What is the gospel?
The gospel is the Good News that God sent us a savior through Jesus Christ. He died on the cross in our place for our sins and rose again on the third day. Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw him after the resurrection. Then Jesus ascended to heaven in the presence of his disciples and promised he would come again. For it says that God “…has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). In the end, you either get grace through faith or justice from God. Grace comes when trusting in Jesus, and he warned to “flee the coming wrath” (Matthew 3:7).
Sin is what separates us from God and “everyone has sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 5:23). It is written, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). Therefore, a holy sacrifice was needed to pay our sin debt because God is holy, and His justice is infinite and He is angry with sin. But God said of Himself that He is “…The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). God provided Jesus out of mercy, so everyone could turn away from sin and turn to their savior.
Perhaps you don’t understand why Jesus died for your sins. Do you think you are a morally good person? Jesus said that “only God is good” (Mark 10:18). And elsewhere in The Bible it says that “no one is righteous” (Romans 3:10). Not convinced? Click on the button below to see how you compared against the 10 commandments. Assess each of them honestly with yourself and see if you think God would declare you innocent or guilty on the day of judgement. Remember God is totally good, impartial and He must punish sin because of His goodness. Saying your sorry is a start in the right direction (i.e. repentance), but doing that by itself cannot save you from judgment. The Bible says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8). You are saved by faith in Jesus alone.
Here is the quick version: Have you have ever lied, stolen anything, or taken the Lord’s name in vain? If you have, even if it was in the past, you still did it and you need a savior. Jesus even said if you lust after someone you commit adultery already from the heart (Matthew 5:28). He also said if you have been angry with anyone you are subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22). If you ever hated a brother or sister, you are a murderer from the heart (1 John 3:15). These are just a few examples. God’s morality is perfect, and God is the source of all objective truth. God cannot lie, nor can He sin, and His justice is infinite. And the penalty for sinners is death and The Bible speaks even of a second death in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).
But nobody is sent to eternal damnation without first knowing who Jesus is and then rejecting him (having never accepted Jesus). To accept Jesus you have to know him. Likewise, to deny him you still must have known and be told about who Jesus is. God does not just send people to “hell” unless they lived their entire life and were told about Jesus, but rejected Jesus as their personal savior and Lord (i.e. knowing who Jesus is and never at any time during their whole life choosing to accept Jesus as Lord and savior, and not trusting in him). For it is written:
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven”. (Matthew 10:32-33)
This explains why Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. Yet, when Jesus rose again from the grave, he told Mary not to touch him. For he said that he himself had not ascended to heaven yet. So, paradise is another place that is neither heaven or hell. Therefore, those that did not get the chance to know him in this lifetime will die and go to paradise. This is because the church as a whole has failed to deliver the gospel everywhere (remember the verse in Romans “all have fallen short”). Those sent to paradise will be reborn in the millennium to come and have their chance to make their choice during that time for Christ or choose to reject him (i.e. read the Book of Revelations in The Bible). And that is why it is written in Revelations that Satan will be released one last time at the end of the new millennium to come. Because everyone that could not make the choice and know Jesus can make the choice during the new millennium. For Jesus himself will live and reign on the new earth in the new millennium. So, there will be no excuse in the new millennium for people not to know who Jesus is because he will be physically present for one thousand years and reigning on the earth.
The basic problem is we broke God’s moral law, but God’s solution is Jesus willingly paid the fine on the cross. Jesus said, “there is forgiveness of sins for all who repent” (Luke 24:47). Therefore, repent of sin today if you feel genuinely sorry for the wrong you have done. Again, repentance alone is not enough to enter heaven but you can look at it as a kind of precursor to having faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of your life. Because if you do not see that you have done anything wrong, then why would you think a savior is needed to atone for your sin?
However, when you repent, don’t just confess your sins to God in prayer, turn away from them too. If you want an example of repentance, please read Psalm 51 to get an idea of having godly sorrow and contrition by David’s example. Again, if you don’t repent then you don’t see a need for a savior. And it is written, “God…requires everyone to repent…” (Acts 17:30). And even self-righteousness is a sin (thinking you are good when you are not, you are just like everyone else on earth. A sinner that needs a personal savior). We cannot earn heaven by doing good deeds on our own merit, which is a form of bribery to God.
Remember God is perfect and His sense of justice is no less perfect. He will punish everyone the same, but likewise will show mercy to everyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord and places their faith in him alone for their salvation. God created the heavens and the earth, so what can you give Him that He does not already have? Jesus already came at the right time to do the work for us. We just have to choose to trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.
That is why Jesus said, “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). To be born again is a spiritual rebirth that comes when you trust in Jesus. When you believe in Jesus then The Holy Spirit will come and dwell in you and when you repent after receiving The Holy Spirit you can do it by the power of The Spirit of God. Because turning away in the flesh by itself is not enough to keep sin out of your life. You need help and without confessing Jesus is Lord and placing your faith in him alone, then you are relying on yourself (you are a finite created being).
As the Scriptures say, “For if you openly declare Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart he rose from the dead, then you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). As soon as you have faith in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation then you should get baptized by getting dunked and immersed in water. At the time of your baptism is when you should openly give your public testimony about Jesus as well. Then live a life of obedience to God out of gratitude. Read the Holy Bible daily and feed on it. Tell others about Jesus and live a godly life. God is holy and requires you to be holly (1 Peter 5).
