The Gospel
The Gospel means "good news".
The main message of the Bible is a message of good news!!
To understand the "good news" Gospel message of the Bible, we first need to understand God's laws.
God gave us laws
God created humanity and gave us laws (commandments) because he loves us. These laws include, "do not steal", "do not hate", "do not lust". When we happily obey God's laws we show him that we love him and trust him to take care of us.
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"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome."
- 1 John 5:3
We have all broken God's laws (sinned)
Sin is disobeying God's laws.
When we sin we communicate that "God is not trustworthy" and that we know better.
Everybody has sinned.
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"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
- Romans 3:23
God must punish sin
Because God is just, he must punish the breaking of his law (sin).
Sin deserves the death penalty, so we all deserve the death penalty.
To die spiritually is to be separated from God's love for eternity.
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"For the wages of sin is death..."
- Romans 6:23
God is rich in love and mercy
God loves us so much that he is willing to pay the ultimate price for us, so that we don't have to die in hell for eternity. God gave his only son Jesus to die on a cross for us as a perfect sacrifice for our sin.
By doing this he paid our debt in full, and we can be declared innocent (justified).
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"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
Salvation is a gift that we must receive
Our debt to God has been paid by Jesus, but it is up to us to receive the gift God offers us. The way we receive salvation is by receiving Jesus as our savior, and trusting that he has completely paid for our sin.
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"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God"
- John 1:12
God makes us born again
When we put our trust in Jesus and receive his gift of salvation we become born again, which means God makes us a new person on the inside. God's spirit comes into us and changes our desires so that we hate doing what is evil, and love doing what is good. This is called repentance.
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"Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
- John 1:12
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God gives us eternal life
After we become born again, God adopts us into his family. We become his children, and we will be with him for eternity. Jesus said that eternal life is to know God, so the best part about being in heaven is that we will know God fully, even as we are fully known.
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"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
- John 17:3
Salvation is a free gift that is offered to everyone.
Receive it today, and be saved.
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"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..."
- Hebrews 3:15