The Gospel Explained Another Way

I once had the opportunity to share the gospel with a man who was dying.  He was by all accounts a non-believer all his life but God, in His mercy, saved him even as he was breathing his last breaths.  In spite of living his entire life apart from God, God had prepared him to understand what the Gospel was and as I walked into that hospital room this man would experience his last moments of coherency, long enough to hear the Gospel and proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Here is the gospel message I shared with him and retold to those who came to his funeral just a few days later.  

I opened up to Ephesians 2:1-5 and read aloud to him.   

1  And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 

2  in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 

3  among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 

4  But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 

5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (LSB) [Emphasis Added]

When I walked into that hospital room God was already working. To Him be the praise. Prior to that he had lived his life dead in his transgressions and sins. He had walked according to the course of this world. He was, as the bibles says here, a child of wrath. 

BUT GOD. 

That changes everything. 

You see the problem is that God is Perfect Holiness. He is, as the bible declares, the Holy of Holy of Holies. That means that God is the Most Holy. If I were to sin against a snail most people would not care. If I were to sin against an animal, now some people would care, and I might have to pay up. If I sinned against an actual person, depending on the sin, I might have to spend a long time in jail or maybe even life in prison or death. In all those situations, I would have paid my due. But with God the penalty for sinning against Him, for rebelling against Him, for breaking His commandments is so high, so extravagant that should we go to hell and the lake of fire and spend eternity there we could not ever pay the price for our sins. Why? Because the greater the being you sin against the greater the penalty and God is infinitely greater than all His creation. So if you break God’s law, if you sin against God you must pay. That’s a big problem. 

But Praise be to God there is hope. That Hope is found in verse 4 and 5 of Ephesians 2. 

4  But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 

5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—  (LSB) [Emphasis Added] Hear what the Apostle Paul is saying. You have sinned against God and yet God loves you and has made payment for you in His own Son, Jesus Christ. 

Romans 5:8 says this, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (LSB) Jesus was sent to pay your debt. You owe, but could not pay it, so God sent the only one who could pay it, His own son Jesus. 

But why? 

We find that Answer in Rev 21:3-4, And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things passed away.” (LSB)  Simply put, God wants to have fellowship with His people, and He wants to love them, and them worship Him forever and ever. That is a beautiful thing. 

"So now what?" You may ask, "I see it, I’ve sinned against God, I realize I cannot pay for it. Now what?" 

That is a very good question. 

Romans 6:23 says this, For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (LSB)

And again in 

Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast. (LSB) 

So what am I saying? I’m saying that God gives you the answer. The answer is Jesus.

Let me read another scripture and then I’ll sum it up: 

Ephesians 1:13-14, In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (LSB) 

So, Jesus is the answer to the Problem, but it is the Holy Spirit that is given as Proof of what God has done in your life. If you are saved it is because you have been given the Holy Spirit, if you are not, it is because you don’t have the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the Proof. Keep that in mind. 

So / if you realize that you have sinned against God and you see your sin as an evil and a terrible act against the Lord / and you know that you can’t pay the price for any sin against such Holiness as God, / and if you acknowledge that Jesus is indeed the payment / and you are willing to submit under His authority and become His for all eternity then all you have to do is say it. 

I call it a prayer of Thanksgiving. 

It goes something like this as obviously there is not an exact wording: 

Father in heaven I believe that I have sinned against God and am worthy of eternal punishment that I cannot pay. I also believe that Jesus is the real payment and that for your glory and my good you sent your son, Jesus, to be born, to live, and to die that I might be free from my sins and worship and glorify you forever. I confess that Jesus is Lord and gladly receive the Holy Spirit as my seal and proof of my salvation in Jesus. I submit to You, the God of Heaven and earth and call Jesus my Lord, my King, and my God forever. Thank you, God the Father, Thank you God the Son, and Thank you God the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name I pray this. Amen. 

Listen If you prayed that and you really believe that God has saved you, then here is what you must do next. Or if you’ve been a Christian for years but have not been living faithful to our God, our Lord, our Savior, our Eternal Father, then this is what you must do.  

It’s found in Jeremiah 9:23-24, Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh. (LSB) 

Here is the point, get to Know God. That is your first and most important calling. You will want to find a God-fearing, Gospel Centered, Bible Exalting Church. There you will be baptized. But most of all get to Know God. 

Read the following: the Gospel of John (Three times), Then the Book of Ephesians, Romans, Hebrews, and 1 Peter.