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WHAT IS THE TRUE GOSPEL MESSAGE?
There are many "gospel" messages being circulated today. I want to tell you the TRUE gospel message. In some circles one would believe that if we simply say "I accept Jesus into my heart," we are saved. This is "gospel lite." They do not teach the whole gospel. And, it is critical to know the difference because many people who believe they are saved are not. They have been given a false gospel and are still on their way to hell.
When presenting the "gospel" message some leave out the cross and resurrection completely. They don't tell us we are sinners and we need a Savior. They don't tell us we will either spend eternity in Heaven or hell and our destiny depends on what we believe about Jesus. They don't tell us that now is the time to make that decision and after we die it will be too late. The gospel is sometimes presented as something we do, like going forward in church, or having some kind of emotional experience, so we can find peace, happiness, wealth, and good health. The emphasis is not on the fact of how we are all dreadful sinners and in desperate need of a Savior. There is no talk of repentance which is clearly taught in the scripture by Jesus Himself. And, they hardly ever tell us there is a cost to following Christ .
The Word "gospel" means good news.
What is the good news of the Bible?
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,…" I Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV.
The Apostle Paul wrote this scripture as he was inspired by God. He tells the Corinthian believers that the first and most important thing he wanted to share with them was the gospel message as follows:
Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins, according to the scriptures.
He was buried in a borrowed tomb, which was then sealed and guarded.
He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. Death could not hold him.
My friends, that is the gospel message in a nutshell. Very short and to the point.
In order to understand the importance of these scriptures we must dig a little deeper.
Why did Christ have to die for our sins?
In the beginning God created the first man an woman, Adam and Eve. They were made perfect. At that time there was no sin in the world. God placed them in the garden of Eden to live and populate the earth.
Genesis 2:16-17 "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. '"
But, Satan came along and enticed Eve to eat of the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve picked the fruit and ate it and even gave her husband Adam some to eat too.
Sin is disobedience to God. Adam and Eve became sinners, and they passed that heritage down to us. From then on everyone was born with a sin nature. We do not have to learn to be sinners it comes naturally to us.
God came to visit with Adam and Eve, but they hid from him. Why? Because they were ashamed and full of fear. Here is where the blame game got started. Adam tired to blame Eve and Eve blamed the serpent (Satan) who enticed her to eat the fruit. But, as God is all knowing He knew the whole story. He knew they had disobeyed Him.
Up to this time Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, and that didn't bother them. After they sinned they became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. They became aware of themselves. This is when conscience entered the human picture.
God did not view the fig leaves as a proper cover for them so he sacrificed animals and used their skins to make Adam and Eve clothing. Have you ever wondered why God replaced the fig leaves with animal skins?
God had told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him they would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) You see life is in the blood. If a person gets cut bad and loses too much blood he will die. Without blood there is no life.
Leviticus 17:11 says, 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for [Heb 9:22] it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'
God could not go back on His Word. He didn't want to end the human race so He had to make another way. He allowed the slain animals shed blood be a substitution for their own. Blood was shed and the sins were covered or atoned for. The skins were their covering and a reminder of the shed blood.
God is love. He made mankind so that he could communicate and fellowship with them. But, God is also just. He requires that justice be done. That is why he had to shed the blood of animals in the place of shedding the blood of Adam and Eve. The animals paid the price, for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
In the Old Testament times, God required the people to sacrifice animals daily to cover their sins. These sacrifices were looking forward to the day that God would give the ultimate sacrifice, His only Son, to die for the sin of the world. This happened in the New Testament era when the Lamb of God, which is Jesus Christ, came to this Earth to give His live and shed his blood on the cross to cover our sins.
Ephesians 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according the the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us."
God also said in the book of Romans that the wages or payment for sin is death. Because God is just this payment must be made.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The other side of the coin is that God will give us eternal life as a free gift when we understand and accept the true gospel message.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Actually, the word sin means, "to miss the mark." (Hamartia) Can we all agree that we have all missed the mark? Or, not measured up to God's standards? Unbelievers cannot know true peace because of sin.
I Corinthians 2:14 "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
The natural man cannot even understand the things of God, because they have no spirit. He doesn't even desire God nor is he capable of responding in faith on his own. He needs God to open his eyes of understanding.
So, we can plainly see from the Bible that we need a Savior because we all are sinners. God met our need by allowing His Son to come and be a substitute our sins.
Ultimately, all unbelievers are under the control and the grip of the devil. I John 5:19 "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
Do we need to repent? Is it Necessary?
