God Revealed In Christ

God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). The full revelation of God to us is in Christ. What is God like? Jesus is the express image or likeness of God the Father (Hebrews 1:1-3). We know the Father through the Son of God, Jesus our Lord.

God is revealed in Christ as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. All should agree that the Bible is a book about God. How can we understand who God is? Christ is perfect and complete theology. No wonder Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Christ is the total and full revelation of God. The Bible reveals God in Christ.

Both the Old and New Testaments reveal Christ. In the Old Testament, Christ is revealed in prophecy and typology. The first prophecy of Christ coming is found in Genesis 3:15. He is the Seed of the woman. In typology Christ is revealed in signs and symbols, such as the Lamb of God. In the New Testament, Christ is revealed as fulfilling the prophecy and typology of the Old Testament.

Christ is our Lord and Savior. Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the sacrifice for all our sins. He is our risen Lord. Christ is our assurance of salvation. He is the focus of our faith, the hope of our future, and the love of our lives. Christ is our all and all, now and forever!

Experience God's Love

Experience God's love in his only begotten Son. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Whoever includes every nation, all races, and every ethnic group. Whoever includes you.

Experience God's love at the cross of Jesus. God sent His Son to die for sinners like you and me (Romans 5:8). He died for our sins at the cross (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Look at God's love in Christ crucified. This is the greatest love story the world has ever known. Yes, God the Father's love for you is forever proven.

Experience God's love through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit makes God's love real to believers. Upon confessing Jesus as Lord, the Holy Spirit does something beyond your ability to completely understand. He pours out the Father's love into your heart. Your life is changed by love divine.

Experience God's love forever. As a believer in Jesus Christ, nothing can separate you from the infinite love of God. That includes trouble, persecution, suffering, and even death. God loves you now and forever. Everlasting life in Christ is the Father's everlasting love (Romans 8:37-38).

How God Is for Us

As a believer in Jesus Christ, rest assured that God is for you. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The answer to that question is obvious. If God is for you, it matters not who else should be against you. God, who rules over all, is for you in Christ. He has forever proven it at the cross, where Jesus died for your sins (Romans 8:33).

God is for us during all the trials, temptations, and problems of life. No matter what you face in life, God is always for you. Therefore, you can depend upon His grace sufficient for every need (2 Corinthians 12:9). Even when you have failed God, you confess and repent of your sins, knowing that He will forgive you (1 John 1:9).

God is for us in any and every problem of life. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are more than a conqueror. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

God is for us, so we can pray with confidence. That should relieve our reluctance to ask God for help. Come with confidence to God's throne of grace, because God is for us. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). 

How Christ Is In You

If Christ is in you now, and you can know for sure. Three simple questions will tell you the truth. First, do you have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? Secondly, do you have the hope of eternal life in Christ? Most importantly, do you know the love of Christ in your heart, causing you to love the Lord and others?

The abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit are working in all who have a personal relationship with God in Christ. That's how you know the Holy Spirit is in you now. "And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Christ is in you now through the Holy Spirit. You can know for sure through the abiding gifts of the Spirit in you. God's Spirit enables your faith in Christ. He gives you hope in Christ for the future. He fills you with the love of Christ. His love works in your heart, that is your mind, will, and emotions.

Faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ is sure evidence that the abiding gifts of the Spirit are in your life. Abiding faith is your bond with Christ. Hope in Christ is your assurance of eternal life. The love of Christ in you is the greatest evidence of all, because "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16). 

Christ is in every believer through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). You can know for sure that the abiding gifts of the Spirit are in you. The Holy Spirit enables your faith in Christ. He gives you hope in Christ for the future. He fills you with the love of Christ. His love works in your heart, that is your mind, will, and emotions.

Those Who Will Perish

Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). He made it clear. There are no exceptions, repent or perish. Those who are saved have come to repentance. Those who will perish are all who refuse to repent.

God's command to all people everywhere is to repent. "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). Those who will perish disobey God's command to repent. That includes all who do not repent.

The word repent (metanoeo) means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of direction in a person's life. It's a change of mind toward God about our sin, and a change of direction in life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's command for all people to repent is clear. He saves all who repent. Let us always remember that our responsibility is to repent and believe in Christ (Acts 17:30; John 1:12). God's will "that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) is His will of command to all people everywhere (Acts 17:30).

What God commands, God gives to us in Christ. That includes our repentance, "if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25). God's goodness in our Lord Jesus Christ leads us to repentance (Acts 2:38; Romans 2:4). Those who will perish reject God's goodness in Christ.

God Revealed to All

God is revealed to all through creation and conscience. Reason concludes from creation, there must be a Creator. Conscience convicts us when we have done wrong. Even though God is revealed to all, still we may resist and refuse to believe. Therefore, we are without excuse before God.

Let no reasonable person say there is no God. Creation declares the glory and wisdom of God in the created order (Romans 1:19-21). If there is no God, then the irrational conclusion is simple. Nothing made everything. What a foolish conclusion. That's God's common grace resisted. God is revealed to all.

God is revealed to all not only through the created order, but also through our conscience (Romans 2:15). We are created as responsible moral agents. However, when we ignore conscience in our sin, we would like to think that we are not accountable to God. Yet, God's common grace resisted leaves no excuse.

Mankind, in the corruption of sin, willfully chooses to reject common grace. We don't want to be accountable to God, because of our own natural bias to sin. If there really is a Creator and conscience is true, we need an excuse. However, God revealed to all gives no excuse.