Gospel

All of us will face death one day. Many people just live their lives for the moment, never thinking that they have an appointed day with death. Some ponder thoughts of death occasionally, but never think seriously about what happens after death. Do we cease to exist? Do we get reincarnated? Do some people go to heaven while others go to hell?

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of religions and belief systems that seem to offer an answer to the question of what happens to a person after they die, but what does the Bible have to say about what happens to us after we die?

The Bad News

The Bible says that all men have sinned (Romans 3:23), and that no man is good (Romans 3:10). Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:19, "No one is good--except God alone." In the Garden of Eden, the relationship between God and man was broken when sin entered the world.

Sin is the disobedience of the law - the law of God. The Bible says in Ezekiel 18:4, "...The soul who sins shall die." Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death," Death is two-fold. We will die once physically and once spiritually. Revelation 20:14 & 15 says,

"Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

The lake of fire is hell - the place of eternal torment and punishment for those who do not belong to God and have their names written in the book of life.

Since no one is good, and we are all sinners, then we all deserve the punishment for sin which is death and hell.

The Good News - The Gospel

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16,

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."

The word ‘Gospel’ simply means good news - the good news of Jesus Christ. The Gospel (good news) is defined for us in I Corinthians 15:1-4,

"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,"

The Bible states very clearly that the Gospel (good news) is the DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ. The Gospel does not include baptism, good works, tithing, church attendance, etc. The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ only.

Paul said again in I Corinthians 1:17,

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the GOSPEL--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

God’s plan of redemption for mankind was that there had to be a sacrifice - an innocent sacrifice to atone for the guilty - to bring man into a right relationship with God. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to sacrifice animals to make atonement for their sins. The sacrificial lambs had to be spotless and without defect, in order to be an appropriate sacrifice. The sacrifices themselves did not take away the sin of the people, (Hebrews 10:1-3) but rather what the sacrifices pictured - Jesus Christ, who would become the ‘lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world’. (John 1:29) The people in the Old Testament trusted Christ for salvation, because God had promised at the beginning of time to send the Messiah to save them.

Now that we have defined the Gospel (good news), you need to know how the Gospel saves a person. Let us break down the elements of the Gospel:

1. CHRIST’S death proves He is our Savior. (Romans 5:8)
2. CHRIST’S burial proves the price for sin was paid in full. (Romans 6:23)
3. CHRIST’S resurrection proves that He is God. (Romans 1:4)

The beauty of the Gospel is that Christ did all the work at Calvary, and that you have to only accept what He did for you to be saved! It is a gift of God (Romans 6:23). Christ entered the human race and became a man, walked the earth for 33 years, and purposely died on a cross for the sins of all humanity - past, present and future. He suffered an unspeakable death to bring you and me into a right relationship with God the Father. But the story did not end there! On the third day after he was crucified, He rose again, proving He is God and that God keeps His word!

Ephesians 1:13 says, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,"

If you have never had someone explain the Gospel to you in a way like this, then you may not have trusted Christ completely for your salvation. Most religions teach that you have to be good or follow a set of rules to earn a spot in heaven. That is not what the Bible teaches (Eph 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5; Isa. 64:6; Gal. 2:21; Gal. 2:16; Mat. 7:22,23; Rom. 3:28). God cannot accept our good works as payment to get into heaven because he cannot ignore the sin we have committed. Good deeds cannot outweigh sins before God. If you have broken one of God’s laws, then it’s as though you have broken all of them (James 2:10).

To be Saved

According to the Bible, all you must do is:

1. Believe you are a sinner, your sins are bad enough to send you to hell, that there is nothing good you can do to earn heaven, and that you need a Savior.
2. Believe that Jesus is God and so loved you that He purposely went to a cross took the punishment for your sin, so that you can have eternal life.
3. Believe that if you called on Jesus now (He sits at the right hand of the Father [Col 3:1] waiting for you to call on Him) that He would save you and take you to heaven (Romans 10:9, 13).

Salvation is very simple. It is a work of God on behalf of man, not a work of man of behalf of God. Simply believe the Gospel, and call on Christ to save you and take you to heaven when you die. Here is a sample prayer that you could pray, or in your own words, ask Jesus to save you. It’s not the prayer that saves you; it’s what you are asking Jesus to do for you that saves you:

Lord Jesus, I humbly come to you now. I believe that I am a sinner and that I can’t get to heaven on my own efforts. I believe that you died for me on the cross for my sins, suffered the punishment of hell that I deserved, and that you rose again proving that You are God. I call on you now to save me and take me to heaven when I die. Amen.