Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to the earth he created. He was fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life, because a perfect life was needed as a sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath against unholiness. In his perfect love, God the father offered his son to be that sacrifice.

Then Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death. A perfect man received the ultimate penalty and defeated it. Because he was God, he was able to do it. Because he was man, we are able to share in his victory. We do not have to be eternally punished; we live in freedom and we will continue to exist after we die in freedom. We do not have to tread in fatalism, fear, guilt and anguish.

That is, if we believe it’s all true. We don’t get to be heirs to the glory of salvation if we don’t believe that salvation is real.

It doesn’t make you perfect. It doesn’t stop bad things from happening. In fact, it does surprisingly little to change your circumstances when you are saved. You still have to go to work the next day. But!

When we believe, God is with us. God comforts us. God promises us a perfect world at the end of this imperfect one. God shows us how to best use our bodies and lives, because he designed our bodies and our lives. God provides a fulfillment that no earthbound pleasure can match, as the fleeting joys of this world inevitably end. God does not end. God is infinite in time and infinite to be explored.

God, in the most amazing development thus far, loves each and every one of us. He loves more passionately than a lover, more tenderly than a mother, and more defensively than a best friend. He does not abandon or forsake. He offers a fulfilled life as it was meant to be lived.

And he offers it all to us.

Jesus came, died and rose, and now we can have all of that.

That is the gospel.

Let us praise him.