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than mere feeling. He is much
more than a warm, fuzzy idea.
He has lived forever (Psa. 93:2),
is all-powerful (Psa. 147:5), has the
greatest mind (lsa. 55:8; 1 Cor.
2: 16) and has brought into being
and
!oves
His creation- mankind
(John 3: 16). Your mind can't grasp
how great He is!
T he problem fo r human be–
ings- your problem- is that man
has acquired
a
natural hostility to
God! From the very fi rst human in
the Garden of Eden to billions alive
today,
not a single one
naturally
desires to sur render his or her life
to the God of Jove.
Shocking? Think of this. God
revealed His way of life-His way
of love-to the fi rst two humans
(Gen. 1-2). Armed with God-given
defi n itions of r ight and wrong,
Adam (the fi rst human)
deliber–
are/y
chose the way that led con–
trary to God- to decide for himself
what is love, what is good and evil
(Gen. 3:6, 17;
1
T im. 2: 14). He
rejected
God 's way of !ove and g ive
and concern for others, sett ing the
stage for all humans to follow.
And the basic attitude Adam
acquired is still in humans today!
When the Bible says "God is
!ove," it reveals the very
nature
of
God . God embodies a "give" way
of life, a way of outgoing concern.
God wants you and me to be
happy, to have a zestful, fu lfilling
life and to be able to share it with
others- that 's love (John 10:1
O,
111 J ohn 2). To di rect us toward
this way that leads to happiness,
God defines love: "For
this
is the
!ove of God, that we
keep
his
com–
mandments"
(1
John 5:3).
This is a t ruth few understand!
When asked what the greatest of
the Ten Commandments were,
J esus Christ boiled them down to
their two basic essent ials: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the first
and
great
commandment. And the
second is like unto it , T hou shalt
love thy neighbou r as thyself"
(Matt. 22:36-39).
Consider this: the first four com–
mandments revealed in Exodus 20
show you how to love God. T he last
six reveal the way you are to love
you r neighbor.
But how does the natural uncon-
32
ver ted mind view this? "The mind
that is set on the flesh [mater ial,
physical thi ngs] is
hostile
to God; it
does not submi t to God's law,
indeed it cannot; and those who are
in the fiesh cannot please God"
(Romans 8:7-8 RSV).
Man in his natural state wants
little todo with God. Since God
is
love, man unwitt ingly
rejects
true
love that would bring happiness.
Worklng Toward a Solutlon
God's way of life, expressed in 1
O
summary poin ts called the Ten
Commandments, is a
living
force.
When you break one or more of
these points, there is a penalty. Phys–
ically, mentally, emotionally and
spirit ually you and others suffer.
Take fi rst the physical example.
What if everyone suddenly decided
to stop committing adultery and
ended all relationships with homo–
sexuals and prostitutes? Venereal
disease would disappear! Prostitu–
tion would vanish! Teenage pregnan–
cies would soon disappear. People as
a whole would immediately be hap–
pier.
But man says:
" 1
don't want to
obey God's law.
1
reject it.
1
make
my
own
rules!" Somen and women
by the millions suffer need lessly.
God, of course, does have the
power to stop man from going the
way of sin. But that is exactly what
man doesn't want God to do. So
God has allowed man 6,000 years
to make his own rules and deci–
sions, to experience firsthand the
pain and suffering that results from
imperfect human governments.
Man's choices are eloquently
described in Deuteronomy 30:19-
20:
" 1
call heaven and earth to
record this . . . that
1
have set
before you
/ife
and
death,
blessing
and curs ing:
THEREFORE CHOOSE
LI FE,
that both thou and thy seed
may live: that thou mayest love t he
Lord th y God, a nd that t hou
mayest
obey
his voice, and that
thou mayest cleave unto him...."
T he Bible, however , reveals
something far more ominous than
physica/
suffering for breaki ng
God's law. When you choose to
break one of the 1
O
summary
points that define love by doing the
opposite, the Bible says you
sin.
What is sin? "Sin is transgression
of the law" (1 John 3:4) .
The Ten Commandments are a
blessirig-they show you what sin
is (Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:13-14). The
apos tle J ames terms the Ten Com–
mandments "the perfect law of
lib–
erty"
(J as.
1
:25). They guide one to
the way of genuine
happiness.
Bu t when you've broken one or
more of these laws, you've got a
problem- you're as good as
dead.
What is the final payoff of sin?
"T he wages of sin is
death "
(Rom.
6:23).
What Now?
How does this concern you? Unless
you live the way of love-which is
to know the way to salvation- you
are a walking dead person even as
you read this art icle! You have no
claim to eternal li fe. You may think
you haven't broken any of the Ten
Commandments, but you have.
" For all [including you and me]
have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
As a sinner- a transgressor of
the Jaw-you have come "under
the law," that is, subject to its
pen–
alty:
death. For breaking the Ten
Commandments, you are now sub–
ject to what the Bible calls "the
curse ofthe law" (Gal. 3:13). You
have no hope of eterna! life.
But there's
GOOO NEWS.
Some–
one has paid the penalty i n your
stead .
Your very Creator has paid the
penalty of law transgressions in
your place. God created all things
by Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:9). As the
Creator o f the human race, J esus
C hrist died- in the first century
A.D.- to become the ul timate and
complete sacri fice for sin.
But you still have to choose and
accept this sacrifice. You cannot
casua11y accept the blood of Christ
as atonement for your past sins.
God wants, first, to see a change
of attitude from host ility to submis–
sion in obedience!
"Repent,
and be
baptized every one of you in the
name of J esus Christ for the remis–
sion of sins ... " (Acts 2:38).
R epentance
is another word few
really understand . To repent means
to
change your /ife.
Instead of
going
your
way (which is actually
the way o f Satan) you must begin
.to obey God- to
/ove
God by keep–
ing H is commandments
( 1
John
5:3).
The PLAIN TRUTH