The Gospel – Berean Covenant Church

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

What would happen to you if you died today? Would you go to heaven? Have you been a good enough person to get there? If you really want to know, here’s a quick test:

1. Have you ever told a lie…even a little white lie?

God said in the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ and lying—even once—makes you guilty of breaking His laws.

2. Have you ever had a lustful thought?

Jesus said that whoever lusts has committed adultery in his heart (). Again, God said in the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ so having a lustful thought also makes you guilty of breaking God’s law.

3. Have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you?

If so, that makes you a thief, and since God’s Word says, ‘You shall not steal,’ then any thief is guilty of breaking His commandments and deserves punishment.

4. Have you ever used God’s name as a swear word?

That’s called blasphemy, and God’s law says anyone who uses His name in such a way is guilty before Him.

The Bible calls any breaking of God’s law ‘sin.’ Unfortunately, our little test only covered four of the Ten Commandments (), and you surely didn’t pass this test!

The Bible also says that the wages of sin is death (). In other words, death is the punishment for anyone guilty of sin (). This doesn’t just mean death in this life, but it means death for eternity. Unless you are forgiven for your sin, you will ultimately face the wrath of the Holy God, which is eternal suffering in a place called hell (; ; ). As a matter of fact, it says that sinners ‘have their part’ in the lake of fire (). So, if you’ve committed just one of these sins, you have broken God’s law, you are guilty and deserve punishment, and your punishment is eternity in hell. Scripture says that you are an enemy of God and that His wrath rests upon you (; ).

Doesn’t sound good, does it? The worst part is that you can’t work or bargain your way out of it (). The Bible says that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, which means there’s nothing you can do to save yourself (; ; ). The Bible is very clear that God is just and holy. This means that He is fair. Any good, fair judge on earth would never let a guilty person go unpunished. Even if you’ve done a lot of good things, you still deserve punishment for the sins you have committed. A confessed murderer can’t ask the judge to let him go free because he worked as a lifeguard or regularly attended Sunday School. He still must pay the penalty for murder!

That’s the bad news. Now, the good news, which the Bible calls the ‘Gospel.’ The Gospel message is that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, left heaven and came to earth for the purpose of saving sinners (). He lived a perfect, sinless life, never breaking any of God’s commandments. Since He never sinned, then He did not have to die or face any punishment for sin. God was always pleased with Him. Since He was not guilty of sin, He is the only Person who could take the place of sinners who are guilty. In short, Jesus offered up His life as a substitute for sinners who had no option but to face eternal death (). He basically said to God, “I’ll take their punishment for them.” God accepted His perfect sacrifice on behalf of sinners, and it was evidenced by the fact that Jesus rose again from the dead. Since He didn’t have to pay the penalty of eternal death, He had the power to rise from the grave. Jesus is alive right now in heaven waiting for God’s command for Him to come and destroy all of God’s enemies (). Everyone who does not obey God is an enemy of God! (; ; ; )

Because you are a sinner and because your sin made the death of God’s Son necessary, God calls for you to acknowledge your guilt to Him and turn away from all of your sin. This is called ‘repentance.’ Repentance is both a gift from God () as well as a requirement of the Gospel (). Repentance is a godly sorrow over sin that leads to a change of behavior ().

Along with repentance, you must have faith (). Faith is relying upon and trusting in God’s ability to save through Jesus Christ! Faith is a gift from God (), but like repentance it is also a Gospel requirement (). The call of God is for you to place all of your trust and faith in Jesus Christ and His work on your behalf on the cross.

The most frequently used title for Jesus in the New Testament is Lord. The call of God in the Gospel is for you to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Rom.10:9-10).

For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13).

Lord is the Greek word kurios which means Master, Controller, Ruler, Supreme Authority. Salvation is surrendering to Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life! This means that when you repent and trust in Jesus for salvation, you are making a lifetime commitment to follow and obey Jesus and His Word. This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ. This is what it means to be saved! (; ; ).

Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44; see also ).

The Holy Spirit is God, and as God He draws you to the Savior, Jesus Christ, for salvation. You will never see the need for salvation until the Holy Spirit makes you spiritually alive (; ) and places a desire within you to turn to God.

~ If you sense God’s Holy Spirit making you hate the sin you once loved…

~ If you desire to have God forgive all of your sin…

~ If you want to know Jesus and surrender your very life to Him…

~ If you want to begin following God’s will for your life…

…Then it is time for you to be saved! Call out to Jesus right now. Confess to Him that you are a sinner and ask Him to forgive you. Believe and trust that His death on the cross is enough to pay the penalty for all your sin. Commit your entire life to Him and ask Him to save you! ( and ).

The Bible also says that true believers in Jesus will be baptized and regularly assemble with other believers so they may learn how to obey Him and live for Him (; ). If you have repented and trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and live in the Columbus, Georgia area, we encourage you to contact us and to attend Berean Covenant Church so we can help you grow as a new follower of Jesus Christ!

Grace and peace to you!

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (ESV)

¹ And God spoke all these words, saying,
² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You shall not murder.

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You shall not steal.

¹⁶“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (ESV)

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ (ESV)

¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (ESV)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (ESV)

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (ESV)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins (ESV)

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses (ESV)

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (ESV)

¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. (ESV)

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (ESV)

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. (ESV)

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds (ESV)

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (ESV)

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (ESV)

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out (ESV)

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (ESV)

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (ESV)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (ESV)

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? (ESV)

³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV)

⁸ And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹ concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (ESV)

¹⁰ as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹ no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” (ESV)

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (ESV)

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (ESV)

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. (ESV)

³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (ESV)

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)