God’s Gospel

Romans 1:16-17 (NIV)

We must not be ashamed of the Gospel.

If we are ashamed of the Lord Jesus and His words, He will be ashamed of us when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26)

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The Gospel is God’s power for salvation.

God had sent sinners the Gospel of grace.

God had sent His Son to die on their behalf.

If sinners would place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be saved.

Otherwise, they would die in their sins, and they would go to Hell.

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The Gospel was first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles.

God had pledged to save the Jews first.

God had dealt with the Jews for thousands of years.

But many Jews rejected the Son of God as their Messiah.

So God turned to the Gentile peoples and offered them salvation as well.

Salvation is now available to every man, everywhere. (John 1:11-12)

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The Gospel revealed the righteousness of God.

Man thinks he is righteous and is therefore acceptable to God.

But Man is absolutely wrong.

Man is not righteous and he cannot produce righteousness by self-will, or his own works.

But, when Man puts his faith is the Lord Jesus Christ, God declares him to be righteous.

Man is imputed with the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21 and Philippians 3:9).

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The Gospel is by faith from first to last.

Christians are saved through faith alone.

Christians are to live by faith all the days of their lives.

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Some thoughts:

• We must not be ashamed of the Gospel.
• The Gospel is God’s power to bring many to faith.
• The Gospel is for everyone, everywhere.
• The Gospel revealed God’s righteousness.
• The Gospel is for believers to live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ all the day of their lives.
• The Gospel is worth believing and worth sharing.
• Christians are to believe and share the Gospel. God will do the rest!
  

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Prayers:

• Oh God! Help me to believe and share Your Word all the days of my life.
• Oh God! Help me to believe in the power of Your Gospel.
  

God’s Salvation

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is never by work.

No man will be saved by the works they perform, regardless of how holy those works are, or how many works they perform.

Good works, self-sacrifice or self-righteousness can never save a man.

Works are always excluded from the process of salvation, so that no one can boast.

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Salvation is only through faith.

Salvation comes to a man only through faith.

Salvation comes when a lost sinner takes God at His Word and believes what the Bible says all about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is faith, belief, or trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s Savior.

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Salvation comes by grace.

Salvation comes as God’s unmerited favor to undeserving sinners.

God reaches out to sinners who deserve His judgment and condemnation.

God saves sinners by His amazing, abundant grace.

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Salvation is a gift of God.

Grace and faith never come from within us.

Grace and faith are both the gifts of God.

We cannot believe in the Lord Jesus Christ until He gives us the faith to believe in Him.

We will never come to God on our own.

It is God who must take the first move.

It is God who gives us the faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when He does, salvation takes place.

Oh! What a wonder of salvation we have!

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Salvation is a gift of God.

It is God who first reaches out to save us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Are we saved?

Do we trust in God’s grace through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation?

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Let us receive God’s offer of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and salvation to us.

Let us believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be eternally saved.

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Oh God! Give us faith to believe in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Oh God! Help us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of our lives.

 

God’s Love

John 3:16 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

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Our God Is One God

The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Christians believe in one God. (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)

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There is only one God, exists in three distinct Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods but one God.

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Our God So Love Us

God’s love is immense, deep, never ending, never ceasing, immeasurable, infinite, boundless, and eternal.

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God’s love is universal and it is personal.

God saves everyone who would come to Him.

God speaks and deals with everyone individually.

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God’s love is unconditional and it is sacrificial.

It is not dependent on anything we say or do.

God just gave us His Son.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

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God’s love is merciful and it is just.

God hates sin but He loves sinners.

He sacrificed His Son to save us.

He sacrificed His Son to fulfill the law on our behalf (Romans 6:23).

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God’s love is practical and it is effective.

God sent His Son to die on the Roman cross 2000 years ago to save us.

God had given us eternal life.

We will not perish in the second death.

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God so love us.

We are to love the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.

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God’s Love Needs A Proper Response

The word of God will not return void (Isaiah 55:11).

The Gospel will either soften or harden our heart.

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Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:18).