Yes, we must repent in order to be saved. Merely making a "decision," to trust Christ is not enough. There must be a total forsaking of everything else we trust and a turning to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We must turn the reins of our life over to Him, take "self" off the throne, and allow Christ to be Lord. That means we serve Him and not ourselves. This is not clearly taught today in many of our modern churches. Repentance means we understand what we've done wrong, we are very sorry about it, and we turn from those things and go in a different direction. When there is no repentance there is no salvation!
Matthew 4:17 " From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Mark 6:7 "And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Mark 6:12 "They went out and preached that men should repent."
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Acts 17:30 "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent."
Count the Cost.
Here is another thing you will not hear of today in the modern church:
Salvation is absolutely free, but it will cost you everything!
What does that mean? God has provided for us a way of salvation on His terms. It is up to us to either accept it or reject it. If we accept it there is a cost to us personally and that is our old life. We must be willing to give up ourselves. We must be willing to allow Christ to be Lord of our lives and live for Him. As we read and study the Bible we must be willing to put into practice the things He teaches us.
Following Christ is not always easy. It doesn't mean life will be easy going from now on. It doesn't mean all our felt needs will be fulfilled. It doesn't mean we will always have happy relationships, and no problems in our lives.
Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
That means we are to die to self as we think of the cross and what Jesus did for us. We need to deny our own agenda, and go with God's agenda for our lives. That is part of the cost you need to count.
Matthew 10:34-38 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."
These are hard words! But, they are true! When we become a Christian we will have troubles. Family members may turn against you. You may have to give up some of your former friends. That is part of counting the cost.
John 16:33 "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But, take heart! I have overcome the world."
That is our encouragement. Jesus has overcome the world and He will help us as we follow Him.
Could anyone have died for our sins? Did it have to be Jesus Christ?
Yes, it had to be Jesus Christ, because the sacrifice for our sins had to come from a perfect person, and none of us are perfect because we are born with a sin nature. He wasn't because he did not have an earthly father. Christ was born of a woman and the Holy Spirit. He was perfect without sin or imperfection. He is fully man and He is fully God. He is the only one who could qualify to die in our place.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not parish but have eternal life."
Col. 2:9 "In Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form." Jesus is God.
How was his burial different from others?
Jesus was buried and placed in a borrowed tomb. He didn't even own one of His own. The Roman officials didn't want anyone to steal the body and say that Christ rose from the dead. They didn't want to stir up the people. So, they placed a huge stone in front of the tomb and even sealed it. Then they set a guard to watch it. There was no way the Lord's disciples could pull a fast one. (Read John 19:38-42)
Why is the resurrection important?
Do you realize that the Christian religion is the only one that has a risen Savior? All the others worship someone who is dead! What good is a dead savior? How could prayers be answered if our Savior was dead?
Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the third day, just as the scriptures foretold.
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40
He now sits at the right hand of God in Heaven pleading our case before our Father.
Hebrews: 10:12 "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
Romans 8:34 "Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
The resurrection of Jesus is what makes the Christian faith different. He not only died for our sins, but he beat death. Death could not hold Him! He rose again just as predicted in a glorified new body.
Oh friends, this is what gives us so much hope. If Jesus could die and rise again with a new body, we can too. Death doesn't have to be the end!
Some day we who know him as our Savior will meet Him face to face in Heaven and spend eternity with Him. Those who don't know Him in this personal way will spend eternity in hell with constant torture and suffering. He has given each of us a choice.
Would you like to accept the true gospel message?
If you have read this far you now know the true gospel message. Perhaps you are wondering if you have accepted the correct gospel message. If you have any doubt or question about it at all, then here is your chance to know for sure!
Or, you may be one who has have never been privileged to hear the gospel message before, and you are reading it for the first time in your life.
II Corinthians 6:2b "…behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation."
Lets again look to the Bible to see what it says about how to accept the gospel.
Romans 10: 9 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:10 "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with our mouth that you confess and our saved."
Have you ever noticed that what is deep inside us eventually comes out of our mouths? When we really believe deep down in our hearts what the Bible teaches us about how Jesus died and rose again for us, and of our hopelessly lost condition without Him. And, when we know that we need to repent of our sins and confess them and agree to change our ways. And, when we are willing to count the cost of following Jesus and truly making Him the Lord of our life, then we are ready to pray.
Instead of walking an aisle and repeating some words that really mean nothing to you, like, "Yes, I accept Jesus into my heart." Or, just raising you hand in some church service where the pastor is asking those if they want to "accept Jesus." Instead you need to go to God on your knees, repenting and confessing, begging and pleading with Him to accept you into His family.
Now is the time to make a decision if you are willing or not to follow Him.
2 Corinthians 6:1 "….Behold, now the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation."
It is up to you! I could give you a sample prayer, but I'd much rather it came right from you own heart in your own words. I pray you will make Him Lord of your life today.
