The miraculous reality of creation (i.e. the size of the universe as well as the unbelievable creativity of the human body), the impact of Jesus Christ on this world, the deep longings within our own hearts for love and spiritual fulfillment, and the reality of our conscience all highlight the wonder of creation, the problem of evil, and the relevance of the message and truth found in the Holy Scriptures, often called the Bible. This book tells us that the God of creation can be known personally in Jesus Christ, that God loves us, and that He holds us accountable for how we live. With that, through Christ, we have the unbelievable opportunity to entrust and surrender our lives over to an all-powerful and all-knowing God.
Figuratively speaking, God holds us in the palm of His hand, protecting us, guiding us, and carrying us through this life until we reach the life to come, while using us for His purposes in this world. There is a deep peace and lasting joy that we all hunger for and that can only be found in knowing this God. Such a relationship is found by entrusting our lives into His hands and surrendering our hearts to His will.
Yet, amidst the many good things in this life, our world is corrupted by evil, many people face great suffering and tragedies, and we all experience the temptations of such vices as greed or acting deceptively. Why does our world have such problems, and why are these desires within us, that cause us to act contrary to what our conscience and better judgments?
The Bible tells us that first man and woman, named Adam and Eve, enjoyed living in a perfect world. God created them in His image (like God), male and female; both represent the image of God Himself. God is and has revealed Himself to us as our heavenly Father. His likeness, character, and love are manifest in the uniqueness of both a man and a woman, who together reveal what God is like. Adam and Eve also lived without a knowledge of evil, and they were naked, wearing no clothes, and they felt no shame. But then Adam and Eve disobeyed God, taking the only thing God had forbidden them to have. They chose to eat from the tree that would make them like God, and give them the knowledge of good and evil, wanting a greater enlightenment or higher consciousness for themselves, beyond what God had given them. Listen to these words taken from the first book in the Bible. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:6-8).
Adam and Eve were tempted by the wisdom and pleasure that the fruit from that tree appeared to offer, and were overcome by their desire to have that which was forbidden. Their disobedience led to their fellowship (or relationship) with God being broken. Immediately they began to experience the pain and turmoil that you and I face every day. For the first time they experience shame and fear. They knew they had done wrong, and they tried hiding from God. You and I face the same basic temptations today amidst things such as pride, lust, greed, or materialism, and the fascination and lure there is behind the sinful things that we have never experienced, but are curious about. We also face the same pressures to blame others or even God himself for our wrong doings. But God did not intend for humans to be burdened with such knowledge of evil, to live with the daily reality and awareness of evil as we do today."
God desired to give us a free will, to be able to love God and obey Him, and so He created Adam and Eve as free beings. He allowed Adam and Eve to be tempted by the devil, who convinced them to disobey God. The devil, who is named Satan, was an angel that rebelled against God, and he led many angels astray with him who also became demons. Angels are created beings like us, yet they are spirits and do not have physical bodies. They are active in our world, but they exist and operate in the spiritual realm that we cannot see. The devil, and the angels that rebelled with him, were turned into demons by God, and have been given permission by God to attack this world and lead it astray. This is part of the curse or punishment that entered the human race as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s rebellion. The reality of Satan and our sin nature can easily be seen in the horrible things that exist in this world such as war, poverty, or child abuse, and in the evil of our own hearts (i.e. arrogance, greed, lust, and racism).
Satan approached Eve in the Garden of Eden, and deceived her by getting Eve to focus on his lies and the pleasure of temptation, rather than God's truth and the joy there is in obeying His commands. Adam was with Eve during this encounter with the devil, and he remained a silent and passive observer. Rather than protecting his wife and obeying God's command, Adam's passivity led to his own willful rebellion against God, and the downfall of the entire human race. We face these same temptations today, being led astray or kept in bondage by the lies of Satan and the pleasure of evil things. Also, like with Adam, we lack the spiritual and moral resolve to stand up for what is right, and eventually lose the power to say no to other sins. Along with that, our sin nature causes us to deny or hide our sin, or blame it on others. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked. Their innocence had been corrupted, and they hid from God. When God confronted Adam, he blamed the wife God had given him. Eve then blamed the serpent (the devil). We do the same thing today, blaming others or God for our own wrong doing. However, our problems and vulnerability is even greater than that which Adam and Eve originally faced.
Since their rebellion, every person has been born with what the Bible calls a sin nature. Sin is like a spiritual disease that corrupts every aspect of our human nature. The Bible teaches us that "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men [or people], because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). This means that sin is not only appealing to our free will, but we are actually not free to begin with (we are born with a spiritual bondage, naturally prone to do and love that which is evil). This is why it is so hard to overcome things like bitterness or jealousy, lust or the love of money, or to put the good of others before ourselves and view other people as better than ourselves. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sin nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out" (Romans 7:15-18).
