THe Gospel
Has anyone ever taken a Bible and shown you how you can know for sure that you’re going to Heaven? The Bible contains both Bad News and Good News. The Bad News is something about you. The Good News is something about God. Let’s look at the bad news first.
Bad News #1 – We are all sinners.
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sinned means that we have missed God’s mark. When we lie, hate, steal, or gossip, we have missed the standards God has set for our lives. But…the bad news gets worse.
Bad News #2 – The penalty for sin is death.
“Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Suppose you worked for me and I paid you $40. Those $40 were your wages. That’s what you’ve earned. The Bible says that by sinning, we have earned eternal death, being separated from God forever. But…since there was no way we could come to God, the Bible says God came to us.
Good News #1 – Jesus died for you!
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ died in our place, taking on the punishment we had earned. He died, rose again 3 days later, and now we have an opportunity to live with Him forever! And…just as the bad news got worse, the good news gets better!
Good News #2 – You can be saved through placing your faith in Jesus!
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace (or an unearned gift) you have been saved (rescued from sin’s punishment) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one should boast.” Faith means to trust. What must you trust Christ for? You must trust, or depend wholly on Him alone and His sacrifice on your behalf to forgive you and to give you everlasting life. Not trusting in your work, “Well, I go to church…” “Well, I read my Bible…” “Well, I’m a good person.” None of that. You must trust in Jesus, that His work on the cross was sufficient to cleanse you of every one of your sins.
Does this make sense to you? Would you like to trust Him today?
If so, let Him know! You can tell Him something along these lines, “God, I know that I am a sinner, I know I deserve to be forever separated from You in a place called hell. I’m sorry for every one of my sins. I trust that you sent Jesus to die in my place, and to take on a death that I have earned. I trust that He not only died for me, I believe that He rose again; and I believe He alone can save me. So today, I would like to accept Jesus to be my one and only Savior. Thank you for saving me! In Jesus name, Amen!”
If you trusted Jesus today or would like to trust Him, we would love to know! Please click the Link to contact our pastor so he can follow up with you. (from there, it can have them email me: cbc.samb@gmail.com)
Where do you go from here?
Having just become a child of God, here are a few ways you can grow in your relationship with Him:
Tell a few people – in the next 24 hours, find 3-5 people that you love and tell them that you trusted in Jesus to be your Savior, and invite them to do the same if they haven’t yet.
Pray – talk to God – all the time, about anything, and anywhere. Big things, small things, no matter what, no matter why…talk to God (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Start Reading Your Bible – daily, seek to spend time in God’s Word to learn more about Him. Try to memorize a verse that sticks out from time to time. Every time you read, seek to remember one thought that could affect the way you think, speak, or live; and then pray about it. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Three good, foundational books to start with: John, Proverbs, & Romans.
Get involved – in a local church. Worship, study, fellowship, pray with, and serve with other Christians. Iron sharpens iron, and it’s always helpful to be surrounded with people who encourage you in your faith. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Keep telling other people – Now that you’ve been saved, you have two stories to tell: Yours and God’s. Your story is what led you to this point of trusting Jesus. God’s Story is called the Gospel. We like to tell people they can know the gospel message if they know 10 words: “Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.” 5 more words could change a person’s eternal destiny: “Would you believe in Him?” For more help in learning how to share the gospel, go back through this page and familiarize yourself with the two sets of bad news and the two sets of good news that you can share with others.