Saturday, December 4, 2010

Gospel Presentation

To know who Jesus is and to understand what and why He did what He did, I have to go back to the beginning. God created all there is, including the earth and everything on it. God made mankind to be perfect in every way and to have fellowship with Him. God didn’t want little robots running around, so He gave people a free will, the ability to make decisions, good or bad, so that they could decide for themselves if they wanted to be God’s friend and follower.

Adam and Eve were the first two people, God created them with His own hands; but before they had any children, they chose to disobey God, to use their free will to commit sin, by doing the one thing God told them not to do—eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they disobeyed God, a sin nature was developed in them, and that sin nature was passed down from parent to child until this day. Sin means “missing the mark”; it’s both the actual act of disobeying God (such as stealing, lying, murder, etc) and the result of that disobedience.

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Even though humans sinned and caused a separation between themselves and God, God still wanted that companionship He established in the beginning. But by being a Holy God, by His very nature, He is unable to even being the presence of sin. Think of the nastiest, most disgusting place you can think of, multiply that times a million and that’s not even close to what God thinks of sin.

But, because He loves us so much, He came up with a way for us to come to Him and reclaim that fellowship. He needed someone to pay the penalty for our sin. We couldn’t do it because we have committed sin and are an unclean payment. God says that the penalty of sin is death, and that the only payment He will accept is blood, but not just any blood, clean, holy blood, to wash away the sin of the world.

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is where Jesus comes in. God is a Triune Being, He is one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Son, Jesus, left His heavenly home, took on human flesh, and was born to a virgin, Mary. He grew up as a normal child and became a man but with two exceptions: He was fully God and fully man at the same time, and He never sinned! Although He was tempted to sin just as we all are, not once did He submit to any temptation, thereby becoming the perfect sacrifice for our sin. God accepted Jesus as a substitute for all of us.

2 Corinthians 5:15 - And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

God will now let us into His heavenly home, to live with Him for all eternity, if all we do is simply believe in Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, that He lived a totally sinless life, that He died and shed His holy blood in our place, that He arose from the dead 3 days after His crucifixion and that He then ascended back to heaven to become our mediator before God the Father. If we ask God, our sin will be covered by Jesus’ blood! We will be redeemed and seen as holy if only we truly believe.

Romans 10:9-11 - 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. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame'.

John 3:3 - In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again'.

Being “born again” is what happens when one believes in what the Bible says about Jesus and agrees to make Him their Savior and Master.

John 14:6 - Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

1 comment:

Adam Pastor said...

Greetings Frank

On the subject of God being a Triune Being ... one God in three Persons;
I recommend this video:
The Human Jesus

Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.

Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor