God made man in his image. When God finished his creation he saw that “it was good” (Genesis 1:31). Eve and Adam decided to sin by eating the fruit which God had forbidden them to eat! At that time, not all was good. In fact, when they heard God in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid!
Why did they hide? They were ashamed because they were naked. God knew they had eaten of the forbidden fruit! Their sin had separated them from God. Today, sin separates people from God. (Isaiah 59:1-2)
Jesus came to restore man back to the right relationship to God. Since God will not tolerate sin, sin must be removed from man. Men could not take away their own sin. God had a plan formed before the beginning of the earth. He sent Jesus to the earth for the very purpose of him being the atonement for sin.
Jesus is the sacrifice for sin. He is the high priest for all Christians. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16. We can come boldly to the throne of grace for these two reasons: 1) Our sins are forgiven so we are not separated from God. 2) Jesus is our high priest!
Jesus restores us into the relationship with God which Eve and Adam enjoyed before their sin separated them from Him. This re-conciliation is made possible by God. “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
God must truly love us. Mankind separated themselves from God by sinning. God did not (does not) want us to be apart from him (lost). Notice what he has done to make it possible for us to be with him (saved). He sent Jesus to die for our sins! So we could be reconciled to him, Jesus came to restore us to God!
We have every reason in the world to restore in our generation the pure religion of God as given to us by God in the Bible. Anything short of complete restoration is not acceptable to him or to anyone who truly loves God! If we do not restore the religion of God in its true form, we are not acceptable to him! When we are not acceptable to him, we are still separated from him just as if Jesus had not died for our sins. The Father and the Son have given all they can for our salvation. We must give ourselves in obedience to him so we can be restored to him – pure and sinless in his holy eyes!
The church of Christ has the goal of restoring New Testament Christianity to this generation. We are asking people to teach the Bible and the Bible only. We are asking people to put away their creeds or other books written by men and use the Bible only as their guide. We are asking Christians to use the name Christian, not a denominational name. We are asking people to believe, repent of past sins, confess Jesus as God’s son, and to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. We are asking Christians to worship as the Bible authorizes and only worship in Bible ways – partake of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, give on Sunday, pray, teach the word, and sing without instruments. Will you also strive to restore New Testament Christianity?
Vernon Curry has preached at the Highland Drive Church of Christ in Poplar Bluff for about 16 years.