Good News

"There's bad news... and there's good news." Perhaps you, or someone you know, have heard those words in a doctor's office. The doctor gives his diagnosis: You have a serious illness. Bad news. But then he tells you the good news: There is a cure.

There's bad news about the entire human race, but there's also good news. We see the evidence of that bad news everywhere we look, in disease, natural disasters, hatred, wars, and death. The world is in deep trouble. Where do we look for answers?

Since the Bible is the Word of God, we can go to it for answers. The Bible is an accurate historical record of mankind and the universe from the beginning (2nd Timothy 3:16, 2nd Peter 1:20-21, Psalm 93:5). Therefore, we can read the early chapters of the Bible to learn how mankind began. Before we read very far, we find that the human race and planet earth were not always in their present condition. Both were once perfect. But something happened - a disaster that changed everything. Bad news. As bad as it can be.

But the early chapters of the Bible also introduce us to good news from God - the best possible news. That good news is the answer to the bad news about mankind. The Bible tells us that every human being is not merely seriously ill, but is already dead - born dead (Ephesians 2:1-10, Colossians 2:13). Every human being comes into the world spiritually dead, and is therefore moving toward inevitable physical death as well. But there is a cure, and it is found only in one place, the Bible, and only in one Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, tells us why this is true. It tells us that God created a perfect universe. He made the first man, Adam, and placed him in the perfect creation along with his wife, Eve. There was no sin, suffering, or death in the world. Our first parents were created in the image of God, and had direct fellowship with their Creator. He gave them the mandate to exercise dominion over the earth, to populate it, and to care for it. God also gave our first parents the command to be perfectly obedient to Him. Since God is absolutely holy, nothing less would maintain unbroken fellowship.

But man, made in the image of God, was not a robot. God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to choose, to obey Him or to rebel against Him. God warned our first parents about the consequences of rebellion: physical death, and spiritual death - eternal separation from God.

The bad news is that our first parents chose to rebel against God. Their disobedience brought physical and spiritual death upon themselves. It also introduced disorder, suffering, and death into the human race, and the entire creation.

The Bible tells us that because of Adam's sin, death has passed on to all of his descendants (Romans 5:12). We are all sinners from conception because we have inherited Adam's sin nature (Psalm 51:5). But beyond that, we have all broken God's law ourselves (Romans 3:23, James 2:10). We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.

We read in Isaiah 59:2 that our sins have separated us from God and have hidden His face from us. Left to ourselves in our rebellious state, we face the inevitable consequence of our sins: eternal separation from God in Hell (2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9, Revelation 20:12-15). Because God is perfectly holy and just, our sin demands the ultimate penalty.

God has reached out to mankind in our state of hopelessness. He has made the way for man to be redeemed and restored. We read in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

We read in Philippians chapter two that God the Creator condescended to be the Savior of men. God came into this sin-cursed world in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect life that we cannot not live, and He was therefore able to offer Himself on the cross as the perfectly innocent sacrifice that would satisfy the righteous demands of the holiness and justice of God on men's behalf. Jesus Christ not only died to atone for sin, but rose again from the dead, conquering death forever.

Everyone who truly repents of his sin and trusts in Jesus Christ alone for salvation from the wrath of God is no longer subject to God's condemnation, and has passed forever from eternal death to eternal life (John 5:24). That is what it means to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. His perfect death satisfies the righteous wrath of a holy God on your behalf. His perfect, sinless life is credited to your account so that God the Father no longer sees your sin, but His Son's righteousness (2nd Corinthians 5:21). God the condemning Judge becomes God your loving Father.

The key to receiving this eternal salvation in Jesus Christ is to believe on Him. "He who believes on Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). Jesus Christ is the only way. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

"As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name" (John 1:12).

Do you want to turn from your sins and be saved from condemnation, by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Would you like to know more about the Bible and the Christian life? We will be glad to help you. If you don't have a Bible, we would be happy to send you one, without cost or obligation. We are at your service. Please contact us.