I've Got Some Good News & Some Bad News

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

We've started back up our Friday evening Small Group Bible Study and picked up where we left off in our topic study of the Gospel. The word “gospel” translates into “good news.” The gospel reality is like the old adage: “ I've got some good news and I got some bad news.” “Give me the bad news first”, because the good news is the remedy to the bad news. It is the bad news that makes the good news good. Sin is serious, with serious consequences. Sin separates us from God by enmity, places us in bondage as slaves to sin, keeps us from experiencing true life and, by the wages of sin earns us the second death. The bad news is that all have sinned. No use pretending that it isn’t true, we need a Savior. But, there is good news. There is hope. There is help! A way has been prepared for you and me to be reconciled with Almighty God, made right with Sovereign God, and to be accepted by God – Maker of Heaven & Earth. Our Heavenly Father is faithful and loving, merciful and forgiving, not desiring anyone to perish, but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). God could not excuse the sins of the world, so He sent sinless His Son, Jesus Christ, to take our place as an atoning sacrifice in order to pay the price to redeem us. Then He was raised from the dead, conquering sin and death forever. He is seated at the right hand of God, in heaven today, interceding for the children of God. One day soon, after this life is over, we shall be with Him forever more. Is that good news, or what!?

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 & 21 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

I heard it said put this way: Jesus Christ paid a price that He did not owe, because we owed a price that we could not pay.  This is what Psalm 103:8-18, John 1:1-14, John 3:16-18, Romans 6:20-23, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, and Ephesians 2:1-10 tells us. Take some time to read these passages of bad news and good news from Lord God. By His grace (by God’s unmerited favor), we are offered, as a free gift, what we do not deserve – redemption, salvation, and reconciliation in Jesus Christ – the Blessed Redeemer. The question is: “Will we, in faith, take God at His Word and believe that Jesus’ death on that cross paid for ALL our sins? Do we believe that God means what He says? Will we repent of our sins against God and accept the gift of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior?

This is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is “good news". When you think about it, the joy of your salvation means so much and we have a great deal to be thankful to God for. He is worthy of our worship and praise. He is worthy of our love and adoration. He is worthy of our loyalty and allegiance. Christ died for us. Shall we not live for Him?

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 

In Christ, Brian