The message your life depends on!
If this text message is true, then there is an urgent message that your life depends on, because it is the remedy to the worst news ever!
The worst news ever!
God made everything, including you, for His glory (Isaiah 43:7) and everything was very good (Genesis 1:31). But when we look at this world and our lives, we see the exact opposite. This world is not good and we don’t live for God’s glory. This is terrible news!
Why is this the most terrible news ever? Because:
1. Everyone is a sinner. We rebel and do wrong against God. The Bible says that “no one is righteous, no not one… no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12) and that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Who would want every thought, word and action of their life to be put on a screen for all to see? (No one!) Deep down we know the rotten lives we live. We dishonour God, hurt others and seek to satisfy ourselves.
2. We are guilty before God. We think we’re good by comparing to the person beside us. But God is perfect and we are not. He requires 100% obedience and anything short of that deserves His anger and eternal punishment (Matt 25:26, John 3:36, Rom 6:23). Therefore, our sin deeply offends God and we can’t be with Him in heaven which is perfect.
3. God is good, just and must punish evil (Deut 32:4, 2 Chron 19:7). Therefore, death and judgement are coming (Hebrews 9:27). All people will be raised and given bodies fit for eternal life or punishment (John 5:29). We all deserve eternal destruction in hell.
Yet, God offers a remedy to this dreadful news. But to see the cure for a disease as important, you must see that you have that disease. You must see your desperate need! You are diseased with sin, headed for destruction and must act on the message you are about to hear.
The best message we could ever hear
We have just seen our hopeless and frightening position because of our sin, but the Bible says we can be forgiven! How can we be forgiven and dwell with God in heaven which is perfect when we are sinful, God is just, and our sin deserves punishment?
How can we be forgiven and God still be just?
Well the Bible shows that Jesus, the Son of God, has paid the price that sin deserves and faced God’s anger for those who have faith in Him (Romans 3:24-25, 5:9). This means that we can be forgiven of sin and free of all that it deserves, whilst God remains just, because the punishment for our crimes are fully paid by Jesus (Romans 3:23-26). But also, through Jesus (who lived a perfect life), we get the perfect life we need to dwell with God forever. The Bible says, “God made him (Jesus) who knew no sin, to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God” (1 Corinthians 5:21).
The terrible news about us and what our sin deserves falls on Jesus. Through His death on the cross He faced the anger of God and bore our sins in His body (1 Peter 2:24). Then, by rising to life again, He shows that He has satisfied the payment for sin, conquered death and will provide a new perfected creation for those who trust in Him. This is what Christians call the gospel which means good news, because no news is greater that this!
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we receive:
1. The removal of sin, guilt, punishment and God’s anger.
2. The righteousness (perfection) we need to be with God.
3. God’s Spirit so that we have a new heart with new desires.
4. Eternal life with God in the new perfected creation.
This is why the Bible says that “whoever has the Son (Jesus) has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12). To have Jesus is what we as enemies of God most need! “God showed his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:8, 10).
WHAT NOW? How can this be true for you?
You can’t earn forgiveness, instead you must turn from your sin and trust in Jesus. Trust that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only way you can be right with God and have your sin forgiven.
The Bible says that by grace (the free undeserved gift of Jesus) “you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We have already seen the terrible state of our sin and what it deserves. There is no hope of sorting this out through good works because we fall dreadfully short of what God requires. No murderer can escape the penalty of their crime because of a few good deeds, and neither can we! God’s law is not meant to show us how to be right with God, but it is to show us our sin and that we need salvation through Jesus (Romans 3:20).
So, don’t cover the depths of your sin or lie claiming to be without it (1 John 1:8, 10) or think that you can work your way to God. Instead the Bible says that “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And as we have seen, God forgives our sin and remains just through what Jesus has done!
Jesus is your only hope! Trust Him to be your Saviour and the Lord (ruler) of your life. And consider the cost of following Jesus. It will involve hating sin, following God above all and it will involve difficulty in this life (Luke 14:25-33). Yet, though following Christ will cost you this life, it is infinitely worth it! Nothing is better than eternal life with God! “Whoever believes in the Son (Jesus) has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). I urge you, today, to admit to God your sin and rely on the forgiveness found only in Jesus! Trust Jesus to face what your sin deserves, otherwise you will face it for eternity.