About Jesus
Creation:
The Bible says plain and simple that God created the Earth and all that is spinning with it including humans who he created after His own likeness. (Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:27 So God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.) The gift that set Adam and Eve apart at creation was the gift of free will. This was a catch 22. God said that Adam and Eve have the choice to listen and obey and be happy, alive, and with him forever eating from 99.9% of the fruit in the garden… or eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why do we even have that tree? Like I said free will is a catch 22 because for us to freely choose the right thing to do there need to be the option of doing the wrong thing (or else we don’t have free will) So when we ask why is there so much bad stuff in the world it’s because God gave us the choice to do the right thing… and we blew it. ( Genesis 2:16-17 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”)
Sin:
This is the hardest part of getting to know Jesus. First we have to admit we aren’t perfect… although when we really look at ourselves we can see we are broken. We are in need of fixing. It started with Adam and Eve in the garden and takes us all the way to today. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. That means you, me, even the President have sinned and have fallen short. We have all done it and we must pay for our punishment. Romans 6:23a says quite clearly “For the wages of sin is death”. See Adam and Eve weren’t created to die. This is all because of Sin . Death, suffering, and other bad stuff is not Gods fault. In fact these things are the direct result if us turning our backs to God. Being a good person is not good enough to get into heaven, because we can’t remove our own sin. God is Holy, perfect, flawless, the polar opposite of evil. In fact He is so holy and pure He can’t even stand the sight of sin. That’s why with sin in our lives there is no way we can get into heaven, God’s in heaven and can’t be near our sin. So what happens to those who have sin and pay the wage of death? 2 Thessalonians 1:9 states “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might”. Hell is real and its horrible. See how bad the world can get sometimes.. and that is with God being here but not ruling. Hell is a place where God is absent completely, and that causes it to be truly terrifying…
Jesus:
His Birth:
What goes on at christmas is more that a great time to get new toys. We celebrate the moment that God put into action his checkmate on sin. We know that Jesus wasn’t actually born on the 25th of December but it’s as good of a time as any to party like we just won the war. He was indeed born of the virgin Mary, who was not chosen because she was Holy, because she wasn’t, but because she was true to God and of the line of David. Jesus was born in a manger in the town of Bethlehem with angels and shepherds and the whole bit. You may thing that may be to amazing to be true, but it was true, and amazing. (Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ”She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ”BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.)
His Life:
Jesus walked in ways we can only imagine. Being fully God and fully man He was the answer to the “sin problem” that we have been stuck with since mankind’s first stroll out of the Garden of Eden. The Bible says that everyone who has sinned deserves death… that means all of us. So none of us could save ourselves, never the less save someone else. No we needed a savior, someone that didn’t owe the debt so that they could offer to pay it in our place. That person was Jesus, the blameless, sinless, son of God. But in order for Him to pay our debt… He needed to do something drastic. (John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understoodit.” John 1: 9-10 “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”)
Hope and Salvation:
Since we owed death, that’s what Jesus had to pay. It was that simple, because if a human that was void of sin died in the place of the sinful (us) then the debt would be paid on His terms and there could be forgiveness for sins. So Christ died on the cross for all of our sins so that if we believe in our hearts He is Lord, God, Creator, and Savior He will wipe our slate clear and we will be able to have a real relationship with God and be confident that we will be in heaven with Him for all time. But see He didn’t just die on a cross and that’s it end of story. Oh no, He rose again on the third day, just like He said he would. See Christ isn’t a dead god, He is the Living Savior. There is a second half to a verse that I used before. Romans 6:23b says “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. He wants you to believe in him. There’s no catch nothing due… just faith. We can’t work our way to heaven. So we need to believe in Him. (Hebrew 9:22 “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 1 Corinthians 15: 3b-4 “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” 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”)
Prayer
This is the moment Jesus can change your life forever and free you from sin. These arn’t magic words there is nothing in this alone that will save you, this is what you need to know in your heart. If you really are ready for a change in your life, and to walk with God, go ahead and pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner. I believe that you are the Son of God, and that you led a perfect life and then died for my sins. I also believe that you rose again on the third day. I pray that you forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God. Thanks you Jesus for saving me from my sin’s . In your holy name, Amen”
If you prayed this prayer and have any questions feel free to email me at MrQ@wkbc.org