Scripture Verse
Be sure of eternity!
The Simple Good News of Salvation
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (KJV)
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. (KJV)
What is the gospel?
Quite simply the gospel means good news. Undoubtedly you've heard this
word used before such as the "gospel truth" or the "gospel
according to ...". The gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ and
what his life and death mean to mankind. It's the good news that there
is hope for all who trust in him, that there is meaning to life, and that
one day each and everyone has an opportunity to be with him in his eternal
Heaven.
What's the big deal?
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.(KJV)
You may be thinking to yourself, this sounds ridiculous. First of all, if God is real and if God is love then there is no way he would send good people into eternal punishment.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
[it is] evident: for, The just shall live by faith.(KJV)
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:(KJV)
The above verses show us that no one is justified by the law. They also state that there is none righteous. That means that nobody is "good" enough to make it to heaven on their own. You cannot win salvation through works or deeds. How then can a person be saved? Jesus answered this question while he was here on earth.
Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (KJV)
What did Jesus mean when he said, "I am the door"? It's very simple. He is the only way to get to heaven. You see, we have a problem. It's our sin.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (KJV)
We don't fully understand sin. We can't because it is part of who we are. We cannot look at sin as a whole and understand the grasp it has over us because we aren't sinless. In order to get into God's heaven we have to be justified, found blameless in the sight of God.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:(KJV)
In order to be justified, you have to have never sinned, not even once. To be justified you have to be found blameless in all aspects of living. I myself sin each and everyday. Everytime someone makes me mad and I have a bad thought, I have sinned. If I tell a little white lie, I have sinned. If I drive 1mph over the speed limit which is a law set by the state under which I am governed, I have sinned. You see it's impossible for a human being to be found blameless in all aspects of life.
Jesus Christ was God's chosen lamb. He was the necessary sacrifice that had to be made for us to be justified and found blameless before God. But, justification is not automatic, it takes faith.
What do you mean by Faith?
Allow me to use a modern day analogy of what it means to have faith in
Jesus Christ.
Imagine you are having engine problems with your car. Now while I know there are many people who can fix engines on their own, let's assume for a minute that no individual can fix this problem. Let's also assume you know very little about cars. What's the first thing you would do? Would you try to fix it yourself? That wouldn't really work because you know very little about cars. If your like me, you would take it someplace that works on cars and that you belive you can trust. You're smart enough to realize that you are unable to fix this problem, and you know that there are people out there who are able to fix it for you. So you take your car to the shop of your choice and you leave it there for them to repair. You don't really care how it gets repaired or what work is entailed, just so long as it gets fixed. You have just put your faith in that shop to fix your problem.
While I know my analogy isn't perfect, I think you should be able to get the idea. Faith in Jesus Christ is just as simple. We cannot fix our sin, we cannot hide it and we sure can't break away from it. If our sin doesn't get fixed, we will not be able to get into heaven. I don't know exactly how Jesus was able to fix my sin (because there is a lot of it), but I do know that God said he did. I believe that Jesus is the son of God and knows exactly what is necessary to wash my sins away and to justifiy me before a holy God. I also know that the Bible, God's word, tells me this:
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.(KJV)
When Jesus said "It is finished" he stated to the world that the work he came to complete, which was to conquer sin for all, was complete. Just like our analogy Jesus has stated that he has paid the price for sin. He is capable of fixing our problem, all we need is faith. We just have to leave everything in his hands and allow him to save us.