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"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" - II Timothy 2:15 |
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| New Zealand Correspondence School
of the Bible
The Good News
Have you ever heard the Gospel? The real Gospel, that is? Not the gospel of man's imagination, or of some religious institution - but the Gospel
according to the Bible! Have you ever heard it? Has anyone ever explained it to you?
The word gospel means "good news." It is the good news message "that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"(I Corinthians 15:3,4).
The Good News
is:
CHRIST DIED FOR
OUR SINS
Before you can understand
or appreciate the good news, you need
to hear the bad news. Why did the Lord
Jesus Christ die on the cross? The scripture
says, "For our sins!" Dear reader,
the reason you need to hear and believe the
Gospel is because you are a sinner.
God says:
"Be ye holy; for
I am holy" (I Peter 1:16).
His standard of holiness is His written
Law [the ten commandments].
"Wherefore the law
is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good" (Romans 7:16).
Violating just one of God's commandments
makes you a lawbreaker: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all"
(James 2:10). Yes, it just takes one
sin to make us a sinner, but the reality is
that you are guilty of committing many
sins. The Bible declares: "There
is none righteous, no, not one"
(Romans 3:10);"For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory
[holy standard] of
God" (Romans 3:23).
The Bible says:
"the LORD seeth not
as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart"
(I Samuel 16:7). No doubt your family,
your friends, and your acquaintances have
many good things to say about you, but as
God looks upon your heart, He sees
you as a sinner through and through: a sinner
by birth, "The
wicked are estranged from the womb: they go
astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies"
(Psalm 58:3); a sinner by nature,
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:
who can know it?"(Jeremiah
17:9); a sinner by deed, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it
not, to him it is sin" (James
4:17); and a sinner by choice,
"And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil"
(John 3:19). Furthermore, there is absolutely
nothing you can do to change
yourself: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
then may ye also do good, that are accustomed
to do evil" (Jeremiah 13:23).
You can dress up your outward appearance with
religion, good deeds, and clean living. You
may impress men, but you cannot change your
heart. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags" (Isaiah
64:6).
Sin has consequences
in this life and the next!
"For the wages of sin is death"(Romans
6:23). The entrance of sin into God's perfect
creation brought immediate spiritual
death, "Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the LORD God" (Genesis
3:8); and the sentence of physical
death, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground; for out of it wast
thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return"(Genesis 3:18). But
sin also condemned man to an eternal
death - the awfulness of being separated from
God for eternity, forever!! The Bible says:
"it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
(Hebrews 9:27). This judgment is not
one to see if your "good" outweighs your "bad,"
for there can be no sin in Heaven,
not one! "And
there shall in no wise enter into it
[the Heavenly city] any thing that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or
maketh a lie: but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation
21:27). Judgment Day offers you no hope -
only eternal condemnation: "And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God; and the books were opened: and another
book was opened, which is the book of life:And
whosoever was not found written in the book
of life was cast into the lake of fire"
(Revelation 20:12,15).
That's the bad news.
You are a sinner, lost, and facing a Christless
eternity without any hope - forever! Thank
God for the good news! Christ died
for our sins. You see, God hates your
wickedness but He loves you! - He cannot
(and will not) overlook or excuse even one
of your sins, yet He desires to save you from
Hell and bring you into a personal relationship
with Himself. God's righteousness and God's
love have met and are satisfied in Jesus Christ:
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8).
The Son of God bore
no sin of His own. He is "holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners"
(Hebrews 7:26); He "did
no sin" (I Peter 2:22). As
Jesus hung upon the cross almost 2,000 years
ago, God the Father literally "made
him to be sin for us" (II
Corinthians 5:21). Yes, Jesus took your
place. He paid your debt - IN FULL!
"For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit" (I Peter 3:18);
"Who his own self
bare our sins in his own body on the
tree" (I Peter 2:24).
The payment God demanded for your sin was the blood of His own dear Son. "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:24); His precious blood can cover and cleanse all your sins: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7);
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).
The Good News
is:
CHRIST ROSE AGAIN
The Bible declares that Christ "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification" (Romans 4:25). If He just died and was buried, we could never really know if His offering for our sins was sufficient. If
Christ remained in the tomb, He'd be just another dead founder of another dead religion. But the Bible triumphantly proclaims, "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains
of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it" (Acts 2:23,24).
Because of His resurrection we can stand justified before our Creator. Justified means, "Just-if-I'd never sinned!" "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"(Romans 5:1); "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Romans 5:9,10); "That being justified
by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:7).
Dear reader, can you not see that the Gospel is indeed "good news!"? The Bible says Christ "hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Timothy 1:10).
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED
It is not enough
to know these facts, as true as they are.
Jesus said: "The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand: repent ye, and believe
the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
Salvation is freely offered to every
sinner, but it is a gift that must be received:
"The gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 6:23). To be saved, you must personally receive Jesus
Christ as your Saviour "But
as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name" (John
1:12).
Effectually believing
the Gospel requires repentance and faith on
your part. Repentance means a change
of mind leading to a change of action.
"Except ye repent,
ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke
13:3). Repentance involves a 180o about-face.
Whereas you are walking down the broad way
"that leadeth to
destruction," you must willingly
turn to Christ, enter in at the "strait
gate," and take the narrow
way "which leadeth unto life" (Matthew 7:13,14).
Faith simply means believing - taking
God at His Word, and acting upon it.
"For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth"(Romans
1:16).
Salvation is a heart
and a mouth matter: "That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9,10). To confess with the mouth is to call upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him as your Lord
and Saviour, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"
(Romans 10:13).
Dear reader, if you have taken the time to carefully read this guide, then you have heard the Gospel. The question now becomes, "What will you do about
it?" Will you believe, or will you reject it? The Gospel comes with a gracious invitation: "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). Will you not right now come to Christ on His terms and receive Him as your personal Saviour?
Lord Jesus I confess to you that I am
a sinner. I believe that you died
on the cross for my sins and rose
from the dead to save me from my
sins and from hell. In the best
way that I know how, I ask you to
forgive me of my sins. I accept
you as my personal Saviour and from
this moment on, I am going to depend
entirely upon you alone for my salvation.
Amen.
If this is your decision,
please let us know by sending an E-mail to NZCSB
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LINKS
Verity
Charity Publications
Order Line Upon Line & other books by Pastor Jeff Williams.
Good
News
Have you ever heard the Gospel? The real Gospel, that is? Not the
gospel of man's imagination, or of some religious institution ...
Blue Letter Bible
Online searchable King James Bible.
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