Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Drawing close to God is conditional on only one thing, and that is faith in Jesus Christ. People today seem to have little grasp of how big a deal that really is. A good part of that comes from the systematic atheism of the theory of evolution. Before that, people had no intellectual excuse for saying there was no Creator, which is why so many people who didn’t want to be accountable to a Higher Being jumped on the evolution bandwagon. Because of the virtually universal teaching of evolution in public schools today, few people have a deep-seated fear/respect toward God, even if they say with their mouths that they believe in Him. We make jokes like, “God will get you for that,” without really meaning them at all. The fact is, God is indeed the omnipotent, omniscient Creator, and He is perfectly holy. As such, anything that is less than holy – which is to say, sinful mankind – can no more approach Him than antimatter can approach matter. In that example there is mutual annihilation, but in the case of God and impurity, only the impurity is destroyed. When we fail to understand this, we fail to see what a big deal it really is that God made a way through Christ for us to come to Him. This verse has a slightly more famous parallel in Hebrews 4:16, which the NIV renders as “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (I prefer translations that use the word “boldly” myself.) The point is that such boldness, such confidence, can only come through faith in Jesus Christ, because it is only when we are clothed in Him that we have the purity to approach God. (Galatians 3:27)

In common with every modern minister of the Gospel, I have the difficulty of getting through the atheistic mindset generated by the teaching of evolution. Thankfully, nothing is impossible for God! I am never to back down, but walk in the assurance of someone who can indeed draw close to God, not because I am pure in myself but because God has made me to be righteous in Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21) The Good News (Gospel) is that anyone can have that place in Christ by faith, but until people grasp the reality that their unholiness dooms them to destruction, they won’t understand that it really is good news. I am not to draw back from preaching about sin and hell! God doesn’t deal with our sinful hearts by patching them up, He replaces them! (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26) I need to let people know that heart transplants are available, and there is no waiting list!

Father, thank You for that striking illustration just now. Guide me in communicating it effectively to all whom You have prepared to receive it. Thank You for all You have been doing and are continuing to do in each of us individually and in this church as a whole. May we accept your “cardiac rehab” with joy, putting our new hearts to full use, so that all of Your purposes may be fulfilled, on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!