The Good News of Jesus

Do you know that you are loved beyond comprehension? Do you know that there is a reason why you exist? Have you ever heard someone talk about Jesus and wondered why? What is it about Jesus that has people talking about Him? Let’s have a chat and learn about Jesus, and we’ll talk about Him as to why He is worth discussing.

The question you might hear an evangelist say if you see one preach on the street is “Do you know if you’re going to heaven when you die?”, and it’s a good place to start, by talking about the afterlife. Do you wonder why evangelists will ask that? It is because it is a matter of being at peace with God before you die, and a matter of the result of the choices you made and make while you are still living. Allow me to elaborate:

The world is a broken place (we can see this by the way we treat one another and the suffering that takes place), and you might hear people say the phrase “no one’s perfect”: they speak well. In the Bible, it teaches that mankind is fallen and needs redemption from sin; what is sin? Sin is the transgression of God’s moral law that He instituted to His servant Moses and established what’s called the Mosaic Law (it was the Law by which His people the Israelites would live by and obey). Sin is the rebellion towards God’s Law on how to live for Him, but the Bible teaches the reason for this rebellion, and it is that mankind inherited what’s called a “sin nature”, where we are (apart from God) actively against His will; every person that has ever lived and will live has and/or is born with this nature, because in Scripture it teaches of Adam and Eve (the first humans) who disobeyed God and ended up bringing sin into the world, which results in physical and eternal death.

The Bible goes over that every created human being has this sin nature that puts us at odds with our Creator, which results in living in rebellion towards Him, and that merits judgment, because God is Holy and cannot and will not overlook sin (He can’t let evil go unpunished). The penalty for sinning against God is death, which leads to an eternity of separation in a literal eternal hell (which was not made for mankind, but for the devil (Satan) and the fallen angels when they rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven before Adam and Eve were in the picture)). With odds like these, what hope do we have? This is where Jesus comes in.

Jesus, as the Bible teaches about Him, came into this world to die for those that are lost (spiritually dead in their sins). He came into this world because He loves mankind and wants people to be redeemed, having them be restored to God, and those that believe in Him will have everlasting life that is eternal and not end up separated into hell forever (John 3:16).

When Jesus died for mankind’s sins, every wicked thing you can think of was placed on Him, every thought and action and deed. His death was the atoning substitutionary sacrifice that was able to appease God’s wrath, for He, though living as a man, never sinned. He never sinned because He is the Son of God and was conceived of the Holy Spirit and not of a man’s seed (which is corrupted), which is why His birth was called “the virgin birth”, because He is Divine. It is called the “substitutionary atonement” because before Christ died, the Levitical high priest back then would offer animal sacrifices to atone for the people, and this would be a continual process, but Christ (as mentioned in the book of Hebrews) is our High Priest because He can identify with us, for He was tempted in every way as we are to sin, but He never did. Because He never sinned, He was able to be the substitutionary atonement for our sins, and it was for only one time, not a continual process like the animal sacrifices.

The Bible teaches that Jesus was hung on a Roman cross after being scourged, and before He died He said these words to God the Father, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46)”. When Jesus said this, He accomplished what He needed to do, and He gave up His Spirit to God; The Bible also mentions that Jesus said to His disciples that He lays His life down willingly, and that He has the authority to take it back up again, not by force but by choice (John 10:18)

Jesus was buried in a tomb after dying on the cross, and on the third day God raised Him from the dead, the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus, being God, was able to be resurrected because He is Divine and being apart of the Triune Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). When He was raised from the dead, He conquered death and hell forever; this is why the Gospel is called the “good news”, because Jesus didn’t stay dead. If Jesus had stayed dead, He would not have been Divine and would not have been able to be the substitutionary atoning sacrifice for our sins, but because Jesus is alive, we have hope. If Jesus was not Divine and stayed dead, we would be hopeless to be at peace with God: Jesus is the Mediator between God and mankind (He was fully human and could identify and relate to us, and He is fully God, 100% God and 100% man).

With the Good News of Jesus being alive while dealing with a sinful nature, where does it lead us? What do we do with the Good News of Jesus dying for our sins? The Scriptures teach that we must be born again to enter God’s kingdom: no one who has the old sinful nature of Adam can enter God’s heaven (John 3:3). Where does that leave us, that we have to have a new nature? The Bible teaches that we must have faith in Jesus to save us from our sins, and to put our complete trust in Him alone. Romans 5:1 makes mention that when we put our faith in Christ, we are justified, and we end up at peace with God. We must believe in Jesus for who He is and make the choice to place our faith in Him alone to save us.

When we come to the realization that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, where does that leave us? When we choose to respond to His Holy Spirit calling out to us, we end up choosing to follow Him, and it will cost you something; it’s not going to make life easier, but when you have Jesus by your side, you won’t face life alone. A relationship with someone takes time to grow in, and a relationship with Jesus is no different. God orchestrated the premise of placing faith in Jesus so that mankind would have nothing to boast about, that God gets the glory and not us; Ephesians 2:8 teaches that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in Him, and therefore we have nothing to boast about. We can’t say that we made it into His kingdom by our own efforts, but we can boast in Him and say that because of Jesus we were able to make it into heaven, and glorify God and give Him the honor that is due Him.

How can I place faith in Jesus?

If you, reading this page, have decided that you want to follow Jesus Christ and make Him your Lord and Savior, and you don’t want to try to cling to your efforts to be righteous or you want to be free, the best way to express faith is through praying, praying to God. Whether you come from a religious background of some sort or you don’t hold to any belief system, you can pray to God for Him to forgive you, to cleanse you of your sins, and I promise you He will forgive you. He will go to the most extreme length to ensure you receiving salvation in Jesus’ name, by Him dying for us. You can pray to Him by asking to forgive you of your sins, and that will result in you changing your behavior (repentance) and turning away from sin.

If you’re not sure what kind of prayer to pray to Jesus, this one below can act as a model of what to say to Jesus, but He wants you to be sincere with Him and not be worrisome with thinking that you don’t know what to say to Him, for He wants you to come as you are, and He can do the rest. This is a prayer you can pray to Him to express faith:

Lord Jesus, I come to you as I am, and I realize that I need You to save me from my sins. I realize that I can’t do it on my own, and I ask that You will cleanse me of the sins I’ve done. I ask you Jesus that You will forgive me for the sins I’ve committed, and I accept you as my Lord and Savior, and from this moment forward I will follow You and be a child of Yours. I thank you Jesus for saving me, and I ask that You will help me to grow in faith in You as time goes on. Amen.

This prayer above is just a model of expressing faith, but it can be a prayer to Jesus just by believing and having faith in Him. After you believe in Jesus and profess faith in Him, you will become born again and have a new nature, where the old nature is done away with. As time goes on you will notice some changes in your life; you will not like some of the things you were doing because you’ll sense God’s Holy Spirit convicting you to not engage with those practices. You’ll not enjoy doing things that your friends and family might be doing, and you’re going to have a new desire to read the Bible and pray to God continually. This happens because the Holy Spirit is gradually bringing you closer to God and to be aligned in His will. You’re going to have a desire to be with other believers, which results in going to be with a group of believers, the church. Being a child of God is an exciting adventure!

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a child of the God of the Universe! God loves you more than anyone you may know, and He will be with you as you traverse through life, and when the time comes for you to pass into eternity, your future is set in stone: you will spend eternity with God and serve Him forever. You will have an eternity with God and other believers along with angels, and you will be at rest and at peace with God forever.