What Actually is the "Good News?"

Is it just an easier to do list to get into Heaven?

Study the New Testament and you’ll realize that the Good News of Jesus Christ is that our salvation and eternal life is not a matter of adding up brownie points.  Unfortunately for us God is pure and cannot have eternal fellowship with anything impure, meaning us.

It’s an oil and water kind of thing…pure and impure  don’t mix. Once we have committed one sin in our life it’s over for us. By the time we realize this we have all accumulated a whole lot more than one sin.  We were born with a rebellious sinful nature.So we must admit it, confess it and repent. It’s stupid and foolish to try to deny it.  

So now what can be done?

There was only one option, the pure and holy God had to save us.  And he did. In a miraculous event that of course we cannot fully understand, He sent His son to Earth to live the perfect life and to die on a cross so he could be the substitute for our sins.  All of our sins are put on Him if we merely by faith actively accept, acknowledge, and believe in Him.  By doing that we “repent” by acknowledging we can’t do it on our own. We acknowledge we are sinners and we place our trust in Him.  It’s a definite decision. It’s a definite act of will. We are trusting in Him for our eternal salvation.  Now our eternal salvation is in place. By the grace of God we will ive an eternal life. 

But here’s the rub.  
What happens next? How are we supposed to live? God has a plan for that as well and it doesn’t depend on our strength, it doesn’t depend on our understanding, it doesn’t depend on our consistency or discipline.  It depends on our faith in His strength and character in love.  We’ll talk about how this works next Sunday….