by
John Benton, published by Banner of Truth
God is the Creator of the World and of Every Person in
It
The message of the Bible
starts with God. What is God like? God is the creator of the world and of every
person in it (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16). God rules His creation and
everything that happens is decided by Him. Because God made us, we are His
property and He has rights over us (Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 16:33; Romans
9:19-21). Though God made all creatures, only man was made a spiritual being as
well as a physical body. Originally man was made perfect in the image of God
(Genesis 1:26), being closely related to God oas his father and enjoying deep friendship with Him.
But the first man spoiled this by rebelling against God. By his action the
whole human race has fallen under God's condemnation (Genesis 3:11-12; Romans
5:18).
God is
invisible to our eyes but sees and knows all things.
God is invisible to our eyes
but sees and knows all things (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 4:13). Without our
realizing it, God is in every place, and there is nothing we can hide from Him.
He even sees into our minds and knows us better than we know ourselves.
God is
Holy
God is holy (Isaiah 6:3; 1
Timothy 6:16; 1 John 1:5). God's holiness means that God is good in the highest
possible sense. He differs from us in His absolute moral perfection. God is
pure and He hates all evil. The Bible says that God's holiness is light in
which there is no darkness at all. He is therefore to be held in respect and
fear.
God is
Triune
God is triune (Matthew 28:19;
John 5:18; Acts 5:3,4). We often have to admit that we
do not understand ourselves, and we ought to realize that we will never
understand everything about the great God who made us. God's word, the Bible,
tells us many things about God which we find above our understanding. It tells
us that there is only one God, but there are three persons who are God. They
are the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Each of them is God,
equal in power and glory, yet there are not three Gods but only one.
God is
Love
God is love (Matthew 5:45;
John 3:16). We usually love the people who love us. But the love of God is far
greater than that kind of love. Every day God shows love and does good to people who are His bitter enemies.
What Sin
Is
God, who made men, has given
them a law by which to live. This law is for our own good. It can be summed up
like this (Exodus 20:1-17; Matthew 5:21-32):
1. We may worship no one else but the true
God.
2. We should not have wrong thoughts about
God, and should only worship Him as taught in the Bible.
3. We must not use the name of God
thoughtlessly or as a swear word.
4. We must keep Sunday as a special day set
apart for God, and complete our work on the other six days of the week.
5. We must respect and love our parents and
obey them.
6. We must not murder or have hateful
thoughts about other people.
7. We must not commit adultery, with our
bodies or in our minds.
8. We must not steal.
9. We must not tell lies.
10. We must not be jealous of other's
people's possessions.
Sin is the breaking of this law (1 John 3:4).
There is nothing bad in the law and anything
that is good does not break the law (Romans 7:12). Jesus said that the two
great principles on which the law is built are these: 'You should love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and love your
neighbor as yourself' (Luke 10:27-28; Mark 12:30-31).
The Law
and Ourselves
Now as we read this law we
realize two things. Firstly our conscience tells us that the law is right and
good. But secondly, we realize that none of us has kept the law and, if we are
honest, we do not even want to keep it. Why? God says it is because we are
sinners. Since the first man's rebellion against God, our nature is to love to
do those things which break God's law (Romans 3:23; Romans 3:10-12;
Ecclesiastes 7:20).
When we break God's law we insult Him, we
spit in His face. God is not hard. God is not malicious. God is 'slow to anger'
(Psalm 103:8). But our sinful hearts and the evil things we do are so serious
that God's anger ought to make us afraid. God will punish all sin (Exodus 34:6-7;
Psalm 7:11; Romans 1:18).
The fact that God is angry with men and women
is the chief explanation for the present state of the world. But further,
unless His anger can be turned aside, after we die we will be sent to Hell and
experience the wrath of God for ever (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:11-15).
'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell' (Matthew
10:28).
The Work
of Jesus Christ
All people are under God's
curse because of their sin. But God has not left it there. He has done a very
remarkable thing (Ephesians 2:4).
God the Son became a man. He did not cease to
be what He had always been - God. But He became what He was not before - a man.
At the beginning of the first century He was born in the town of
As a man He was not different from any other
man except for one thing, He was not a sinner. He did not sin. Jesus fully kept
the law of God in every detail (Romans 8:3; 1 Peter 2:22).
