The most important words you will ever read on this site is found right here. It is “the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1 ESV).
Jesus was a real man. He really felt the dirt of this earth crunch under His feet. He really had calluses on His hands from years of carpentry. But most significantly, He really was God in flesh. Jesus was more than any spiritual coach or just a good, moral person. He is the Son of God.
When Jesus lived, He came with a mission. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” He taught, “because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV). Jesus came to free us, forgive us, heal us.
According to the Word of God (the Bible), we are all sinners before the holiness of God. We are sinners (criminals) before Him for three reasons. First, we are sinners because of our personal crimes against Him and His Word. None of can plead innocence before the Holy King. We have all broken His law and rebelled against Him.
Psalm 14:1-3, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
His law is listed in Exodus 20. In it, it says that we are not to lie, steal, murder, or commit adultery. It says to honor our parents. It says we are not worship anything other than God Himself. Jesus comments in Matthew 5 on murder and adultery, teaching that if we even hate someone in our heart, we have murdered, and if we look after another person in lust, we have committed adultery. The Bible continues with many other instructions. If we are all honest, we have all fallen short in many of these areas. I know have.
Second, we are sinners because of Adam’s sin. Adam and Eve were the first humans God created (Genesis 1-2). But though God made everything perfect, Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan (a corrupted angel) and rebelled against God. They disobeyed His good instruction and brought evil and suffering into the world. They were separated, along with all their descendants, from the perfect relationship we once had with God. They brought the ultimate consequence for our sin: death (Romans 6:23). And not just physical death, but also spiritual death. Because God is a just God, we no longer enjoyed our Creator in perfect relationship but were separated and condemned to a ultimate, future separation, which Scripture titles as Hell.
Third, we are a sinner because that is our nature. Though we were made perfect, Adam’s sin made all of humanity naturally inclined to want nothing to do with the true, living God and to disobey His Word. Though we still might be able to act moral or appreciate good, our inner core is filthy before the holiness of God. This is why there is evil and suffering in this world. We brought them in because of our sins. All we have to look forward to apart from God is the judgment we deserve because of our crimes.
However, that’s not the end of the story. That is why Jesus came. He came for you and me.
Jesus’ message was simple, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus came to share the good news, the gospel. The good news: He still loved us with His great, unconditional love and is calling us back to a relationship with Him. Yet, the relationship cannot merely be rekindled and begun by a simple Facebook like or verbal acknowledgement. There are two things necessary for us have a relationship with God again. The first is sacrifice. Though God is infinite in His love, He also is infinite in His justice. The penalty for our crimes still had to be paid. Jesus took our penalty, took our sins, though He himself was sinless and deserved nothing less than absolute worship. He bore our wrongs and died on the cross for you and me. He bore Hell for us in the pain, death, and separation of the cross. Dead, He was buried in a tomb, but three days later, He rose again. He defeated death that we might have eternal life, which is what we were made for. Eternal life is knowing Him and being with God forever (John 17:3). The second thing that is necessary for us to have a relationship with Him again is faith. We are to believe and repent.
Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Believe in Him. This is the truth. Jesus is the truth.
John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’“
John 18:37, “Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’“
He is the hope of this world. He is the Savior and Lord. We no longer have to be dead in our sins and destined to His righteous condemnation. Through His grace, we can have forgiveness and eternal life. It is not earned. We can do nothing to gain right standing with God. His holiness is too high for our sinful selves to try to grasp. However, instead of us trying to come back to Him, He came and chased us.
Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I urge you to believe and live again in Jesus. Jesus is alive. He reigns on the throne of Heaven. The grace of God is offered to you from Himself. He loves you. As John 3:16 clearly teaches, He loved you and I so much that He came Himself to seek us out and take our consequences that we might be in a relationship with Him again. Repent. Leave all your sins and the life you once lived at the foot of the cross. You can be forgiven. Jesus is calling you. Love Him for He loved you first before you were even born.
Apart from Him, we are nothing and condemned justly because of our sins. But the scandal of God’s grace is that He offers us forgiveness in spite of this. Nothing else in this life can give us hope. Drugs, alcohol, sex, religion, money, nothing apart from Jesus transforms us from dead people to living people reconciled to our Creator. He is the good news.
If you would like to talk more about the good news Jesus is sharing with you today or having any questions, please email me: ljgarcia220@gmail.com. I am only doing my duty of sharing of the grace and truth that has changed my life. God wants for all to be saved, and so I desire to do my part in sharing the good news of His kingdom.
(Theo)spresso 