The gospel is a message of "good news." But before you hear the good news, you need to hear the bad news. The bad news is that you are a sinner. The Bible firmly declares that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Now that means that we have a problem. God, who is a holy God, cannot allow sin into his presence. Hence, if we are going to get to heaven we must get rid of or cover our sin. The ONLY way to properly cover your sin is to cover it with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me explain what we are talking about.

 

SINNERS DESERVE DEATH

Since we are all sinners, we all deserve to die. "For the wages of sin is death ..." (Romans 6:23). Jesus, however, died for us. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

CHRIST GAVE LIFE

Instead of bringing death Christ gave eternal life. This is the good news. Christ brought life out of his death. It's just like the seed that is placed in the ground. It dies, and out of its death comes life. We call it germination. Spiritually speaking, life out of death is called regeneration. It is what Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).

SINNERS MUST RECEIVE THIS LIFE

Here is where the "rubber meets the road." Just because Jesus died and paid the penalty for your death does not mean that you have eternal life. You must receive his offer of salvation. You must do this by faith and repentance. You must repent of your sins. That means that you must be sorry for your sin and willing to give it up by turning from it and trusting Christ to save you from your sin. Remember, your sin is what is keeping you from eternal life in the first place. You must give it up in order to be saved.  Trust Christ to clean you up and make you a new person. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

We receive eternal life by faith. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). "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 3:16). The prayer of faith might go something like this:

God I know that I am a sinner.  I confess my sin, but ask you to be merciful to me, a sinner. Save my poor soul, for Jesus' sake. Amen.