At Fisherman’s Call, this is the first question we ask, because we love God’s glory and we love God’s gospel. These two are actually tied together, for in the gospel—that is, the good news—God shows us the glory of His amazing grace! But before you can be amazed at God’s grace and believe His gospel, there are a few things you need to know, things that God has told us in His word, the Bible.

God and You

Let’s start with this vital fact, a fact at the very core of reality: God made you for himself. You are not a product of a mindless evolutionary process, but of an all-wise, all-powerful Creator, who loves you perfectly and is the source of every good thing you enjoy every day. And God made you, not for yourself, but for himself—to believe His word, to obey His commands, to worship Him only, to love Him wholly and to live for His glory. This is not “selfish” of God, because He made you such that your soul can only be satisfied by Him. Therefore, it is the best possible thing for you to fulfill this ultimate purpose for which you were made.

Sin and Judgment

But the problem is that you don’t live for Him—you live for yourself. By nature you worship His gifts, though He, the Giver, is worthy. You make idols all the time, living for gods of your own making rather than the One who made you. And you disobey His commands. This may be hard for you to accept, so I invite you to take the good person test here. Take a walk through the Ten Commandments, and you will see where you stand in the high court of heaven—as a guilty criminal with a death sentence hanging over you. The marks of this sentence are all around us in the pain and sorrow and suffering and death that fill the world. Yet its final execution is hell, a place of eternal agony away from God’s presence. Many in our world have a problem with hell. Isn’t God a God of love? Why would He send me to hell? I ask you, why do the judges of our land—the good ones, that is—send guilty criminals to prison? Because these men have committed crimes, and justice must be done. In fact, we expect our judges to be just. How much more the Judge of all the earth, who is seated on the throne of heaven and sees all our works and even the inner workings of our hearts? Will He not make sure justice is done?

Grace and the Gospel

Do you see the problem here? On the great and awful day when you are called to account, what hope will you have? But it is here that the good news looks so good! For God himself has provided the solution to the problem in His Son, Jesus Christ. No doubt, You know about Jesus—that He was born of a virgin, taught and did miracles, died on the cross, rose from the dead. But do you understand the meaning of these things?

He is both God and man—that is the meaning of His virgin birth, a birth like no other birth in human history. He is the Word, the very embodiment of Truth—that is why He taught with astonishing authority and life-changing power.10 He is Creator and Lord—that is why He had power to do those miracles, even casting demons out of the possessed and raising the dead to life. And He is the Man, the hero of God’s story, who did what Adam and everyone else in the human race failed to do—obey God’s commands perfectly. And this is the key to Jesus’ death. What was happening when Jesus hung on that wooden cross—ancient Rome’s version of the electric chair? The answer is devastating. As the obedient Son, He was suffering the hellish punishment of God in the place of those who had disobeyed—sinners like you and me. Remember? Justice must be done. And it was done on the cross, only the obedient Son was punished in the criminal’s place. He, the Innocent, was dying for the guilty. Amazingly, at that moment God’s just anger against sinners was focused on His Son. That is why Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was forsaken for our sake, He died in our place. “Why?” you may ask. Because He is Love—He has shown us God’s love by the way He lived and, most of all, by the way He died, willingly giving up himself for sinners. Do you want to see how amazing God’s grace is? Look at that man hanging on that cross, crying out in distress to God, dying like a common criminal, and understand that He did this for you. God showed He had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice by raising Him from the dead three days later. Jesus then appeared to a number of His disciples. We have their eyewitness testimony to this climactic miracle. Further, God seated Jesus at His right hand in heaven, where He reigns above all and saves all who call on His name. From there He will one day return, not as a humble baby to serve and suffer but as the glorious King and Judge of all. This is the gospel, God’s good news to the world of what he has done for his sinners in His Son, Jesus.

Repentance and Faith

We at Fishermen’s Call present this Jesus to you. He is the only Savior and your only hope. You are bankrupt before God. You have nothing to offer Him on your behalf. But He offers you everything in His Son, Jesus: full forgiveness, terms of peace, adoption as His own child and the glorious hope of eternal life with Him. Jesus has the righteousness, the obedience that you desperately need but do not have. Will you now turn from your sin and trust in Him alone? Please understand what we are calling you to do. Most Americans know about Jesus. For that matter, most Americans call themselves Christians. But that is all their Christianity is, a label with no faith and no life behind it. What is faith? We can define it from the Bible in a threefold way. The first two aspects are knowing the truth and accepting to it as true. But this is where most Americans stop. Most would say, “Yes, I know about Jesus. Yes, I believe [i.e., accept as true] that Jesus died for my sins.” But there is a third, pivotal aspect to faith—that of trusting Him, of transferring all our heart’s reliance and confidence to Him and resting on Him and Him alone for salvation. This transfer involves repentance—a brokenhearted turning away from sin and submitting of one’s self to Jesus. What we are talking about here is laying down your arms and surrendering to King Jesus. It is a fundamental change of heart that will change everything. And the life is the litmus test of whether that change has happened. How can you know if you are a Christian, that you are trusting in Jesus? The answer to this vital question lies not only in what you know but how you live and for whom. Jesus said it this way: you know what kind of tree it is by the fruit it bears. What kind of fruit are you bearing? Do not play games. You can fool man concerning these things, but not God. Pretenders will be unmasked on Judgment Day. You must count the cost. Jesus never promised those who follow Him an easy road, but He promised to always be with us and to share His own great rest and reward with us at the end of that road. As God’s representatives, we urge you to turn to Him! Only through the blood of His cross are sinners reconciled to God. Only His Word can remake you, so that you fulfill the purpose for which you were made. Only in Him can your soul be satisfied.

Do you have more questions, or have you received the gospel message we have here explained?

Please contact us. We would love to minister to you in any way we can!