At about the age of thirty, three years
before He was crucified at
Jesus
Christ in the Sinner's Place
A substitute is a person who
takes the place of another person. The very heart of the Christian gospel is
that Jesus was a substitute. What do we mean?
We have seen that the Bible teaches that all
sin will be punished. There is no sin, small or great, which God will pass
over. Every sin must be paid for (Romans 6:23; Genesis 18:25; Romans 12:19).
But God has ordained two places where sin is
finally punished. One is hell. The other is the cross of Jesus Christ. Hell is
where finite people suffer eternally the punishment for their own sin. The
cross is where the infinite God-man, Jesus Christ, suffered in history for sins
which were not His own. He suffered for the sins of others (Mark 9:43-48;
Isaiah 53:4-12; 1 John 4:10).
'For Christ also has once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh' (1 Peter 3:18).
The pain which Jesus endured on the cross was
far more than that of a violent death. He suffered the wrath of God as He bore
the penalty for sin in full (Matthew 27:46). Jesus was the God-appointed
substitute. He took the punishment due to others, so taking away their sin.
He did not die for everybody. He died in the
place of particular individuals. Which individuals? Anyone who believes in Him.
He died in the place of all who in every age trust in Him. Jesus said: 'I am
the good shepherd, the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.... My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me' (John 10:11-27; Romans
8:28-32).
Right
Standing With God
Jesus died on the cross and
was taken down and buried. But three days later He was alive. God had raised
Him from the dead, never to die again (John 20:1-23; Acts 2:24-32; 1
Corinthians 15:3-8). This was God's proof that the guilt which Jesus bore for
others had been fully taken away. It was God's way of showing that Jesus really
had delivered people from the penalty of sin.
'God raised Him up from the dead, and gave
Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God' (1 Peter 1:21).
Jesus died for those who were in God's love
and plan united to Him from eternity past (Ephesians 1:3-14). It is only,
however, when a sinner trusts Christ for the forgiveness of his sins that union
with Christ becomes a fact in his experience. The Christian gospel is that God
treats believing sinners as though they had personally obeyed and suffered all
that Jesus obeyed and suffered, because they are united to Him. God dealt with
Jesus on account of what we deserved, and He deals with us on account of what
Christ deserves (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9). The believer must
therefore say:
Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another's life, Another's death,
I trust my whole eternity.
The sins of Christ's people have been paid
for and forgiven, and the perfect obedience of Christ positively guarantees
their acceptance with God. This is how it is that people are put right with
God.
How Can I
Be Saved?
'Will I be accepted by God if
I try to live a good life?' NO. (Isaiah 64:6)
'Will I be saved if I promise God I'll do
better?' NO.
'How can I be saved then?' There is only one
way to be saved (Acts 4:12). That is by turning from your sins and receiving
Jesus Christ as your Savior (Acts 16:31). Jesus said: 'I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me' (John 14:6).
The Bible teaches us some most wonderful
things, but perhaps one of the most wonderful is the fact that ordinary men and
women may have their sins forgiven by God. The door of salvation stands wide
open. The Lord Jesus Christ says: 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11:28).
A person whose sins have been forgiven by
God, and who therefore knows and obeys Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and
Friend is called a Christian. Perhaps you have some questions about becoming a
Christian. In the remainder of this [article] we will consider some common
questions.
Is there a
cost involved in becoming a Christian?
We cannot buy forgiveness of
sins. It is a free gift of God. But if you become a Christian it means that in
the future Christ's will must rule your life. He will tell you to give up some
things which you have done all your life. He will tell you to do other things
which you have never done before. God's word is the rule of life for
Christians. People may laught at you for being a
Christian. Perhaps you will find opposition from your friends or even from
members of your family. All this is not easy to bear. Some of it is very hard.
But it is the cost of being a friend and follower of Jesus Christ (Luke
14:25-35).
How do I
know that Christ will accept me?
'Do I have to do anything
before I can ask God to save me?' NO! 'Is it necessary that I feel God's
presence in a special way before I can ask Him to save me?' NO! 'Am I too
sinful to be saved?' NO.
