Establishing a relationship: Gaining God's Forgiveness.

Side One: Establishing a relationship

The first aspect having to do with our relationship with God has already been somewhat discussed. When we hear of God forgiving our sin, this is describing how a person becomes a Christian or how his relationship with God is restored.
Establishing a relationship with God

By Christ's death on the cross, Jesus took away the believers' penalty of sin that God held against them. When we repent from our sins and believe in Jesus, we become God's children and are accepted as His family members forever. Our faith brings us into His family. Our faith is like our membership card. All of our sins that kept us from Him are thoroughly dealt with. There will even be many sins that we don't know of that are well cared for. The worse sins in the world are taken away. Psalm 103: 12-13 says,

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on [his] children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

Any little sin would be enough to suffer under God's wrath forever. However, through Christ we have complete peace with God. God's claims have been completely Romans (cf. I John 2:1-2).

"Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2, NASB).

This is the love of God. God has taken all the necessary steps to secure forgiveness for us. We sometimes think that God had to forgive us or that forgiveness was natural. Quite the contrary, grace is extraordinary. Grace is God's extra effort to make peace with us rebellious creatures. We wanted nothing to do with Him. We had our own religion beliefs, political parties, educational systems and even our own systems of moralities. In spite of this, God brought life to us. This is His love. Look carefully at John 8:32 if you would like to see how Jesus described this process.

Now let's focus on the second side of our reconciliation with God. The first is the establishing of a relationship. This is quite different than the renewing of the relationship.

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		Gaining God's forgiveness
		Side One: Establishing a relationship The first aspect having to do with our relationship with God has already been somewhat discussed. When we hear of God forgiving our sin, this is describing how a person becomes a Christian or how his relationship with God is restored. By Christ's death on the cross, Jesus took away the believers' penalty of sin that God held against them. When we repent from our sins and believe in Jesus, we become God's children and are accepted as His family members forever. Our faith brings us into His family. Our faith is like our membership card. All of our sins that kept us from Him are thoroughly dealt with. There will even be many sins that we don't know of that are well cared for. The worse sins in the world are taken away. Psalm 103: 12-13 says, As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on [his] children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. Any little sin would be enough to suffer under God's wrath forever. However, through Christ we have complete peace with God. God's claims have been completely Romans (cf. I John 2:1-2). "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2, NASB). This is the love of God. God has taken all the necessary steps to secure forgiveness for us. We sometimes think that God had to forgive us or that forgiveness was natural. Quite the contrary, grace is extraordinary. Grace is God's extra effort to make peace with us rebellious creatures. We wanted nothing to do with Him. We had our own religion beliefs, political parties, educational systems and even our own systems of moralities. In spite of this, God brought life to us. This is His love. Look carefully at John 8:32 if you would like to see how Jesus described this process. Now let's focus on the second side of our reconciliation with God. The first is the establishing of a relationship. This is quite different than the renewing of the relationship.
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