enter through it. For
the gat is narrow and the way is difficult which leads to life, and few
are they who find it. (Matthew 7:13,14) Written by The Boardwalk Chapel www.chapelopc.org - Send them an email. 4312 Boardwalk, PO Box 602, Wildwood, NJ 08260 Scripture translation by Michael V. Flowers Based on "Trusting Christ" produced by Reformed University Fellowship. 8/4/99 Return to Joel's page. Return to Joel's Georgia Tech page. |