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The only proper response to God’s love is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And we must persevere to the end.

But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).

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We believe in one God.

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Salvation is for everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

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We are to accept everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified as our brethren.

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We are to persevere in our faith.

Sometimes, like the father of the boy possessed by an impure spirit, we are to plead with God when we have doubt, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

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May God give us faith to believe in His Son.

May God strengthen our faith.

A Spiritual Story

Mark 10:17-22

A rich man ran to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He bowed before Him.

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He ran because he sensed the urgency of his need.

He bowed because he treated the Lord Jesus Christ with honor.

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But sincerity alone was not enough to save his soul.

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Besides, he had some misconceptions that must be dealt with before that could happen.

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He had a faulty understanding of salvation.

He wanted to do something to inherit eternal life.

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He had a faulty understanding of self.

He wanted to involve self-effort.

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He had a faulty understanding of the Savior.

He called the Lord Jesus Christ good teacher.

He failed to see that He is God.

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He was made to discover that he was poor spiritually.

He could not buy what his soul needed.

He couldn't buy everlasting life!

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He was made to discover that he was a lost sinner in need of a Savior!

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He was made to discover that he was a prisoner.

He thought he owned a lot of things.

He discovered that his things had owned him!

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He discovered that the Lord Jesus Christ was patient with him.

He had taken the time to meet him just where he was and lead him gently to the place of decision.

He had done so with kind eyes and a compassionate heart.

He was made to discover that the Lord Jesus Christ loved him and wanted to save him!

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He discovered that the Lord Jesus was plain with him.

He told him all the truth.

He told him "One thing you lack."

He did not dispute the fact that he had kept the letter of the Law.

He merely told him that with all his possessions, there was still one thing missing!

He had no relationship with God!

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He discovered that the Lord Jesus Christ was precise.

He told him to liquidate his possessions.

He told him to take up his cross.

He told him to follow Him.

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But he chose darkness over light.

He walked away from the only hope of salvation he had.

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And he chose defeat over liberty.

He left trapped in the prison of materialism.

He walked away from the offer of life and liberty from his prison.

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And he chose death over life.

He walked away turning his back on the only one who could have saved his soul!

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We don't know how this man's story turned out.

He might have walked off into the continued darkness of his life.

Eventually he might walked into the darkness of Hell forever.

Is that how we want it?

No One Wants To Go To Hell

Mark 9:43-48

Hell is real!

There is a literal place called Hell.

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It is a place of eternal punishment for Satan and his followers.

Everyone who rejects God’s plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ will go there.

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Hell is awful because of the damnation.

Lost men are condemned by God already.

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Sadly, many do not know they are separated from God.

They are blind to their own spiritual condition.

They are dead and do not sense God or know Him.

They cannot see the glories of God revealed in the world.

They cannot see the glories through the Lord Jesus Christ.

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They are separated from the Lord Jesus Christ.

But they do not know it and they do not see the need to come to Him.

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Hell is awful because of the duration.

Many believe that Hell is real.

But they think that it will be short in its duration.

They believe that those thrown into Hell will burn up quickly and be gone.

If that were true, then Hell may be tolerated.

But Hell is real and Hell is eternal.

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Hell is awful because of the torments.

It is a place of unquenchable fire and worms that do not die.

It is a place of intense and unsatisfied thirst.

It is a place of misery and pain.

It is a place of eternal separation from everything beautiful.

It is a place of undiluted wrath of God!

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The way to avoid Hell is to entering into life.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.

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We are to enter into a faith relationship with Him.

We are to put our faith in Him.

We are to believe that He had died on the cross and rose again from the dead.

We are to take radical steps to make a break with our past life.

We are to deal with our pride and humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are to break off relationships with certain friends and associates.

Whatever it is in life that would prevent us from being saved, we must cut it out of our life so that we can get to God!

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Some people will give their lives for the glory of God.

These are the people who know the Lord Jesus Christ and are headed to His heaven!

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Others will continue to sacrifice their lives for sin.

These are the ones who will go to Hell.

Which group do you belong?