6 Gospel Truths for Navigating 2021

With all the dramatic shifts in world events over the last two years—from viral outbreaks to elections, riots to cover-ups—it’s hard to believe in the basic goodness of humanity.

Yet according to a 2020 survey, nearly half of US evangelicals believe that mankind is basically morally “good.”

Are we basically good? The answer to that question is the key to unlocking not only recent global events but the entire meaning of life.

It starts with a symbol I had always seen growing up, yet did not truly appreciate.

When I was young I never understood why crosses were a big deal. You see them everywhere. To me, they just looked like weird plus signs. 

I did not understand the history behind the cross. I didn’t know the Bible, and unless one clearly understands the big picture story of the Bible, the cross will remain a plus sign.

There are six realities that sum up the story of the Bible, each part of God’s plan captivating people’s imaginations for 2,000 years. 

Yet one of the realities is particularly discomforting and astonishing.

Let’s start at the beginning of the story.

1. Things Started Off Well 

God loving and all-powerful—created a perfect world.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth . . . And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:1, 36a).

In the beginning, there was one holy, perfect God existing in three persons: the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. In perfect fellowship within himself, God said, “Let us make man in our image.” (Gen. 1:26)

So he did. God created man and woman to worship him and enjoy their unique bond with him as his image-bearers.

The world God placed man in was perfect. No suffering, sickness, or death. Holy God and innocent man stood in perfect, harmonious relation to one another

We aren’t at the uncomfortable part of the story yet—just beautiful truths. But it is only the beginning of our story. The next chapter is much more tragic.

2. Things Got Bad 

God, in effect, had said, “Enjoy everything in the entire world that I have made for you—everything except this one tree.” Would Adam and Eve, those first humans, pass this simple test?

No. Genesis 3 tells the whole story. Eve ate of the tree and gave it to her husband, and he ate. They disregarded God’s authority and rejected his love. In one defiant act of rebellion man declared his independence from God, and man has been alienated from God ever since. 

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. (Rom. 5:12).

Rejection of and disobedience to God is called sin. And because of sin, man’s special relationship with God was broken. Instead of worshipping and loving God, we create false gods to satisfy our longings. Wealth, work, pleasure, sports, family — we live for these far more than for the God who created us.

Our sin is repulsive to God’s holiness and creates a chasm between God and man called death. 

Things are no longer the way they are supposed to be in the world.

But death is not the only consequence of sin. 

3. Things went from bad to worse

Man’s sin and rebellion have wreaked catastrophic consequences on this earth.

Like a disease, sin passed from generation to generation, distorting God’s good design for mankind. History proves this. God flooded the world in Genesis 7 because of human violence.  Wars, dictatorships, murders, jealousies, rage, abuse, oppression, brutalization of children—all results of the fall. Even our own secret sins are symptoms of the disease in our hearts.

The Bible teaches us that God is angered by sin (Psa. 60:1). “God is an honest judge. He is angry with the wicked every day” (Psa. 7:11). The good and just God of the universe has promised to one day punish the world with fire because of evil.

2 Peter 3:3-7 says:

I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, ‘What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.’ They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

We are fatally flawed. 

Is there any hope?

4. Things are getting brighter

Yes—and the Bible is about that hope.  The fourth reality is the promise of rescue and life through Jesus Christ.

Christ’s rescue was promised thousands of years before he came.—from Adam and Abraham to Moses and Malachi. The entire Old Testament anticipates what God would do to redeem his people through his Son. 

• Jesus’ birth was miraculous in that he was born of a virgin.
• Jesus’ life was unique in that he kept God’s commands perfectly and proved his deity through many miracles.
• Jesus’ death was sacrificial  in that he offered up his own life to rescue us from sin.

That plus sign we see everywhere meant something different in Jesus’ day 2,000 years ago. It was a torture device. Yet Jesus willingly, obediently, and unselfishly died on a cross to pay for the sins of his people. In the greatest display of mercy and grace ever seen, the righteous God-man died for the hopelessly guilty.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Because of Christ’s death, God can remain just in punishing sin while still forgiving sinners. And through Christ, we are ransomed from both our sin and its consequences.

But that isn’t all.

5. Something extra special happened

Jesus, though innocent, died like a common criminal—scourged, beaten, and pierced with nails to hang on a cross of wood. Yet it wasn’t tragic. It was a hero’s journey penned by a heavenly Author.

Because he never deserved death, and because he was the unique Son of God, “death could not hold him” (Acts 2:24). Jesus Christ was raised from the dead so that we who are identified with him in death can be raised to eternal, indestructible, abundant life (1 Cor. 15:3-4, 22).

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

Moreover, by conquering death itself, Jesus proved that he has authority over the entire universe (Matt. 28:18)s. That includes us—which leads us to a final reality which we must personally embrace.

6. You must trust

The Bible is God’s amazing story of redemption and peace with God. He desires all to be a part of that story. . But to join that story, we must act.

That action is no action at all—rather, it’s the simple act of casting ourselves in dependence on Christ. It means trusting that he is who he says he is and has done what he has done, for us.

It also means recognizing that our sins are the reason we need Jesus. We cannot save ourselves. We can’t merit eternal life. We must transfer our trust to what Jesus provided by dying on the cross.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)

We must turn from our sins and place our trust in Jesus.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

The cross is more than a plus sign. Whatever you have been living for, if it is not Jesus Christ, make a change. You must turn from your sins to Christ and believe in the gospel:

1. Recognize that your  sin has offended God and needs to be paid for. When we convince ourselves that our sins are not so bad, we deceive ourselves and deny Jesus. If you don’t start with this recognition, you will “die in your sins” (John 8:24).

2. Recognize who Jesus is and that he died to save those who trust him. We will never work our way into God’s favor. God’s redemption plan is our only way to forgiveness and a renewed relationship with God. Call out to Jesus for rescue, and he will save you. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

3. That is it. And because of Christ’s radical gift of forgiveness, we are obligated to live completely for him out of gratitude—which is really the only satisfying way to live. But nothing we do can add to or take away from his free gift.

If you are convinced that God created you for more, persuaded that you are a sinner trapped under God’s anger, and convinced that Jesus is the answer, then why not trust him right now?

Pray something like: “God, I have sinned my whole life. If you were to judge me right now, you would be right in sentencing me to everlasting punishment. But I am looking to your son Jesus. I understand and believe that his death on the cross paid for my sins. I am turning from my sin to my only hope: Jesus. I am trusting him to give me eternal life, starting right now.”

Whatever happens in culture and in the world, these six realities—all converging at the cross—will remain true. They’re the key to life itself. And we cannot forget this foundation on which we stand.