For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)
What we believe is important. If we believe ourselves to be trash we will act like we are trash and all of life will be affected. If we believe we are children of God and we are loved by Him no matter what, we will act like children of God and again, all of life will be affected.
The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with this great truth: there is a good, holy, loving God in the universe who created human beings in His image.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:25-27 ESV)
You are not a mistake. You are not an accident. You are not junk, because God does not make junk, and He created you. And He loves you too much to leave you lost and broken in sin and death.
You see, the Gospel also takes seriously the reality of sin. We are born into sin. We have a broken sin nature that is bent toward selfishness and rebellion against the very God who gave us life. We sin because we are sinners, and no matter how hard we try, we cannot live the perfect, holy lives we were intended to live. Houston, we have a problem. We are sinners who need a Savior because we cannot save ourselves.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 ESV)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 ESV)
So the perfect, holy, all-powerful God of the universe took action. God's co-equal Son, Jesus of Nazareth, was born in flesh and blood and lived among us to show us God's heart of both holiness and grace, and then laid down His life, dying in our place on a Roman cross for the sins of the world.
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
He paid the debt I could not pay. He took the punishment I deserved. And so I am pardoned and set free from the law of sin and death. The chains are broken, and I am free to be holy. Free to live a life that honors God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Free to be all He wants me to be. I am delivered from death to life, and one day, when this human body fails and I pass from this life it will be into eternal life. Glory to God!
Scripture makes it clear that my part in this glorious redeeming is faith. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That's exactly what Ephesians 2:8-9 declares:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)
By the grace of God, through my faith in Jesus, I am delivered from sin and death. I am declared "not guilty," and adopted as a child of God.
But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 ESV)
This Gospel of Good News declares one more vital thing: when I do trust Christ for redemption and invite Him to live in my life, He does. His Holy Spirit takes up residence in my heart and begins a work of sanctification in my life, transforming me by His power from selfishness to love and from my own desires to seeking His will. This work of transformation continues the rest of my life as God's Spirit makes me more and more Christlike.
Believing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not culminate in asking Christ into my life and trusting Him for forgiveness. Rather, that's the launch point. The Kingdom of God is established in my life here and now when I make Jesus my King. The rest of my life and all of eternity become the fulfillment of the Lord's Prayer: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Deliverance from sin and death. Freedom to live a new life. Not by my effort - not by trying harder to be holy - but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Again, glory to God!
One final word: Biblical faith is more than believing these truths in our heads. Biblical faith is trusting Jesus with our lives and following Him as Lord and King, walking by faith and obedience into this new life. What we believe matters. And believing - really believing - the truth of the Gospel will lead to transformation as His Spirit works in us. The proof of redemption is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, grown in and lived out in our lives.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)
Trust Christ. Walk by faith. Love God and love others. It's not rocket science, it's more important than that. It's life itself...