The answer to these questions and all
questions like them is that Christ is ready to receive anybody. Whoever you
are, whatever you have done, whatever you feel, Jesus invites you, just as you
are, to come to Him and be saved (Acts 17:30; 1 John 3:23). You do not have to
come to Christ pretending that you are a better person than you really are.
Remember, Jesus knows you better than you know yourself, and He has said: 'Him
that comes to me I will never cast out' (John 6:37). In becoming a Christian a
person must repent of his sin and believe and trust in Jesus Christ to save
him.
What does
it mean to repent of sin?
Without Christ we are all
sinful people and are always doing and thinking things which make God angry. We
willingly go the way of sin. To repent is to turn round and go the other way.
It means to hate sin and to seek to finish with it so as to please God (Ezekiel
14:6; Acts 26:20).
What does
it mean to believe in Jesus Christ?
You must believe that God
sent His Son into the world for the purpose which He has declared: 'God so
loved the world [i.e., He loved the world in this way], that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life' (John 3:16).
Put your trust in Him to save you. Depend on
Him alone. How do you know if you have put your trust in Him? When you trust a
person, you listen to Him and do what He says. It is the same when we trust
Jesus (Acts 15:11; 2 Timothy 1:12).
I feel too
weak to repent and trust Jesus; I would give up too easily; what can I do?
None of us by ourselves has
the strength and will-power to repent and believe. We are unable to do these
things. We are all weak. But God is all-powerful. We must turn from our sin,
but we must ask God to make us truly turn from it. We must put our trust in
Christ, but ask God to make it real trust. It is God who enables us to repent
and believe. 'By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God' (Ephesians 2:8).
When we become Christians we are not only
forgiven, we are in an entirely new and permanent relationship to God. We are
adopted into God's family. He is then our heavenly Father. And God the Holy
Spirit comes to dwell in us. The Spirit gives us new desires to live for Jesus
Christ. The Christian knows love for Christ and a feeling of debt that can
never be repaid. The Almighty Holy Spirit is at work within the Christian and
He is committed to bringing him safe to heaven (Romans 8:14-17; 1 Corinthians
12:3; Philippians 2:12-13; Philippians 1:6). The Christian is able to sing:
From Him who loves me now so well
What power my soul can sever?
Shall life, or death, or earth, or
hell?
No! I am His forever!
Can anyone
else speak to God for me?
Other people can pray for
you, but no one else can make you a Christian. Becoming a Christian, being
saved, is something between you and Jesus Christ. It has nothing directly to do
with anyone else. Are you sorry for your sin and do you want to finish with it
ruling your life? Do you want to be saved from the judgement
to come? Do you want to know Christ as your Friend and Lord? Then God's word to
you is: 'Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is
near: let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God,
for He will abundantly pardon' (Isaiah 55:6-7). You should find a place where
you can be alone, and there seek God in prayer.
What shall
I say when I pray?
God is not interested in fine
words or speeches. But He will listen to anyone who is sincerely wanting to
speak to Him, whatever words are used. As you pray you should:
Confess your sins to God.
Confess that these sins are evil in God's
sight and you deserve to be sent to Hell for them.
Tell God that you have no power to save
yourself.
Ask the Lord Jesus to help you repent and
believe.
Ask Him to save you.
Tell Jesus that you want Him as the Lord of
your life.
Then trust God to hear and answer your
prayers because of Jesus Christ, according to His promises in the Bible.
'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved' (Romans 10:13; Psalm 34:6; Acts 2:21; Hebrews 10:23; John
5:24).
Jesus spoke of a man praying for forgiveness
of sin: '...the tax collector standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a
sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house right with God...' (Luke
18:13-14).
What
should I do next?
There are two important
things you should do. Firstly, if you do not have a Bible you must get one and
begin to read it. You could start by reading John's gospel (John 20:31). God is
the author of the whole Bible. The Lord Jesus always speaks to His people as
they read it.
Secondly, as soon as possible, you must go
and tell a Christian friend what you have done. If you have no friends who are
Christians you should try to find a church which believes the Bible and tell
people there. It is very important that you find Christian friends as soon as
possible. You will recognize them because they love Christ and trust Him, and
obey His word, the Bible.
'Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of
the earth: for I am God and there is no other' (Isaiah 45:22).
THE END