Good News

There is only one real God. He has always existed and always will. He exists in three persons – the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. God is all-powerful, all knowing and completely sovereign, and as the creator of the universe he owns everything that is in it [Deut. 6:4, John 1:1-3, Psalm 24:1]. God is completely holy or completely pure. He cannot tolerate even the slightest sin or hint of evil [Isaiah 6:3].

God created the first man (Adam) from the dust of the ground and the first woman (Eve) from a rib out of the man's side [Genesis 2:7, 21]. He made humans completely different from everything else in his creation and this can be clearly seen today in how different the human race is from all the other members of the animal and plant kingdoms. God made humans with a spirit that is eternal and that could have a relationship with him.

God created man so that he could lavish unconditional and unmerited love on him. He wanted to have a close, intimate friendship with him. This shows the main facet of Gods character- he is a God of endless love [1John 4:8]. However, God did not want to love and have a relationship with people who mindlessly loved him back, so he gave Adam a choice. He told Adam that he could eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden but one. He warned Adam that if he did eat of that tree that he would surely die. Adam chose to eat from the tree [Gen 2:17]. Because Adam chose to eat of that one tree and consciously rebel against God he died in two ways [Gen 3:6]. Firstly the spirit that God gave him, which enabled man to have a relationship with him died, and secondly on that day his physical death became inevitable. From that day the entire earth was cursed because of man’s sin. Death, disease and suffering had entered into God’s perfect creation due to sin [Genesis 3:1-15, Romans 8:22, 1Corinthians 15:21-22].

We are all related to Adam and we have all inherited that dead spirit being been born in a state of sin. [Romans 5:12, Psalm 51:5]. The result of that dead spirit can be seen in the terrible state that the world is in today. Everyone has sinned in Gods sight [Romans 3:23] and while God is a god of perfect love, he is also a God of perfect justice and must punish the sin that we have all been born with and done in our lives because of our dead spirit. That punishment is terrifying and universal. Everyone who is not absolutely perfect in Gods eyes will be thrown into a lake of fire, there to burn in agony and torment for all eternity [Revelation 20:11-15].

As all have sinned everyone deserves this fate. However, because God's love is so great he put in place a way in which we could be saved from the lake of fire and restore our relationship with him again.

God sent his only son down to earth and called him Jesus. Jesus' mother was a virgin; she had to be because if Jesus had been born naturally he would have inherited the dead spirit we all have from Adam [Isaiah 7:14, Matt 1:18,20,23, Luke 1:35]. Jesus then lived a perfectly sinless life. So Jesus did not inherit the sin curse of Adam nor did he sin himself [1Peter 2:22]. Because of this he deserved no punishment and yet Jesus did receive a dreadful punishment. He was tortured and then crucified on a cross. Because Jesus was pure and sinless God was able to transfer our sin onto Jesus. God then punished Jesus for our sin, so that in Jesus God found a way to punish the sin he hates without punishing the sinners he loves [Isaiah 53: 5-12, Romans 5:15-19, 1 Peter 2:24].

God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his death, which was the proof that God had accepted the sacrifice for our sin [Romans 4:25]. After showing himself to be alive to his disciples and many other witnesses he rose up to heaven and now sits on a throne at the right hand side of God. Jesus is now speaking to the father about us on our behalf. He is our high priest [John 20:1-30, Acts 1:9, 1Corinthians 6:3-8, Hebrews 7:25, 1 Tim 2:5, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 2:17].

This same Jesus will come again, in person, physically to judge the living and the dead [Acts 1:11, 10:42].

To be forgiven for the sin you have committed and to be saved from the punishment you deserve, you must believe that Jesus died for your sin, accepting the free gift of salvation by faith alone, you must confess that he is lord of your life and give all of your life to his control, you must also repent of your sin, which means to say sorry and make a commitment to turn away from your sinful life. [Luke 13:5, John 3:16-17, Romans 10:8-11, 2 Timothy 2:19]. There are no amount of good works, charity or law keeping (religious or otherwise) that you can do to win or earn your salvation, your redemption can only be found in the blood of Jesus Christ. [Jonah 2:9, Habakkuk 2:4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:21, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 1:7]. As soon as you do this, your old sinful nature will become part of Jesus’ death on the cross and just as Jesus died so will your old nature. In the same way, just as Jesus rose from the dead with new life, you will be given a new spirit and life that is pure and holy in the eyes of God and always will be! God will no longer look on your short comings; instead he will now look on his perfect, spotless son and release you from all blame and guilt [Romans 6:1-9].

 

When someone has been 'born again', which is what is described above, [John 3:3], in death they will be taken to a perfect heaven to live in complete joy and happiness with Jesus for ever [Revelation 21:1-4].

All this truth is found in the bible and confirmed by Gods Holy Spirit. The bible references are listed clearly after each point and it is our prayer that you will read them and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you through them. Only in finding a real and meaningful relationship with Jesus will a person ever find peace, joy and lasting happiness.