The Gospel Message
Historical Presentation
God created everything in six 24-hour days and everything God created was perfect.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
God gave Adam and Eve a specific commandment.
Genesis 2:16–17 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin, death, and sickness entered into God’s perfect creation (Gen 3)
Mankind became so corrupt, God brought forth a global flood that destroyed all living creatures that dwelled on the land except those animals God brought on the Ark along with Noah and his sons and wives (Gen 6-9)
It should be noted that God’s creation was approximately 4000 BC, and the flood was approximately 1600 years later and the tower of Babel occurred approx. 100 years after the flood.
God specifically told man to multiply and fill the earth and man disobeyed God’s commandment by congregating in one place and building a tower to the heavens. God confused the languages and scattered them over the face of the earth. This was the start of various people groups, as all people are of one race that started with Adam and Eve. The various skin colors are due to melanin which allows God’s creation to adapt to the various environments (Gen 11)
The history of mankind is detailed in Gen 1-11 refuting evolution or any other theory that brings forth millions or billions of years of creation.
God chose Abraham’s family to bring to bring a savior into the world. Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob, who was later named Israel. He had 12 sons, one of them was named Judah, who was the descendant of Jesus Christ. God set aside Jacob’s sons called the Israelites from all other people’s groups. (Gen 12-50)
The Old Testament gives us details of great men like Joseph, Moses, and Joshua who God used to bring his people into the promise land, which today we call the Palestine area. (Exodus-Joshua) Once God’s chosen came into the promise land, God establishes judges to rule over the people unfortunately most of them rebelled against God’s commandment (Judges)
In 1050 BC God allowed His chosen peoples to establish a king to rule over His people. Saul, David, and, Solomon, were kings before the nations split into two kingdoms in 931 BC. The northern kingdoms were comprised of 10 tribes of Jacob’s descendants and the Southern kingdoms were comprised of 2 tribes made up of Judah and Benjamin. Jesus Christ came from the tribe of Judah. In 722 BC God raised up the Assyrians to defeat the Northern tribes because they did not obey God and in 586 BC God raised up the Babylonians to defeat the Southern kingdom. God allowed his chosen people to come back into Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city. (1 Samuel – Nehemiah)
God gave His people priests and prophets. The priest would sacrifice animals to atone for the peoples and nations sins to God and the Prophets would take the message from God to the people warring them of God judgment if they did not repent and turn away from their sins. (Daniel – Malachi) God also used man to write down all the history of His people and poetry like the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Job so we can better understand how God is and what happened dot His people.
God’s prophets went silent for over 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but that did not mean God was not still working on His plan to redeem a fallen world through His Son Jesus Christ. Up to the point of Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, Old Testament Saints were saved through their faith in God and their sins were forgiven through the blood sacrifice of animals.
The New Testament Gospels tell us about our Savior, Jesus Christ’s birth and ministries as He was born in the womb of a virgin and conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus He was all God, and all Man. Jesus Christ was born in 6 BC and His ministry started in 27 ½ AD and lasted for 3 ½ years until His death in 30 AD. (Matthew – John)
The book of Acts gives us an account to the start of the Church after Jesus’ Ascension starting with Pentecost which occurred 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. This book provides a historical account on how the Gospel message was spread to the Jews and the Gentiles throughout the lands and how we are now saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The epistle or letters (Romans - Jude) gives us details of how a Christian is to grow in the love of Jesus Christ. All these letters, and the entire Bible, were inspired by the Holy Spirit written by man and is complete accurate and without error. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, provides us with some of the details of Jesus Christ’s return and a glimpse of what it will look like when we spend eternity with Him in heaven.
Gospel Message – Are you Good enough to be in Heaven
Since the fall of mankind sin has permeated every soul that has ever existed on this earth, except Jesus Christ. If you think you are a good person and able to stand before a righteous and just God, you need to take a little test to see how you are doing.
Have you always put God first before anything else in your life, including yourself? Have you committed idolatry, put something or someone in the position of God? Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? Have you kept the Sabbath holy? Have you always obeyed your parents? Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever murdered? (Ex 10:1-17) God says that if you hate someone you have committed murder in your heart. (Mat 5:22) Have you ever committed adultery? God says that if you lust after someone you have committed adultery in the heart (Mat 5:28). God says you need to love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself (Lk 10:27)
God says if you have broken anyone of these commandments, just one, you are guilty (James 2:10). If you were to stand before a Holy and Just God based on God’s laws, would you be innocent or guilty? No man on this earth, except Jesus Christ, would be innocent. You along with every single man, woman, and child would be guilty because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rm 3:23). Your sin has separated you from a Holy and Just God who cannot tolerate any type of sin, as we have seen in the Garden of Eden, when God banished Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The bad new is you are a sinner and need of a savior, the good news is God has given you a savior who sacrificed His life on the cross to forgive you of all of your sins past present and future (1 Jn 1:9). God’s word says the wages of sin is death, which is eternal damnation in hell when you die, but the free gift of eternal life in Heaven can only come from Jesus Christ (Rm 6:23). You are saved by grace through faith, not as a result of your works (Eph 2:8). It is only those who understand that they are sinners separated from God who believe that Jesus Christ died for their sin who can enter into God’s kingdom (Rm 10:14).
The questions you need to ask yourself is “Do you understand you are a sinner in need of a savior? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you repented and turned away from your sins and trusted and believed in Jesus Christ, knowing that His death on the cross took the penalty of your sins that has separated you from God? Have you changed since your salvation, showing the signs of someone who has been saved by the blood of Jesus by running away from the sin of the world and being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ?
If you have not answered yes to all of these questions you may not be saved. You will stand before God when you leave this earth and God will say depart from me, I never knew you. Please fall on your knees and ask the Holy Spirit to change your hardened heart and experience the joy and peace of salvation and knowing that your eternal destination is sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ!