“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
1. God loves you and created you to know Him personally.
“God so loved the world (that's you), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (you again) believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 10:7-10).
So, what prevents us from knowing God personally?
2. Our problem is that every one of us have done things that were displeasing to God. God calls those things sin.
"All (you, me everyone) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
We were all created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our own stubborn self-wills, we chose to do our own thing even though it separated us from God.
As it is with everything, there are consequences to our choices
“The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).
3. There must be a way to reach God for help
Thankfully, there is. Jesus was sent from heaven to pay for our sin. Through Him alone we can know God personally and experience His love.
As hard as it is to understand, Jesus died for our sin.
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Jesus rose from the dead to prove He had the power to forgive sin
Knowing these truths is a good start, but there is more.
4. We must individually be willing to agree with God about our sin and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love.
Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of our will.
