Jesus

Jesus willingly gave himself up to die in our place as a sacrafice for our rebellion against God.

How did we get here?

When we look out at the world we see apparent design, beauty and grandeur. Is it all just a massive accident? Or is it the product of a supreme mind?

The Bible states that God created the heavens and the earth. He designed all things, gave us stewardship of the world and intended us to live in perfect relationship with him.

What went wrong?

Though there is still much goodness and beauty in life, there is also much chaos, evil and suffering. When we look inside ourselves, we see the same: virtue on one hand, and deep selfishness on the other.

The Bible teaches that things have gone wrong because we have failed to honour God our Creator.

Instead, we have devoted ourselves to things like money, pleasure, ambition, family and security. These are all good in their place, but when we devote ourselves to them rather than God, we are guilty of a grave moral evil, or sin.

As a consequence, we experience separation from God, broken relationships with each other and the breakdown of harmony in the natural world.

Why does it matter?

God is just. He cannot overlook sin.

In the same way that serious crimes must be brought to justice in our world, so we must face the consequences for our rebellion against God and his perfect law.

His justice means our eternal separation from him and all that is good. The Bible calls this the ‘second death’ or hell. This is what we justly deserve and there is nothing we can do to fix this problem.

What is the answer?

Though God cannot overlook our sin, he has a deep love for us.

In fact, so great is his love for the world that he gave his one and only Son, Jesus, to set us free from sin and its consequences.

Jesus willingly gave himself up to die in our place as a sacrifice for our rebellion against God. Through Jesus’ death, God’s justice was satisfied and his mercy overflowed to us.

Jesus rose victorious from the dead and through his resurrection new life is offered to all. Not only does Jesus transform our lives now by his Spirit, his resurrection guarantees our future resurrection to eternal life with God in a renewed world.

How can I experience it?

God’s promise is that anyone who believes in his Son Jesus freely receives these gifts. To believe in Jesus means to accept who he is, our need for God’s forgiveness and to personally trust him to save us.

Trusting Jesus involves a personal decision to rely on him, to commence new life under his loving rule, and to live our lives in community with his people.

We cannot save ourselves by our own desire or effort. We are saved by grace through faith. It is the gift of God.

Special Series – Why Believe?

There are many arguments for and against the Christian faith. But what arguments did the first Christians use to persuade people that Jesus was Lord? An intriguing and thought-provoking sermon series preached at our partner church St Alfred’s Anglican Church, Blackburn North.  It begins with a service of lament which will be an opportunity for the congregation to acknowledge the struggle to believe. This series relates to our web page about Jesus.