November 29, 2008

The Gospel in a Nutshell

If you read my blog here, you may often hear me refer to a thing called "the Gospel". For those of who that don't know, the word "gospel" simply means "good news" or "breaking news". It is truly the greatest news that anyone has ever heard. But what is this good news? And what does it have to do with you? That is what this page is about. My goal here is to explain the basics of the Gospel message in plain language. The Gospel goes much deeper than this and, as Christians, we will never move past it all our lives. Even so, here is the the Gospel in nutshell:

God
The place to start is with God. God is the Creator of all things; animals, plants, planets, supernovas, black holes, and even time itself. Without God there would be nothing. He was before everything and He rules over everything with His sovereign, or ruling, will. God is holy, meaning that He is set apart from His creation and above it. He is just, which means that God is the ultimate judge who will always do what is perfectly right. He is pure, and so He is without sin, in thought, intention, or action. He is the very definition of all that is right, true, good, and loving. All creation was made to give all glory and praise to this God, the one and only God. (Genesis 1-2; Psalm 145:17; Psalm 11:7; Isaiah 6:1-6; 45:18-21; Habakkuk 1:13, etc.)

Man 
Out of His own good pleasure, God created the world. He created every single plant, animal, rock, etc. But only one creature was created in His image: mankind. This means that God endowed certain characteristics in our very being that represent our Creator. We are like God in certain ways, but we are not God and will never be God. God created us to have perfect fellowship with Him, to live according to His holiness in the highest, purest forms of peace and joy. (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:5-9; 15-25)

Sin
However, all of mankind in Adam, the first man, broke God's law, and we continually break God's law to this day; lying, stealing, lusting, putting things before God in our lives, living pridefully, etc. We have rebelled against Him, we have sinned.  Because of this, death came into the world, as well as disease, frustration, strife, famine, hunger, pain, etc. Even worse than that, we are all born into a spiritual death. We are born into sin, and as such, under the rightful wrath of God. There is absolutely nothing that we can do in ourselves to remove this sin from us. We cannot spend enough money or time, do enough good deeds, speak enough good things or think enough good thoughts. Without some rescue outside of ourselves we are completely and utterly condemned. We have sinned against an INFINITELY holy God, and as such, we are destined to eternal, just punishment. (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7; Matthew 15:19; Romans 3:10, 23;  Ephesians 2:1, 5)

Jesus
"Wait, I thought this was supposed to be good news",  you're thinking. This is where Jesus Christ comes in. Jesus, who was in eternity past with God the Father, who is God and yet distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit, at a time established before time, predicted by prophets throughout the ages, came into the world supernaturally as a human baby. Jesus, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life, fulfilling every bit of the law of God. He then was crucified, not for crimes He had committed, but instead took our sins upon Himself, and bore our just penalty, giving us His perfect, undeserved righteousness. As 1 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that, in Him, we might become the righteousness of God." (Matthew 1:21; John 1:1-3, 14, 29; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 3:13-14)

Repentance
Of course, the question now is, "How does one receive this perfect righteousness?" Once again, there is nothing you can do to earn this, there is no amount of money you can pay. Instead, God offers His forgiveness through Christ as a free gift, no strings attached. You must simply repent of your sin and receive this gift in faith. To repent is to confess to God that you are in fact a sinner and turn from your evil ways. To place your faith in Christ is to trust Him no matter what and to believe in who He is and what He has done for you. (Mark 1:15; Acts 26:10; Romans 3:22; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Galatians 2:15)

Restoration
If you have done this and placed your faith in Christ, one day you will be with Him in everlasting peace and joy. You will walk with Him and see God face to face. You will join with other believers in singing praises to His wonderful name. Eventually, the Earth will itself be redeemed and we (those who believe) will live together with God here. It will be beyond anything you could possibly imagine. (1 Corinthians 2:9 Revelation 7:9-12)

What to do next?
If this doesn't make any sense to you or you still aren't sure that you understand what I'm trying to say, I recommend a few resources:


1. First and most importantly, read the Bible. I would recommend either reading the book of John, or taking some of the verses I have referenced and reading them within the chapters that they are found.

2. Check out "The Great Invitation: Come! Drink! Eat! Live!, or any other sermon by John Piper.

3. Second, be sure to check out Greg Gilbert's book, What is the Gospel?


4. Also, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have by emailing me at roughpoet@aim.com.

If you have accepted Christ, your next step is to get plugged in to a local church where you can grow and be encouraged in your faith. For this, you can go to the IX Marks website and do a church search.

Also, be sure to email me at roughpoet@aim.com so that I can rejoice with you and pray for you.

Soli Deo Gloria

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