What is the point, the big picture behind all this Bible talk? Simply this: you are accountable before God for what you have done in and with this life (don't believe me... check out what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:10). Have you consistently and perfectly obeyed God in all His commands? If so, great news: you've got nothing to worry about. But for everyone who has lied, stolen, disobeyed their parents, and broken any other command God has given (Exodus 20:3-17), the bad, but true, news is that God must and will punish every violation of His law with the only fitting penalty... death forever in hell. If this seems harsh, ask yourself: how many lies have I told? How many times have I used God's name as a curse word (technically called blasphemy)? How many times have I put my preferences, choices, my will as a creature above my Creator's express will for me? Not once or twice; but an unthinkably high number of these crimes, which must justify God's sentence of death for me (Revelation 21:8).
So what hope is there for people like us, who deserve nothing but an eternity of punishment? None in ourselves... no good deed, donation or anything else can satisfy God's perfect sense of justice. There's nothing we have that God hasn't first given to us (1 Corinthians 4:7), and He owns everything else (Psalm 50:12). But if God could appoint and authorize a representative for us, someone who would perfectly obey God and earn the rewards of heaven, and then that person would willingly accept our punishment in our place, that would both satisfy the demands of justice and allow God to have mercy on dirty, rotten scoundrels like you and me.
The good news of Christianity, of the Bible is that's exactly what God has done: He has demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Jesus came to earth and became a man, lived a sinless, obedient life, and then died under the wrath of His Father, God, which He has against all our evil (Romans 1:18). Three days later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, proving that His offering for us was accepted by God and His mission was completely successful.
How can you be covered by and be made right with God by Jesus and what He has done? "Repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15) To repent is to make a 180 degree turn, to admit, realize and own that everything you've believed about your own goodness and qualification for heaven is wrong. Instead, you would believe that Jesus, in His perfect goodness and sacrifice for you, has both paid the price for your sins and given you His goodness, His righteousness, to make you worthy to enjoy God's presence in heaven forever.
Before Christ, God's message of hope was primarily to and through one nation, Israel (Romans 3:2), but Jesus' explicit command is that His disciples "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20). Anyone, everyone can and must hear this news and receive Jesus as their Substitute, their Righteousness. There is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
