The central theme of the Bible is God's love for you and for all people.
This love was revealed when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the
world as a human being, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose
from the dead. Because Christ died, your sins can be forgiven, and because
He conquered death you can have eternal life. You can know for sure what
will become of you after you die.
The story of God’s love is referred to as the
"Gospel." The word "Gospel" simply means "Good News."
The Gospel is the Good News that because of what Christ has done, we can
be forgiven and can live forever.
But this gift of forgiveness and eternal life cannot be yours unless
you willingly accept it. God requires an individual response from you. The
following verses from the Bible show God's part and yours in this process:
God's love is revealed in the Bible
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"
(John 3:16).
God loves you. He wants to bless your life and make it full and
complete. And He wants to give you a life which will last forever, even
after you experience physical death.
We are sinful
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
(Romans 3:23).
You may have heard someone say, "I'm only human—nobody's
perfect." This Bible verse says the same thing: We are all sinners.
We all do things that we know are wrong. And that's why we feel alienated from
God—because God is holy and good, and we are not.
Sin has a penalty
"For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Just as criminals must pay the penalty for their crimes, sinners must
pay the penalty for their sins. If you continue to sin, you will pay the
penalty of spiritual death: You will not only die physically; you will
also be separated from our holy God for all eternity. The Bible teaches
that those who choose to remain separated from God will spend eternity in
a place called hell.
Christ has paid our penalty!
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, paid
the penalty for all your sins. You may think you have to lead a good life
and do good deeds before God will love you. But the Bible says that Christ
loved you enough to die for you, even when you were rebelling against Him.
Salvation is a free gift
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one
can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The word grace means "undeserved favor." It means God is
offering you something you could never provide for yourself: forgiveness
of sins and eternal life, God's gift to you is free. You do not have to
work for a gift. All you have to do is joyfully receive it and respond to
God's grace.
You must receive Him
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).
Even
though God is offering you a gift, it is your choice whether to receive it
or reject it. God is offering to accept you as His child. He wants to have
a personal relationship with you. He wants to give you a rich, rewarding,
full and complete life—both now and throughout eternity. He wants to
give you a rich inheritance in heaven. Will you receive it or reject it?
How does God want you to respond to His offer?
God wants you to...
Confess
and Believe
"That, if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it
is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your
mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10)
You
must tell Him that you are giving your life to Him. When you openly
confess "Jesus is Lord," you are telling God and others, that
you are giving your life to God and accepting His plan for your
life.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the
Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)
This confession must not be
just a bunch of empty words—words spoken but not lived out. So God also
asks you to believe what the Bible says about Jesus. If you believe it in
your heart, you are "justified. "Justified" means that God
now accepts you and looks at you "just as if you had not
sinned." Through your acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord,
God now declares you "not guilty." When this is heart-felt
response to God's grace, you will live it out in your life. To show God
this is your desire He wants you to...
Repent and be Baptized
"...Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)
The first time the good news
about Jesus was told to a group of people, they asked ,"What shall we
do?" Peter, one of Christ's apostles, told them to repent. Up to this
point, the people had turned their backs on God because they rejected
God's Son, Jesus Christ and had Him crucified. Anyone who does not accept
God's testimony of His love and grace through Christ also rejects God. So
God wants you to turn to Him and stop rejecting Him. But how does God know
this is your intent? You do this when you turn to God and do what He wants
you to do.
God wants you to be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. When you are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, you show God
that you believe in Christ, that you are repenting from rejecting Him and
that you are confessing that Jesus is now the Lord of your life.
Peter
said, that when you do this, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is God's personal presence in your life. It is God sharing
His life with you and becoming a part of you. It is what the Bible calls
"new birth" or being "born again."
