The heart of what Student Body is all about is a true story and a message that we have been given. It comes to us through the Bible, a book that we believe is completely and totally true. We call it “the Gospel.” Gospel is an old word that more or less means, “Good news” or even “News that is so important it is worth telling everyone you can about it.” In Roman times, if you brought a “gospel” you would announce a victory in battle or the arrival of a King. In a very real way, the Gospel is the same thing. Let me tell you about it.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1
“The whole earth is full of his glory.” - Isaiah 6:3
The story begins, well, at the beginning. It starts with God. It starts with God making everything that exists, the whole world, from atoms to supernovas to elephants to oceans. The whole thing was made by God, including you and me. Because God made it, that means he owns it. He is the King of the whole universe, and he calls the shots about what happens.
If you look at the world, you’ll notice two things right away. First of all, you’ll notice that the world is amazing. I mean, it is unbelievable cool. Just look around at nature. It is gorgeous. Everywhere you look, there is beauty and power and things to marvel at. And people, people are amazing too. Look at at the beauty of cultures and art and all the good things that humans make. Look at science and there is to investigate and know. The world is simply amazing. And it makes sense. I mean God made it. What else would you expect if the most powerful and creative being that could ever exist decided to make something? When God made the world, he filled it with beauty and wonder because that reflected what he is like. It was made so that when we look at the world, we would see God in it.
Of course that is not all you notice about the world. You’ll also notice that the world is really messed up. I mean things are really bad here. I don’t want to, but if I have to start listing tragedies to make my point, I will: the Holocaust, the Rewandan Genocide, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, the Armenian Genocide, wars upon wars upon wars, hate crimes, murder, poverty and starvation. Of course, these are big obvious things that are wrong with the world, but the reality is, you don’t have to look that far to find other things that are messed up about the world. Everyone knows someone who suffers because of divorce, eating disorders, physical abuse, rape, being exploited, disease, or loneliness. Things are just messed up. Why? If God made the world to be good and full of beauty, why is everything so trashed?
The Problem: Human Beings Rebelled Against God
“No one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” - Romans 3:11-12
“The wages of sin is death…” - Romans 6:23
Well, God isn’t to blame for all the problems in the world. Human beings are. The problem is that humans have sinned. Sin is another old Christian word that basically means, living out of sync with God, God’s laws, and the way God made you to live. Picture it this way. God put human beings in a beautiful and good world and said, “I’m giving you every good thing, and I want to let you know the guidelines of how to live so that you don’t mess any of these good things up.” And human beings said, “Forget you God! I’ll do things my own way! Don’t tell me what to do!” Instead of embracing the wonderful life God gave us, we flipped God the middle finger and walked away.The Bible says that we have fallen short of the glory of God. That means that even though God made us to reflect his beauty, we have rebelled and instead live for ourselves. We are self-addicted and completely focused on ourselves, refusing to live the way God has made us to live, and that is why everything is so messed up. To make matters worse, because we have rebelled against God, we have made ourselves the enemies of God. Now, I don’t know about you, but if there is one being in the Universe that I don’t want to be the enemy of, it’s God.
So, here we are. We’ve messed up the world and we have rebelled against God, making him our enemy. It’s not a good situation. It doesn’t look like there is much we can do about it, either. We are all basically helpless.
The Tension: God Loves People and Punishes Sin
“God is love.” - I John 4:16
“He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.” - Deuteronomy 32:4
So how does God respond to our situation? What does he do about our sin and rebellion?
The most amazing thing about God is the fact that he loves us. Yeah, I know it is pretty incredible. We are rebels. He’s the King. We trashed his world, and still he loves us. It is crazy, but that is the way God is. He loves you and he loves me, not because we are good, but because he is love. And that means he does not want us to suffer for our sin.
But there is something else about God that is important to know. He is just. That means that he always does what is right, and he always opposes what is wrong. God always punishes sin. He always crushes rebellion. He has to becuase he is just. We expect judges to punish murderers and theives. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be a good judge. In the same way, it makes sense for God to punish sin. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be a good God.
But that seems like a problem, doesn’t it? There is this tension between God being loving towards people and God punishing people who rebel against him. Is God going to punish us or let us off the hook? Is he going to respond with love or with justice? Is he going to save us or destroy us?
The Solution: God Sent Jesus Because He Loves People
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
- I John 4:9-10
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8
What is the solution? Simply put: Jesus. Jesus resolves the tension between God’s love for people and hatered of sin.
Here is what happened. God decided that if humans couldn’t get themselves out of their mess, then he would come and save them himself. And that is who Jesus is. Jesus is God who has become human in order to take the punishment for rebellion that humans deserve. Jesus stood in the place of you and me and took our penalty when he died on the cross. The punishment that you and I deserved fell on him. God’s rightful hatered of sin was poured out on Jesus. We deserved to die for our sin, but Jesus died instead. After dying, Jesus was burried, and after being dead three days, he was raised from the dead. He took on death and sin and defeated them.
The Response: Everyone who Trusts in Jesus is Saved
“For God loved the world in this way: that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9
So now, because Jesus took our sin and death on the cross, the rebellion can end and God can restore creation to the way it was meant to be. The Bible says that anyone who trusts in Jesus as their Savior and King can be reunited with God. If you accept Jesus’ death for your sins, you will spend eternity with God in the New Creation, the New Heavens and New Earth that God is going to make. Instead of being punished for your rebellion, you will be forgiven.
We would love to talk with you more about this truth! Stop by, drop an email, or give us a call - CONTACT info