Do you think much about spiritual things?
If you were to stand before God today, and He were to ask you "WHY SHOULD
I LET YOU INTO MY HEAVEN", how would you answer?
Lets examine SIX BIBLICAL TRUTHS that briefly outline the nature of God, Man,
Jesus Christ, and the Response that God Requires…
TRUTH #1 -
THE REALITY OF GOD
God is our Creator and our Ruler... the Bible says: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to
receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will
they were created and have their being." (Rev 4:11)
God is also Good and Just... the Bible again tells us: "...the LORD God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ...Who will by no
means clear the guilty..." (Exo 34:6-7)
So, the BIG
IDEA is that God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge. He
created us to worship Him and enjoy Him forever.
Its kind of like a good judge in a court of law. A good Judge is one who
upholds the law. One who rewards the innocent and rightly punishes the
lawbreakers. A judge who lets guilty people go "scott free" would not
be a "good" judge. He would be a wicked and corrupt judge. God is the
ultimate good judge... He ALWAYS does what is good and right.
Now, God created man to have a RELATIONSHIP with man. Man was created in Gods
image but something has changed... Let me ask you another question: Do you consider yourself to be a good person?
OK... lets consider if we are to be considered as "good" when we
stand before God…
TRUTH #2 - THE
CONDITION OF MANKIND (REBELLION)
God is both our Creator and our Good and Righteous Judge. The question now
becomes, do we come before the Judge as good and righteous people or do we come
before Him as guilty criminals??
The Bible tells us that all of mankind is sinful & guilty:
"There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands,
no-one who seeks God. All have turned away." (Rom 3:10-12)
The fact that ALL of mankind is guilty is bad news but then the news
gets even worse becase God is a good judge he must punish those that
break His law. Since we are guilty we deserve judgment as the Bible
tells us: "... it is appointed for
men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27)
So the BIG
IDEA is that although we were created in God's image, we have all
sinned (rebelled). We therefore deserve the judgment of death (spiritual
separation from God in hell). We are in fact, already spiritually dead,
completely helpless as guilty sinners and we need God to give us spiritual life
and rescue us from the penalty of our sin (rebellion)?
Now, you might be thinking... guilty... crimes... rebellion... I'm NOT THAT
BAD!... well think about Gods law, the Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a
lie? Have you ever stolen something, even something small? Have you ever used
Gods Name as a cuss word? Have you always put God as first in your life?...
those are just a few of Gods laws and if you are like me you have broken them
all. I am guilty before God of breaking almost all His laws... and you only
have to commit one crime to be a criminal
So here is another question: When you stand
before God, will He find you innocent or guilty? Will you go to heaven or hell?
This is no small matter, its a very serious and sad situation to know that you
are guilty and condemned to eternal punishment in hell. That is TERRIBLE news.
BUT I promised to give you some "good news" so that brings us to
truth number three...
TRUTH #3 - THE
REMEDY PROVIDED BY JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem we all have... but who exactly is
Jesus?... The Bible tells us He is the sinless God-Man: "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus],
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:1, 14)
BUT, just as important as WHO He is, is what He DID... the Bible says: "For Christ also suffered once for
sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God..." (1
Pet 3:18)
Many people think that as long as they believe in SOMETHING, and that if that
belief is SINCERE then God will forgive them. BUT Jesus taught that you have to
follow Him ONLY and that He is the ONLY way to be saved from sin. Read what He
said: "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me." (Jn 14:6)
OK, the BIG
IDEA here is that God sent His Son Jesus Christ, fully God and
fully man, to be punished in our place. He died on the cross and rose from the
dead to pay the penalty of our sins.
Earlier we compared God to a good judge… Now imagine being in a
courtroom.... and you KNOW you are guilty of multiple crimes... the judge
declares you guilty and FINES you 10 MILLION DOLLARS! or if you can't pay -
LIFE IN PRISON! What will you do? you can't afford to pay your fine... you are
about to be sent away forever... then someone enters the courtroom and pays
the 10 million dollar fine for you!!! WOW, who would do something like
that for people like you and me?... even though we don't deserve it?? The
answer is Jesus!... He paid the fine for us!!
