Why Should You Celebrate Jesus?
The quick answer is because Jesus restored humanity’s ability to have relationship with God; Jesus redeemed you!
The longer answer is that in the beginning of the entire world, God created humanity to be with Him forever (Genesis 1-2). However, in Genesis chapter 3, the story of redemption takes its downward turn when Adam and Eve (the first two created humans) chose to willingly sin against God’s command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since that sin, humanity has been born into sin. Indeed, Adam and Eve’s sin separated them from God, and our sins do as well. Genesis 4 – the end of the Old Testament (Malachi) has to do with the story of God and His people and how the world needed a Savior to come redeem humanity from sin. Truly, God’s Word (the Bible) is clear that humanity’s good deeds (the good things we do) cannot and will not grant us restored relationship with God. Because sin was brought into the world through Adam and Eve’s sin (and ours), we can’t provide our own salvation; nothing we do in our own efforts will ever be good enough to gain us back in relationship with God. Enter Jesus!
That’s why you should celebrate Jesus!
God knew you and I couldn’t do enough in our own efforts to be restored back to Him, so He sent the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life and to die for the sins of the entire world (including yours…no matter how awful!). Jesus was crucified to pay the price for sin; He died and was buried, but after 3 days He was resurrected showing that He has power over sin and death!
Now, the situation has changed greatly! EVERYONE who goes through Jesus for salvation by trusting in Him and Him alone is restored back to perfect relationship with God; you are saved!
Saved from what?! You are saved from sin because you’ve appropriated Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection to your life.
Saved for what?! You are saved for eternal life in heaven–the incredible place God has created to spend eternity with you! That eternal life begins here and now on the earth.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
What the Bible says about Jesus Christ:
Matthew 1:22-23 – “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”
Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
John 1:1-5 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Hebrews 4:14-15 – “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
What the Bible says about Salvation:
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
John 1:12 – “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Titus 3:5 – “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”
Galatians 3:26 – “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,”
Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Eternity
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.
What the Bible says about Eternity:
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 2:25 – “And this is what he promised us—eternal life.”
1 John 5:11-13 – “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Revelation 20:15 – “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”