Lesson 62 – The Christian Gospel Message
Our Dilemma:

God deeply loves each one of us and wants more than anything to have a relationship with each person. As much as He is a God of love, He is a God of righteousness, and in our natural state our sinful nature separates us from God. To fix this problem that we all have that has existed since the beginning of the human race, He provided a Savior allowing us to cast our sin burden on Him, Jesus Christ, so that we can be viewed as righteous before God and have an eternal relationship with Him. In providing His only son, Jesus, to be a sacrifice and take our punishment, He gave the best He possibly could. “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” [John 3:16] Contrary to popular opinion, there are not many different ways to come to God; He only provided one way, faith in his son, Jesus Christ. There is no way that anyone can be good enough to be justified before God on his own.

The Gospel:

And so, the Gospel “good news” is the message that God will give us pardon from our sins and eternal life (salvation) with Him in heaven, if we will turn away from our sins and turn to His son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior, recognizing that Jesus died for our sins and rose on the third day. Humans, given their limited reasoning powers, may find the truth about Christ rising from the dead difficult to accept. But God is the creator capable of giving and taking life. When Christians refer to the Gospel, they are referring to the “good news”, the truth that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins that we might become children of God through faith alone in Christ. It is God’s plan for salvation. There is absolutely no sin that God cannot forgive. But once we are freed from any punishment for our sins, we need to try our best to not continue to sin, and to sincerely be sorry and ask God to forgive us when we do slip up. As long as we are alive in this flesh, we will all struggle with sin.

My Decision To Receive Christ As My Savior:

Confessing to God that I am a sinner and believing that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins on the cross and was raised from the dead for my justification, I do now receive and confess Him as my personal Savior.

My Confidence In My Salvation:

The New Testament of the Bible provides clear assurances that God has forgiven us and given us eternal life once we receive Jesus as our Savior.

  • “For as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called children of God, even those who believe in His name.”

  • “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you will know that you have eternal life.”

We can also be assured that God will be with us in this life. Once we are a child of His, we can be assured He will never leave us. Even when we experience life’s ups and downs, we have confidence that whatever happens to us will ultimately be for our good. We need only to trust in the wise goodness of God.

Don’t Be Discouraged by Others:

Many friends, acquaintances and even family members may try to discourage you as you grow in your faith, or try to convince you you’re on the wrong path. All the more reason to become a member of a good Christian Church where we can be encouraged by other believers having the same struggles. And remember the words given to us in the Bible,

  • “Broad is the pathway to destruction and many will go that way, but narrow is the pathway to eternal life, and few there be who will ever find it.”

  • “For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (on their way to hell). 1 Cor. 1:18.

There are those who will say that the whole message of Christ, His life and His mission are nothing more than unsubstantiated stories. In fact, even atheists if they are well read and have researched the matter have to agree that there are more eye-witness accounts and documented historical facts about Jesus than exist about many prominent historical figures that we accept as fact. For example, there are approximately 400 people who were present at Jesus’ crucifixion, who later saw Him after He had risen and walked the earth for a period of weeks before ascending to heaven. We are assured of His second coming and that we, as believers, will be with Him.