First, the Good News...

What is the Good News? It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is the greatest gift ever given to mankind.

First of all, we must understand that God's Word says that we are all sinners.
We have all heard the expression, "Nobody's perfect" or "I'm only human." Well, the Word of God agrees with this, and it is this sinful nature that separates us from God. It is also this sinful nature that makes us unable to do anything to reconcile ourselves to God.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23

In spite of this sinful nature, which we are all born into due to the fall of our parents in Eden, He still provided a way to reconcile to Himself those whom He foreknew, and He did this while we were yet in our sinful nature.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

He did this to save us from our sin and from the consequence of it, which is death.

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

There is no human being on earth who can love you that much.

Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

Besides knowing that God's love is not like that of human beings, it was in this way that God showed it--by sending His Son for us.

For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosever believeth in him,
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

Now, perhaps you are thinking that you have never sinned, and that you don't need this gift of salvation. If so, let me draw your attention to the opening premise, based on His holy Word, that we are all sinners. Since it is his Word that claims this, we cannot say otherwise without calling God a liar.

If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:8-10

Yes, despite our sin, despite there being no good thing in us that would merit this gift of salvation, the Lord God bestowed it upon His children anyway. There was nothing we could have done to remedy our situation and close the gap between our sinfulness and His holiness. Still, God called us out, showed us our sin, opened our eyes to where we were, and then provided the faith to receive Christ. He has truly done all of what we could never do, and to Him be the glory and the praise forever. When we realize this in its fullness, the truth of it will humble us in His presence, as we see Him for Who He truly is--an all-Sovereign, holy God.
By this He becomes both Savior of our souls and Lord over our lives.

Hallelujah! This is good news indeed.

Oh, yes. The bad news?
Well, that's where we would be if it weren't for the Sovereign Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit--Almighty God.

:-)

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