In the days of Moses, God gave a commandment in these words, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." That commandment was still in force at the time of Jesus, and is still in force today. Of course, there are not many idols or graven images held up to worship today; but there are still many different kinds of God worshipped even in the Christian world. To some, God is merely a spirit; to others, He is merely an influence, or a power; to others still, there is no real God, but the name is used merely to designate the forces of nature--and so on. Naturally, we cannot gain eternal life through any such conceptions as these. Like Abraham we must learn to recognize the true and living God. We must not be deceived by false {23} doctrine. This is life eternal, to know--to recognize and to worship--the true God, the living God--of heaven and earth. We know now the meaning of the first part of Jesus's statement. We know what it means to know God. But what does it mean to know Jesus Christ, whom God sent? [Sidenote: What does it mean to know Jesus Christ?] Two young men were sitting at luncheon one day in the dining-room of a students' club house. One of them was registered in the School of Divinity of one of the oldest and largest universities in America, and was studying to become a minister. The other was preparing to become a teacher. "Do you believe that Jesus was really the Son of God, and the Savior of the world?" asked the young teacher. "I believe," replied the preacher--the would-be representative of Jesus--deliberately, "that Jesus was a great leader, a great teacher, a great philosopher--in every way a great man. But I do not believe that he was really the Son of God, nor really the Redeemer in the usually accepted sense." [Sidenote: It is necessary to understand God's plan.] Had this young minister, who was preparing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, learned to know Him? Surely not. It is not enough merely to recognize the true and living God, and to distinguish Him from the many false gods of the world. One must learn also to understand God's plan for the salvation of mankind, The first man, Adam, was just like us. He did not {24} understand the plan of salvation until it was taught to him. One day, when he was offering sacrifice outside of the Garden of Eden, an angel appeared to him. The angel told Adam many things about the Fall, and sin, and death. These things we shall learn more about later. The important thing to learn now is this: Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, it became necessary to send Someone to the earth to lay down His life for the salvation of men. [Sidenote: The divine mission of Jesus.]