11/18/23
“In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He (Jesus) was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him (Jesus); and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. In Him (Jesus) was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it]. (John 1: 1-5)
The Definition of God
GOD IS! These are Truths expressing the very nature of the Creator God, the one true God and the only living God.
He is THE God who “in the beginning created the Heavens and Earth.” (Genesis 1:1) He is the maker of all things and He gets to make the rules and set the standards in His world.
He is the Uncaused First Cause of the Universe.
He is the Judeo-Christian God, Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He existed before the beginning of time, even before the foundation of world. (John 8:58)
He is the great “I Am,” who was the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and even though there are many imitations, besides Him there is no other God. (Isaiah 44:6)
He is the “triune” God of the scripture who revealed Himself to exist as ONE God in three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (the Trinity). God is Jesus. Jesus is God. God’s Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus, the promised Helper who lives in the hearts of all who have salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
He is the Majesty on High, the Heavenly Father and the Almighty God.
He is the God who said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image”. You and all other persons ever born were created in His image and all those who will be born will be created in His image. (Genesis 1:27)
He is the God whose Truth, His inspired words are found in the 66 books of the Holy Bible, by far, the most read book in the history of the world. All scripture in His Bible are breathed out of God’s mouth and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for the training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
He is spirit, without a physical body, and has a universal presence and his worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
He is omnipotent. He has unlimited power as evidenced by His creation of the universe, the virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ.
He is omnipresent. He is present everywhere, all the time. (Psalm 139:7-12)
He is omniscient. He knows everything… the past, the present and the future, all at the same time.
He is the righteous God. (1 John 3:20) He sets the standard for righteousness. It defines His character. Every action God takes towards you will always be right, just, and honest. (Psalm 145:17)
He is the Holy God. In Him, there is not even the faintest trace of evil. (Psalm 77:13)
He is the definition of Truth. Anything is true only because He says it’s true.
He is impeccably pure, wholly without fault, and uncompromisingly just. God cannot lie. He cannot make wrong decisions. He does not break His promises.
He is sinless, blameless and timeless.
He is the one true God who is supreme and sovereign.
He is the only Living God. He is eternal, infinite and endless in time. He has always been and always will be. All of the other gods were created by man and are false gods, full of lies and deception in an attempt to keep you from God. (Jeremiah 10:10)
But most importantly, He is the God of love, of grace and of mercy. He is the definition of love, grace and mercy. God clearly shows and proves His love for you, that while almost 2000 years before you were even born, God through Christ, died on the cross, once for all, to pay the price for your sins and the sins of all mankind. He died for your sins so you wouldn’t have to. No other god loved sinful man so much that he would die for him. No other god was ever raised from the dead. (1 John 4:7-12)
He is the God who “was” and the ‘God who “is” and the God who “evermore shalt be!”
The Truth is this: ‘God is’ THE God with a capital “G” and His name is GOD and there is not any person or any thing in this world that can change that. God is who He said He was and is who He says He is and He will do what He said He would do. He keeps His promises and Jesus is our living hope for those promises which is sealed by His Holy Spirit.
The apostle Paul said, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, NOTHING will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
There is strength and power and hope in His name!
There is no god like our God!
How great is our God! (Psalm 145:4)
Do you know Him today?
(2) From Lucifer to Satan, the Enemy of God
“Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 AMP)
“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9)
Disobedience to God originated in the world through the choice of a high-ranking angel named Lucifer, meaning “morning star,” who held the position of “the guardian cherub” with significant power and influence. Despite being created by God and initially “good and blameless,” Lucifer chose disobedience.
Through unrighteousness in the form of self-generated pride, Lucifer rebelled against God and was banished from Heaven along with his army of rebel angels who assisted in the plot. They were thrown down to Earth and ultimately condemned to hell.
Lucifer changed his name to Satan, which means “adversary,” and set his sights on overpowering God as humankind’s enemy by tempting God’s children, like you and me to abandon and reject God. The choices we make to believe Satan’s lies and deceptions and sin against God are made through our own choices.
Satan and his demons continue to wreak havoc all day, every day, all around the world in his attempt to keep us separated from God. The chaos and confusion abounds in every sector of life all around this world He created. If you don’t believe it, just take a look around.
As one man said, “Oh, I say and I say it again. You’ve been had! You have been took! You have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, lied to, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived!” He wasn’t talking about the devil, but this is exactly what Satan has done and millions upon billions of men, women and children have fallen for it… hook, line and sinker. That’s what they choose to believe and how they choose to live their lives. That is “self” minus God. “Self without God. “Self” rejecting God. Selfishness is the opposite of God’s goodness. That’s eternity without God. Your identity must be defined not by “who” you are and what you’ve done or will do, but defined only by “whose” you in Christ and by what He has done for you at the cross and by walking out of that tomb. Jesus is the only “Truth” that can set you free from the penalty of sin and death.
Satan focuses on your mind, using temptations, lies, deceit, and confusion as his weapons. His goal is to divert your thoughts away from the love of God, employing any means possible. The devil aims to deceive and lead the mind into disobedience, gradually darkening the hearts. When our minds are fixed on Christ, there’s little room for Satan and his henchmen, who surround us, to maneuver.
His power is limited, especially for those of us who are born again and use God’s words to push him away. Christ dealt a serious blow to Satan’s power and authority through His death and resurrection, but didn’t completely get rid of him. Not yet.
