Good News for All People
By: Benjamin Rhodes
Tags: Tech Is A Tool, The Gospel, Jesus Christ, Good News, Hope

Technology is my passion and talent (sometimes…you know computers), but I’ve got a much bigger and much more exciting mission. As I have explained on my blog and channel, I believe that technology is a tool to glorify my Creator and share His message of Good News. I’d like to share that Good News with you here.

​To get the full scoop we must travel all the way back to the beginning of the world, well not quite back that far, but back to the sixth day of the world, the day Adam and Eve were created. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, fills us in:

“So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” — Genesis 1:27 (HCSB)

God created this man and women, Adam and Eve, and placed them in the Garden of Eden. This Garden was beautiful, it was perfect. There was not a single thorn, nor pain or death. Adam and Eve never lied, they never hurt each other, and they walked with God daily. God gave Adam one rule, Genesis 2:16–17 (HCSB):

“And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

God gave Adam and Eve this one rule. He gave them a choice. They could either eat from the tree or obey Him. God deserves ultimate glory and Adam and Eve’s free will choice to follow Him would be one of love. Choosing to follow God’s one rule would be choosing to follow God. However, an evil serpent, Satan, who sought to be God wanted to corrupt humankind and he deceived Adam and Eve and they ate the fruit. They broke God’s rule.

“Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” — Genesis 3:6 (HCSB)

Adam and Eve sinned, disobeying God. God is a righteous God and disobedience requires just punishment. Adam and Eve were cursed with pain and they and their descendants were placed under the curse of sin. That includes us, you and me. I’ve committed sin in my own life.

Sin is anything that disobeys God and disrespects Him, His power, His creation, and His Will for my life. I’ve deceived others by lying, I’ve been disrespectful to my parents, and I’ve disobeyed God’s commands for marriage and objectified His creation through pornography. I have disobeyed God in many more ways. I’m sure you can identify with some of these sins as well. The Bible tells us that all humans have sinned,

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” — Romans 3:23 (HCSB)

God is holy and just. His holiness means that He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, sin is a big problem. His just nature means that disobedience requires consequence, and God’s Word, the Bible, tells us that there is a consequence for sin.

“For the wages of sin is death…” — Romans 6:23a (HCSB)

Sin is the ultimate crime, it is the crime against God. It requires the ultimate punishment, death. This death is far worse than a physical death. This death involves eternal punishment in Hell, eternal anguish in pain, and, most of all, eternal separation from God. God demands perfection, perfection is the only way to avoid such a demise. My lying, disobedience, and lust mean that I deserve eternal death in Hell.

Fortunately, that isn’t the end of Romans 6:23,

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 6:23 (HCSB)

God is a just God who demands consequences, but He is also a kind, loving, gracious, and merciful God. God Himself provided a way by which His righteous, just judgement could be satisfied, but also a way by which we can regain our relationship with Him. He made a way that we might be able to walk with him like Adam and Eve.

God sent His own Son to be born as a man, that man is Jesus Christ. In a life that no human can fully understand, Jesus lived a normal life and grew up as a man, but He is also God in the flesh. He lived a sinless life. Jesus never disrespected his parents, He never lied, or defiled God’s gift of marriage. By this life, a life of perfection, Jesus made Himself worthy of completely satisfying God’s justice, even though He was the only man to ever live that didn’t disobey God.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.” — Hebrews 4:15 (HCSB)

Jesus took my sin, your sin, our sin as His own. He was brutally murdered on a Roman cross around AD 30. He died and was placed in a grave. God poured out His wrath, wrath that we earned, onto Jesus. The payment of death has been made,

“By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” — Hebrews 10:10 (HCSB)

But that’s not where it ends! Because Jesus is perfect and fully God, He arose back to life 3 days later! Eventually Jesus went back to being with God, His Father. However, through godly men, God recorded His account of the world, Jesus, and how we may become covered by the punishment Jesus bore for us. The Bible is God’s Word to humankind. Within its pages we learn about Jesus and how we might accept forgiveness of our sins, attain a perfect standing before God, and one day go to eternally live with Him where we can walk with Him daily as Adam did!

“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.” — Romans 10:10

God’s solution to our sin is a fairly simple one, Christ already did the work! We only have to confess, believe, and accept it. God is the judge who justly sentenced you to death, however, Jesus has just entered the courtroom and offered to bear the sentence. Will you accept His offer?

Once you accept, all the times you disobeyed God will be forgotten forever. When God looks at you, He will only see the perfect sinless life of Christ. After accepting, you must also seek to live within Christ’s perfect example. We aren’t perfect like Him, so we will mess up, but it’s important to again seek forgiveness and ask for the Holy Spirit’s power to help overcome our desire and tendency to sin.

That’s it! That’s the core of the Good News and it’s very good news! I have accepted Christ’s offer of salvation and have made it my mission to share it, as Christ commanded at the end of the gospel of Matthew,

“Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:18–20

Although I haven’t fully realized this mission, it is my continual journey to further it and use technology/computers as tools to reach even more with this message.

I hope you have read this message and understand God’s commands, your sin, and your need to accept Jesus as the Lord of your life who covers all of your sins. I encourage you to get involved in a local church and seek out solid, biblically grounded individuals who can further your understanding of the Gospel and truly disciple you in God’s Word.

I also welcome questions. I’m not an expert, but by God’s power and the Holy Spirit I will explain the best I know how or seek those who are experts. Please reach out to me on social media. I’m praying that you might join God’s eternal family!