WOW… Isn't that REALLY GOOD NEWS???
Did you notice what the remedy is NOT?... its not merely doing good things, its
not merely being a better person, its not even going to church, or giving lots
of money!
Consider this question; What has to happen in
order for you to receive what Jesus has done for you?...
So, how does a guilty criminal have a relationship with an ALL good,
perfect, and holy God who MUST punish sin? God solved our problem in the
person and work of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and rose from the dead
to pay the penalty for our sins… BUT how does someone RECEIVE what Jesus has
done for them. Basically, how can Jesus' payment for sin be credited to you?
Before we get too far, let me clarify EXACTLY what receiving Christ is NOT,
because this point is really important.
TRUTH #4 - THE
UNDESERVED GRACE OF GOD
We have to be very clear here, people cannot save themselves. Remember
how we discussed that we are ALL GUILTY and have broken Gods laws? We are just
not able to be good enough to deserve being "saved". The Bible says: "not by works of righteousness (our
good deeds) which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,.."
(Titus 3:5 )
How then are people saved? The Bible makes it clear that people are saved by
Grace: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast." (Eph 2:8-9 )
You might be wondering "what is Grace?"... "Grace" means
that salvation is a gift, we don't deserve it, we don't earn it, we don't work
for it. My favorite definition is God's Riches At Christ's
Expense... we receive all of Gods riches - forgiveness, eternal life in
heaven, fellowship with God... and we receive these riches because Jesus Christ
paid for them on our behalf.
So, the BIG
IDEA is that Gods forgiveness and the gift of eternal life are
neither earned nor deserved, but rather it is available to men by God's grace
alone, through faith alone
So, we have discussed God, Mankind, Jesus, and Grace... where does that leave
us now?... Do you think because of Jesus and
Grace that God will forgive everyone??
Because Jesus died for our sins, and just because God extends
salvation to us by Grace, does NOT mean that everyone is going to
heaven. Let me be clear, we do NOT have to EARN our salvation, but its
NOT automatic either. God requires that we respond to His good news
offer of forgiveness and eternal life in a specific way. That
"response" brings us to our next step...
TRUTH #5 - THE
RESPONSE GOD REQUIRES
God requires that in order to be rescued from the penalty of our sins and
receive the payment for sin that Jesus accomplished on the cross, that we must
REPENT of our sinfulness. The Bible says: "Truly,
these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to
repent," (Acts 17:30). Now your probably thinking "what does
"repent" mean?"... Repent is basically the Bible word for "TURN".
It does NOT mean that we somehow have to "clean up" our life first
before we can come to Jesus... it DOES mean that we must be willing to turn
FROM our sin and turn TOWARDS Jesus instead. Its a willingness to turn from all
that we think will get us to heaven on our own... and a willingness to
turn from our sinful lives and focus on Jesus alone.
So, we "turn", then we TRUST. This is THE key concept in
Biblical Christianity. We must put our FAITH, our TRUST, in Jesus Christ alone.
The Bible tells us: "...Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved..." (Acts 16:31). Believe,
Trust, have Faith... those are three words that mean the same thing. We no
longer trust our own good deeds, we don't trust in a tradition, or even in a
religion. We trust and rely on Jesus Christ Himself to save us. He alone
is our only Savior.
Finally, God requires that we FOLLOW
Jesus. We trust Jesus not ONLY as our Savior but as our LORD as well. He's the
Boss, the Master, and because of His great wisdom and love for us He will lead
our life much better than we do on our own. The Bible records Jesus saying "If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
will save it" (Luk 9:23-24)
See, the BIG
IDEA is that If we would have Christ's perfect righteousness
credited to us, and the penalty of our sins accounted to Him, then we must turn
from our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
Its kind of like a parachute... you can believe that a parachute exists... you
can even believe that it has the POTENTIAL to save you... BUT you have to put
it on before it can ACTUALLY save you! Jesus is like that, we "put
on" Jesus by putting our trust in Him, by trusting Him alone to save us.
