For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. JOHN 3:16 (ESV)

Many religions basically teach the same thing: do good and God will bless you, do bad and God will curse you. But that is not the Christian Gospel.

Jesus did not give us a long list of things to do in order to earn God’s favor. He did not provide us with moral teachings that would allow us climb our way back to God. According to the Gospel, our sin problem is so big that no amount of good work or personal moral reform can save us. We are not just sick with our sin and in need of help. We are dead in our sin and in need of a savior. We are helpless, but we are not hopeless.

The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus died on the cross in our place for our sins. He was then raised from the dead on the third day, according to the scriptures. His substitutionary death frees us from the judgment and penalty of our sin, and his resurrection from the dead frees us from the power of sin and death over us.

World religions claim to have a path, but Jesus claimed to be the path. World religions claim to have truth, but Jesus claimed to be the truth. World religions claim to have a message from God, but Jesus claimed to be both God and the message.