If you prayed that prayer. Please send me an email and let me know. I want to pray and rejoice with you. Also I'd be interested in any questions or comments you may have.
Click here to email me!
When presenting the "gospel" message some leave out the cross and resurrection completely. They don't tell us we are sinners and we need a Savior. They don't tell us we will either spend eternity in Heaven or hell and our destiny depends on what we believe about Jesus. They don't tell us that now is the time to make that decision and after we die it will be too late. The gospel is sometimes presented as something we do, like going forward in church, or having some kind of emotional experience, so we can find peace, happiness, wealth, and good health. The emphasis is not on the fact of how we are all dreadful sinners and in desperate need of a Savior. There is no talk of repentance which is clearly taught in the scripture by Jesus Himself. And, they hardly ever tell us there is a cost to following Christ .
The Word "gospel" means good news.
What is the good news of the Bible?
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,…" I Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV.
The Apostle Paul wrote this scripture as he was inspired by God. He tells the Corinthian believers that the first and most important thing he wanted to share with them was the gospel message as follows:
Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins, according to the scriptures.
He was buried in a borrowed tomb, which was then sealed and guarded.
He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. Death could not hold him.
My friends, that is the gospel message in a nutshell. Very short and to the point.
In order to understand the importance of these scriptures we must dig a little deeper.
Why did Christ have to die for our sins?
In the beginning God created the first man an woman, Adam and Eve. They were made perfect. At that time there was no sin in the world. God placed them in the garden of Eden to live and populate the earth.
Genesis 2:16-17 "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. '"
But, Satan came along and enticed Eve to eat of the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve picked the fruit and ate it and even gave her husband Adam some to eat too.
Sin is disobedience to God. Adam and Eve became sinners, and they passed that heritage down to us. From then on everyone was born with a sin nature. We do not have to learn to be sinners it comes naturally to us.
God came to visit with Adam and Eve, but they hid from him. Why? Because they were ashamed and full of fear. Here is where the blame game got started. Adam tired to blame Eve and Eve blamed the serpent (Satan) who enticed her to eat the fruit. But, as God is all knowing He knew the whole story. He knew they had disobeyed Him.
Up to this time Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, and that didn't bother them. After they sinned they became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. They became aware of themselves. This is when conscience entered the human picture.
God did not view the fig leaves as a proper cover for them so he sacrificed animals and used their skins to make Adam and Eve clothing. Have you ever wondered why God replaced the fig leaves with animal skins?
God had told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him they would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) You see life is in the blood. If a person gets cut bad and loses too much blood he will die. Without blood there is no life.
Leviticus 17:11 says, 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for [Heb 9:22] it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'
God could not go back on His Word. He didn't want to end the human race so He had to make another way. He allowed the slain animals shed blood be a substitution for their own. Blood was shed and the sins were covered or atoned for. The skins were their covering and a reminder of the shed blood.
God is love. He made mankind so that he could communicate and fellowship with them. But, God is also just. He requires that justice be done. That is why he had to shed the blood of animals in the place of shedding the blood of Adam and Eve. The animals paid the price, for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
In the Old Testament times, God required the people to sacrifice animals daily to cover their sins. These sacrifices were looking forward to the day that God would give the ultimate sacrifice, His only Son, to die for the sin of the world. This happened in the New Testament era when the Lamb of God, which is Jesus Christ, came to this Earth to give His live and shed his blood on the cross to cover our sins.
Ephesians 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according the the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us."
God also said in the book of Romans that the wages or payment for sin is death. Because God is just this payment must be made.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The other side of the coin is that God will give us eternal life as a free gift when we understand and accept the true gospel message.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Actually, the word sin means, "to miss the mark." (Hamartia) Can we all agree that we have all missed the mark? Or, not measured up to God's standards? Unbelievers cannot know true peace because of sin.
I Corinthians 2:14 "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
The natural man cannot even understand the things of God, because they have no spirit. He doesn't even desire God nor is he capable of responding in faith on his own. He needs God to open his eyes of understanding.
So, we can plainly see from the Bible that we need a Savior because we all are sinners. God met our need by allowing His Son to come and be a substitute our sins.
Ultimately, all unbelievers are under the control and the grip of the devil. I John 5:19 "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
Do we need to repent? Is it Necessary?
Yes, we must repent in order to be saved. Merely making a "decision," to trust Christ is not enough. There must be a total forsaking of everything else we trust and a turning to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We must turn the reins of our life over to Him, take "self" off the throne, and allow Christ to be Lord. That means we serve Him and not ourselves. This is not clearly taught today in many of our modern churches. Repentance means we understand what we've done wrong, we are very sorry about it, and we turn from those things and go in a different direction. When there is no repentance there is no salvation!
