The Heart of the Matter

When we look honestly at ourselves, we find that we are lost without God. This is not about making mistakes or breaking rules. It runs deeper than that. In the Garden of Eden, the way to the Tree of Life was shut (Genesis 3:24). The life God had planted for mankind was never taken, and every one of us is born outside the garden, withering without His life-giving presence. Every human heart feels this separation from true Life, even if we do not recognize it for what it is.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

Romans 3:23

Without God there is no real life, no lasting hope and no eternal future. But God has not left us in this state. He has made a way back to Him.

One God, and the One He Sent

That way back has a name, and the Gospel has content. Jesus Himself said what eternal life is:

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

John 17:3

There is one God, the Father, who made all things and loves us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, a real man, to stand between God and us and to bring us home.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

Even His name tells the whole story. Jesus, in Hebrew Yeshua, means “YHWH saves”. Christ, in Hebrew Mashiach, means “the Anointed”. Jesus Christ: YHWH saves by His Anointed.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

He Died and Rose Again

Christ died for all the sins of the world, and God raised Him from the dead. The debt is paid, and God has accepted the payment. This is the Gospel the apostles preached:

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2

Nothing is left for you to pay. The only thing He asks is that you believe He did it for you.

A Gift, Not a Wage

God never expected you to save yourself. No good deed, ritual or effort to improve can close the distance between us and God, and so He does not ask for any. He offers salvation as a gift, through Jesus Christ.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

A gift is not earned and it is not paid back. It is received. A child whose father has promised him something does not first try to deserve it. He trusts his father’s word and takes what is given. That is all God asks of you: not that you clean yourself up first, but that you believe Him and receive what He gives.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast

Ephesians 2:8-9

Believe

God does not ask you to prove yourself or to become worthy first. He asks one thing: that you believe Him, that His Son died for you and that He raised Him from the dead. When Jesus was asked what work God requires, He answered:

This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

John 6:29

Faith is not a feeling you have to work up, and it is not a step you take once you are good enough. It is taking God at His word, the way a child takes his father’s word. Whoever does that has eternal life now, not someday.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life

John 3:36

Born Again

Whoever believes is born again, this time not of the flesh but of the Spirit of God. The one who was outside the garden is grafted into the Father’s own planting, His family: a branch in the true vine (John 15:1-5).

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new

2 Corinthians 5:17

This does not mean the struggle is over. The spirit is made new, but it still lives in a mortal body in which sin dwells, and Paul describes that conflict honestly:

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind

Romans 7:22-23

The conflict does not undo what God has done. What He has begun He will finish, and at the resurrection even the body will be changed:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is

1 John 3:2