We believe God still speaks through the Scriptures to us today, and we believe the core of its message is what we call the Good News or the Gospel.
Although God created humanity good, the first humans chose to rebel against God. Ever since, human beings have been falling short of God’s standard for them and hav been failing to live up to his purposes for their lives (Rom. 3:23). If you read the newspaper or scroll through social media, you can see the result. The world is filled with hate instead of love, and people are hurting rather than helping one another. Put simply, we are alienated from one another and from God our Creator (1 John 1:8-10).
The Bible calls this sin, and it is a huge problem because God is just and he must punish sin (Matt. 5:48). The punishment is death and eternal separation from him (Rom. 6:23). Because we owe God full obedience everyday, there is nothing we can do tomorrow to make up for our sins yesterday. We need to be saved from the punishment we deserve, and there is nothing we can do to help ourselves.
The Good News of the Bible is that God is also a loving and merciful God. He sent his Son, Jesus, to the earth to be our substitute. Jesus was truly human, so he could stand in our place, and he was truly divine, so he could take on the full weight of God’s wrath for humanity (John 1:14; 1 John 4:9).
The New Testament records that Jesus lived a perfect life and had no sins of his own to pay for, yet he still died on a cross (2 Cor. 5:21). That death was for you and for me (Rom. 5:8)! God the Father put our sins on God the Son, and he was punished in our place (1 Peter 3:18; Romans 8:1). God is still just, and God is still loving. Better still, Jesus rose from the dead, proving he was who he said he was, proving his sacrifice for sin was accepted, and proving that our greatest enemies — sin and death — had forever been defeated (1 Cor. 15:4). The Bible promises that at the end of our lives, we will be resurrected just like Jesus was so that we can live with God forever (John 11:25; John 6:40).
All of this is only possible because of God’s grace and because of our union with Christ through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:5). God offers forgiveness to all who would trust only in Jesus for their salvation, turning away from sin and toward a life lived with and for God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Rom. 4:4-5). In fact, salvation is just the beginning of the story. God sends his Spirit into our lives and renews us so that we can honor God in the way we live. This shows our gratitude to God, wins others over to Christ, and assures us our faith is real because of the fruit it bears (John 14:15, 15:12). And everyone who knows news this good just has to share it (Matt. 28:19-20)!
If you would like to learn more about the Good News in the Bible, start at Ephesians 2:1-10. To learn more about who Jesus was, we recommend reading the Gospel according to John. If you want to dive even deeper, consider joining our Groups at church!