The Heart Of God
Please open your Bible and read:
(John 3:16-21)
Judging people solely by actions can be very inaccurate. Have you ever longed to look inside someone’s heart to understand what the person is really like and what his or her motivations and beliefs truly are?
When it comes to really knowing the Lord, we certainly need to be able to see inside His heart. We live in an age of misinformation about who God is, and unfortunately, confusion over His character, forgiveness, and gift of eternal security frequently lead people to disregard Him. But to understand the heart of God, all we need to do is look at the Cross.
The Cross demonstrates both God’s justice and His mercy. We never have to worry about the Father being unfair; His righteousness requires that He always do the right thing in every circumstance.
God is perfectly holy; therefore, His just and appropriate sentence for sin is eternal separation from Him. (Ezekiel 18:4; Matthew 25:41). However, God wants to have fellowship with His creation. How does a holy, righteous, and just God interact with sinful, rebellious human beings? He prepares a perfect, sinless substitute to bear not only mankind’s guilt but also the punishment each one of us deserves. Jesus Christ’s death made it possible for us to be declared no longer guilty – our sin – debt has been paid in full, and we appropriate that payment on our behalf by receiving Jesus as our Savior. The Lord’s justice demanded that His son undergo the worst possible punishment – separation from the Father – so that God’s mercy could be poured out on us.
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Experience It: Living in the power of the Holy Spirit
About the Author
This article was written by Charles Stanley. You can read more about this author by clicking this link:
http://www.talk.thelife.com/charles-stanley/
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