What is the Gospel of Salvation—or—How Can I Be Saved?
The Short Version
• Being a Christian is more than identifying yourself with a religion or affirming a certain value system. Rather, you have embraced what the Bible says about God, mankind, and salvation. Consider the following truths found in the Bible.
• God is Sovereign Creator: Contemporary thinking says man is the product of evolution. The Bible says we were created by a personal God to love, serve, and to enjoy endless fellowship with Him. The New Testament reveals it was Jesus Himself who created everything (Colossians 1:16). Therefore, He also owns and rules everything (Psalm 103:19). This means He has authority over our lives and we owe Him absolute allegiance, obedience, and worship.
• God is Holy: God is absolutely and perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:3); therefore, He cannot commit or approve of evil (James 1:13). God requires holiness of us as well. I Peter 1:16 says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
• Mankind is Sinful: Scripture says, everyone is guilty of sin: “There is no man who does not sin” (I Kings 8:46). This doesn’t mean we’re incapable of performing acts of human kindness, but we’re utterly incapable of understanding, loving, or pleasing God on our own (Romans 3:10-12).
• Sin Demands a Penalty: God’s holiness and justice demands that all sin be punished by death (Ezekiel 18:4). That’s why simply changing our behavior can’t solve our sin problem or eliminate its consequences.
• Jesus is Lord and Savior: Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Even though God’s justice demands death for sin, His love has provided a Savior who paid the penalty and died for sinners (I Peter 3:18). Christ’s death satisfied the demands of God’s justice, and Christ’s perfect life satisfied the demands of God’s holiness (2 Corinthians 5:21), thereby enabling Him to forgive and save those who place their faith in Him (Romans 3:26).
• The Character of Saving Faith: True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin (Luke 13:3, 5; I Thessalonians 1:9) to pursue Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; John 17:3) and obey Him (I John 2:3). It isn’t enough to believe certain facts about Christ. Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God (James 2:19) but they don’t love and obey Him. True, saving faith always responds in obedience (Ephesians 2:10).
The Longer Version
• Hope is a Person—The Gospel of Jesus Christ
The single most important decision you will ever make—indeed, with eternal consequence—is believing in and following Jesus Christ—or not.
Mt 16:13–15: “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
• Who is this Jesus?
Jesus Christ is a real Man who made a huge, unprecedented impact on the world, and continues to do so. It seems crazy to me that a Man like Him should have this kind of influence.
He was a relatively unknown Jewish carpenter from the little country of Israel which was under the domination of the Roman Empire some 2000 years ago. His birth story sounds almost made up. He grew up in a family of no status, in a small village. Yet, as an adult He burst on the scene for a short time. If you lived in Israel or nearby, you knew of this Man.
He taught with authority and insight, confounding the leading religious elite of the time. He performed healings that couldn’t be explained away or dismissed even by His opponents. He claimed to be long-awaited for Messiah (the Christ—anointed One, the promised King-to-come of the Jews—from the line of David, to restore the Kingdom). The crowds flocked to Him to see if He was the Messiah. The religious leaders came to evaluate. Some became His devoted followers.
But this Jesus only had a three year ministry. One cut short by death on a Roman cross, being accused by the Jewish leaders and indicted by the Roman governor.
How did this happen?
Was it because He was some kind of revolutionary that made the Romans uneasy? Or a heretic that incited the Jewish leaders to turn against Him?
Yes, He was revolutionary but not in an overthrow-the-government kind of way.
Yes, He made claims that the Jewish leaders called blasphemy.
• We can’t ignore Him nor His claims…
His craziest claim—the one that led to His execution—was to being the Son of God—equal with God, eternally existing, and the only way to be saved (John 14:6; see also Acts 4:12). And…here’s where He sets Himself apart from all other “religious” leaders of history. He proved He was God and the Only way for forgiveness and eternal life. He proved it several ways—by claiming to forgive sins (& doing a miracle to back up His claim—see the paralytic of Luke 5:17-26); by raising Lazarus from the dead—see John 11; and, ultimately He said He would prove He was God by rising from the dead—see Matthew 28; Mark 10:32-34; Romans 1:4; 1Cor 15:3-11; etc.
