How to Know the God of the Bible

Statement of Faith | PDF File

Excerpted from Chapter 12 of Untapped Potential, Pastor Lannom (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998)

The God of the Bible-the only God-has made it very easy to know Him. He has established only one way to know Him. That is very good news because we don't have to figure out our own way to come to God. We don't have to guess and discover which way is the best way. He has already devised a plan by which anyone can know Him for certain. He clearly lets us know in the Bible that He accepts people on His terms and not on their terms.

The God of the Bible Became the God-Man

The plan God created in order for us to know Him is the most personal way I ever heard of in my life. No other religion can claim the personal uniqueness of this plan. It is called the "plan of salvation." What is the profound uniqueness of this plan? It is that the God of the Bible became the God-Man. You can't get any more personal than that: God became one of us. In this book I have been showcasing who we really are: we are the zenith of God's creation because He made us in His intensely personal image. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the personal God of the universe would not do anything less than come up with a plan to show Himself personally to the ones He created in His personal image. His heart's desire is to have a personal relationship with you.

Are you ready for the verse that settles forever how to come to God on His terms? In the fourth book of the New Testament the apostle John quotes the very words of the God who became flesh: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me"' (John 14:6). You just read it---that is the only way to know the God of the Bible. Jesus did not claim to be one of the ways or part of the truth or a life teaching that will help you on your individual path to the Father. He made a mind-blowing claim like no other religious leader in history. He said He was THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE and that there is absolutely no other way to come to the Father unless you go through Him.

What a claim! In that claim, He said, "I am God." He claimed to be the fountainhead of all reality. That all truth was His truth. That He was the Wonder of all wonders. That He was the Origin of the universe. Now we must examine something very closely. If Jesus said that He is God and the Father is God, do we have two Gods?

Is Jesus God?

In the first chapter I introduced the theistic concept that we are created in God's image, and I quoted Genesis 1 :26: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."' Notice what God said: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." If you are Jewish you would immediately respond and say there is only one God, not two or three Gods. And you would quote Deuteronomy 6:4, in which the God of the Bible taught Israel to say: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!" And I would agree that there is only one God. However, the Hebrew word for "one" is the word echod, which means "a plural unity"---not an absolute unity, but a composite unity. The New Testament speaks of God as being a tri-unity. God is three Persons in one Godhead. As you read the New Testament you will read about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Not three different Gods, but one God in three Persons.

Therefore, in order to know God the Father you must believe that Jesus is God also. If you don't believe in the deity of Jesus then you have embraced false spirituality. Dear Reader, believing in the deity of Jesus is the only door to knowing God the Father. Let's look at the New Testament and see if Jesus really claimed to be God.

Jesus Claimed to Be God!

As I read the New Testament, I found it fascinating that wherever Jesus was teaching, Jews were standing around with stones in their hands. Why? Look at John 10:30-33 and you will see why. Jesus said,

The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying. He was claiming to be God. What was the central message behind everything Jesus said? It was always His deity. Why did the Jews want to stone Him to death? Because He constantly hit them in the gut with His claims of deity.

Why did the Jews finally crucify Him? Because, under oath, Jesus told the whole world in strong language that He was God in the flesh. Listen to this historical record of what Jesus said under oath, found in Mark 14:61-62: "But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?' Jesus said, 'I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with clouds of heaven."'

There you have it, dear Reader, the historical record that states that Jesus believed He was God. We must look at another great passage in which Jesus drove home His deity to a group of unbelievers: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.' And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"' (Mark 2:5-7). Scribes, you got it---0nly God can forgive sins, and that is precisely what Jesus was saying, "I am God, and I am the only One who can forgive sins."

The uniqueness of Jesus screams at us from every page of the New Testament. Have you ever read of any religious leader claiming sinlessness and making it the central issue for his ministry? Jesus is the only One who ever made that claim. Jesus said in John 8:46, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" Can you imagine that? He basically said, "Show Me one time when I sinned." That is a bold statement unless you are God. No one could step forward and say, "Well there was one time when Jesus did something bad." Not one of His critics could dispute His claim to sinlessness.

Who Do You Think Jesus Christ Is?

Dear Reader, it is time for you to make a decision. Let me ask you the most important question anyone can ever ask you: Who do you believe Jesus Christ is? Do you believe He is God? You know what I believe. I believe with all my soul that Jesus is God Almighty, and I have received Him as my Savior.

Jesus warns us of what will happen to us if we don't believe that He is God. Listen, like you have never listened before, to the eternal warning of Jesus Himself: "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24).

When Jesus used the title "I Am" in this verse, He was referring His listeners back to Exodus 3: 14, when Moses asked God, "What is Your name?" “And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you."' Dear Reader, we are standing on holy ground. God has just given you great truth about Himself. The I AM of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New Testament, and He is inviting you to trust Him as your Savior.

