Although Bible students, pastors and other Christian leaders are supposed to know the Gospel, I think it will be good to look at it again before we go on with our weekly Bible studies. Here follows an account of the Gospel, as set forth by TBN Europe. Much of the material is based on that of Evangelism Explosion.
When God created man, it was His intention to have a relationship with him; He created him in His own image, according to His likeness (Gen.1:26-28), so that He could have fellowship with him (Gen. 3:8,9), could communicate with him. But sin was the cause, that man became separated from his God. Though God intended man to have eternal life, sin brought death to the human race.
God has given us eternal life as a free gift. The Bible says, that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (Rom.6:23).
It may be, that you are a very good person, and have done lots of good things in your life, and have been nice to people, but none of these good things will get you into heaven. The Bible says, that: it is by grace (= undeserved favour) you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no-one should boast (Eph.2:8,9).
It, therefore, is very clear, that we cannot earn a place in heaven, we cannot earn eternal life.
The Word of God says, that all (of us) have sinned (Rom.3:23), and we are not what God wants us to be.
We already saw, that, to sin is not only to commit murder or to rob a bank, but that God says, that sin is: doing as well as thinking wrong things. So, not loving God or not loving our neighbour is sin! We then have to come to the conclusion, that we all have sinned many times.
Even one sin will separate us from God. The Bible says: …..whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles at just one point, is guilty of breaking all of it (Jas.2:10). So, even doing one sin is like breaking all of Gods law. It doesn’t matter what we have done: all sin is the same to God.
God cannot look at sin. Suppose, I invite you to my house for dinner and cook you a meal made with eggs. If one of the eggs is bad, so that it really smells, you would not be happy, if I used that egg for your dinner! Just one egg would spoil the whole dinner.
Sin is like that - just one sin can spoil us, so we are not acceptable to God. So, what does God do? Isn’t He supposed to love us?
The Bible says, that God loves us (e.g. John 3:16), and that He does not want to punish us (by sending us to hell), but He is patient with us, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2Pet.3:9); God wants everyone to go to heaven.
But God, like a judge, also has a system of justice to follow, and so He must punish sin. The Bible says, that He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Ex.34:7) and that we are going to die once and after this we will face God and judgment comes (Heb.9:27).
This means, that there is no such thing as reincarnation - we will die only once!!
If I robbed a bank and said to the judge: “I’m really sorry; I’ll never do it again, and nobody was hurt”, he would not be a good judge, if he let me go without any punishment.
God is like that - He must punish sin.
So, if we have all sinned so many times, and if He must punish us, how can we ever hope to go to heaven when we die?
The Bible says, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). What does this mean? What is the Word ? The Bible goes further and says: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (v.14). So, the Word is Jesus - Jesus is fully God, but He is also fully man.
Why did Jesus (God) become flesh and come to earth to live with us?
Jesus came to die for us; He had never ever sinned like us, and was not guilty of any crime, but God saw that His relationship with us had to be repaired, so that He would not look at us and see lots of sin. So, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for us.
Before Jesus came, when people sinned, they had to kill an animal, and God accepted that as payment for their sin. The blood of bulls and goats though never took away sin completely. Every year a sacrifice was made, and it reminded people of the sins they had done.
However, to take our sin completely, to take away God’s record of our sin, to make our conscience clear, and for us to have a perfect relationship with God, there had to be a better sacrifice.
This is why Jesus came. He took all of our sin, so that God now sees us as having no sin, but remembers the sacrifice Jesus made. The Bible says, that all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord had laid on Him (= Jesus) all of our sin (Is.53:6).
When Jesus died on the cross, the last thing He said, was: It is finished! (John 19:30). In Greek the word is tetelestai, which means, that the debt has been paid in full - Jesus has paid fully for all of our sin. There is no more debt to God to be paid.
Although Jesus died, He has lived a life completely without sinning, and He was not guilty of anything which deserved death: His grave could not keep Him!! So, He came back to life, three days later, and many people saw Him and talked with Him, before He finally went back to heaven; and we will all see Him one day.
If Jesus died for us, and paid the price in full for our sins, we will all go to heaven, right? No, that is wrong!!! To get to heaven, we have to:
believe, that Jesus died for us,
trust in Him to get us to heaven, and
follow His plans for our lives.
