The first of these truths is the foundation of God’s good design. God is the creator of all things and has lovingly made us in his own image (Gen. 1:27). Having been created out of an overflow of the love of the triune God, we have been created for relationship with him as our king. As God’s creation we owe him our complete obedience (Gen. 2:15-17).

The second truth is bad news. In our sin we have rebelled against God’s perfect design and rule and on our own merit stand as his enemies under his wrath (Rom. 1:18). Following Adam’s sin every person inherited Adam’s sin nature and is a sinner by nature and by choice. We are not merely sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners (Rom. 5:12). Because of our sin we deserve and are destined for eternal conscious punishment separated from God’s mercy and kindness (Matt. 25:46).

The third truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news. Because of God’s love for his people, God the Son put on flesh and did what we could not do (1 John 4:10). Through his perfect life he fulfilled the law we could not keep (Rom. 5:19). Through his substitutionary death on the cross he paid the penalty for all our sin thereby satisfying God’s wrath (Rom. 3:25). By his resurrection he secured new life for his people and guarantees the resurrection of his people to life eternal with their creator on the last day (Rom. 6:4-11).