This post is written for people not familiar with the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth to save you from the penalty of your sin by sacrificing Himself on the cross in your place Hebrews 9:26. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. You sin against God by your thoughts, words and deeds. What happens to you if you reject Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf? The soul who sins shall die Ezekiel 18:20. For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23. What is sin? Sin is rebellion against God Isaiah 1:2. Sin exalts self-will; sin rejects God’s will. Sin is lawlessness 1 John 3:4.
Contrary to popular thought then, sin is not an illusion and it’s not the invention of religious nutcases! What is the origin of sin? The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly, but we see the exaltation of self-will over God’s will in the heart of Lucifer, commonly believed to be Satan the devil Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. How did sin come into the world? Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned Romans 5:12. Adam is the one man Genesis 3:1-24. Adam is the father of the human race. You inherited his sin nature but God doesn’t judge you for that; He judges you for your own sin. Quote: “You are not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you are a sinner.” – Unknown.
Death: it is not annihilation, it is separation. There are three deaths. 1) In Eden’s garden, sin separated the man and the woman from God spiritually – spiritual death. Without Christ as your Redeemer you are spiritually dead. 2) Natural death is a result of sin; hence, the separation of spirit and soul from the body whether one is in Christ or not – physical death. 3) Final death: Without Christ, sin separates you from the mercy of God forever – eternal death. Therefore the wages of sin is death x 3 – spiritual, physical, eternal. Most people make light of their sin; they deny it, joke about it and laugh about it. They judge others for theirs and make excuses for their own. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9.
Confirming God’s one and only Solution for your sin: For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him 2 Corinthians 5:21. Because they are unwilling to humble themselves and accept God’s Solution for their sin, most people strive to bring about a solution of their own. Religious thinking or religious practice is their primary way of going about it; for others it is engaging in some kind of community service. God calls this self-righteousness and He out-rightly rejects it in all its forms. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags Isaiah 64:6. In other words, the best we can do is filthy! Reformation can never replace the need for Holy Spirit-regeneration and renewing Titus 3:5.
People unwilling to humble themselves will strive to turn over a new leaf (act or behave in better ways). The biblical Gospel shows us that’s the work of the devil. It’s a new life that’s required; only Jesus is capable of offering that! I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly John 10:10. People strive to justify themselves to God by keeping religious laws, traditions and so-called holy days etc. Again, all that does is breed self-righteousness; they can only be justified by faith in Christ. Knowing that a man (person) is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ……; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified Galatians 2:16. For most religious-loving people, no greater blow is there to the ego than the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.
Grace: ‘the love and mercy of God in action.’ Theologians tell us mercy is negative and love is positive; both together mean grace. God demonstrated mercy in love by coming to earth as a Man and dying in our place for our sins. How’s that for grace! For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast Ephesians 2:8-9. (Underline mine). No room for religious pride in that grand Scripture. The grace of God – described in the New Testament as all-abundant, all-sufficient, glorious, great, manifold, rich and sovereign. Bible Christians are under grace at all times. We stand in it, abound in it, grow in it and speak with it. We are called to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Timothy 2:1.
Most people with whom I have shared the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ have struggled to believe it is so simple to receive. I understand them perfectly; that was my struggle too until I came to terms with the fact that I had two choices – I could choose to believe, or choose not to believe. I chose the former! If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Romans 10:9-10. It is in the nature of human beings to complicate the matters of God; it is in the nature of God to simplify the matters. One must humble him/herself to become a recipient of such.
Quote: “He who believes aright in Christ Jesus will receive such a full conviction of the truth, and such an evidence of his redemption, that his mouth will boldly confess his obligation to his Redeemer, and the blessed persuasion he has of the remission of all his sins through the blood of the cross. One grand object of the apostle (Paul) is to show the simplicity of the Gospel scheme of salvation; and at the same time, its great efficacy, it is simple, and very unlike the law, which was full of rites, ordinances, ceremonies, etc., each of which required to be perfectly fulfilled: and yet, after all, even those who had the utmost zeal for God, and, as conscientiously as possible, observed all the precepts of the law, had not attained to justification nor peace of conscience.” – Adam Clarke.
“Peace of conscience.” Now there’s humanity’s grandest lack. There’s not a person anywhere in the world separated from Christ who’s not yearning for peace of conscience. But what is their experience? A guilty conscience. As believers in Christ that’s not difficult to discern in people; we were once in the same boat! They are restless, fretful, fearful, agitated, angry, worried, confused and scared; all of it being the by-product of their sin – lawlessness. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace Isaiah 9:6. In the truest sense, that means He is the Owner of peace! That explains why Jesus said before leaving this earth, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid John 14:27.
Penance or Repentance? Penance: an act on the part of the guilty person to render payment for sin; applying self-effort in some way to atone for offending God. Repentance: a three-fold change – intellectual (mind), emotional (heart), volitional (will). It is repentance God calls people to, not penance. But now God commands all men (people) everywhere to repent Acts 17:30. The command of Jesus: Repent and believe in the gospel Mark 1:15. The perfect example of the three-fold change is found in the parable of the Prodigal Son Luke 15:11-32. Change one: He came to himself – intellectual change. Unregenerate people are not themselves, they are beside themselves! All glory to God when He goes to work on such people. Only the Spirit of Christ can bring one to his or her true senses.
Change two: I have sinned – emotional change. No longer willing to deny his sin; no longer willing to live in dissipation, debauchery and rebellion; no longer willing to play the blame game! Time now to get real! Time now to agree with God that he is culpable and spiritually bankrupt. Time now to get released from it all, fully knowing now that if he refuses this present opportunity he may never get another one. For He says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation 2 Corinthians 6:2. Quote: “The time will come when it will not be an acceptable time with God. The day of mercy will be closed.” Albert Barnes. There is no mercy and no compassion shown in hell.
Change three: I will get up and go home to my father – volitional change. The prodigal son did a 180 degree turnaround; he got up and turned back to put things right with his physical father. We are all prodigal sons and daughters; everyone of us is called to turn back and put things right with our spiritual Father. But we can only come to Him through the Jesus revealed to us in Scripture. That’s the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ; that’s the grand mercy of the biblical God. Anything less than a three-fold change is penance, not repentance! Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those of earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father Philippians 2:8-11.