God's True Promise ~ Why Jesus?

Why Jesus?

Most people have heard about Jesus but knowing Him personally is different. Many people have heard about the Queen, but inviting her into your house and building up a relationship with her is a lot different than just hearing about her.

Jesus is inviting each one of us into a personal relationship with Him. Many people find in life that there is an emptiness within them. They wil try to fill it with money, success, material possessions, alcohol, drugs or fame but only Jesus Christ can fill this emptiness. There is nothing that this world is offering which could compare to knowing Jesus Christ personally and the love He has for us.

Would you say that you are you a good person? How many of God's ten commandments can you name? Once we realise that we have sinned against God, we understand that we are deserving of punishment. In fact, our sin is so serious that it causes us to die, it allowed evil and suffering to enter the world.

Let's see how you do for the test:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. (Have you always loved God above all else?)

2. You shall not make yourself an idol. (Have you made a god in your mind that you're more comfortable with?)

3. You shall not use God's name in vain. (This is called blasphemy, have you ever used the name of the One who gave you life to express disgust?)

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

5. Honour your father and mother. (Have you always been obedient to your parents?)

6. You shall not murder. (God considers hatred to be murder at heart, have you ever hated anyone?)

7. You shall not commit adultery. (Jesus said that whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already commited adultery with her in his heart).

8. You shall not steal. (Have you ever stolen anything? The value of the item is irrelevant).

9. You shall not lie. (Have you ever lied, even once? Including when answering these questions).

10. You shall not covet. (Have you ever jealously desired what belongs to others?).

The Bible tells us that even if we stumble at just one part, we are guilty of breaking it all!

'For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.' - James 2:10

On judgement day will you be found guilty or innocent of breaking God's commandments? Will you make it to Heaven?

Perhaps you think that because God is good, He will overlook our sin. However, it is His goodness which will ensure that sinners won't go unpunished. He will even judge our own thoughts! God will make sure that all murderers, theives, rapists, liars etc. recieve justice.

God's law demands justice and the wages of our sin is death and Hell.

The Good News is that because of God's amazing grace and love He has for us, He has made a way for us to be saved.

We broke God's law, but Jesus paid our fine.

'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life' - John 3:16

Jesus Christ the Son of God came to this earth and voluntarily paid the punishment for our sin, so that we wouldn't have to. He took our place when He nailed our sins to the cross.

He was completely innocent yet was made guilty of everything we have done wrong in our own lives, so that we could become right with God. Only someone innocent and sinless could pay that fine. Jesus is the only person who has came into the world without sin. His sinless blood was the perfect payment for our sins.

We could never be good enough to get to Heaven. We have all sinned, I have fallen short, we have all fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). This is why we need a Saviour.

We need His righteousness which is a free gift, not our own.

'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord' - Romans 6:23

All God requires of us is to humble ourselves and repent. He wants us to recieve His free gift of everlasting life by putting our faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour of our lives. Jesus paid our fine in full and there is nothing we can add to that. It is finished. The debt has been paid! Jesus then rose on the third day, defeating death! The grave could not hold Him because He was without sin.

'But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us' - Romans 5:8

In the same way you would trust a parachute when you jump from a plane, we should trust in Jesus to save us. 'But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.' - Romans 13:14

You must be born again!

'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!' - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." - John 3:3

If you would like to commit your life to Christ today you could say a prayer like the one below. We shouldn't wait to repent as tommorow is never promised! Today is the day for salvation,

“Dear Lord Jesus,

I know that I am a sinner, and I want to ask for your forgiveness from all of my sins. I believe that you died for my sins and rose again. Today I repent and choose to trust and follow you as my Lord and Saviour. Guide my life and help me to do your will.

In your name, Amen.”

If you sincerely with all your heart have made the life changing decision to follow Jesus today, the angels will be rejoicing in Heaven! This is God's true promise! Everlasting life for all who receive and believe in Jesus.

Jesus said, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." - Luke 15:10

The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sins and will come to live in you when you put your faith in Jesus.

Find out what you can do to grow in your faith in Christ at this link - Spiritual Growth

When you get reborn, you need to grow in the faith and be built up. 'As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby' - 1 Peter 2:2.

Tell someone about your faith in Jesus! The Good News is that Jesus has conquered the grave and overcome this world. We are more than conquerors through Him. Eternal life is God's free gift to us, we can't earn it ourselves.

'If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved' - Romans 10:9

'Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life' - 1 John 5:12-13

'So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him' - Colossians 2:6

What is the Gospel?

Eternal life is God's free gift to us!

- We were given the gift of freedom

- We misused our freedom by choosing to sin

- This seperated us from God, but He had a perfect plan for us

- He gave His only Son Jesus who was perfect and sinless

- He died for our sins, shedding His sinless blood for us - this was the perfect payment

- So now we can be forgiven and cleansed

- But we must choose with our own free will to recieve this forgiveness

- We are not saved by any works that we could boast of - 'all our righteous acts are like filthy rags' to God - Isaiah 64:6

- Eternal life is God's free gift to us by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ to save us - we can't earn our place in Heaven. We will obey His commands because we love Him and because of the amazing love He has for us. It is the goodness and kindness of God which leads someone to repentance.

- We don't deserve it, but that's God's love. Grace is undeserved favour.

- All of the temporary pain and the trouble we experience on this earth is nothing compared to what's prepared for us - an eternal life of joy, peace, fun and happiness with our Saviour.

Why Christianity? What about all the other religions?

Christianity claims to be unique - Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” - John 14:6

It is exclusive and all truths have exclusiveness (e.g 2 + 2 = 4) There is no other answer. Jesus is the only way to find God, no exceptions. It is the only ‘religion’ in which someone actually dies for our sins, this does make sense, after all, we are all sinners. The human race does need help as you can already imagine!

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us' - 1 John 1:8

Other religions are trying to earn there place in Heaven and trying to please God - but we could never be good enough. So we must not trust in our own 'goodness' for salvation.

'A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart' - Proverbs 21:2

All God requires of us to be forgiven is to repent and simply accept the gift of salvation through Jesus by believing in Him. After this we show our love towards God by obeying His commandments and acting upon our faith becuase we have been saved by His amazing grace.

It is actually a personal relationship with God - Jesus didn't die so we could have a religion - He died so we could have a deep intimate relationship with God. And ultimately as a sacrifice for our sins to allow us to have everlasting life! (this is why we call Jesus the Lamb of God). Eternal life begins the moment we give our lives to Jesus.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. - John 17:3

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" - John 1:29

Count the cost

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me"

"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" - Matthew 16:24-25

When you become a Christian, it does not mean that everything is going to be easy. God never promised the absence of trials, storms and even persecution, but we know that God is always with us and will never leave us or forsake us. He will strengthen us and uphold us;

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand - Isaiah 41:10

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" - John 16:33

As we draw closer to God, the things of this world will seem more and more insignificant in comparison to the joy of knowing Him.

'I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ' - Philippians 3:8

When you count the cost, you will find that it is most definitely worth it.