The Simple Gospel

CREATION and The CREATOR

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”   The One True God made everything.  God thinks and He acts.   Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,”  God not only thinks and acts, He loves. Therefore the God who exists is personal.  He thinks, acts, and feels…three marks of personality.  God is not simply a force nor is He in everything that exists.  He is a person.  And God created us to have a love relationship with him.  The one true God living God is supremely holy, pure and without any evil and cannot do wrong and cannot allow any wrong.
The Beginning of Evil
 

God created many wonderful and beautiful angels before He created the first man and woman. A very special angel, named Lucifer, was the most beautiful.  But Lucifer wanted to share God’s glory and power.  Lucifer rebelled against God and God cast him out of Heaven.  He is now known as “Satan”, “The Devil”, “the Serpent” or “the old Dragon.”  One third of the angels followed Lucifer.  They are now the evil spirits or devils in the world.  Lucifer and the fallen angels lost the beauty and light they once had and became evil and full of darkness.  Satan has his own religions, false bibles and lying miracles because he desires to be worshipped as God.  Hell was made for The Devil and his evil spirits.  Satan wants all people to be blind to the truth.  This will be the devil’s place forever when God judges all sin.

GOD Created the First Man and Woman

The first Man was made in God’s image. This is why we have a sense of right and wrong and can make choices.  God desired to have sons and daughters with whom He would lovingly share His life and rule His creation.  Man was in perfect harmony and unity with God and very close to Him.  The One True God who is completely Holy and good made the first man and woman without sin or wrong or evil.  They had power to love and obey God, but they were also free to choose to disobey God.  Adam, being made in the image of God, would reproduce children in the image of God also. Since God made us, we have a responsibility to Him.  The First Man and Woman must make a choice.  "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."   Genesis 2:16, 17   God wanted them to freely choose to love Him.  If they disobey God, death would be the result.  It would be spiritual death, which results in physical death and God’s judgment.  God is a Holy God.

Sin enters into the World

Eve was deceived and believed the lie of Satan.  Adam, knowing it was a lie, also disobeyed God.  They became sinners and were put out of the Garden.  The world is now cursed because of man’s sin. "..by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"   Romans 5:12.  Each time we look upon the body of one who has died, it should remind us that we are all sinners.  We sin because we are born sinners!  "…all have sinned…" Romans 3:23   Because we are sinners, we are already condemned and under the judgment of God.  God will not excuse any sin. 


GOD’S LOVE

As soon as the first man and woman sinned, God promised he would send a Savior. Even though Adam and Eve were guilty and deserved judgment, God gave the promise of a Saviour for all men and women.  Because we are sinners we are blind even to our sin and our need of a Saviour.   To show us that we are guilty, vile, condemned sinners, and so that we might see our need of a Savior, God gave His Ten Commandments:  (Exodus 20)   Is there anyone who has not broken God’s Law?   If you tell one lie you are guilty before God as a sinner.  God is completely Holy and no sin can exist with Him. God knows that no one can keep His 10 Commandments perfectly. The Ten Commandments were not given to bring us to God or to remove our sin but to show us our need of a Saviour. 

But Who is this SAVIOUR?

If the Saviour had a human father, he would have been born a sinner like you and me and could not pay for our sins. The Saviour is God Himself!   He loved us so much that He came to save us!   He performed miracles to show He is God. He raised the dead.  Jesus Christ said He could forgive sins...only God can do that.   The Bible says Jesus Christ came to show us He is God, to provide eternal life, to show us God’s Love and to save us.   Jesus said He was the only way to the Father . . . "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."   John 14:6



Christ died for your sins…He was buried…and He rose again!  1st Corinthians 15:3-4
 
Many people think good deeds, living a good life, will save them.  Just as moral good works cannot save you, so also religious good works cannot save you. Your offerings, your church attendance, your baptism or even your best works are dirty in the sight of the Holy God.  You cannot save yourself.  That is why Jesus Christ came!   Either Jesus Christ is God or He is just a sinner like you and me.  Jesus Christ was either who he said he was or he was not telling the truth.  Is there anyone but Jesus Christ who can save you from Hell?  God’s penalty is clear.  You and I deserve eternal punishment because we are guilty.

But the Good News is:  The Word of God was ". .  written that you may know that you have eternal life."  1st John 5:13
God offers you life.  It is not because God owes it to you; it is a gift based on His love.   God loves you.  "..whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  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."  John 3:15-16

God’s promise is clear.  It is your choice . . . you must, from your heart, ask Jesus Christ to forgive you and save you, trusting Him only as your Lord and Saviour, by faith believing in Him alone.  For Jesus Christ to be your Lord means you surrender everything; your will, your entire life, everything to Him.  It means you worship only Him.  When you choose Jesus Christ as your Savior and trust Him only for your salvation, when you believe on Him, then you will receive forgiveness of all your sins, you will no longer be guilty and He will grant you eternal life.  If you refuse God’s gracious gift, you stay where you are, under the condemnation and judgment of God.


The Surrender - A Decision

Would you choose to give your life to Jesus Christ by faith now?  In order to help you do this, we invite you to make this decision by asking God sincerely to save you:

        Dear Lord Jesus,
                I confess that I am a sinner and that I need your forgiveness.
                I am truly sorry for my sins and humbly ask you to forgive me and cleanse me.
                I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross in my place and that he rose again for my salvation.
                I surrender my will, my life and everything to the Lord Jesus Christ.
                From this day forward I will worship only You.
                You alone are my Lord and Saviour forever.
                By faith I accept from You, the free gift of eternal life.
                I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
 

New Life in Christ

If you just sincerely prayed this prayer, you have begun a new, exciting, and challenging life.

Go to New Life in Christ for some practical assistance in beginning this new walk.
If you want more details and verses, go to  The Gospel Story for more complete information.