1st Corinthians 9:16, “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
One of the things that I hear quite regularly from my web visitors is that
they “accidentally” found my ministry in a search engine, which led to their
salvation. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord! I love that!!! I hope a lot
more people “accidentally” stumble across articles from my website and get
saved. That is so beautiful and encouraging.
But I got to thinking today. It really is no accident. That is because I intentionally wrote the articles that people are finding, and I intentionally uploaded them to the internet, with the full intention of reaching people with the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I take no credit for myself. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” If we abide in Christ, and His words abide in us, we will bear MUCH fruit. I praise the Lord for using a worm like me, a wretched sinner saved by grace, to get people saved. I am nothing, but Jesus is everything. I deserve to burn in Hell for my sins, but Jesus made a way of escape through faith in His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus shed His blood for our sins!
I wrote this article to encourage others to start fishing for the souls of men, as I am. People don't just get saved, someone has to win them to Christ. You win people to Christ by giving a clear and simple presentation of the Gospel...
“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to
present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”
God promises eternal life in return for our belief. You have to believe what Christ did, what He said. Well, what did He do? He died on the cross and paid for my sins. He was buried. And then Jesus raised up from the dead three days later. Well, what do I have to do? BELIEVE He did it for me! The “Gospel” means “Good News”! It is the Good News (or Glad Tidings) that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, Who DIED on the cross for our sins, and was BURIED, and bodily RESURRECTED three days later...
1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
The bad news is that we are all guilty sinners, and there is a penalty for those sins, punishment in the eternal Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:12-15). Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay. The price for our sins has been paid with the blood of Jesus. 1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Did you know that's why you don't
have to “ask” Jesus to forgive your sins? That is 100% correct! You don't
have to ask the Lord to forgive your sins, because He has already paid for
them with His own precious blood. Our sins are already paid in full!!!
Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are free gifts from God. Jesus paid it
all. So you can simply believe on the Lord and be forgiven. It is that
simple to be saved. Very few people understand how simple salvation really
is. Consequently, the Devil has most people blinded to the Gospel. People
either errantly think they cannot be saved because they are too sinful, or
else they have been deceived into thinking that religion can get them into
Heaven. Either way, they've never been born-again. Jesus warned in John
3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life
without ever being born again.
God's Easy and Simple Plan of Salvation
The Holy Bible says that ALL mankind are sinful. Romans 3:23a says, “For all have sinned...” Nothing imperfect can enter into Heaven. Revelation 21:27, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.” You just read it my friend, only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life can enter into Heaven! Do you know why that is? It is because only through God's imputed righteousness can any person be made perfect. You see, you and I have no righteousness of our own. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Since we have no righteousness of our own to offer God, we cannot go to Heaven unless God makes a way of escape. Thank God He did just that, through the blood of Jesus. Romans 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Getting saved is as simple as this—You and I are woeful sinners and cannot clean ourselves up enough to merit Heaven. But God in His great love, sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay for our sins on the cross. Jesus died vicariously (as our substitute) on the cross. Jesus paid the price for our sins, so that we could freely obtain forgiveness of sins and eternal life, by simple childlike faith. God placed all of our sins upon Jesus on the cross, and by faith God places all of Christ's righteousness on us when, we receive it. This great doctrine in theological circles is called “IMPUTATION.” Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” After three days in the grave, Christ raised up from the dead as our High Priest. This is THE GOSPEL by which we are saved, if we believe (trust) it.
