The world around us, and human life itself, leaves everyone in
awe of its magnificence at some time in their life, if not for most of
their life!Deep in
the heart of man is the knowledge that creation speaks of its Creator
(Rom 1:19-20).If every person were able to be completely honest with
himself/herself, he would admit that there is a Creator who is all
powerful and has many wonderful attributes (Rom 1:19-20).This creator is the God of the Bible (Acts 17:24).God created this world, sustains this world (Col 1:17), gives
life to this world (Acts 17:25), and controls every aspect of life in
all creation (Acts 17:26).He
exercises complete authority over all of His creation.That is, He is the Lord of His creation.God is also completely self-existent.That is, He is complete within Himself and has no need for
anything from His creation (Acts 17:24-25).Instead, creation is completely dependent on God.Most importantly, man, one of God’s creations, is totally
dependent on God.God
has told us, through the Bible, that He created us in His “image”
(Gen 1:26-27) for the purpose of worshipping and praising Him (e.g. 1
Cor 10:31).This is
possible because God allows us to “find” Him (Acts 17:27) and know
Him (Phil 3:10).The
starting point for finding God is His revelation of Himself through
creation (Rom 1:19-20).In
creation we can see his unfailing power and many of His attributes (e.g.
wisdom, and goodness).God
made Himself known to mankind so that man would seek Him, find Him, and
worship Him.The purpose in
laying this foundation about God is to understand that, as God’s
creatures, God owns us.This
means that we are responsible and accountable to God.
There is much evidence that men admit they know of God’s
existence.For example, literature often speaks of the creator of men
(Acts 17:28).However, even
though people know God exists, they choose to reject God.God’s creation, mankind, chooses neither to honor Him nor to
give Him thanks (Rom 1:21).Instead,
they choose to replace God’s authority with their own authority.This was first seen with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.Even though God walked with them in the garden, they chose to
disobey God by following their own thinking. This story is known as
“the fall of man” and is written in Genesis Chapter 3.This disobedience is called sin and consists of “rebelling”
against God and “replacing” God.“Rebelling” includes not honoring, thanking and obeying God.“Replacing” means putting one’s own authority above God’s
in determining how to live.Replacing
God can also include worshipping other gods who are not the true God of
the Bible.The “problem” with sin is that God has said that
anyone who sins will be punished with eternal death (Rom 3:23).The Bible calls this the “wages of sin.”This death includes both punishment and separation from God in
this life, but, most importantly, means eternal punishment in hell.In addition, there’s no way that a person who sins can
“work” his way out of God’s punishment (Rom 3:20, Gal 2:16).If a person sins, their situation is hopeless and helpless.They can’t make things right with God and, hence, face eternal
damnation.To complete the
picture it is necessary to understand that God chose that Adam and Eve
would represent all mankind (Rom. 5).When they sinned, they sinned for all men for all time.As such, all men are born sinners and face eternal punishment in
hell.Fortunately, the
story doesn’t end here!
God has provided a solution to man’s condemnation.There is a way to solve each man’s “sin problem.”There is a way to make things right with God and not suffer
eternal punishment in hell.Men
can be at peace with God and enjoy eternal fellowship with Him in
heaven.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to provide the solution for each
man’s sin problem.Who is
Jesus Christ?Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and is also fully God Himself (Jn1:1).Jesus became a man (Jn 1:14) and paid God’s penalty for sin –
death (Rom 3:25-26).Jesus,
unlike any other man, lived a perfect life, a life without sin (Heb
4:15).He died on the cross
as a substitute for us (Rom 5:7-8).God showed His acceptance of this payment of the penalty for
sin by raising Jesus from the dead.In dying for men Jesus provided a way for men to be saved from
the eternal punishment of God (Rom 5:9) and saved to eternal life with
God.God has declared
that the way for each man to have his penalty for sin paid is to accept
Jesus Christ’s payment with His life as a free gift from God (Rom
6:23)!To accept this
gift, one must not only acknowledge Jesus Christ as his “savior”
from God’s punishment, but also must acknowledge Jesus Christ as His
Lord, His authority in all things.This is called “believing” in Jesus Christ and involves
putting one’s faith in Jesus and his work on the cross.
There are necessary choices men must make to be saved.From what has been presented here, it has been seen that all men
are condemned to death by God because of their sin.Each person must recognize that he/she deserves eternal
punishmentbecause of their
rejection of God, rebellion against God, and replacement of God with
their own authority.Each
must acknowledge he stands hopeless and helpless before God’s
judgment.He deserves the penalty for sin – death.Most importantly, though, in addition to his admission of sin, he
or she must understand that God calls for his willingness to turn away
from sin, i.e. repent.So,
the first step for a person to make peace with God and remove their
eternal punishment is to acknowledge his sin and turn away from it.The second step is to accept Jesus Christ’s death and
resurrection as a payment to God for the sin penalty.God has said that anyone who accepts this free gift, by placing
their trust, i.e. their faith,in Jesus Christ will not suffer the penalty for sin but,
instead, will spend eternity with God and Jesus in heaven.
