The Gospel

There is a lot of information at our fingertips at all times these days.  Some of that information is good and very useful.  But some of that information is false and is very harmful, even deadly.  How do we know which is which?  Is there any way to distinguish the truth from a lie?

We have the Word of God to guide us.  The Bible is the standard by which all information can be established as truth or lie.  It is not only the guide to truth, it contains the most crucial information you can ever know.

What is that truth? 

Jesus.

And what information will we find there?  

We will find out why we need Jesus and how to come to know Him.

So, let’s take a moment to study the Gospel of Jesus. Gospel means good news and can be spelled out as, 

God’s Only Son Purchased Eternal Life.

I will be quoting a lot of scriptures.  All of them are linked to Bible Hub. That way you can study on your own.  There are a lot of resources there also, like: different translations, commentaries, concordance, lexicon, to name a few.  By the way, I encourage you to study on your own. Don’t take my word for what God has to say and don’t assume that what He has shown me is all there is to see.

Let us start with what the Bible says about our condition. This is the state of all mankind, the whole human race. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” (Rom 3:10, quoted from Psalms 14:3) “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

 This means that, no matter how ‘good’ you are, no matter what good things you do, you are a sinner and cannot approach God. “Those of the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:8).

 Yes, this means you. “There is not a righteous man on earth that continually does good and who never sins,” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).  “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us,” (1 John 1:8).

God is holy and just and sin cannot enter into His presence.

 I’m not even going to list verses to support this here. Believe me, there are too many for my purpose here today. But, you know this to be true. The law of God is written on our hearts. (Romans 2:15) You know without being told. God gave everyone a conscience so we all know, within ourselves, that God’s nature requires justice.

 What would justice be?  The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) and Jesus said that workers of iniquity will be cast into the lake of fire, (Matthew 13:42, Matthew 25:41).Now, this doesn’t mean you drop dead when you steal a cookie. This means, because of sin, we all have a death sentence (Psalm 51:5).  

So now we have established that sin is more than just something we do; it is what we are. We are all sinners.  We have established that we are all on our way to face a just and holy God who has declared that sin carries a death sentence and that the death He refers to is eternal fire.  What are we to do?

Thankfully, God provided a way to restore us to fellowship with Him. God showed His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

“For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life,”

(John 3:16).  

If you ever went to Sunday school as a child or summer Bible school, you have probably heard or even memorized this verse. It is one of the most important verses in the Bible.

It is such a great truth. God, Creator of the universe, holy, just and eternal, sent His son, Jesus, who willingly came and gave His life to pay the penalty for our sins. Why? Because He loves us and doesn’t want any to perish, (2 Peter 3:8-9).

Don’t wait. Today is the day of salvation, (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Don’t wait for a feeling or a season. Salvation is a decision. You decide to believe God’s word is true. That truth is that you are a sinner and the penalty for that sin is death. You must believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin and God accepted His sacrifice which is proven by Jesus’ resurrection on the third day.

Once you make the decision to believe, all you have to do is accept God’s free gift of salvation, turn from sin and follow Christ. It’s just that simple. There is nothing you can do to earn it. It is God’s gift to you.

If you have come to believe this truth, you can say a simple prayer. You can use any wording you want but, if you’d like, here is a simple one you can say:

Heavenly Father, I know I am a sinner and I am sorry I have sinned against you. I believe you sent your son, Jesus, to die in my place and pay the penalty for my sins. I believe He rose on the third day. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and live in me. I will trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior, In Jesus’ name, Amen

If you have put your faith in Jesus today, welcome to the family!  

Please read my post, "Advise to New Believers."  let me know if you have made a decision for Christ so I can pray for you.  Or if you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com .  If I don't know the answer I will do my best to find out for you.