The Gospel Message

Publisher’s Note…

The following is the single most important step in your life you can take. It’s a step that will affect you for the rest of your life here on earth and determine where you will spend eternity in the life here after. I am begging you, if you do not know Jesus Christ of Nazareth as your personal Savior that you please take time right now and read the following message.

     The Gospel is the singularly most important communication of God to man. In Jesus, Who is God the Son, we have the revelation of God’s love and sacrifice that saves us from our sins.
     If you are not a Christian and want to know how to be forgiven of your sins and follow Christ, or are just curious to know what the Christian Gospel is, then this is for you.
     The Bible tells us what the Gospel is in 1 Cor. 15:1-4, “Now I make known to you brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 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...”

     The Bible says that we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). This means that we have all offended God. We have all broken His revealed will that is written in His Word, the Bible. Because of this, we are separated from God (Isaiah 59:2), dead in our sins (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:3), cannot please God (Rom. 3:10-11), and will suffer damnation (2 Thess. 1:9) if we are not saved through Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
     Since we are sinners, we are incapable of removing the guilt of our sinfulness through our own efforts. Galatians 2:21 says, “...if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” The Law is the do’s and don’ts of moral behavior. In other words, we can’t become righteous by what we do. Why? Because we are dead in our sins (Eph. 2:3). This means that since we cannot remove our own sins, God must do it.
     Jesus, Who is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; Col. 2:9), bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). In other words, He died in our place. He paid the penalty for offending God that should have fallen upon us. He satisfied the very heart of God the Father by dying on the cross.
    The Bible says, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10).

If you want to become a Christian and follow God, then please consider praying the following prayer. It isn’t a formula. It isn’t a set of magic words. Instead, it is a model prayer intended to lead you to Jesus…

“Lord Jesus. I come to You and confess that I am a sinner; that I have lied, thought evil in my heart, and broken Your word. Please forgive me of my sins. Please come into my heart and cleanse me and be the Lord of my life. I trust You completely for the forgiveness of my sins and put no trust in my own efforts of righteousness. Lord Jesus, please save me.”

If you have prayed this prayer with all of your heart, and have repented (turned away) from your sins, it is important for you to share your decision of faith in Jesus with a pastor or a Christian friend so that they can rejoice with you and show you what the Scriptures say about how to grow as a Christian.

It is important to publicly profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. In Matthew 10:32, Jesus tells us that “Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” In Matthew 10:33, Jesus also tells us “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in Heaven.”  This profession can take place when you join a local church and are baptized.

Being a Christian, of course, means more than being a church member. You must now cultivate your newfound relationship with God by reading His Word (the Bible), praying, and walking in fellowship with His people. This will be the beginning of life-long growth in grace, knowledge and obedience.

List of Scriptures referenced above which are not quoted.

Isaiah 59:2, “Your sins have caused a separation between you and your God....”

John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’”

Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

Romans 3:10-11, “as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God...’”

Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:3, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,”

2 Thess. 1:9, “And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”

1 Pet. 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”