The Bad News

There is a great God. The God who made everything. The God who upholds everything. The God who is without beginning and without end. This God did the most loving thing He could do for you: He made you that you might know Him.

The bad news is this: you, like the first man Adam and every human since him, have sinned (Rom 3.23). You broke God’s law. You basically said, “you’re a great God and all, but I don’t need you. I’m gonna be my own god for a little while.” It is not that we are basically good people who have made a mistake here and there. It is that we have personally offended and rebelled against the holy God and incurred His wrath (Ps 51.4; Rom 1.18). That’s the bad news. But it gets worse.

If you break God’s law even once, you are guilty. In defense of His holy name and in justice, His anger burns against you. There’s nothing you can do to undo that one sin. Even if you live the rest of your life as a good, religious, spiritual person, you still owe God your whole life, including the time in the past that you can’t change and therefore can’t give back to Him.

The Good News

While there’s nothing you can do to undo your sin, there is something God can do–in fact, something God has already done!

Even though God is angry with you because of your sin, and even though He punishes sin because He is a just and holy God, the wondrous truth is this: God loves you. Even while you are His enemy (Rom 5.6-11), God loves you. Even when everyone else has abandoned you, even when you hate yourself, even when you become isolated and depressed, He loves. He wants to fix your relationship with Him so that you can know Him, enjoy Him, and glorify Him.

But how did He do it? God loved us so much He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins (Jhn 3.16). God unleashed the full fury of His wrath upon Jesus. Jesus bore our sins and took our punishment (Isa 53).

So what do you have to do? Do you have to pay some great price? No, the price has been paid by Jesus. Do you have to do some great work? No, the work has been done by Jesus. God simply asks that you trust Him and what He has done for you and that you call on His name in baptism (1Pet 3.21; Acts 22:16).

Your Response?

You can respond in disbelief. Maybe it’s not true. But isn’t it a big enough deal that you should at least investigate it further? We would encourage you to start by studying the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus. After all, if Jesus beat death, you might want to take Him seriously.

You can respond by not caring. But if it’s all true, this means that there is a powerful and just God who threatens to punish you eternally for your rebellion. But even beyond that, it means this God is also loving and wonderful and you are rejecting Him. He is literally the best thing in all the universe and beyond, how could you just shrug Him off? Why would you accept a cheap counterfeit?

You can respond in humble trust by calling on His name in baptism. You can begin the life lived by faith. You can enjoy the freedom, peace, and joy of God’s salvation. You can have the eternal life that is knowing Him. You can be a new creation where the old things pass away and all things become new. You can once again do what you were made to do: know, enjoy, and glorify God forever.

God invites you to reason with Him. His word says, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” We invite you to do the same. If we can do anything to help you out, just let us know.

the good news

The church of Christ in Rochelle, IL

Putting Christ at the center in the hub city.