Hey Joseph,

In the last email, we ended with the question, "Where would we start in order to learn about the one true gospel?". The answer is the Old Testament. 

       Galatians 3:24 says, “the Law (the Old Testament) has become our tutor in order to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”  In this passage, we learn that the purpose of the Old Testament was to lead us to Christ. Therefore, we are going to begin by going back to that “tutor” to see how it guides us to Jesus Christ. But first, let's go back even farther than the Old Testament. 

       In Ephesians 1, Paul says that God "chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world." In the very beginning, before man was even created, God chose a plan by which we may be saved. In that manner, He chose us.       Now it is up to us to choose Him. We are here for this short life to show God that we choose to live according to His plan. In this purpose of God, we see His grace and love! Our God is a holy God! 

       As holy as God is, He longs to have a relationship with you and me. The entire Bible story is the story of God reaching out to mankind to have a spiritual fellowship with him. We are spirit beings that inhabit earthly physical bodies. Our body is simply a container for the soul.        Our spirit will one day depart from our body and dwell eternally either in Heaven or in Hell. Therefore we should place far more emphasis on our eternal well-being than on our temporary pleasure!

       God is holy (“set apart”), which means that He is pure and free from sin. Consider three of God’s attributes. He is …

Omniscient (all knowing) Omnipotent (all powerful) Omnipresent (everywhere present)

       Imagine if God had the attributes we just named but was full of pure evil. Would you want to worship Him then? Of course not!        Thankfully the attributes of God are governed by His character of perfect holiness. Therefore we want to worship Him. There are two important characteristics which make up the holiness of God...

       The two attributes of God's holiness are justice and love. Justice involves executing judgments. Love involves forgiveness.        These two aspects of God’s holiness do not contradict one another. In fact, they are in perfect balance and harmony. God’s justice will not allow Him to ignore sin. At the same time, God’s love makes provisions to help us out of the predicament caused by our own rebellion.       Not only is God holy, He expects us to be holy too. We'll discuss more on this in the next email. 

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