East Leake Evangelical Church
East Leake, South Nottinghamshire
The Gospel
'For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.' John 3 v.16
We live in a very confusing age when different groups of people (i.e. churches, sects, denominations, and even countries) claim the label 'Christian' for themselves. Many groups do so on the basis of their good works and sincere desires for the good of Mankind. Such good works and desires are highly commendable, but do they, by themselves, make a person or group of people Christian? For answers to this and other questions concerning this matter we need to turn to the Bible - the Word of God.
Central to the message of the Bible is the Gospel (i.e. 'Good News') of Jesus Christ. The Bible verse quoted above (found in the third chapter of the Gospel according to John - one of the books of the Bible) are the words of Jesus Christ. Its provides us with a good summary of this Gospel. Let us consider it in detail.
God The Bible declares God to be the creator of all things. This includes human beings. (An account of this is given in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.) As His creation, we are ultimately accountable to Him. Hence God is the centre of attention here. The following phrases tell us more of this God and of his actions as they affect us.
so loved the world The God of the Bible is a God of love. This is a wonder-ful truth and it is the only hope for a fallen world like ours. When we look at all that is going on around the world and fear and hopelessness that they engender in us, it is such an encourage-ment to know that the God who created and rules the world is a God of love. Then, as we look at ourselves and realise how much we have sinned against God and others in our actions and thoughts we have to be thankful that this God is a God of love. Notice that this love is so big that it is able to encompass 'the world'. Where do you live? What is the colour of your skin? God loves you. There is no more cheering message than this!
He gave His one and only Son If we have sinned against God, what can we do to put things right between God and us? Many people think that we can do this by accumulating 'good works' in our lives so that they will out-balance the wrong and evil that we do. This, unfortunately, does not get us very far, as the Bible says that we are so incapable of doing what is truly good that 'all our righteousness (good works) are like filthy rags' to God when compared to His standards of perfection.
The Bible - recognised by
Christian all over the world as the Word of God
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God's one and only Son who was with God from the very beginning of time. God gave His Son Jesus, firstly, by sending Him to earth in the form of a baby born to the virgin Mary. (This is a fact which we remember and celebrate every year at Christmas.) Then, secondly, God gave His Son by allowing Him to be put to death on the Cross by wicked men who falsely accused Him of breaking their religious laws - even though throughout His life He did only good (performing miracles like healing the sick and feeding the poor and hungry). He committed no sin (i.e. did no wrong) against anyone. What the wicked men did not know was that by their action of killing Jesus, they were carrying out God's plan to save the world because by His death, Jesus was taking upon Himself the death penalty due to sinners (i.e. all of us) for our violations of God's laws. When Jesus rose again on the third day (an event we remember every Easter), God declared His sacrifice fully acceptable, and, at the same time, demonstrated that the Jesus that died on the Cross was indeed the Son of God,
whoever believes in Him As with human love, God's love calls for a response from us sinners. The response God seeks from us individually is that of a humble, repentant heart, fully sorry for our sins and fully believing in Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us. Such persons will further learn to imitate God's love by following Jesus, obeying His Word, worshipping Him and serving Him (which includes doing good works for the benefit of Man).
shall not perish but have eternal life. The Bible teaches that the punishment for sin is eternal death (or to 'perish'). It is to enable us to escape this eventuality that God sent Jesus Christ into this world to die on the Cross. As a consequence of this those men and women who believe on Him have the prospect of gaining eternal life - life beyond the grave - with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the promise of God to all who will place their trust in Jesus Christ and His saving work .
The Christian Gospel is therefore a message of forgiveness and of hope. We urge all readers to give this matter their urgent and careful consideration. Do feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page if you require further assistance.