Jesus is in heaven now. And what is He doing there? Is He just sitting? No, He is standing ready and eager to do another incredible miracle. He wants to come in a special way to…..live in your life, in your heart, by His Holy Spirit…..if you will let Him:
He wants to take away your sin. He’s taken the punishment for it, and now He wants to take it away and get rid of it forever.
Then He wants to change you, to make you a whole new person inside, free of bad habits, free of bad attitudes, free again to be the way God wanted you to be, when He made you.
He wants to be
your Lord to control you,
your Saviour to cleanse you, and
your Friend to be with you.
The only way to get to heaven is by accepting God’s gift of eternal life by faith . Remember what the Bible says: For by grace (= undeserved favour) you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no-one should boast (Eph.2:8,9).
What is faith? Faith is not:
just believing God exists; the Bible says, that the demons also believe (Jas.2:19), but they won’t be in heaven;
just trusting in God in difficult times.
But Biblical faith, faith which will get us to heaven, is: trusting in Jesus alone for our salvation.
The whole Bible in one verse is this: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that, whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
OK, so how do I accept God’s free gift of eternal life with Him in heaven? Well, all you have to do is: ask Him, but there are some things we must know before you do…..
Implications
Before you ask God to be a part of your life, and to give you eternal life, you should know these following things:
You must transfer your trust in yourself to trusting Jesus, and believe, that only He can get you to heaven; the Bible says: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31);
You must repent (= say: “Sorry”, and regret doing your sins) to God. This also means: turning away from those things, and not doing them any more. God will help you, if you ask Him.
The Bible says: There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Prov.14:12). You have lived doing your own thing, but those things will lead to death. The right way is: to follow Jesus;
You must make Jesus the Lord of your life: let Him guide you in what to do, what decisions you make and how you live your life. Jesus says: He who has My commandments and keeps them (= obey My teaching), he it is who loves Me (John 14:21).
These things will be hard, if you have to do them yourself, but God will help you by His Holy Spirit. We, actually, cannot change by ourselves, nor do we have to change before God will accept us: He takes us as we are now! Jesus says: That which is born of the flesh, is flesh (like babies born in the world), and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit (John.3:6); our spirit will be changed - born again - when we let become God part of our life. Then our spirit desires things He wants, instead of the things we used to want.
You should become involved in a local church, if that is possible for you. You will be encouraged by meeting together, and you can pray for each other too, as well as learn more about God.
If you want to let God become part of your life, you just have to say a simple prayer right now to God, and you do not have to use some special language…..
Prayer
You can let God become part of your life, and you will be sure you have eternal life, just by asking Him and saying this prayer, or one like it:
“Dear God,
I know I have done wrong things in my life,
but I am sorry for doing them, and
I believe, that Jesus died on the cross for me,
so that I can have a relationship with You.
Please, forgive me for sinning, and
help me to be more like You.
I want You to be part of my life.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.”
If you have said that prayer, and really mean it, God will come into your life. He wants you to know for certain, that you have eternal life. Jesus said: Truly, truly, I say to you: he who believes, has eternal life (John 6:47).
This does not mean you might have it, but you definitely do have it !!
Now that you have eternal life, and God is part of your life, He wants you to grow. Like babies need milk to grow, you can grow spiritually.
Growing
God helps us to grow by:
His living Presence: God is with us all the time, wherever we go. Jesus promised us: Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matth.28:20).
His written Word - the Bible: God can speak to us through His Word, and It is a guide for us how to live as He wants us to, and what is best for us. The Bible says: Thy (= Your) Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps.119:105).
His gift of prayer: you can pray to God anytime and anywhere - He is always there, listening, and He wants you to talk to Him - it is a relationship. Jesus said: Until now you have asked for nothing in My Name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full (John 16:24).
His loving family - the Church: as we said before, if possible, you should try to join a church; then you will learn more about God and meet lots of other Christians. Make sure it is a good church, a church which believes what Jesus taught.
His Holy Spirit: When Jesus was still on earth, He said to His disciples: …..I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth…..He abides with you and will be in you (John 14:16,17), and also…..when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth…..and He will disclose to you what is to come (John 16:13). Together with you He is going to work out God’s plan for your life which He has prepared for you (Eph.2:10).