The Goodness of God
The Gospel begins with the goodness of God. The Lord God is a good, kind, and beautiful God. He made the heavens and the earth to reveal His glory to man. He made man in His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Our blessed God placed man in paradise on earth (the Garden of Eden) to live and commune with Him.
The Sinfulness of Man
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, forfeited blessedness and life for all mankind when Adam rejected the goodness of God, chose to believe in the lie and deception of Satan, and ate of the forbidden fruit. Ever since then all mankind descending from Adam are born in sin. We are accountable for Adam’s first breaking of God’s law, and daily we choose to reject God and His rule over our lives. The tragedy is twofold. God is just: should we die in rebellion we will be condemned to everlasting punishment in the wrathful presence of God. Moreover, we are miserable. Consider the consequences of living outside of God’s moral law, which is summarised in the ten commandments. Sin results in pain, sadness, and discord amongst men.
The Love of God
The wonderful news of the Gospel is the love of God in His Son Jesus Christ. Though we had given up happiness and life with God, rebelled against Him, taken His glory to ourselves, and continually rejected His warnings and calls to return to the Lord, He loved. God loves the world with the life and death of His own beloved Son. Jesus lived the life that we never could, He died the death of sinners, and was raised to life everlasting, so that all who are united to Him through faith share in His righteousness, His atonement for sin, and His everlasting life. Christ is offered to you.
All Things New
The heavens and the earth have been ravished by the sinfulness of man and the resulting curse of God. Do you not long to know a world without pain, suffering, and death, a world filled with goodness, truth, and light? All things are made new in Jesus Christ. Resting in Jesus now results in reconciliation with God and restored communion. Yet there lies ahead of us a New Heavens and a New Earth. Jesus will return, and all His people will then dwell in paradise restored and improved forever.