Famous author CS Lewis in his book, “Mere Christianity” said this,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
• So…What do you say?
The bottom line is, “Who do you say this Jesus is?” What will you do with His claims? What do you do with this Man who changed the world?
This is critical. Will you believe in Him and follow Him as the Lord, as the Savior, as the only Way, Truth and Life, the only way to the Father, to eternal life...or not?
If yes, praise God. Read on to know how you can be saved.
If not, please reconsider. If you have questions or doubts, that’s fine. But don’t let that be an excuse to put off thinking about this. Please contact us—we’d love to talk and answer questions.
Finding Your Hope in Jesus Christ*
There are many “plans” or steps to salvation. My favorite in keeping it simple is called one-verse evangelism where Romans 6:23 is used to explain salvation.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
First, before we look at the wonders of God’s provision of salvation through Jesus Christ, let me throw out a couple caveats:
1. Knowing Who Jesus is, or praying a “formula” doesn’t “save you.” Ot is not like buying a lifetime membership to a club where you pay the fee and get the card to get you “in.”
This “salvation” is amazing in that it is free. But since He is God, He calls for all of you. Following Him is a decision to give every area of your life to Him. It will cost you your all. It is a whole new way of life of following, obeying, living like Jesus.
2. Salvation is only the beginning of whole new journey. A journey of growing & changing over time—getting rid of your old sinful habits and putting on new godly ways of living and thinking. You can’t earn your way to heaven by “obeying/doing” (salvation is a free gift, accepted by faith), but if your faith is real, it will produce a real difference—fruit—in your life. I want to make sure that you know up-front what you are getting yourself into. This decision to follow is life-changing, both now and into eternity.
The Wages
How would you feel if your boss refused to pay you the wages that were due to you? The answer, of course, is that you would want justice—in this case, the wages you had worked for. Deep down, we all know that it is only right that we get what we deserve. Similarly, we earn “wages” from God for how we have lived our lives.
Of Sin
What do you think when you hear this word? Sin is more an attitude than an action. It can be either actively fighting God or as simple as excluding Him from our lives.
Has God ever seemed far away? If you say “Yes,” well, that’s one of the things sin does—it makes God seem far away. Sin does exactly that: creating a huge gap, chasm between God and us (see illustration)
Is Death
What thoughts come to mind at this word? Death in the Bible always means some kind of separation—in its most basic sense, separation from life. Because God is the author of life, a spiritual death simply means separation from Him. The consequence of separation from God is not another sort of heaven, but a place of suffering called Hell, for eternity. This is harsh, but that is the reality laid out by Jesus Himself. Indeed, this issue concerning Jesus has the greatest consequences. There is no decision more critical.
….BUT….
I love this simple conjunction—this three-letter word makes all the difference! This word is important because it means that a sharp contrast in ideas is coming. What we have just looked at is the bad news; what comes next is the truly Good News.
The Free Gift
If wages are what a person earns, then what is a gift? Remember that though every gift is free for the person receiving it, someone (the Giver) still has to purchase it.
Of God
It is important to note that gift being highlighted in this passage is free. It is from God Himself. It’s so special that no one else can give it. How do you feel when someone gives you a special gift?
Is Eternal Life
How would you define these words? Notice the contrast (see illustration): one side of the cliff, death, with the other side, eternal life. What is the opposite of separation from God?
In Christ Jesus our Lord
In the illustration “Jesus Christ” is written so His Name creates a bridge between the two cliffs. Please seriously consider this: that just as every gift has a unique giver, only Jesus Christ can give the gift of eternal life.
Trust
Notice that this word (Trust) is over the bridge in the illustration.