Matthew 4:17 " From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Mark 6:7 "And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Mark 6:12 "They went out and preached that men should repent."
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Acts 17:30 "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent."
Count the Cost.
Here is another thing you will not hear of today in the modern church:
Salvation is absolutely free, but it will cost you everything!
What does that mean? God has provided for us a way of salvation on His terms. It is up to us to either accept it or reject it. If we accept it there is a cost to us personally and that is our old life. We must be willing to give up ourselves. We must be willing to allow Christ to be Lord of our lives and live for Him. As we read and study the Bible we must be willing to put into practice the things He teaches us.
Following Christ is not always easy. It doesn't mean life will be easy going from now on. It doesn't mean all our felt needs will be fulfilled. It doesn't mean we will always have happy relationships, and no problems in our lives.
Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
That means we are to die to self as we think of the cross and what Jesus did for us. We need to deny our own agenda, and go with God's agenda for our lives. That is part of the cost you need to count.
Matthew 10:34-38 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."
These are hard words! But, they are true! When we become a Christian we will have troubles. Family members may turn against you. You may have to give up some of your former friends. That is part of counting the cost.
John 16:33 "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But, take heart! I have overcome the world."
That is our encouragement. Jesus has overcome the world and He will help us as we follow Him.
Could anyone have died for our sins? Did it have to be Jesus Christ?
Yes, it had to be Jesus Christ, because the sacrifice for our sins had to come from a perfect person, and none of us are perfect because we are born with a sin nature. He wasn't because he did not have an earthly father. Christ was born of a woman and the Holy Spirit. He was perfect without sin or imperfection. He is fully man and He is fully God. He is the only one who could qualify to die in our place.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not parish but have eternal life."
Col. 2:9 "In Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form." Jesus is God.
How was his burial different from others?
Jesus was buried and placed in a borrowed tomb. He didn't even own one of His own. The Roman officials didn't want anyone to steal the body and say that Christ rose from the dead. They didn't want to stir up the people. So, they placed a huge stone in front of the tomb and even sealed it. Then they set a guard to watch it. There was no way the Lord's disciples could pull a fast one. (Read John 19:38-42)
Why is the resurrection important?
Do you realize that the Christian religion is the only one that has a risen Savior? All the others worship someone who is dead! What good is a dead savior? How could prayers be answered if our Savior was dead?
Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the third day, just as the scriptures foretold.
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40
He now sits at the right hand of God in Heaven pleading our case before our Father.
Hebrews: 10:12 "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
Romans 8:34 "Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
The resurrection of Jesus is what makes the Christian faith different. He not only died for our sins, but he beat death. Death could not hold Him! He rose again just as predicted in a glorified new body.
Oh friends, this is what gives us so much hope. If Jesus could die and rise again with a new body, we can too. Death doesn't have to be the end!
Some day we who know him as our Savior will meet Him face to face in Heaven and spend eternity with Him. Those who don't know Him in this personal way will spend eternity in hell with constant torture and suffering. He has given each of us a choice.
Would you like to accept the true gospel message?
If you have read this far you now know the true gospel message. Perhaps you are wondering if you have accepted the correct gospel message. If you have any doubt or question about it at all, then here is your chance to know for sure!
Or, you may be one who has have never been privileged to hear the gospel message before, and you are reading it for the first time in your life.
II Corinthians 6:2b "…behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation."
Lets again look to the Bible to see what it says about how to accept the gospel.
Romans 10: 9 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:10 "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with our mouth that you confess and our saved."
Have you ever noticed that what is deep inside us eventually comes out of our mouths? When we really believe deep down in our hearts what the Bible teaches us about how Jesus died and rose again for us, and of our hopelessly lost condition without Him. And, when we know that we need to repent of our sins and confess them and agree to change our ways. And, when we are willing to count the cost of following Jesus and truly making Him the Lord of our life, then we are ready to pray.
Instead of walking an aisle and repeating some words that really mean nothing to you, like, "Yes, I accept Jesus into my heart." Or, just raising you hand in some church service where the pastor is asking those if they want to "accept Jesus." Instead you need to go to God on your knees, repenting and confessing, begging and pleading with Him to accept you into His family.
Now is the time to make a decision if you are willing or not to follow Him.
2 Corinthians 6:1 "….Behold, now the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation."
It is up to you! I could give you a sample prayer, but I'd much rather it came right from you own heart in your own words. I pray you will make Him Lord of your life today.
If you prayed that prayer. Please send me an email and let me know. I want to pray and rejoice with you. Also I'd be interested in any questions or comments you may have.
Click here to email me!
Eastview Baptist Church | 4289 West State Route 122, Franklin, Ohio 45005 | Senior Pastor, Dwaine Tilford
