About Jesus
The existence of Cedar Springs is totally about the Gospel. Gospel literally means good news. The Gospel we refer to at Cedar Springs is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, the question isn’t “What is the Gospel?” but actually “Who is the Gospel?”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with some very bad news and then goes on to declare some very good news.
The Bad news is that everyone is born with an awful disease called sin. Sin can be defined as falling short of God’s standards, which we find in the Bible. It can also be defined as building our lives on anything other than Jesus, even seemingly good things like a career, relationships, hobbies, marriage, and our children. We all choose to build our lives on ourselves, declaring that we are our own gods. We declare what is right and what is wrong. We declare what is best and most satisfying. When we do so, we are also declaring that God is not good, He is not all-powerful and He does not love us. The bad news is this: when we sin, we are making direct accusations against God and, as our creator, He is the most offended party.
The Good news is that God did not leave us in this awful state. He sent Jesus, his unique Son and the only righteous one to ever live on the earth, to live the life we could never live and to die the death we should have died. He is our substitute. He lived in perfect relationship with God the Father, He obeyed the law, He loved people perfectly, and He did whatever God asked Him to do. The main thing God the Father was asking Him to do was die a brutal and public death on our behalf.
In His death, Jesus absorbed all of our sin – past, present and future – and He absorbed God’s anger that was against us because we had willfully committed those sins. He was beaten, mocked and nailed to a cross, but the most painful thing was that He was separated from God the Father for a moment, so we could be with God the Father for eternity.
The even Better news is that Jesus rose to life on the third day. He buried our sins in the tomb, and He died our death so that we can live with Him forever. He also made it so that those who believe in Him can have a relationship with God the Father, not because we are righteous enough, but because, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he (God the Father) made him (Jesus, God the Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This means that we now stand before God clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, free from sin, free from guilt, and free from shame!
Our desire is for all to believe this good news! When we believe it, we are not only reconciled to God, but we’re also added into His church. You aren’t called to live this life alone. If you would like to speak to someone about the gospel, what it means to be added to the church, or anything else, please contact us through the contact page.