How Can God Be Approached?

     It is common among men to believe that God can be approached and understood in many different ways. Some believe that a god of nature can be found in nature. It is true that God is Creator and sustainer of all creation, "The heavens declare his glory, the firmament shows His handiwork" (Ps. 19:1). But nature cannot nor does not reveal how sin can be put away, nor how God can be a Just God and a Saviour.

     The Lord Jesus told Thomas, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me", (Jn. 14:5-6). When He said no man, he included every member of the human race. There is no approaching the Father by your good works - for there is none righteous, no not one! There is no approaching Him in the wafer and the wine, ceremony or ritual. Our Lord is emphatic on how God the Father is approached, "By ME - I AM THE WAY!".

     God is love, there is no doubt, yet He is also Holy and Just. His Holy eye cannot endure sin. If a sinful, rebellious creature could come into the presence of God, He by the necessity of His very nature, must destroy that creature. That is why the Saviour said He was the Way to the Father. To say that there is some other way, that it makes no difference what you believe (as long as you are sincere) is to call Christ Himself a liar. To say there is "good people from all religions" and that "God accepts them on the basis of their goodness", is to deny what Christ said. God doesn't accept men or women for the good they have done, nor does He reject them for the bad they have done. He accepts men for Christ's sake; for the sake of Christ's obedient life, for the sake of His sacrificial, substitutionary death, and for the sake of Him who lives now and sits on the right hand of His throne, for His sake who is the only Mediator between God and man - the Man Christ Jesus.

     I read a story recently about a Cardinal Wiseman, who died in the latter part of the 19th century, that shows us the tragedy of those who do not believe the words of Christ, "I am the Way."

     There was a notice in the church of St. John Lateran in Rome that there was to be a 'mass for the repose of the soul' of this eminent Cardinal. My first thought when I read this was that this man had died and apparently went somewhere where there was 'no repose for his soul.' Now, if the Cardinals and the Popes go where there is no repose of souls, where do the ordinary people go? Speaking for myself, I'm trusting Christ as my acceptance before God the Father, for He told me to. In doing that, I have repose for my soul now and shall enjoy eternal repose with the Lord Jesus Christ.

     Is there One Way? Yes - Christ! To deny this is to deny Him and His Word.