Our sin nature is like a spiritual cancer which eats away at our soul and brings death to the human race. We die for various reasons, some of which are not directly related to our sins. There are wicked people who live to an old age and other godly people who die prematurely. But death itself has come ultimately because of sin. The sin nature we are born with causes our bodies to break down and become weak as we grow old. If we do not die for other reasons earlier in life, we will all die of old age because our sin causes our bodies to break down. Sin is also what causes us to do wrong things and have selfish thoughts and desires. This is why we have feelings of shame, fear, jealousy, bitterness or insecurity; feelings God never meant for us to endure. This is why we lack peace and joy, and live in a world full of pain and sorrow and all other kinds of evil. Our sin brings problems into this world, and so does our spiritual enemy called the devil, who is leading the whole world astray.
Even though our world is full of evil, God loves all people and has been speaking to us and pursuing us ever since "the Fall" described above (when Adam and Eve sinned against God). The primary way God has reached out to us is through the Person of Jesus Christ and His gospel message. In this gospel message we learn that Christ is the answer for our sin and the judgment we face, the spiritual hunger we have for fullness of life in the God who created us, and for life after death. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Here we learn that God sent His Son Jesus to this lost world because God loves us! He promises to give eternal life to all who believe in Christ (eternal life includes forgiveness of sin, becoming spiritually alive, and having eternal life after we die).
Jesus paid the penalty we deserve and He died so that people from all over the world and throughout human history can be forgiven and live forever with God after they die. Jesus can save anyone, regardless of one’s religion, race, or economic background, and regardless of how deep your problems are or how bad you have sinned. God loves you! The last book of the Bible called Revelation tells us that Jesus Christ is going to come back to earth one day, and when He returns there will be "a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9). This means there will be believers in Christ from all over the world representing every language spoken, and they will be standing before "the throne" and Jesus Christ who is called "the Lamb". The throne refers to God's power over all creation and that Christ will one day judge the whole world. Christ is called the Lamb because He was sacrificed and killed on the cross for the sins of the whole world, like the Jews sacrificed lambs in the Old Testament as a temporary offering and for their sins and a reminder of their need for God's forgiveness (see "The Bible Story" link below for a further explanation). His sacrifice paid the penalty that we should face on judgment day, but God in His love for us sent His own Son Jesus to pay the sentence or penalty we deserve.
More explanation is given in the book of Romans. "The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:22-24). "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25). Here the Apostle Paul tells us that we have all sinned and the only way to be restored to righteousness (having God’s character and being in right fellowship with Him) is through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ gives us redemption (being bought back or redeemd from the bondage of sin and its penalty, and brought into a right relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).
We also learn more from the disciple John who wrote the following: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is fatifhul and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. May dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sings of the whole world" (1 John 1:8-2:2). Jesus as "the atoning sacrifice" means Christ stands in the legal place for us sinners, taking upon Himself, through His death on the cross, the punishment that we deserve and His death removes or satisfies God's anger or wrath against us in our sin.
The salvation that God brings through the cross is then made available to sinners as God reveals Himself through His spirit speaking to our minds, tugging on our hearts, and convicting us of our sin and our need for a Savior. God speaks to us as Christians share the gospel message with us, as we read or hear about Jesus and the Bible, and through the circumstances in our lives. Perhaps you have been sensing God drawing you to Himself and revealing His Son Jesus to you, even as you read the words on this page. God comes looking for us often times when we have not been looking for Him, and revealing to us what we could never figure out for ourselves, that Jesus Christ is God the Son who offers us the fullness of life and rescues us from the corruption of our spiritual disease and the troubles of this fallen world.
Listed below are Links to different Topics related to Spiritual Life & the Bible:
Who is Jesus? For an introduction to the Person of Jesus Christ click on:
www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/WhoisJesus.dsp
The Gospel: For information on the Message of Jesus Christ
and the hope & spiritual strength that He offers click on:
www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/TheGospel.dsp
The Bible Story: To read more about the relevance and reliability of the Bible,
the Creation of the world, and God's intervention in human history click on:
www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/TheBibleStory.dsp
Spiritual Life: To read more about the origins and problems of evil & suffering
in this world and the answers found thru faith in Jesus Christ click on: www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/SpiritualLife.dsp
Devotional: "One Solitary Life"
www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/OneSolitaryLife.dsp
Devotional: "God the Son Becomes a Man"
www.LakeRegionBibleChurch.org/PastorsDevotional.dsp
For more information or for spiritual help please contact:
Pastor: Marcus Johnson (847) 546-5409
Email: EFCAMarcus@sbcglobal.net
Youth Minister: Karl Anderson (847) 546-5409
Email: Karlj16@sbcglobal.net