We put Him on when we turn from everything else and follow Him as our Savior
and Lord.
Do you see how we all need a Savior from our
sinfulness?... and most important of all, are you willing to RESPOND
to Jesus in repentance and faith?
TRUTH #6 - THE
REASON FOR LIVING
When we repent and put our faith in Christ alone it changes the direction of
our lives, we leave the broad road to destruction and turn onto the
narrow road to life. We begin a new life and are placed into a new
family - Gods family. When you exercise trust in Jesus your are adopted into
Gods family, you become his child, forever, and you are now headed for heaven
and eternal life.
This brings us to my last point:
Your will now have a new purpose in life. The purpose of a Christians life is
twofold...
[1] To Glorify God (basically to honor and worship God). The Bible says:
"Therefore, whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31)
and secondly…
[2] to enjoy Him forever (eternal life) as the Bible tells us: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life." (Jn 6:47)
So, the BIG
IDEA is that in responding to the gospel we fulfill Gods purposes....
God seeks a people who will glorify & enjoy Him forever... HOW does that
happen?... respond to Christ in repentance and faith and THEN worship &
serve in a local church, and seek to live your life in imitation of Christ
So let’s quickly summarize… The Gospel is that God is our holy
Creator and righteous Judge. He created
us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, BUT we have all sinned, both in
Adam as our representative, and in our own individual actions. We therefore deserve the judgment of death
(spiritual separation from God in hell).
We are in fact, already spiritually dead, completely helpless in our
sinful state and in need of God to impart spiritual life to us. BUT God sent His Son Jesus Christ,
fully God and fully man, to be punished in our place. He died on the cross and rose from the dead
to pay the penalty of our sins. Gods
forgiveness and the gift of eternal life are neither earned nor deserved, but
rather it is available to men by God's grace alone, through faith
alone. If we would have Christ's perfect
righteousness credited to us, and the penalty of our sins accounted to Him,
then we must turn from our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
There isn't any kind of fancy thing we do to RECEIVE Christ. He hears us wherever
we are. Simply pray to God and tell Him you want turn from your
sinfulness and that you want to trust and follow Jesus Christ. Ask for His
forgiveness and for His help in living your new life. He will listen and He
will transform you! Read "Psalm 51" in your Bible as an example of a
prayer of repentance.
If you really put your faith in Jesus there are a few things you need to begin
doing in order to GROW. Someone who believes in Jesus is "born
again" into Gods family... a "baby" Christian... and all babies
need to grow and mature. Christians grow by reading the Bible every day. Talk
to God in prayer every day. Then find a church where Christ is exalted and the
Bible is carefully taught, attend every week and see how you can get involved.
God will use His word, your prayer times, and your fellow Christians at church
to transform your life.
I do want to warn
you of something.
Sometimes people think when they become a Christian that everything will become
easy and that God will make all your problems go away. Unfortunately some
churches even teach this... BUT actually in this life believers are promised
trials, temptations, and persecution (2 Timothy 3:12 or James 1:2-5).
Christians don't come to Jesus for an easy life, we come to Him to be made
right with God, for forgiveness and eternal life. We know God loves us NOT
because life becomes easier, BUT because He demonstrated that love for us on
the cross.
So TRUST in Jesus... read His Word, Pray, and get to Church! God will do great
things in and through your life.
Please email me if you have ANY QUESTIONS!!
Below are a few sites that explain the
gospel again in slightly different ways:
"Who Do You Think I Am?"
"Two Ways To
Live"
"Gods
Bridge to Eternal Life"
Below are some sites that help explain
how to grow as a new Christian:
Christian
Answers on growing
Now
your a Christian... Whats Next?
An audio MP3 in Spiritual Growth