A true friend is a friend you can trust. Jesus is offering to be a true friend to you.
All you have to do is admit that you are responsible for your sin—either of fighting against God or excluding Him from your life.
Trusting Jesus means believing that He has power to forgive us for rejecting God and that He will wash us clean from all that we have done wrong in life.
So What?
At this point, what is your decision?
What do you think of this gap between you and God due to your sin?
What do you think of Jesus and all that He offers?
Do you want to start a relationship with God that will last forever?
Do you want to “cross that bridge”—the bridge being Jesus Christ—the only Way, Truth and Life? (John 14:6)
If you say “Yes,” I invite you to pray a short prayer in your own words, asking Jesus to forgive you and make you new.
Let’s finish this by remembering that this simple illustration shows what God is like: Someone who really cares about people—especially you.
I invite you to read all about it in the Bible. For good starting material: read Gospel of Luke—then—the Book of Acts. Please allow us to help you along the way—answering questions, getting you plugged into a community of other followers of Jesus Christ.
Even if you haven’t made a decision to follow Him, yet—we want to help you find answers and the forgiveness, hope and eternal life in Jesus Christ!
Hope Found in Jesus’ Church—Journeying Together
“After salvation, then what? What is this “church”-thing? Is it necessary or an option?” Good questions and we aim to answer them.God doesn’t just save us to be on our own, struggling to survive as His fledgling and floundering followers. At salvation we are immediately saved into the church—His “called out ones”—and adopted into His family as His children. We are given a family, teammates to help you grow, change and impact this world for Him. This is what the “church” is to be and do.
Our hope for this class is to help you better understand who we are, God’s call on us, what drives our ministries, and how we want you to connect and serve in our church family.
• Our Mission
The purpose of mission statement is to keep us focused on why we’re here and called a “church.” We can easily get distracted by life and live unintentionally. God’s given us a specific, eternity-changing mission. The mission statement is meant to keep God’s purpose for our church fixed in our minds and guiding all that we do.
Cornerstone Bible Church of Sonora (CBCS, or shorthand: Cornerstone) exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who love God, love others, and demonstrate the grace of God in both transformed lives and joyful proclamation (Matthew 16:13-19; 22:37-39; 28:18-20).
We are a church
Jesus left His church—His called out ones—to be His presence and witness in this world. There is the universal body of Christ, and there are the local manifestations called churches. At conversion you are immediately in His family, united to Christ and in His Church. But, we are called to join a local church to have a place to grow, to serve, to self-identify in the community, to have a local witness (a lighthouse, also a hospital) for the lost who need Jesus. Matt 16:13-19; Heb 13:17; 1Tim 3:14-16; 1Cor 12:12-20
Who Love God
This goes to our motivation of love, of ambition to see people find salvation, forgiveness, hope, life and eternal life with God through Jesus Christ. We are gripped, controlled, overwhelmed at the love of God in Christ Jesus. 2Cor 5:14-21
Who Love Others
The key characteristic of a follower of Jesus Christ is love—in words, actions and attitudes We love God with all that we are (this is a growing process for sure) and that love overflows into loving others (indeed it must if it’s truly God’s love). Biblical love is action, not mere fuzzy feelings. It is sacrificially giving to someone else, no strings attached, for their benefit and blessing. And true love for God comes out in obeying and walking in His ways, worshipping, and praising Him and wanting to see others join in that celebration of God’s greatness, mercy and love. Matt 22:37-39; John 13:34-35
By Making Disciples
Our goal is to imitate, follow, obey, live like our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ—and to help others know Him and love Him, too. Once a person has heard about Jesus, confesses their faith in Him and commits to following Him, they get baptized, join a local church for fellowship, equipping, encouragement and together witnessing to the lost about Jesus. Matt 28:18-20; Rom 10:9-10; Heb 10:23-25, 12:1-2; Acts 2:37-47
• Our Plan—How Cornerstone seeks to implement its mission and values
The plan to carry out our mission operates in a church family that is actively bringing glory to God by exalting Jesus Christ as we Worship, Walk, Work, Witness.
