Our beloved nation is melting down. The jettisoning of traditional Judeo-Christian values has seemed to erupt at warp speed. Lying, corruption, deception, betrayal, and greed are becoming the norm. Fear, rage, lawlessness, murder, suicides, drug and alcohol abuse seem out of control. The signs the Bible gives which characterize the last generation of human history are warning indicators. Could it be our world is coming under God’s final judgment? If so, then the time before Jesus returns for His followers is running out.
How, then, should we live? It’s critical that we be about His business (Matthew 24:46). First and foremost, you and I, as followers of Jesus, need to know what we believe. Then we need to be willing to stand up for it and speak out about it. The apostle Paul wrote the Roman believers with deep conviction: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16). What is the gospel? The following is a summary of the gospel from God’s Word…
Everyone born into the human race is born with a sin nature, so that all are sinners (Romans 2:23).
The consequence of sin is not only physical death, but spiritual death—separation from God now and in eternity (Romans 6:23).
But God so loved the entire world of humanity that He sent His own Son, Jesus, into the world to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sin, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish separated from God, but will have eternal life (John 3:16).
When we confess that we are sinners, ask God to apply the death of Jesus to our sin and forgive us, He will (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 1:7)
Following the crucifixion of Jesus, God raised Him from the dead to give us new life here and life in Heaven when we die (Romans 8:11).
When we respond and receive Jesus by faith into our hearts, He comes into us in the person of His Spirit, so that we are born again as children of God, forgiven of our sins, and receive eternal life (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 John 5:11-13).
When we claim Jesus Christ by faith as our Savior and Lord, we pass from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, from death to life (Acts 26:18; 1 John 3:14; Romans 8:10).
And the gospel is this…
Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (John 14:6).
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Just the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12).
If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:9-10).
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all… (Romans 10:12-13).
So…do Jews need to be saved? Do Muslims also need to be saved? Do Russians, Iranians, Chinese and Hispanics need to be saved? Yes, they do. According to God’s Word, whatever their religion is, or is not, no one is exempt from being a sinner. Each one of us needs a Savior. Which is why God has given Jesus to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).
Yet how can they believe unless they hear? And how will they hear unless you and I tell them the Good News that God loves them? (Romans 10:14). That regardless of what happens, they can have peace in their hearts at present and hope for the future?
That’s the gospel that Paul was talking about. And that’s the gospel we are to proclaim.
Matthew 24:14 KJV – “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