Satan’s final destination along with the Antichrist (the beast), the false prophet and all those who reject Christ is described by the terms Hell, the lake of fire, and outer darkness, where they will be in a state of complete separation from God which is never-ending and inescapable and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10).
And for ever and ever is a long time to be wrong.
(3) The First Sin and the Fall of Man
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely (unconditionally) eat [the fruit] from every tree of the garden; but [only] from the tree of the knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly die [because of your disobedience].” (Genesis 2:17 AMP)
Man has been separated from God since Adam committed mankind’s first sin in the Garden of Eden.
Eve was tempted and deceived by Satan in the form of a talking serpent and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then Adam, knowing better, did the same.
God had commanded Adam “for when you eat from it you will certainly die” and by doing so, evil was introduced to mankind in the form of sin. God’s perfect creation had been temporarily been made imperfect by Adam’s willful disobedience. The penalty for Adam’s sin was the wrath of God, which included a curse on mankind where every human being born with the blood of Adam, including you, would be born into sin and separated from God.
Every sinful person would have to pay the penalty for their own sins and the penalty was death of the physical body and eternal punishment of their souls in hell.
But what if someone else could pay the price of sin for you, someone who could “save” you from your the penalty of your sins? It would have to be a person who had never sinned, a person of who Satan’s relentless deceptions would have no effect. That was not a possibility for a mere mortal man. But God…
Sinful man has always needed a Savior and His name is Jesus.
(4) What is Sin?
“All have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 AMP)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 AMP)
Sin entered God’s perfect creation causing it to become temporarily imperfect. Adam, the first man, also became the first man to “rebel” against God. Created in God’s image, Adam possessed the free will to either obey or disobey Him. His choice to sin marked the introduction of “evil” into the world through sin and death and from the very moment we were born into sin, our bodies began to die.
Even though it was Eve who sinned first, God had directly commanded Adam with the warning, “for when you eat from it, you will certainly die” and it was he who bore the full responsibility for sin. God had commanded it. It was not a suggestion.
According to the Bible, as descendants of Adam, we all share the curse of sinning and falling short of God’s glory. The consequence of one sin, any sin, all sin is death and eternal separation from God in a place where God will not be. Despite having not signed up for sin and its consequences, we all inherited the sin nature. We all became sinners. (Romans 3:23 & 6:23)
Our sin provokes God’s wrath, a powerful and just anger. When we sin, it not only angers God but also places us under His rightful judgment. This doesn’t imply that God is malicious, ill-tempered, or vindictive. Instead, it signifies His hatred for evil, his refusal to compromise with it and his unwillingness to tolerate it.
This simple three-letter word carries a significant meaning. In the Bible, sin is defined as breaking God’s law, an act of disobedience or rebellion against God and a declaration of independence from God. But having an independent spirit creates a bigger problem: it severs our connection with God. You were made by God, and even the next beat of your heart relies on Him. In reality, you’re not independent from God, no matter what you might believe. Most crucially, when you die, you will inevitably face Him in judgement. How helpful will your independent attitude be then?
Sin is, at its core, an act of insulting and displaying contempt for God. It reveals that humanity considers sin more desirable than God. In the midst of sin, our selfish desires take precedence over His goodness.
Sin is also described as “missing the mark” of God’s holy standard of righteousness, that which is right, moral and just. But simply put, sin means doing anything that does not please God. Just think of the many things we do that if we just asked ourselves “Does this please God? Is what I’m doing right now pleasing to God in any way?” If the answer is “no” and you do it anyway while being fully aware of your lack of reverence for God, then we must understand His wrath. Sinful man has a heart problem.
“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make man unclean.” (Mark: 7:21-23) The list of sins is endless.
As a sinner, you sin because you want to sin. You freely choose to sin no matter what the consequences are. By choosing to sin you choose to openly reject Christ for all to see.
Choosing to sin signifies that, at that moment, your urge and desire to commit the sin outweigh your desire to obey Jesus. If following Christ were a higher priority, you would do everything to refrain from sinning. In every choice, we tend to align with our strongest inclinations and desires. Stating that sin holds a stronger sway than Christ reveals a lot about your true priorities and character.
The problem with sinners isn’t a loss of the ability to make right choices after their fall. Sinners still have the capacity to think and make right choices. With an inherent inclination towards evil and a desire for sin, individuals often give in to sinful actions.
According to the Bible, people are in bondage, ensnared by sin, resulting in a loss of moral freedom. Although we can still make choices, our tendencies lean toward wrongdoing rather than doing what is right. No one is entirely good or free from sin. It’s not the quantity of sin or the magnitude of sin, but any sin at all, that creates a separation from God, revealing an internal issue. The solution lies in exchanging our sin-damaged heart for a new one, which only his Holy Spirit can do through salvation as we are born again.
Sin is real and holds great significance. We are all sinners, by our own choices and there are “eternal” consequences for them.
If sin separates us from God and leads to death, how can we break free from its curse? Here’s the bad news first: You can’t save yourself. There is nothing that sinful man can do to save themselves from the wrath of God and his justice; not works of any kind. But the Good News is this: God offers a solution through his Son, Jesus Christ, providing believers a way to seek redemption; to be saved only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ!
There is no other way.
5) God’s Plan of Redemption
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 