Are you saved?
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”
(John 3:16).
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God “commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him” (Acts 17:30). Repentance means to change your mind and your actions. In other words, repenting is to confess your sins to God with the end goal to forsake sin (i.e. turn away from it). Realize that Jesus paid it all on the cross, so this is not about being religious or thinking we can earn heaven by being good. Repentance is only made possible by the grace of God. When you trust in Jesus your sin debt is paid.
Therefore, you must understand that repentance alone does not save you. But it is an important step towards your accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Because without a change of heart, you won’t see your need for Jesus dying on that cross. For it is written, “the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Come clean to God in prayer, which is a one-to-one conversation between you and God. Remember, you do not need an earthly priest to confess your sin. You can talk to God anytime and anywhere. As it is written, “since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
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John the Baptist said that God spoke to him and said, “‘when you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone, he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’.” Then John said, “I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Son of God” (John 1:32:34). John knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah they had all been waiting to come for many generations.
We also know that Jesus was miraculously born. For the angel Gabriel spoke to the virgin Mary, who became pregnant without human conception, and the angel said to Joseph and Mary to name the child Jesus. The angel said “He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1: 31-33).
Many hundreds of years earlier the prophet Isaiah declared this would happen one day. For it is written in the Book of Isaiah as follows:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isiah 9:6).
Mighty God is used in the next chapter of the same book of Isaiah where it says of Israel, “A remnant will return…to the Mighty God” (Isaiah 10:21). Therefore, Jesus having the same name as Mighty God (i.e. “El-Gibbor”) in the original language of Hebrew means he is greater than any man, angel or other created being. No other person could bear this name except God.
In fact, the very name Jesus means “Yahweh is salvation” or “Yahweh saves”. Yahweh is the sacred name for God given to the Jews. Jesus himself said “…unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am! (John 8:58). Thousands of years before that Moses spoke to the burning bush in the desert where God spoke and revealed, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:14).
Therefore, put your trust in Jesus to save you today. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. For it is written, “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…”(Acts 16:31). Jesus is “God manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). He accomplished God’s mission and “came to give his life as a ransom for many”(Matthew 20:28). Surrender to Jesus now, the only one who gave his life for you, so that you might have everlasting life through him.
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Baptism is crucial to your walk with God and important for your soul. It is an act of obedience to God and comes after you put your trust and faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (not the other way around). As it is written, Peter gave the gospel message to non-Jewish men and they “…were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too” (Acts 10:45). Then Peter said, “can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” (Acts 10:47).
Therefore, it was only after these men had first heard the gospel and believed in Jesus that Peter gave orders for them to be baptized (see Acts 10:48). The church today gets this wrong many times by baptizing babies, which is before they are humanly capable of making the choice themselves to have faith in Jesus. If you were baptized as an infant and don't remember it, then you need to be baptized properly and renounce your infant baptism that was chosen for you by someone else anyway. We can't accept faith in Jesus on the behalf of someone else, so why would baptism be any different?
Our example to follow is Jesus. So, when you get baptized do it like Jesus did and it is that simple. He was dunked in the Jordan river by John the Baptist and immersed in water. God never put a moratorium on baptism and when people used to get baptized by John they would confess their sins. So, if you have never been baptized then you must do it if you have trust in Jesus.
Jesus is our model even though Jesus never did sin. However, the rest of us have sinned and we need to repent of it. Therefore, baptism shows that you have and are repenting as a believer. This is a commitment to God that symbolizes being washed clean of sin because of what Jesus did for us.
Don’t let certain misguided church traditions of this day get in the way of Jesus’ example for us. There is not a documented instance of baby baptism in all of Scripture. Furthermore, faith in Jesus always comes before baptism in water as mentioned above (there are other examples). You have to chose it and be capable of following Christ because it says, “all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes” (Galatians 3:27).
Moreover, the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and so the word "baptize" is taken from the Greek word “baptizō”, which literally translates to “submerge” or “immersion”. Therefore, the Scriptures say, “Jesus came up out of the water” (Mark 1:11). He was about 30 years old at that time, and not an infant either. Clearly it says Jesus was coming up out of the water, and this is not describing being sprinkled with a little water.
So, don’t listen to man-made tradition that contradicts what Jesus did and how he did it. For Jesus himself said, "you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition" (Mark 7:8). Even though in this passage he was talking about the fifth commandment, he goes on and says, "you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others" (Mark 7:13). You are baptized by The Holy Spirit when you trust in Jesus, then you get baptized in water after believing in Jesus, just like Paul did too (see Acts 9:10-21).
Who is it for? Baptism is for anyone who believes the gospel message and trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. For when you truly believe in Jesus it says “…we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Having faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior is that spiritual baptism that saves, and this is when The Holy Spirit dwells in you when you believed (i.e. Acts 10). Baptism with water is your chance to proclaim your faith in Jesus and serves as a witness to others, who in turn witness that you have faith. For it is the opportune time to openly declare public testimony to others. For it is written that Jesus said, “everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). We are not to be ashamed of Christ and the gospel, so baptism shows others you have faith from the heart because “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). This is why Jesus also warned “but everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). So, be bold in your faith and proclaim it openly and at the time of baptism. You can proclaim any time, but baptism is a special time to do it.