The gospel is very simple:
God sent his son Jesus Christ to save us. We are sinners, rebellious towards God from birth. Christ died in our place and took our sin and punishment. Then he was resurrected and lives again to save those that believe in Him. Only repentance and belief/faith is needed, nothing else. God made a way to him and all that is required is to believe in Him. No rules or regulations, only faith in Him.
(Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, John 3:16)
We can sometimes complicate it. Why?
We don’t need to make it complicated for ourselves or others. It is good to study Gods Word and dig deep into it and draw closer to God. Imposing our own rules and interpretations on ourselves or others and making God’s message anything more than the simple message it is only serves the purpose of division and chaos. It serves the enemy, not God. (1 Corinthians 14:33)
God’s Grace – never earned in any way
We think there must be more. We can’t accept it’s that simple and feel we must earn Gods love. We see things as the world does, not as God does. God’s Love can never be earned. He freely and generously gives His Love to all who believe in His son Jesus. There is nothing at all that we can do to earn His Love and nothing we can do to retract His Love from us. We were sinners from the beginning and even in our sin He came and died for us, in our place. We can’t be or do good enough because we are sinners so Christ came and did what we could not do for ourselves and took our place and punishment so we could come to Him. God’s grace, He freely gives to all who simply believe in Him.
(John 1:14, Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 8:9)
Gods 2 Commandments – Love God and your neighbor, but not by our efforts
Matthew 22:36-39
Luke 10:25-28
Everything hangs on these two commands. All the law of the Old Testament and all the instruction of the New Testament can be summed up in these verses. If we strive to love God with everything in us and our neighbor as ourselves then we will fulfill all God wants for us in Christ. (Galatians 6:2, Romans 13:9)
We can’t do it in our own strength, though. We will always fail because it is not natural. It is not in our human nature. It can only come from God. By letting His Spirit help us. If we seek him and ask for His help he will gladly guide us and give us strength and wisdom to obey through Him. Let Him live through us each new day. He will also give us grace for the times we fall so we can get back up and keep going in Him. Just go to Him in repentance. We are all a work in progress and will fall, sometimes harder than others, but there is always Gods Grace and Mercy extended towards us. (Psalm 57:10)
God’s Mercy – New Every Morning and Always Available
God’s mercy is shown throughout the Bible. He will never forsake or abandon us, no matter how far we stray from Him. We cannot be separated from His love. He promises to forgive and understands our weaknesses and temptations. If we call out to Him, pray and ask forgiveness He will have mercy on us.
(Romans 8:1-2, Romans 3:24, Romans 8:35)
Faith – Gift from God, not of ourselves
We can never claim that we did anything to save ourselves. God gives faith and opens eyes and hearts to Him. Christ draws all to Himself. He never makes us choose Him but he is the one that starts it all. he took the first step towards us not the other way around.
(Romans 5:6, 1 John 4:19, Ephesians 1:4, John 12:32, Romans 1:17)
So when we feel weighed down by sin, guilt and shame because of the rules we made or perceived, we need just to return and remember when we first believed in Him. God’s message is simple and He just wants us to rest in Him.
Conclusion:
In short we need not over complicate God’s message He has given us to proclaim to those around us. It is simple – God came to us in His son Jesus and died a criminals death for our sin in our place and rose in victory over sin and death to redeem those who believe.
(Romans 3:22, Acts 16:30-31)
Repent and believe in Him, His son Jesus and you will be saved. Then rest in Him and let Him live through you.
(Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 10:11, Romans 10:13)
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