Thank you for some interesting comments on this topic. I would like to give a detailed response because its a serious topic with eternal consequences for us all.
Once you read this you will have a choice to make.
Matthew 10:7-And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand
The decision you will have to make for yourself is: either Christ Jesus spoke the absolute truth in saying
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”, or He was delusional. or He was a liar.
Lets start with probably one of the most popular Bible verses. John 3:16–18
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God
Who is this blog for? Anyone and everyone.
If I had to narrow that down I would say this may help those that want a simplistic Gospel message. There are many KJB Bible scripture quotes included as I could not deviate from Holy scripture when talking about Jesus. Simple because I have complete faith in God’s Biblical word.
However my aim was to simplify the Gospel message relative to today’s confusing society. I am just a simple faithful man trying my best to follow Christ Jesus. Recognising I am a sinner and in need of Christ’s forgiveness. I look to preach, teach and apply the word of God with thanks and all Glory to Christ my personal Saviour
I will refer to the KJV Bible as I believe that version to be the absolute authoritative word of our Almighty God and Heavenly Father. Please also read scripture for yourselves via the links provided as I refer to God’s Holy word, rather than my weak human opinion. I also support NIV, ESV and ERV versions. Essentially, they all offer sound doctrine that God is one in God the Father. God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit
The KJV Holy Bible deals with scripture in the Old Testament as the anticipation of Christ. The Gospel deals with the incarnation of Christ. The book of Acts deals with the proclamation of Christ. The epistle is the explanation of Christ. Revelation talks about the Glorification of Christ.
Long term study of the word of God will introduce you to theology. And then all of a sudden you will find yourself breaking through theology to the knowledge of God.
As you start to read the bible. God starts to read you. That is where profound joy of Christ is discovered. Instead of “following your own dreams” or “doing it my way, Frank Sinatra” well known worldly phrase. You choose to follow Jesus and trust God’s life plan for you completely. Just ask God sincerely and he shall listen. Just ask in prayer sincerely, humbly from the heart.
It could be said that the pinnacle of being a human being is when we forgive others. A persons discretion ( logos / wisdom) makes him / her slow to anger. And it is a persons choice to overlook a transgression. Love covers all transgressions and a multitude of sins. Forgiveness and love is God like. Anger and un-forgiveness is Satan like. The most precious gift you could give someone you love is time to pray for them sincerely and share the Gospel in accordance to God’s will.
Inside God’s will there is no failure. Outside God’s will there is no success. Inside God’s timing everything is yes and Amen. Outside God’s timing everything is no with worldly obstacles.
God will meet you where you are right now. Not where others say you should be or where they think you are. God will meet you exactly as you are now. Just reach out now and ask Jesus. “Forgive me, save me”. That is the simple Gospel truth Jesus spoke about
It could be said there are two religions in the world… One is the true Christian religion of Divine accomplishment. You can’t be good enough, you can only get to Heaven through Christ. Good being applied to you when you believe in Jesus death and resurrection.
Every other system or “religion” in the world. Hinduism, Islam, Spiritualist, Sikhism, JW, Christadelphian etc believe you get to Heaven by your good works.
Roman Catholic theology comes from the bible and tradition. Judaism is concerned with the Old Testament and Rabbinic tradition
We all have the option of choice. Christianity stands alone based upon the Authority of scripture. Where Jesus is our Saviour and the Gospel of good news is the truth of life. For those that believe they are transformed and become a new creation and adopted as one of God’s sons or daughters. Through their faith not by works. Saving faith produces works and good deeds. God is at work in believer of Christ. Through the salvation act to produce the fruit of that salvation. True faith is evident through production. A labour of love. The effort persevering hope involved to achieve love for Christ
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God gives True Christians these three active spiritual realities as the foundation in their lives and they are destined for eternal salvation.
1 A faith in Christ that works and produces righteousness
2 A love that labours for Christ and produces fruit
3 Hope that endures. Nothing of the world crushes or overcomes your faith in Christ
To be in Christ means to want to be just like Jesus. To want to talk like Jesus. Act like Jesus. Think what would Jesus do in every temptation. Stop striving for temporary worldly things in this life. Rest in God
1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16. Talks about the condition of a Christian and that of a non Christian. Those that disbelieve think the Word of God is foolish and treat the bible with contempt and distain. Salvation by faith in a crucified God is ridiculous and unattainable. The Jews were looking for signs. Ideally for Christ to bring down the Roman empire, set up his Kingdom. The Greeks sought wisdom.
Isaiah 29v14 Deliverance will come by the wisdom and power of God. Since the fall of Adam and Eve God made it impossible for men and women to know God on their own. It pleases God to turn the direction of the proclaimed worldly wise to foly. The wisdom of the wise and the cleverest of the clever can not save man. We see examples of worldly Government scholars panicking over Covid-19 virus. Only God offers his human creation the gift of grace through sending his own son in the flesh as an offering of flesh and blood in the form of human sacrifice. However ridiculous or unbelievable God gave his only son to the world. But Christ was never of the world. An example of pure righteousness without sin. The world rejected Jesus from his birth there was no room in the inn.