God's Plan of Salvation

Do you remember earlier when I mentioned that God has a plan of salvation? God has a simple plan, and I want to reveal that plan to you right now. The reason there is a plan of salvation is because we are sinners and we need a Savior. So far in this book I have said that we are God's image: we are rational, personal, and created with a moral nature. However, there is a spiritual dimension of this I have not discussed. The next section will help you understand why you are a sinner and why you need a Savior.

Only Persons Made in God's Image Can Sin

When God first made Adam, God made him as an indefectibly righteous, holy, and sinless being. Then Adam sinned against God and he lost that original sinlessness. Consequently, we still bear the wonderful image of our God, but it is a sinfully marred image. If we had completely lost that image in the Fall, with Adam, then we would be impersonal animals and we could not sin. Only persons made in God's image are capable of sinning. All sin is personal. All sin comes from personal choice. There are no victims when it comes to sin; we are personally responsible for every sin we commit. Therefore, all sin is a personal affront to the Holy Being of God. So, if we had lost our personhood in the fall we would not need a Savior; but we didn't lose that personhood, and we do need a Savior.

Don't you feel it inside you, that you don't live up to what you know you should? That there is something tragically missing within your being? What is missing is sinlessness and fellowship with God. Everything about us is designed for righteousness, excellence, and greatness-and not sin. Sin destroys us. When we sin we walk around with an unbearable burden of guilt and shame, and a deep sense of alienation. Our conscience points a finger at our soul and relentlessly seeks to condemn us. When we sin we know we are not the kind of persons we are supposed to be. Just read the newspaper or listen to the news on television: we are a spiritually sick race.

Why We Are Sinners, and Why We Need a Savior

Let's continue looking at why we are sinners and why we need a Savior. God's plan of salvation started in a garden thousands of years ago, according to the Bible. The Bible says in Genesis 2: 15-17, "Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."'

Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the one thing Adam and Eve were told they could not do. And if they did, they would die spiritually, resulting in eternal separation from God. I used to think, "How could just eating of the fruit of one tree send Adam and Eve to hell forever? It's not like they burned down the garden or killed all the animals, they just ate a piece of fruit!" In my ignorance I thought like this, until I came to understand the personal holiness of God and the nature of sin.

The Nature of Sin, and the Holiness of God

Dear Reader, really think with me on this: It is not so much what Adam and Eve did but whom they sinned against. They sinned against an infinitely holy, personal Being who demands infinite satisfaction for any sin committed against Him. Therefore, any sin (e.g., eating from the forbidden tree, lying, stealing, murder, or evil thoughts) is infinite in demerit. God is so holy that His nature demands eternal payment for sin.

What you never hear in other religions, my dear Reader, is the truth about who God really is and who man really is. In these false religions you will never learn why you are a sinner and why you need a Savior. The Bible says that God is a holy and righteous God, separate and distinct from His creation, and that we have sinned against His holiness. The Bible says that God is a God of wrath and justice and that no sin goes unpunished. God is so holy, perfect, and sinless that He would cease to be God if He did not eternally punish all sin. Now let's get back to why we are sinners and need a Savior.

Moses goes on to tell us in Genesis 3:6-7 what our first parents did concerning the one thing they were told not to do:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves coverings.

Adam and Eve directly went against God's will by asserting their own wills. Consequently, in that willful, rebellious act of eating the forbidden fruit, they died spiritually. They lost true spirituality, and the first thing they did was an act of self-righteousness. They tried to cover their own sin with fig leaves.

True Spirituality Versus False Spirituality

Man today is still trying to cover his sin with the fig leaves of religion---self-righteousness. If God had not done something on behalf of Adam and Eve, they would be burning in hell today. This is such a vital spiritual truth to learn, concerning what God did on their behalf. So don't miss this. We read in Genesis 3:21: "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them." In essence, what God was demonstrating by clothing our first parents in the skins of this innocent animal was to show them that their act of clothing themselves in fig leaves represented false spirituality, and His act of clothing them in innocent animal skins represented true spirituality. When God killed that innocent animal in the presence of Adam and Eve, He was teaching them eternal truths about the nature of Himself the nature of sin, and His plan of salvation for them.

Five Spiritual Truths

There are five spiritual truths that God taught Adam and Eve by clothing them in the skins of that animal:

1. Sin demands payment. The Holy Judge of the universe cannot allow sin to go unpunished.

2. The payment for sin is death. That death is spiritual death-separation from God in hell for all eternity. An animal had to die in order to provide its skins for a covering for Adam and Eve.

