Is Your Gospel The Right One?

IS YOUR GOSPEL THE RIGHT ONE?

“Commit your life to Christ!” “Make Jesus the Lord of your life.” “Turn from your sins and come to Christ.” “Ask Jesus into your heart.” Do these common gospel calls sound familiar? Have you used one or more of them yourself when trying to reach someone with the gospel? Have you heard these declarations used by someone giving their ‘testimony’? I know I have, but here’s the question: Are these statements the gospel of salvation? What is God’s requirement for salvation today? According to the gospel of grace committed by the risen Lord to Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, God declares that, “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Paul, in Romans 4:4-5, also wrote: “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Then exactly what is it that we must believe to be saved? “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto

you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:1-4) So we know that when we believe this gospel by placing faith in Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins and rose again, we receive God’s gift of eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23). Eternal life, by the way, would not be ‘eternal’ if we could lose it. We are saved forever when we accept the gift that God is offering to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. It has well been said that ‘religion’ is trying to do something for God, but Christianity is simply accepting what God has already done for us. Declarations such as, “I have committed my life to Christ,” and, “I’ve asked Jesus into my heart,” are admirable indeed; but they are not clear statements of how to be saved. In fact, they constitute a subtle addition of works for salvation because they imply that you must ‘do’ something. It’s only after accepting the full and free salvation that God graciously bestows when you place your faith in His Son and his finished work on Calvary; and after you’ve been sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit -- then, and only then -- will you be able to make Him the Lord of

your life, become willing to turn from your sins, and live for Him. I realize that these popular gospel cliche`s roll so easily off of the tongue; I’ve been guilty of using them myself. But for the sake of presenting the gospel of salvation to a lost and dying world of sinners, as God’s ambassadors in his stead, let’s all take an extra moment when sharing that gospel to make it plain and clear. Someone’s eternal destiny may depend on it!