If we do not live what we believe for our own salvation we will fall short of belief. We have to be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer only. Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus. Do not be just a spectator. Trust in Christ for what is good and right in your life. Trust in Christ for the suffering and pains you will endure physically, mentally and emotionally
Conclusion
There is nothing anyone can “do” in order to be saved. The only way a person can find salvation is by accepting Jesus Christ as their saviour. This simply means believing that…
With these statements, John deliberately lays out the foundational doctrine upon which his entire message would stand—the deity of Jesus Christ. The fact that Jesus was in the beginning with God proves several key points: Jesus Christ is God—He is divine; He existed in the beginning because Jesus is eternal; He was not created in the beginning but is co-Creator. He was with God, distinct in personhood from the Father and a member of the triune Godhead. God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. All as one equal
Jesus Christ Is clearly God
Jesus was in the beginning with God Jesus is God, yet He was “with God.” Jesus is distinct in His personhood from God the Father; He is God the Son. They are One but not identical. They interact with one another. The world was created by God through Jesus: “There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live”
1 Corinthians 8:6: But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him
As members of the triune God head, the Father and Son act distinctly but in close collaboration with one another as today through God’s Holy Spirit
Genesis 1:1–3: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
John 8:58: Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 17:5: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 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:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth
Philippians 2:5-18 says Jesus is equal to God our Heavenly Father
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Christ is God, and He came to earth as a man (John 1:14).
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth
John 10:29-33
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God
Revelation 19:13
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God
We are all sinners, that deserve God’s judgment. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
Jesus died, in my place, in order to pay for my sins. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4 ; Hebrews 10:14).
Jesus was resurrected from the dead having been crucified for our sins, as He said He would.
Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.(Romans 4:25;
Mark 8:31: And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
I am trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice, and nothing else, in order to save me ([Ephesians 2:8-9]
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
John 3:5
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Matthew 28:19 We see God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit all equal as one
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
How can I trust God?
Think of it this way… How can you trust your own earthly parents… Your mother and father? Because you were born into your current family… So it’s the same becoming a Christian you are born again into God’s Kingdom Spiritually, but not physically like you came into this world when you accept Christ as your Saviour and ask for forgiveness of your sins. You then receive His Holy Spirit on the inside.
Romans 8:13,18
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
That’s it! Anyone who truly believes those things is forgiven, changed from the inside out (James 1:8; 2, and destined for heaven. The gospel is simple enough for anyone to understand, but very difficult for people to accept. Because it means you have to change your lifestyle and repent (ask for forgiveness of your sins and do things God’s way no your own)
(Romans 1:20-21).
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened
The truth of the gospel means we are not perfect. We are not in total control of our lives. We cannot save ourselves. We need something “more” than us to make things right
(1 Thessalonians 4:8). He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
Becoming a Christian is not about being better than others. The gospel is for those who admit they are weak and need to be rescued. That’s a hard truth, but everything we learn from the Bible proves this truth. Each theme explored in Scripture points towards this gospel message of sin, redemption, and salvation through faith.
(2 Corinthians 12:9)
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
It’s the most important decision a person will ever make: do I accept what God offers, or do I turn my back on it
(Matthew 7:13)?
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Romans 1:18-23
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
Make no mistake that there is a Hell. A place prepared by God for Satan and His demons and those that reject Christ Jesus in this life
Jesus consistently contrasted hell with the kingdom of God. Hell is the only alternative to an eternity spent in God’s kingdom. It is the opposite of perfect fellowship with God forever. I will summarize Jesus’ teaching related to hell by quoting scripture
Luke 16:24-31
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal
Matthew 23:33: Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mark 9:43: And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life
Matthew 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mark 9:47–48: And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched
Matthew 5:22: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire
Luke 13:28: There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out
My aim in this blog was to state God’s word as it is, no nonsense. Just Jesus. The whole focus of the Bible is about Jesus and the fact that He loves you so much He died in your place. So I wanted to give your the whole truth and nothing but the Gospel truth
When we all reach the age of accountability as adults asking the meaning of life. We have a decision to make. Accept or reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour over your life. That is a personal choice to know the Lord Jesus through faith that He died for you on that cross and paid the full price your sins. This is the simple Gospel truth. Turn to Christ today whilst you have time. Its your personal choice now you are aware of the Gospel truth Jesus spoke of. Today you have the choice. Seek the Lord now while He can be found
1 Chronicles 28:9: And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever
May the Lord have mercy on your souls. Please reach out to me if you want to talk more with any questions
Romans 10:9-10
9 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.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
