The word “Gospel” means “Good News.”

So the “Gospel” is the story of good news that overcomes the bad news of our state of separation from God due to our sin. We cannot be “good enough” or “moral enough” to earn salvation by the way we live.

God’s righteous standard of holiness is unfathomable for us to measure. We simply do not understand “holiness” at an infinite degree. Therefore, our sins seem tolerable.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This sounds like great news! God offers this new life—and the old life of sin truly being forgiven by what Jesus accomplished in our place on the cross.

The Bible calls this “substitution.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus the Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Our sin was “placed on Jesus” on the cross—where His death substituted the death we deserved to take on holy wrath for our sins.

Jesus righteous (right obedience to God’s moral law) was imputed to those who are saved—where His holy obedience was substituted on our account.

1 John 2:2

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Propitiation means “it appeased the wrath we deserved” for our sins. God the Father, accepted the humiliation and slaughter of Jesus, His Son, on the cross, as the “sacrifice” or “sin offering” that would mean we can be forgiven.

1 John 4:10

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We are not only forgiven—we are “Justified” meaning we are legally pronounced “not guilty” by God Himself.

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We sin because we have sinful natures, inherited from Adam & Eve. Yet, while we lived and enjoyed and knew not how bad we sin against God—the Father sent Christ to die for us in the midst of our sins.

Romans 5:8–9

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

We cannot earn our way to salvation. We cannot be good enough people for God to let us into His heaven. It is not a matter of our good deeds or bad deeds. It is a matter of whether our personal sins have been forgiven, through faith alone, by the grace of God alone, in Christ’s work on the cross alone.

Ephesians 2:1–3

[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—[3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:4–5

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:8–9

[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.

Jesus…Can Save You.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

You must cry out for forgiveness and mercy from God, based solely on Jesus work on the cross—His substitutionary death and resurrection from the grave. Grace = receiving a free gift you did not deserve. Mercy = Not receiving the penalty/punishment you do deserve. In Christ, you receive Grace and Mercy!

By “faith” you are “trusting” in Jesus death on the cross that took the wrath you deserve for sins. And since you now understand sin as an attack on God’s holiness—you now “repent” which simply means to “turn away from” former sinful lifestyle, thoughts, and actions—and “turn to follow” after Christ. This is what it means in saying “Salvation from God is free—not earned. But it requires faith and repentance on the part of the person.”

This is by far, the most essential and most important message you will ever hear.

Every single individual must respond by either receiving or rejecting this salvation God has provided in Christ.

If you have questions or confusion or any desire to learn more about this salvation—please contact one of us and visit us at Sojourn.