THE GOOD NEWS
ABOUT JESUS CHRIST

The Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ is this…

The world (as God initially made it) was very good, and God created humanity to be the crowning jewel of His creation.

Mankind was given the choice to follow their Creator and His way or rebel against Him by choosing death and chaos, and they chose to rebel and go their own way. As a result, every human is born fallen and imperfect, with a natural bent towards personal rebellion against God’s way of life and love. In addition, our entire world is now fallen, and we experience disease, natural disasters, and death as a result of the fallen creation that was once good.

Even worse, our rebellion against God does not merely affect us in this life. Our thoughts, words, and actions that violate the righteous, eternal Law of the perfect, holy, and eternal God demand eternal justice and punishment. The Bible describes that sovereign punishment as “the second death” in Revelation 20. And, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and that the earnings of sin is death.

But, God loved us, even in our messed-up, sinful state, and He had a plan crafted from before Creation by which He would rescue us!

God, in the person of God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to Earth as a human. He lived a perfect, sinless life in which He never thought, said, or did anything that was contrary to God’s Law or nature. He worked miracles, He taught God’s heart for people and He taught how we can live our lives God’s way! But most importantly, He took the punishment of death that we’ve all earned when He died on the cross in our place. As He was bleeding and dying, He was doing so as our Substitute, our perfect Sacrifice, rejected and abandoned and separated so that we would never have to be!

He was placed in a friend’s borrowed family tomb on a Friday, and for that Friday, Saturday, and the first part of Sunday, His family and friends and followers mourned His loss, believing that the incredible Man they’d loved was gone forever. But, early on a Sunday morning 2,000 years ago, Jesus rose from the dead, victorious over death, over our sin, over the spiritual forces of evil that hate God and humanity! He talked with His disciples, with family members, with former skeptics of His ministry, and with crowds of people (even exceeding 500 people who saw Him at one time)! Then, forty days after He had risen from the dead, He ascended into Heaven, where He is enthroned forever as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One day, He will return to earth and set up His worldwide kingdom, finally completing the work He began at the start of Creation.

Today, He is calling you to realize that you’ve abandoned God’s way, that you are on a path to destruction and death and punishment, and that you need His salvation. That salvation can be gained, not through good works or church attendance or monetary purchases, but by choosing to turn from your sin and asking Him to be your Savior and your Lord, the One who’s in charge of your life. The Bible says that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved, no matter what they’ve done, how imperfect they are, or how little they have! God’s forgiveness is not based on our abilities or goodness, but on His!

Then, when we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the Bible says that we have a restored relationship with God, where He is our Father! We can pray to Him, seek His wisdom in His Word, spend time with our spiritual siblings (other Christians), and experience His own presence, His Holy Spirit, living with us every moment!

If you have any questions about this good news, we would love to talk to you. Come to any of our services or Bible studies, or send us an email at office@tbcessex.com. There isn’t a single decision in life more important than this one!