Worship Christ
- Corporately gather to exalt God (Psalm 34:1-3; 100; 149-150)—God in the flesh (Rev 5; Phil 2:9-11).
- Corporately gather to encourage one another in fellowship: praise, prayer, preach (1 Timothy 2; Hebrews 10:23-25).
- In smaller groups and one-on-one to learn and apply and counsel the Word of God (Acts 20:20; Romans 15:14).
- Administer the ordinances of the New Testament: baptism and communion (Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
A Worshipping Family—A People Filled with Awe and Praise
We want to be a church where Christ-followers corporately gather each Sunday (Lord’s Day) to glorify, praise and exalt God in song, prayers, and preaching of God’s living and powerful and sufficient Word. Authentic, truly biblical love for God and knowledge of His Word will overflow into lives that are bent on serving and blessing others.
Walk with Christ
- Seek to grow in our knowledge of and obedience to Him (John 14:21,23; Hebrews 12:1-3).
- Work hard at maintaining the unity of the body in the Spirit of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3).
- Demonstrating biblical love for Jesus in how we love each other (John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8; 1 John 2:9-11; 3:23).
A Loving Family—A People devoted to Fellowship and Love in the Church
We want to work hard at maintaining this unity that we already have in the Spirit. We are saved into the family of God and are part of a local evidence of this family, called Cornerstone Bible Church of Sonora. We want that word “family” to ring true. We want people to feel loved, encouraged, supported, exhorted, counseled, and cared for in this church. We want the family to be a family on mission together, being His salt & light together, on a journey for a lifetime together.
Work for Christ
- Help each other mature in Christ’s likeness. (Galatians 5:22-6:2; Ephesians 4:12-13; Colossians 1:28-29).
- Seek to build up the body of Christ in love using gifts, talents, and abilities (1 Corinthians 12; 13:4-8; Ephesians 4:15-16).
- Engage in acts of Christian benevolence (Romans 12:10-13; Galatians 6:10; 1 Timothy 6:18; Hebrews 13:16).
A Working Family—A People Who Seek to Bless Others in the Church
We want to be a church that recognizes that God has blessed us with each other—to grow, to mature, to stand firm. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ and been graciously given spiritual gifts and physical talents and abilities so as to build up the body/family of Christ. This body helps us stand firm in our faith and corporately to produce greater works for His Name’s sake than we would individually.
Witness for Christ
- Purposefully take responsibility to be “salt and light” in our community, planted by God to be His presence in a dark world (Matthew 5:13-16; Romans 12:14-21; 1 Peter 2:9; 3:8-17).
- Maintain an active program of local and world-wide evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
- Seek to witness both in transformed lives and joyful proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ (John 17:20-23; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15-16).
A Witnessing Family—A People Who Testify with their Words & Hands & Hearts
We want to be a church that actively cares for and has a presence in our community. We want people not only to hear the Good News proclaimed and preached, but also to see it lived out in loving, tangible ways. We want to be a church that the community knows is bent on blessing them in both word and deed. We actively search out ways to be involved in meeting needs in practical ways in the name of Christ.
We’d love for you join us anytime!
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions, comments, whatever.
Know that Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer and Lord. His sacrifice for sins is what you need/must have to be forgiven by God, accepted into His family and forever saved unto eternal life.
Please do not put off this decision. Call out to God for His salvation in Jesus Christ alone and let us help you!
Thank you, on behalf of the elders and CBC church family,
- Pastor Chris
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*What follows is largely taken from “One Verse Evangelism” Randy Raysbrook, https://www.navigators.org/Tools/Evangelism%20Resources/Tools/One-Verse%20Evangelism-%20How%20to%20Share%20Christ-s%20Love%20C2