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Perhaps you have always wondered how you could have a personal
relationship with God. You may feel like something is missing
– a connection with the Creator. Maybe the words of Augustine
resonate with you; “You have made us for yourself, O God,
and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.”
Blaise Pascal said it this way; “Man searches in vain,
but finds nothing to help him, other than to see an infinite emptiness
that can only be filled by One who is infinite and unchanging.
In other words, it can only be filled by God Himself.”
Sound familiar? Do you sense a void within? Have you tried to
satisfy your longing with no lasting success? Many people seek
to fill that God-shaped emptiness with pleasure, prosperity, or
power, anything but God, and yet the emptiness remains.
Why? It’s because finite things can never fill an infinite
emptiness. We need an infinite solution. So, the search for fulfillment
in life must begin with infinite God.
If you would like a personal relationship with God, there
are three things to know:
1. God's Position
2. Our Condition
3. God's Provision
And one thing to do:
1. Our Decision
A Next Step
Starting Point
The first thing to know is…
Did you know that there is a God who searches for us? The God
who searches is a God of love. His desire is to have a loving
relationship with us.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.” John 3:16
However, the God who searches is also a God of perfection. His
absolute moral perfection is the standard upon which the relationship
is based.
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as you heavenly Father
is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
Sounds pretty bleak so far, doesn’t it? We have to be perfect
to have a relationship with a perfect God. God has high standards
and will not accept anyone even if they have just a “little”
sin in their life.
Imagine you are given a glass of cold, refreshing water. Just
before you put the glass to your lips you are told that a small
drop of cyanide has been added to the water. However, since it
is such a small amount of cyanide, you needn’t worry. What
harm can such a small amount of poison do to a full glass of cool,
clear water?
But you know that no matter how small the dose of poison, it
contaminates the whole glass of water. In the same way, God cannot
allow even a small amount of sin (imperfection) into a perfect
heaven lest it contaminate the entire place.
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And, it gets worse because the second thing to know is…
We who are searching must realize three things:
1. We fall short of God’s standard
of perfection.
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God.” Romans 3:23
2. We face God’s penalty of
eternal separation.
“For the wages of sin is death [eternal separation]…”
Romans 6:23a
3. We fail to enjoy God’s love
even now in this life!
“But your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you,
so that He does not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
One way to understand this is to picture yourself with all of
humanity lined up at the rim of a canyon. The only way to get
across the one-mile chasm is to jump. The distance you can jump
is directly proportional to how many good deeds you have performed.
A mass murderer jumps only one foot and plummets downward. If
you are an exceptionally good person, you may be able to jump
25 feet. But this is till far short of the goal.
One by one they try, but fall short of the other side. In the
same way, even though some people perform more good deeds that
others, all of us fall short of perfection.
Wow! God is perfect. We are sinful. And, sin must be paid for.
Is there any hope?
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Hang on, because the third thing to know is…
God, in the person of Jesus Christ, took the initiative in searching
for us.
- God substituted Christ’s perfection for our imperfection
through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
“For Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous
for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death
in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18
- God satisfied both His love and perfect justice, thereby making
a relationship with Him possible.
“In this is love, not that we love God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (satisfactory
payment) for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
A true story illustrates how love and justice can be satisfied
and work together. During the Great Depression, police brought
an elderly man before a New York City night court magistrate.
The man was starving and had stolen a loaf of bread.
That night, Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia was presiding over the court,
as he sometimes did to stay close to the citizens. He fined the
old man $10. “The law is the law, and cannot be broken,”
the mayor said. At the same time, he took a $10 bill out of his
wallet and paid the fine for the man. Both justice and love were
served when LaGuardia paid the penalty for the old man.
That’s what God did: Out of love, He sent Jesus to die for
us. Out of justice, He required a perfect, complete payment for
our sins. Both God’s love and justice were satisfied when
He sent perfect Jesus to die for our imperfections (sins).
Now you have the three things to know. But that is not enough.
A lot of people know these three things. They and you can see
that God has done all that is necessary for us to have a relationship
with Him and he offers it as a free gift. But, as with any gift,
it must still be received before it benefits the recipient. That’s
where we must do something.
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The one thing we need to do is…
The search for God ends in a choice: To accept or reject
Christ’s perfect payment for your sins.
- Accepting God’s gift involves admitting the truth about
ourselves, that we have failed to measure up to God’s
standards and we are separated from Him.
“For the wages of sin is death [eternal separation], but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
- Accepting God’s gift involves transferring your trust
from yourself to Jesus Christ.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right
to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
John 1:12
Now you can have a personal relationship with God! When we completely
trust in God’s provision, we no longer trust in our good
works to balance out or overcome our sins. We trust exclusively
in what Jesus did for us.
But what does it meant to have faith or to transfer our trust
to Jesus? Consider the account of the Amazing Blondin, the famous
19th century French tightrope walker. He successfully crossed
Niagara Falls a number of times (an 1100-foot span, 160 feet above
the raging waters).
On one occasion Blondin pushed a wheelbarrow across. He then
asked how many in the crowd believed he could push the wheelbarrow
across with someone in it. The crowd cheered. He then asked, “Does
anyone believe enough in me to get in the wheelbarrow and cross
Niagara Falls with me?” No one volunteered. Finally, Blondin’s
manager climbed on his back and they crossed the great falls together.
The crowd’s belief was purely intellectual, but Blondin’s
manager went beyond intellectual assent to personal trust. That’s
the kind of faith the Bible says we must have in Christ.
We must go beyond saying we believe that Jesus “can”
bring us into relationship with God. The crucial step is “getting
in the wheelbarrow” – fully trusting that Jesus “will”
carry us into a new relationship with God!
Let’s Review: Three things to know. One thing to
do!
God’s Position: What is God like?
God is both loving and perfect.
Our Condition: What are we like? We are
sinful and separated from God.
God’s Provision: What did God do about
the problem? He gave His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross
as a satisfactory payment for our sins.
Our Decision: What should you do? Admit
you are separated from God and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The choice is yours.
Would you like to receive Christ now?
If so, you can use this prayer to express your decision to
God.
Dear God,
I admit that I am a sinner and I understand that my sin separates
me from you. I believe that Jesus, being God, paid the penalty
for all my sins when He died on the cross and rose from the dead.
I want to place my trust in Him as my Savior. Thank you for loving
and forgiving me and giving to me the gift of eternal life. In
Jesus’ name, Amen.
_________________________
If you have made the decision to receive Christ and His payment
for your sins and you have trusted Him alone for your salvation,
then you have become a child of God through faith in Christ (John
1:12, 1 John 5:11-13)
Here at Hope Community Church, we would love to celebrate your
new relationship with God and help you grow into a fully devoted
follower of Christ. Our staff is eager to help in any way we can.
If you are interested or would just like to share your decision
with someone, contact Steve Ellis at 532.0620 or steve@gethope.net.
Congratulations and welcome to the family of God!
For info about Starting Point Small
Groups, click here.
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One way to get going in this new relationship is to be a part
of Starting Point. This is a 13-week small group environment where
you will learn how to grow in your faith, get an overview of the
Bible and receive solid answers to questions you have about the
Christian life.
If you'd like more info about Starting Point or have any other
questions, contact Steve Ellis at 532.0620 or steve@gethope.net.
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