For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
God - This world was created by the one true and living God in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and we see signs of him as Creator everywhere. God is good and perfect.
You and Me - Every person has worth and is not defined by their race, gender, sexuality, health, employment, age, experience or anything else; they’ve been created by God.
We’ve been created with the capacity to make our own decisions, and as humanity we’ve willingly turned our back on God. We want to live our lives as we see fit, not as God would have us live – the Bible calls this rebellion ‘sin’.
Broken - We see the effects of our rebellion everywhere: through a broken world, illness, death and through our own inability to follow God’s perfect way of living.
None of us are exempt from this – we all do things that are wrong and think things that are not right. This rebellion against our good Creator deserves eternal punishment – this is what the Bible calls hell.
Love - In our rebellion, we can’t deliver ourselves from this, but God does not want to see anyone go to hell – that is why Jesus came. Out of love for us he lived a perfect life and died on the cross. In this way, Jesus took the punishment we deserve, and when he came back to life he conquered death. As a result, we can be completely forgiven (that is delivered from hell), and have our lives changed here and now (our rebellion can be replaced by love towards God) – this is what the Bible calls salvation.
This salvation is a gift – freely given and impossible to earn.
A Response - When God moves in a person’s heart, that person realises that they have broken God’s law and needs the salvation that Jesus alone can provide. He calls us to admit our need, and to trust solely in Jesus and the price that he paid on the cross – this is what the Bible calls faith.
When a person responds in this way, it marks the start of a new life in relationship with God.
Comments