3. However, the death God provided was a substitutionary death. In other words, that animal died in the place of Adam and Eve. God said they would die if they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They did die spiritually, but God brought them back into a spiritual union with Himself by killing an animal in their place. They should have paid for their own sin, but God in His grace and love provided a substitute for them.

4. The substitutionary death for them would be innocent. The animal that died had done nothing wrong. It was an innocent sacrifice.

5. God would clothe them in His own righteousness. By taking off Adam and Eve's fig leaves of self-righteousness, He was showing to them that there was nothing they could do to cover their sin. He was letting them know, by rejecting their system of self-righteousness, that only His righteousness was the standard for having fellowship with Him.

Why Are We Sinners?

That entire act by God symbolically teaches God's plan of salvation. The first thing to understand in this plan is why we are sinners. The Bible tells us very clearly why: "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). The text tells us that sin entered into the world through one man, and Adam was that one man. Adam was the federal head for the whole human race, and when he sinned he plunged the whole of humanity into sinfulness. Adam acted as the representative for every human being that would ever be born.

Therefore, the amazing truth of this verse is that the real ground of your condemnation before God has nothing to do with your personal sins. According to this verse you were condemned long before you ever committed any personal acts of sin. Adam's one act of disobedience was legally credited to you as if you had personally been there and ate of the forbidden tree.

Now because we are one of Adam's children we have inherited a sinful nature, and we sin from that evil nature. However, that nature is still not the legal ground for our condemnation as a race. Because we were condemned in Adam as a race before any of us had a sinful nature. Listen to what the Bible says about this in Romans 5:19: "For as by one man's [Adam] disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience [Jesus] many will be made righteous." There you have it, dear Reader, we are all sinners because of what Adam did. You may say, "I don't want to deal with this." You don't have to, it will deal with you! This is reality whether we want to believe it or not. Believing it does not make it true, and disbelieving it does not make it false. It is objective truth.

The Five Spiritual Truths Related to Jesus Christ

Now we have learned why we are sinners, and because we have sinned against God, we now can see that we need a Savior. Let's return to the five spiritual truths that God taught Adam and Eve after they sinned against Him. Romans 3:24-28 is a passage of Scripture that combines all five spiritual truths into one grand display of God's plan of salvation:

Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

The first two spiritual truths---that sin demands a payment and that payment is death---are found in the phrase "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." The word redemption in this context means that a transaction or payment has taken place. The payment was to God the Father. The death of Jesus Christ was that payment. Can you imagine dear Reader, how great that is? God became Man so that He could die for you to pay your sin debt. God damned His own Son to set you free.

The third spiritual truth involves the idea of substitution: "whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood." It was the blood of Jesus that was shed in our place. Jesus became our substitute, our sin-bearer. We should have paid for our own sins, but Jesus stepped in and said, " Step back out of the path of My Father's wrath, sinner. I will gladly take His wrath in your place."

The fourth truth stated that the substitute God would provide would be innocent; this passage says Christ Jesus was that substitute. Jesus was sinless; He did not die for His own sins. He was the innocent Lamb of God. He was the only sinless Person that ever lived on this planet after the spiritual fall of Adam. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Paul stated strongly, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "

The fifth spiritual truth is that God rejects our self-righteousness and freely gives us His righteousness. Look at the word grace. As an acronym it stands for God's Righteousness At Christ's Expense. This truth is clearly revealed in the phrase "to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26) .

God's Three Legal Transactions:

Everything about God's plan of salvation is legal. The legal truths of Christianity set it apart from every religion in the world. In God's heavenly court of law there have been three legal transactions in His heavenly ledger.

1. Adam's Sin Credited to Our Account

Remember how we learned that the legal ground of our condemnation is that God legally credited Adam's sin to all of humanity? That was the first legal entry into God's heavenly ledger of debits and credits. God's first representative of all humanity was Adam, and Adam's sin was placed in God's ledger on the debit side for all of us.

2. Our Sins Credited to Jesus on the Cross

The second legal transaction took place in God's courtroom, when Jesus was legally credited with our sins on the cross. For three hours on the cross Jesus was treated as if He had committed every sin you will ever commit, even though He personally never committed any sins. Jesus on that cross was acting as our representative. This whole concept is called representative truth. You see, dear Reader, in God's mind there have been only two men that have represented humanity: the first Adam (Adam) and the last Adam (Jesus). Paul teaches this truth in 1 Corinthians 15:22,45,47: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. ...And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ...The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. "

Therefore, the last Adam-your new representative, Jesus legally paid your eternal debt to God. On that cross, almost two thousand years ago, God legally transferred your sin debt to Jesus' account. It is especially interesting to me that in John 19:30, when Jesus had finished suffering for our sins, He screamed out one word in the Greek language: tetelestai. Tetelestai means "paid in full," and in that one declaration Jesus called to His Father to cancel our sin debt in His heavenly ledger, because Jesus had just paid it in full! That transaction was the second legal act in God's heavenly courtroom.

