[Some of this is based on Exquisite Jesus: Part Seven, He Lives! Chapter 28: Impossible or Improbable?]
The Gospel is the most powerful message in the universe. It cannot be defeated. It cannot not be changed. It cannot be ignored!
The Good News is simple. If you are not a Christian listen carefully. If you are, listen carefully for this will help you witness. The Gospel is this:
1. God loves you and created you to know Him personally.
God's Love
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
God's Plan
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3, NIV).
What prevents us from knowing God personally?
2. We are sinful and separated from God.
We cannot know Him in our own strength.
We are all sinful
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
We were all created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our own stubborn self-will, we go our own way and relationship with God is broken. This rebellion against God is what the Bible calls sin.
Sin separates us from God.
We are separated
"The wages of sin is death" [spiritual separation from God] (Romans 6:23).
"...(Those) who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus...will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord..." (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9)
3. Jesus Christ is God's only answer for sin.
Through Him alone we can know God personally and experience God's love.
He Died in Our Place
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
He Rose From the Dead
"Christ died for our sins...He was buried...He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred..." (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).
He is the Only Way to God
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me'" (John 14:6).
It is not enough just to know these truths...
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord
Then we can know God personally and experience His love.
We Must Receive Christ
"As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12)
We Receive Christ Through Faith
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth (Read John 3:1-8.)
We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation
[Christ speaking] "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him" (Revelation 3:20).
Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be.
Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough.
Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience.
We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of our will.
One of the great truths of Christianity is that Jesus rose from the dead!
Five Things The Resurrection Gives You
The fact of the resurrection of Jesus gives you five things that those who deny Jesus cannot experience.
GIVES HOPE
The resurrection gives hope for the future. Hope in this context is not just wishful thinking, but in the biblical context, hope becomes a sure fire thing: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1)
Hope has substance, is tangible, is weighty. Jesus promises that He is the resurrection and the life. His resurrection promises that you will be raised one day too because He is the resurrection (John 11:25; Hebrews 11:35; Revelation 20:5).
He proves this by being raised. It is the basis for faith.
BUILDS TRUST
The resurrection shows that you can trust Jesus implicitly.
The resurrection proves all He said to be true.
If He were not raised everything He said would be brought into fresh focus on the backdrop of doubt.
All the authorities had to do was to produce the body of Jesus to quell any preaching about Christ after He had died. They could not.
If the disciples had managed to overpower the Romans on guard duty at the tomb, which would have been more humiliating than anything for them, and hide Jesus’ body this would have come to light sooner or later.
There were not many places a body could be hidden before being noticed. Decay in a first century setting would set in pretty quickly and be discovered. Even after a few days with a proper burial Lazarus stank, apparently (John 11:39).
Jesus’ body could not have been easily hidden or disposed of. He is risen! This means everything He said is trustworthy. Every promise, every healing, every miracle, is true too.
It means every promise He speaks over your life today can also be taken at face value too.
He will not leave you, not abandon you, will fight your corner, intercede for you, and love you beyond reason.
CREATES A NEW MINDSET
Thirdly, you, because He is risen, treat death differently than you did before you were a Christian. Think about it a bit.
No one likes the idea of dying physically, the mechanics of what takes place, the lack of life. Everyone wants to die peacefully at home in bed, with no illness or disease clawing away their life. No one wants to die in tragic circumstances. This is true even for the Christian. I have some bad news for you: being a Christian is no guarantee of a peaceful death. Some of the most stunning servants of God died in unpleasant ways.
The manner in which a Christian dies is not the reward, it is what comes after death that is the reward.
The resurrection proves death is defeated, the final enemy vanquished. The Bible puts it like this: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
It does not matter how death tries to claim you, awaiting at the end of this is Jesus, keys of death around His neck, smiling to embrace you! The resurrection means death for you is not the end, but the beginning of the rest of a blessed eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:8 - when your spirit leaves the body it goes to the Lord in heaven if you're a believer. If not, it awaits eternal punishment (2 Peter 2:9).
PROVES JESUS’ PROMISES
Next the resurrection proves He is coming back. If everything He says is trustworthy then be assured, He’s coming back for you too.
John 14: 1-4 records Jesus amazing words about this to believers: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
It is so important to understand that Jesus saw His death and resurrection as part of the process of going and preparing a place in preparation for His co-heirs. Why prepare a place if there are to be no occupants of the mansions in heaven? When things are ready, He’ll be back for you.
The resurrection proves the Second Coming is a reality for the Saints!
CHANGES THE PRESENT
Finally, although this list is in no way exhaustive, the resurrection changes everything for you in life, now.
Not only is there the sense of optimism, hope and surety of our future in God, there is another promise that is only possible because of His resurrection.
He sends the Holy Spirit!
Listen to His words again from John’s gospel and the book of Acts: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth… All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. He sends the Spirit,” and,“…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” (John 14:16-17, 25-26; Acts 1:8-9).
These incredible promises are given by Jesus anticipating and after the resurrection!
He sends the Spirit. The Spirit is only sent and present with you because Jesus has risen and is now taken up His rightful place at the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34).
This means that the Christian life is a life that has a Counsellor, a guide, a confidant, an empowerer who resides within. This is only possible because of the resurrection!
Yet so many miss the opportunity to invite the Spirit to be those things, they are happy with Him being the seal of ownership, happy for Him to identify them as children of God, but do not embrace Him as the power of the new, full life that Jesus promised (2 Corinthians 1:22; Romans 8:15; John 10:10).
The Holy Spirit means the Christian life is powerfully lived, now.
Ask God to fill you afresh with His Spirit, to give you new gifts of the Spirit, to grow the fruit of the Spirit within you, to transform you.
Now, live that life now, because Jesus died and is risen!
Wrap up and appeal:
In the Bible a man called Joshua dedicated himself and his family to the one true God. This is after he has grown up under the leadership of Moses. After be has been one of the spies sent into the land. After walking through the wilderness. After he has taken people into the promise land. After he was one many great battles. He says this to the people:
Joshua 24:14-15: "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. [15] But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
We all have to choose who we will serve. False gods or the one true God!
It started with a personal choice: "As for me...."
It then affects our family: "....and my house..."
It changes the rest of our lives: "....we will serve the Lord..."
You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer
God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart:
"Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."
Did you pray this prayer?
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