We’re on about Jesus Christ — knowing him better and living for him more. This is because he is the one who died to save us and rose as King of all. Below explains the 'gospel' or 'good news' about Jesus and why we think it's worth you trusting in him for life too!
In the Bible, we first learn that...
'God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.' Genesis 1:31
God is the Creator of our world, who created by his Word.
Christians vary over whether this is a literal 7 days or 7 epochs of evolution. But God created everything perfectly good and created people in his image, to rule over the world as his representatives. This means people have inherent worth and dignity. It also means we are to live under God's loving rule, and reflect this as his representatives in our world. But sadly, we have...
'... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'Romans 3:23
Sin is ignoring God as God, and living as though we are god.
We can write sIn with a capital 'I', because sin is about 'I'gnoring God as God in our lives and living our own way instead. It's living without reference to God. We're all guilty of doing this in life from time to time, and perhaps most of the time! But it has disastrous consequences, not only in this world as people ruin creation and hurt one another, but also when we die and face God. As the Bible says…
'People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.'
and
'God will repay each person according to what they have done.'Hebrews 9:7 and Romans 2:6
This judgement is an eternity without God and everything good, since everything good comes from God. The Bible calls this Hell. And this is fair, since God is simply giving us what we want. If we want a life without God, then that's what he gives us.
BUT God loves us and wants to save us from this judgement. In the Bible we read…
'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.'
and
'For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.'John 3:16 and 1 Peter 3:18
God's love sent God's Son Jesus, to tkae the punishment for us, so we can be saved from it.
While we can do good things in life, they will not make us perfectly good again. But the 'gospel' or good news above is that God's love sent God's Son Jesus into the world for us. And Jesus willingly went to the cross to die for us, taking our judgement in our place, so we don't have to. Instead, we can be forgiven and given new spiritual eternal life with God now. This comes with meaning, purpose, guidance, family, help and hope - all of which helps us to live well now. Plus the guarantee of new physical eternal life later, in a new creation where there will be no more suffering (Rev. 21:1-4).
But how do we know Jesus' death achieved all this for us? How do we know this hope is certain? Because of Jesus' resurrection. The Bible says...
'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.'1 Peter 1:3
The resurrection of Jesus proves Jesus was no ordinary person, but the King and Son of God, whose death paid for our sins. And it proves that God can raise us to new life too.
So our hope is not wishful hope but a 'living' or certain hope. We even have lots of historical evidence for the resurrection. All this is ours, only if we believe in him.
So you have a choice. As the Bible says…
'Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s anger remains on him.'John 3:36
If we believe, trust, have faith (they all meant the same thing) in Jesus, then we have life eternal! If we don't, then we won't. What you do with Jesus make an eternity of difference!
So if you would like to know more, please do contact us. We often run Christianity Explored courses which are informal, relaxed and give you a chance to find out more and ask any questions you have. Please contact the office and we can connect you. Or you can check out another explanation by clicking here.