The Gospel

My little sister (who is 3) can tell you at any point in time what the gospel is. If you ask her, she will say "Jesus died, was buried, and rose again!" And she is exactly right! The Gospel is not difficult or complicated, and can be summed up in those three statements! 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says " Now I would remind you brothers of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance that I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures"(emphasis is my own)

So what does that have to do with you? Well I am glad you asked! (I'm glad you even clicked on this page! Your interest excites me!)

First off, you must understand your great need. And not just your need, but every human being who ever was, is, and is to come. Romans 3:9-12 "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." The passage continues to explain a state of desperacy. Further on in the chapter, 3:23 also says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Ever lied? Ever hated someone? Ever stolen even a pencil from the teachers desk or cookie from the jar? We ALL have failed to attain perfection, therefore, by sinning even just once, we deserve eternal death in hell. My church has a saying, we call ourselves "Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinking, Stupid, Sinners" "durfs" for short..to remind ourselves of just how much we need Jesus! Romans 6:23 "for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Sin has separated us from God. There is now a chasm between us and Him, because of our depraved human state.

BUT it doesn't have to end there. Romans 5:8 "but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Remember the "free gift" described above? Do you have to earn things that are free? Absolutely not. Just like how we didn't (and couldn't even if we wanted to) earn the forgiveness we receive from Christ. He died for us while we were still sinners! That means that you cannot be good enough or earn it. The blameless, sinless, absolutely in every way perfect Messiah came down to earth as a humble man, and undertook all of God's wrath to save sinners like you and me. How. cool.

So what now? If you can't earn it..how do you get it? Simple. Thank the Lord for how simple it is. Romans 10:9 "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" What does that say? "you might be saved?" "you could be saved?" NO. You. Will. Be. Saved.   Is that amazing, or is that amazing?

So I will leave you with this... Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Aaaaaaah. Relieving isn't it?




*If you are reading this, and hearing the Gospel for the first time or the thousandth time...and the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes and granted you understanding, you may be wondering what to do next. My advice is this..first off, pray. Thank Him for what He has done for you! There is never a time when you should doubt whether to pray or not. Next, I would encourage you to get a bible! It doesn't have to be a fancy leather bound study Bible, you can go to the Dollar Tree or a number of other convenience stores and purchase one for just a few dollars. But don't let that treasure sit unused! If you are lost and need direction, I would encourage you to start reading Luke, John, or Romans. They are good places to start. And finally, I am excited for you to start this journey!! Feel free to fill out a contact form to your right and ask me questions! I'd love to hear from you.