IS THERE A GOD, WHAT IS HE LIKE, & WHAT DOES HE WANT?

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Questions About God

a) It's easy to ask religious questions, but not so easy to find the answers. Perhaps the most fundamental religious question is, "Who can answer my religious questions?" We need someone to be our Answer, someone to satisfy our quest for religious truth.

b) Jesus the Son of God came into the world for that reason. Jesus is the Word, "the true light who enlightens every man" (John 1:9). When many of his disciples were turning their backs on Jesus, he asked his chosen twelve, "Will you also go away?" Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

2. Is There A God, What Is He Like, And What Does He Want?

a) We suppose the key issue, when it comes to religious truth, is the question of God's existence, nature, and purpose. Human beings even have difficulty understanding the gods which they invent for themselves.

b) The people of a village in Vanuatu worshiped the spirit of a certain large tree. When half the tree came crashing down, they were deeply puzzled about the nature and purpose of their god. How then shall man be able to understand the God who invented and created him? Jesus provided the answer.

i) Is there a God? Jesus was God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). He became man. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt for awhile among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

ii) What is God like? In the person of Jesus, God lived among us, showing himself to be "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). He was explaining himself to us through his own human lips and life. "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained him" (John 1:18). Not only in his teachings, but in the way he lived and died, Jesus provided the best explanation of the nature of God.

iii) What does God want? God's purpose for us becomes plain in the death of Jesus on the cross. "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). Jesus fulfilled God's purpose (Acts 2:23) and our greatest need — a sacrifice for sin.


The End ...

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