Accessing God without Christ?

The Gospel is the central tenet of the scriptures. In short: God. Man. Christ. Response.

To expand:

• God is holy, righteous and perfect.
• Humans, created in his image, are marred by the fall and are totally and completely sinful.
• God in his mercy, love and compassion sends Christ to stand in our place as a substitute for the punishment that is due to us.
• We must respond to that offer of grace by having faith through repentance.

There are a great number of challenges that lie before the church in proclaiming and explaining the gospel to the world. One of the biggest challenges is a world that thinks they can access God without coming through Jesus. Even in the church there is a widespread misunderstanding of the doctrine of total depravity - that humans are totally and completely unable to do anything to please God. Hebrews 11 reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God - and faith Ephesians 2:8 reminds us is a gift from God. So even our believing in Jesus is a gift given to us through the Holy Spirit that comes from Jesus. Outside of faith in Christ there is no pleasing God and if faith is a gift from Christ then without Jesus in the picture there is no chance of us pleasing God and so how can we so mistakenly think we can come before this holy God.

Jesus is necessary and central to ALL of the activity of God on this earth. He is the one through whom and and for whom all things are made (Colossians 1) and he is the one who breaks the great barrier of sin that separates us from God. There is one mediator between us and God - not ourselves, but Jesus - without Jesus there is no mediator to take our messages to God and we are isolated and separated from him.

Luke 10:22 ESV All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

This line of thinking inspired by Jerry Bridges vid below.