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"What
is God Like?"
What is God like? Consider
three attributes of God, especially as they relate to
the salvation of man.
God is holy.
How
do we know this?
Nature reveals to us His wisdom, power, and
creativity, but there is nothing in all of God’s
creation which teaches us that God is holy.
God has revealed this attribute about Himself
through His word (Leviticus 11:45; 1 Peter 1:15-16).
“Holy” means “set apart.”
God is separate and apart in regard to His
purity and His majesty.
He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
cannot look on wickedness" (Habakkuk 1:13).
Since "all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), all should fear
the holiness of God.
God is just.
The Psalmist declared:
"Righteousness and justice are the
foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before
Your face" (Psalm 89:14).
Because He is just, God cannot tolerate evil
and every sin must be punished.
As one has correctly observed:
“Justice can demand no less.
Where there is wrong it must be righted, where
there is iniquity it must be punished.
To overlook a single transgression of divine
law would be to compromise divine holiness.”
As sinners, we all deserve the wages of sin: death (Romans 6:23).
The dilemma: How
can a holy and just God save unholy and unjust sinners
yet remain holy and just?
Is there any hope for us?
Is it possible for us to be saved from our
sins?
God, in all His holiness and justice, could punish each sin
on the spot and that would affirm that He was holy and
just. But
then none could be saved.
God doesn’t want anyone to be lost.
He "desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy
2:4). There
is another attribute of God to consider…
God is love
(1 John 4:7-8).
God, from eternity, had a plan whereby He would
demonstrate that He is both just, and the Justifier of
the sinner, thereby manifesting His grace and love.
The
solution is found in Christ!
Read Romans 3:23-26.
Indeed, “all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,” but God, because of His love,
sent His Son, Jesus, to live among men and then to die
on the cross. On
the cross, Jesus paid the price for sin – for your
sin, for mine, and for the sins of the whole world. In
the cross of Christ, God’s holiness, justice and
love met - demonstrating His mercy and providing
salvation for sinners like you and me.
Through
the cross of Christ, God both punished sin and
provided the means of our salvation.
To accept the offer of salvation through Christ, we must believe
that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our
sins (Acts 16:31), we must repent of our sins
(Acts 17:30-31), we must confess Christ before
men (Romans 10:9-10), and we must be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
(forgiveness) of our sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
Then as we continue to walk in the light as He
is in the light, the blood of Jesus will continue to
cleanse us from our sins (1 John 1:7).
Will you accept His offer on His terms?
God
bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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