If I were to ask you the question, how do you know you are saved today? I would most likely hear responses like: “I have accepted Jesus into my heart.” Or “I have made Jesus Lord of my life.” “I’ve been to the water & been baptized.” “I said a prayer.” Sounds good and religious doesn’t it? But it is difficult to determine whether a person actually knows the gospel that saves them today. These useless phrases do not describe a thing about what the gospel is, and have left a devastating effect on people not knowing what it is that they are saved from or how they are saved. And that leaves a more serious effect upon people questioning their salvation.
Let us not muddy the simplicity of salvation that is in Christ with vague church sounding phrases that do not communicate anything. But rather, we want to present God’s word clear and concise. So here is the gospel: plain and simple. GOD LOVES YOU & CHRIST DIED FOR YOUR SINS. Paul told the Corinthian believers, that he has a plain and simple message to proclaim: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I am determined not to know anything among you, save (except) Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:1-2).
(1) Man has a problem. (Rom. 3:23) “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” SIN was passed upon all men by one man Adam, & death is a consequence of this sin. “…as by one man sin entered into the world….”(Rom. 5:12). (2) There is also a penalty attached to sin: Mankind has an eternal destiny of condemnation & wrath – Hell, The Lake of Fire – because of this sin. “The wages (payment) of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23). That is why Heb. 9:27 says: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but After This THE JUDGMENT.” No matter how many good works we might do, we are still guilty, condemned sinners in our Creators sight. And all unrighteousness & those who “walk according to the course of this world, according to the (satanic) prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2) will inherit indignation (rage) & the wrath (fury) of God.
We cannot be found righteous, for by God’s law we are found sinners. Paul writes in Rom. 3:19-20, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may be come guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. If we have broken even one law, we are found guilty. It is for this reason of not being able to create our own righteousness and being born in sinful flesh that we need a savior. Here is the good news folks. But God in his grace & mercy provided the solution for our sin. (3) Titus 3:5, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God’s mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (spiritual revival), and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our savior.”
Jesus Christ is that Savior, God manifested in the flesh, sinless, died in our place on a cross 2000 years ago. Taking upon him the wrath and judgment that was intended for sinners like you & I. And it is through “faith in his blood, burial, and resurrection” on our behalf that we are able to have peace with God and forgiveness of our sins. (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Col. 1:13-14).
This is the good news folks unto all, but ONLY those who BELIEVE in the death, burial, & resurrection of J.C are made the righteousness of God, in Christ.. Rom. 3:22; 5:6, 8,9. It is then, after we have heard this good news, of the GIFT of GOD, the gospel of your salvation, of Christ’s righteousness available to us freely by his grace, that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and we are now part of Christ’s Body, the Church. Eph. 1:13.
There is nothing that you need to DO, NO GOOD WORKS THAT ARE REQUIRED, & NO BAD WORKS THAT CAN SEPARATE YOU FROM THE LOVE OF GOD! Apostle Paul (Rom. 8:35, 37, 38, 39).
THE MONENT you BELIEVE by faith in his blood, (DEATH, BURIAL & RESURRECTION) that Christ died on the cross to be sufficient payment for your sins, YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE GIFT OF GOD & ALL OF YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN. YOU NOW ARE SAVED FROM WRATH TO COME & POSSESS ETERNAL LIFE!
1 Thess. 5:9-11; “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify (build up) one another, even as also you do
Colman J. Gilliland 