God desires to have a close relationship with His children. God's children crave a relationship with Him. The demonstration of God's love for His children is found in the sacrificial life, brutal death, seemingly inopportune burial, and miraculous resurrection of Jesus. No sacrifice that we can make in our lives, no matter how great it seems to us, is a substitute for what Jesus accomplished. The manifestation of God's love for us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of the gospel message. The gospel message is the theme of the letter to the Church at Rome. The message includes our sinful position before salvation, the expression of Christ's love for us in His provision for our salvation, accepting what Jesus did for us establishing our salvation, and God's plan for us after our salvation.