The Greatest News Ever!

--Humanity has a problem, and no one who has ever lived-except Jesus Himself-is exempt from the problem. Our problem is sin. Sin is both the things we do contrary to Scripture and the good deeds commanded by Scripture that we fail to do. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); in fact, on our own we are dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1). Moreover, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a): not only physical death, but everlasting spiritual death-endured in hell, eternally separated from God, as the just result of our offenses against God. Happily, God, being rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), did not leave us in this state, but decisively addressed this problem.

--Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). The antidote for humanity's fundamental problem is Jesus. He lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), and He gave His life willingly (John 10:18) and joyfully (Hebrews 12:2) upon Calvary's cross to satisfy His Father's justice and to reconcile us to His Father. There is no one else, nor is there another avenue, by which we come into everlasting right relationship with God (Acts 4:12).

--The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and power, calls us to receive Jesus by faith-and gives us the very faith by which we believe in Him (Ephesians 2:8-9). There are wonderful promises attached to faith in Jesus; consider a few of them here. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16), "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house" (Acts 16:31), "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9), and, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). Hence, God's own Word assures us that by faith in Christ we are saved from our sinfulness and its just penalty unto everlasting life under the reign of Jesus in our lives and in all things.

--God calls us who believe in Him to live a life that brings Him glory. This involves, among other things, relationship with Him through Scripture reading and prayer, glad obedience to His commands and submission to His leading, and participation with other believers in worship and ministry through the Church. None of this should be construed as an attempt either to earn or to cajole God's favor. Rather, these things are the evidence that salvation has come-rather than being the currency by which we obtain it.