The Good News

Have you ever taken a good look at the world we live in and thought “something is wrong with the world”? The Bible tells us that something is wrong with the world. When God created Adam and Eve he made them perfect, in the image of God. So what went wrong? God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but Adam and Eve disobeyed God and immediately they were no longer perfect. In the Bible, this is called “sin”. Because Adam and Eve were no longer perfect (no longer in the perfect image of God) the Bible says that their children were not born in the perfect image of God but they were born in the imperfect image of Adam and Eve. That means that everyone that was born after that was also born in the image of Adam and Eve. This is what is wrong with the world. In Romans 3:23 the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory (or image) of God. Of course, not everyone is a murderer or a thief but we are not perfect either and perfect is what we were created to be, and perfect is what God demands. No matter how small our infringement may seem the Bible says that the sentence is death (Romans 6:23). Now, you may be thinking “but God is a God of love surely he will overlook my sin”. It is true that God is a God of love, in fact, the Bible says that God is Love. However, God is also just and righteous and could never just overlook a crime. The fact is we are all sinners and God must punish us by sentencing us to eternity in Hell.

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So why on earth would this be called "The Good News"? Glad you asked. The reason this is good news is because God has made a way that he can satisfy His righteousness and at the same time can forgive our sin. Jesus Christ was born into this world as the Son of God (God in the flesh). He did not bare the sin-stained image of Adam, rather He was born in the perfect image of God. Like Adam was before he sinned Jesus was also the perfect human. The difference is that He did not disobey God, He never sinned. The reason he came was to take our punishment for our sin so that God could forgive us. The Bible teaches that before Jesus was killed on the cross, God put on him every sin of mankind past present and future so that when He died, He died for your sin and my sin. Then Jesus rose from the dead so that He could stand before God and give witness that He has paid the penalty for our sin. This payment has been offered as a free gift. That means it costs you nothing even though it cost Jesus His life. But, just like any gift, it must be received. The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith that God has given us (Ephesians 2:8). It also says in Romans 10:9 that if we will confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead then we will be saved. Now that’s good news! The perfect image of God that was lost in Adam will be restored in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). It really is as simple as that. If you confess that you are a sinner that deserves death and eternity in Hell and you turn from your sin and confess Jesus Christ and receive the sacrifice that He made on the cross as full payment for your sin and you have faith that God raised Him from the dead and that He is now your advocate before God, then you will be saved. The Bible says that this good news is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). If you have confessed these things and you have truly believed in what you have confessed then we would love to hear from you. Or, if you just want to know more about the good news of Jesus Christ then please get in touch. You can email us at info@graceway.org.nz