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The Bible is the Word of God—it is God’s book to mankind, revealing Himself to us.¹ But what is the story of God rescuing sinners from death and giving them eternal life with Himself?

God & Creation

Before the universe existed, God existed—the one and only true God. He has always existed, since He is eternal.² He is also all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, and perfectly righteous / good.³

This holy God created people so they could be His children and He could be their Father, blessing them with every good thing. As Creator, God also made rules for His children to follow—the same way parents make rules for their children because they know what’s best for their children. God’s rules were simple: to love Him and to love one another.⁴

Sin & Rebellion

However, even though there was no reason to disobey God, mankind sinned against God—thus rejecting Him and breaking His rules. The very first people decided that they should be “gods” over their own souls, and rejected the fact that God deserves all our love and obedience for His kindness to us. Sadly, this attitude of sin has been present in the heart of every person since then—including me and you.⁵

Our sin is both outward and inward. We do sinful things outwardly, like worshiping false “gods” (money, power, pleasure, respect, etc.), dishonoring our parents, committing adultery, stealing, and lying. However, the inward evil desires of our hearts—hatred, jealousy, lust—are also sins, even if we do not carry them out. God knows the thoughts of the heart, and He judges them—since God does not only care about how we behave outwardly, He looks at our hearts.⁶

You might think you’re a good person, but just ask yourself some questions: Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever had feelings of hatred towards someone? Have you ever looked at someone with sexual desire that isn’t your spouse? Has there ever been a moment in your life where you failed to love God with all your heart? Has there ever been a moment in your life where you failed to love your neighbor as yourself?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are guilty of sin before an infinitely holy God. And ever since the very first rebellion of sin against God, our biggest problem has been the fact that we are sinners. In fact, God has separated Himself from us because we do not desire fellowship with Him.⁷ Also, because our sin and rebellion is a crime against God—the Creator and Judge—the just punishment for sin is God’s eternal wrath in hell. Everyone deserves this punishment because all have sinned.⁸ But the story isn’t over…

Salvation & Redemption

Because God is love, He did not abandon His original intention to make mankind His children. But because sin is such a severe problem, only God Himself could solve it. So God took on a human nature in the person of Jesus Christ—truly God and truly man⁹—and lived a perfect life without sin! Jesus always loved God with all his heart and always loved his neighbor as himself. However, Jesus’ life ended by being tortured and crucified. But on the cross, much more than Jesus’ physical death occurred—Jesus died as a substitute for sinners on the cross. Jesus suffered the punishment of God’s wrath and swallowed the fires of hell on the cross so that sinners who trust in Jesus would never have to face the just fury of God against them because of their sin.¹⁰

But Jesus did not stay dead. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead—Jesus is alive!¹¹ The resurrection of Jesus Christ teaches us: (a) his perfect sacrificial death is acceptable to God as payment for the sins of his people; (b) Jesus makes his perfect obedience to God available to sinners that trust him. This means Jesus not only purchased forgiveness of sin and peace with God for sinners, but also righteousness in the eyes of God; (c) his perfect life continues forever, and thus Jesus gives his people eternal life. And right now, Jesus is at the right hand of God in heaven as Lord over everything.¹²

Does the saving work of Jesus apply to your soul?

Faith & Repentance

Just because Jesus has made eternal salvation available to sinners, it doesn’t mean that every single person is saved from sin and hell, and it doesn’t mean that every single person has peace with God. Despite Jesus’ work, many still live as enemies of the cross. But why…?

Jesus says that in order to receive his gift of grace, you must trust him for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.¹³ The salvation available through Jesus Christ can be received through faith—believe you are a sinner in need of saving; trust completely in Jesus’ death in your place to give you forgiveness and peace with God; trust completely in Jesus’ resurrection to give you Jesus’ perfect life in the sight of God.¹⁴

And if you truly believe in Jesus Christ and trust him to save you, then you will love him and desire to follow him. You will hate your sin and fight against the sin in your life¹⁵ because: (a) your savior Jesus died to rescue you from those very sins; (b) God hates your sins and you are His child now—thus, you rejoice to please Him and obey Him; and (c) the satisfaction available in God through Christ is infinitely better than sin, and it will not leave you empty like sin’s fleeting pleasures. This is clear when we see how many people chase after new cars, jobs, video games, TV shows, and relationships—they keep chasing something else for satisfaction because there is no lasting joy outside of Jesus Christ.¹⁶

Heaven & Hell

The Christian life is one of learning to trust and follow Jesus Christ, and fighting against sin. You will face many trials as a Christian, but it is worth it to turn from sin and turn towards Jesus! Without Jesus, you will spend your whole life chasing after passing things that will always leave you empty. And when you die, you will stand before the judgment throne of God and will give an account for every sin you ever committed.¹⁷ You will be declared guilty of lifelong rebellion against the King of kings, and you will receive the just punishment of eternal, conscious torment in the fires of hell.¹⁸

Nevertheless, Jesus right now offers any sinner eternal life. Jesus is ready to take away your sin and in exchange give you his perfect obedience in the eyes of God. If you truly have faith in Jesus: God adopts you as His child, He is with you in this life, and you are destined to escape hell AND be raised from the dead to live forever in heaven—without sin or sadness, in complete fellowship with God, your Father.¹⁹

Turn from the deceitful promises of sin. Call upon Jesus to save you from sin. Begin reading the Bible and find a Bible-believing church, and begin to worship and grow together with other people who treasure Christ above all things.²⁰

¹ 2 Peter 1:16-21 ² Genesis 1:1 ³ 1 Timothy 6:13-16 ⁴ Isaiah 43:6-7 ⁵ Romans 3:10-18 ⁶ Matthew 5:21-30 ⁷ Isaiah 59:1-3 ⁸ Romans 6:23 ⁹ John 1:1-14 ¹⁰ Colossians 2:9-15 ¹¹ 2 Timothy 2:8 ¹² 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 ¹³ John 3:16-21 ¹⁴ Romans 10:9-11 ¹⁵ James 2:14-26 ¹⁶ Jeremiah 2:12-13 ¹⁷ Hebrews 9:27-28 ¹⁸ Revelation 20:11-15 ¹⁹ Revelation 21:1-8 ²⁰ Hebrews 10:24-25

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