The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

I want to share the Gospel of Christ with you because I think there are many in the church who have never heard it.  True knowledge of God springs forth from the understanding that He is holy.  Because He is holy, He is therefore perfect in mercy and judgment.  Our relationship with Him is centered upon and around His holiness.  We want to center our relationship with Him upon and around His mercy, but we cannot fully grasp His mercy unless we rightly understand that God is holy.  It is our awareness of His holiness that gives us understanding of our sinfulness, and the conflict between the two opposing states of being lead us to repentance because we begin to have a longing to look like God.  After all, that is the purpose for which we were created, "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our IMAGE, in our LIKENESS...'" (Gen 1:26). 

Paul explains to the Romans, "..do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" (Rom 2:4).  The whole point of the Gospel, the whole point of salvation, the whole point of Jesus Christ is to deliver human beings from sin and to reconcile them with God in holiness.  God is kind and tolerant and patient with us because He knows we're stupid and we need Him to lead us to repentance.  When we recognize our sinfulness in light of God's holiness, we cry out to Jesus, "I want you to save me from my sin and make me a new person that looks like you!  Here, take my heart because its gross and I need you to fix it, and I'm giving it to you because I truly believe that you can."  This is repentance and faith working together, all wrapped up in surrender.  In His mercy, God helps us understand that He is holy, which brings us to repentance and the desire to turn away from our sin and to follow Christ instead, and we have faith that Christ can and will save us because He is Lord over sin and death and we surrender to that salvation.  Then we live a life of repentance, faith and surrender by the power of the Holy Spirit Who works within us through faith.  

The End.

"For it is God Who works in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him." (Phil 2:13)

"Now to Him Who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." (Eph 3:20)

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'But the righteous man shall live by faith.'" (Rom 1:16,17)