THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
What is the Gospel?
What will happen to me after I die?
How can I have eternal life?
How can I know that all my sins are forgiven?
These are the questions that every human being will ask. Death is an undeniable fact and it is an inevitable fact. Death comes to every one of us without exception and without distinction.
What will happen to me when I die?
Other than the view of reincarnation or the view that we become part of the "nothing of the universe," (known as Nirvana) there are two basic views.
The Atheistic Worldview:
The atheist would have us believe that there is no God, there is nothing after you die because we are all living in a purposeless universe that exists by chance with nothing guiding it and nothing as its ultimate source. We are therefore, according to the Atheistic worldview, nothing more than the product of a blind and pitiless cosmos and like every other species are born, we live, and then we die and our lives are ultimately of no consequence to this cold and irrelevant universe.
We are all here by chance. You come from nothing, you are nothing,
and you are going to nothing.
Richard Dawkins the famous atheist
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
The Christian worldview:
There is an eternal God who is the creator of the universe and has authority over it all and who made you in His image. You have value because He made you. You are not the product of a time and chance universe. It is in the truth of the creation of a Holy God that you have worth.
There is a day of judgment coming:
This God is real and He is Holy. He is the judge of all the earth who will one day bring all men into judgment before His throne in righteousness. All of the protestations of men to the contrary will not change this.
There is coming a day of judgment for all of humanity when the secrets of men will be made known, the books that contain the sins of men will be opened and men will be judged for every word, every thought and every deed we have ever done. All of them.
The Law of God will condemn you on that day:
Most people would say that they are a good person. They have never killed anyone or robbed a bank, or stolen anything etc. But the Bible says that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This means that no one is without sin. Everyone has broken the Law of God.
So if you think you are a good person let's take the test and look at just four of the Ten Commandments.
1. Have you used the Lord's name in vain as a cuss word. That's called blasphemy and it is very serous, punishable by death in the Old Testament.
2. Have you ever stolen anything no matter how small? That's stealing. We call people who steal thieves.
3. Have you ever looked at a person with lust? That's fornication or adultery.
4. Have you ever told a lie even a little one? What do we call people who tell lies? We call them liars.
Everyone has broken all of the Ten Commandments. The Bible teaches that even if you have only broken these four or even only one of these four you have broken them all God says. The Law is like a window. A small hole in the bottom corner of the window is a broken window. We don't say that just a small portion is broken but the rest is fine.
It is this breaking of the Law of God that condemns us to eternal punishment. This punishment is eternal because of the one against whom the violation of the Law occurred.
I am condemned, so what can I do?
This is why we need the good news. The good news is that Jesus Christ, God the Son came to earth to live a perfect life and to die on the cross so that everyone who repents of their sins and unbelief and puts their trust in Him will have eternal life.
The cross is both the justice of God and the mercy of God. Justice in that He punished our sins demonstrating that He is a just God and does not simply let sin go or sinners. To do so would be unjust. He is merciful in that everyone who turns to Christ in faith will find Jesus a perfect savior. He will find that all of his sins were forgiven at the cross. He will find eternal life because when he turns to the cross he loses his life only to find in in Jesus.
Jesus Christ, God who became man died for sinful men, punished in our place as if He committed our sins. God punished Christ in my place. God raised Him from the dead bodily and if we believe in Him the God/man raised from the dead will will be saved.
Genuine salvation involves genuine repentance and faith. It follows that this genuine repentance and faith will change you from the inside out. You will have new desires and new habits. You will hate sin and will want to obey Christ. This is the evidence that you have been born from above.
If you are reading this and the Spirit of God is bringing conviction to you and you know that your sins condemn you before a Holy God then you must repent and believe in Jesus Christ. That's the only hope you have.
If you have turned to Christ for forgiveness and you now trust Him we would love to talk with you. To help you begin this new life in Christ and to pray for and with you.