3. God Credits His Righteousness to Believers in Christ

The third legal transaction takes place when a person trusts in Jesus as their Savior. God at that moment credits to the believer His perfect eternal righteousness in His heavenly ledger. The wonderful news about these three legal transactions is that God is the One doing everything. God decided the legal ground of your condemnation, which was Adam's sin. And this act was apart from us and outside of us. Then God decided that our sins would be legally transferred to Jesus on the cross, which was again outside of us. Furthermore, God legally credits His righteousness to us on the basis of what our representative did, which was outside of us and apart from any works we might do. Therefore, we conclude this is God's plan of salvation for His glory and for our good.

How Do You Get God's Righteousness?

Now, I hope it makes more sense to understand why God is just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. God is just in forgiving all your sins because Jesus paid the just price for your sins. Now God is legally free to lavish on the wickedest person in the world His own perfect righteousness through accepting Christ's legal payment for their sins. If you never learn anything else about God, this is one truth you must know. In order to live with God forever you must have the very same righteousness He has, or He will not have anything to do with you.

The main question is, How do we get His righteousness? Examine closely Romans 3:27-28: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law." No one can boast before God. No one can say, "God, I have kept the law, I have lived a good life. Look at all my good works, God! God, I am proud of what I have done, and surely, God, You will accept me into heaven on the basis of my good works." But what does God say in this verse? God says boasting is excluded. Why? Because what God demands is perfect righteousness, and we can't give Him what He demands. Praise God that what He demands, He provides for us in Christ Jesus as a free gift. Look at that phrase again: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

The word justified means "declared righteous." When God justifies you, He does much more than just forgive all your sins. At the same time He forgives all your sins, He also writes in His ledger that you now possess His righteousness forever. What do you think about that? He takes my sins, and I get His righteousness.

This debit and credit legal concept is brought home magnificently by the apostle Paul in Romans 4:6-8: "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works; Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." The word impute in these verses means "credit to an account." Therefore, in God's heavenly ledger, when you trust Jesus as your Savior, the debit side says "paid in full," and on the credit side it says "God's righteousness." What a wonderful plan of salvation!

What Do You Have to Do to Have All Your Sins Forgiven?

The big question is, What do you have to do to get all your sins forgiven and get God's righteousness? Here is the answer: NOTHING! That's right, there is nothing for you to do. You don't have to join a church, be baptized, stop sinning, promise God you will live a wonderful life from now on, or give up all your possessions. You might say, "Now, Jack, there must be something I have to do." And I would reply, "Absolutely not!" You see, dear Reader, God saves sinners. We do not save ourselves. God saves you without COST to you and without CAUSE in you. Salvation is a free gift. Salvation begins with a big "DONE" not with a big "DO." Jesus did all there was to do. Now, blessed Reader, you are to believe what Jesus did for you. Salvation isn't begging, but believing; it isn't asking, but receiving.

Paul summarizes this truth beautifully: "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).

It is no coincidence that you have read this book. God is calling you to Himself. He wants you to believe on His Son as your personal Savior. Please join me right now in this prayer, and let's get this issue of your salvation settled forever: "God, I believe Jesus is God in the flesh, and I believe He died on the cross for my sins and came out of the grave on the third day. God, I trust in Jesus right now to be my personal Savior. Thank You, Father, for saving my soul." Dear Reader, do you understand that God's plan of salvation is so simple that even that prayer does not save you? However, belief in the truth of that prayer does. You don't have to ask God for salvation---just believe in JESUS for salvation. If you believed the truth in that prayer you are eternally saved, and you can never lose your salvation, because God gave it to you as a FREE eternal gift.

Beginning Your Spiritual Walk with God

Dear child of God, the best way to build a deep, fulfilling relationship with God is to pray and read your Bible every day. When you pray, you talk to God, and when you read your Bible, God talks to you. You also must find a church that believes the truths you have learned in this chapter and join yourself to them. Finding a good church home that feeds you historical, biblical Christianity is indispensable to your growth in the Lord. I would also strongly suggest that you find a mature person in the Lord who would mentor you in the truth of God's Word. After I trusted Christ as my Savior, Bobby Cassell became my mentor in the Lord, and he has remained my best friend for thirty years. Thank you, Bobby, for sharing your wisdom in the Lord with me.

Dear Reader, this last secret, which is the spiritual truth about humans, is truly the secret of untapped potential, because the extraordinary God turns an ordinary person into an extraordinary performer for His glory and our good. I would like to close with a prayer from God's Word found in Ephesians 3:14-21:

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

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