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Gods love is manifest to us today by the gospel of God. The gospel of God is His good news to mankind. His good news for us today is His Son, Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for our sins, being buried, and risen again on the third day. This death, burial and resurrection is good news because it is by this sacrifice of God that we have available to us today the opportunity to be saved from eternal punishment for our sins. God set His Son forth to be the complete sacrifice for our sins. Gods sacrifice of His Son is good news to us because it is by His sacrifice that we have eternal life. When Christ rose and revived from the dead He was given a new glorified body that would live eternal and glorified in Heaven. Through His life we too can have eternal life. When we believe the truths of Christs death, burial and resurrection for our sins we are placed in a status as children of God. As a child of God we are promised many wonderful blessings. God is true to His word and His promises. As a child of God we are secure in those promises. As we look into the truths about the gospel or good news of God please understand what is offered and accomplished through His gospel; salvation, eternal life, and so much more. Understand that the good news is just what it says it is "GOOD NEWS"! Please understand how salvation comes to us as a free gift of God and that we receive these blessings not because of anything weve done. We believe and then we receive. Therefore, nothing anyone can do will separate us from the salvation we have secured in Christ Jesus if we have believed in the gospel of God.

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Many things are accomplished by the gospel of God, one of which is:

A.) By the gospel we are "called" unto salvation. What I mean by that is this; if not for God calling us unto salvation, salvation would not be possible. In other words, if it were left up to us we would never have any chance at escaping Gods wrath upon sin. In fact, if it were not for the gospel of God we would never even call upon God to save us. Our natural state as humans is to go apart from God. We do not seek Him. Actually, we do just the opposite of seeking God, we go away from God. In Romans 3:11 and 12, God through Paul says regarding ALL HUMANS "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Therefore, we must realize that God through His Love reaches out an arm of long suffering to us and offers to us salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. God calls us unto salvation. Not because of anything good we do but because of His unabounding love. He manifests His glory to us by setting forth His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, to be buried, and to be risen again on the third day (I Corinthians 15:1-4). It is by Jesus Christ that God calls us unto salvation (I Cor. 1:9) and He gives us that good news by His word. Romans 10:17 says "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Gods word is His way of communicating His gospel to us today. We must read the Bible or hear the gospel from someone who has read the Bible in order for us to be called and in order for us to accept and believe it. One very important thing to know about the calling of the gospel is that it is available to every human being on the face of the earth. There is not a chosen few who will be saved while the rest are left to burn in eternal wrath. Romans 3:22 says "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference". This verse is clear that salvation is offered to all but is only given to those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins, being buried and resurrected on the third day.


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Once we believe the gospel of God we are saved. Despite our past sins and continual sins we are justified in Gods eyes because Jesus paid our sin debt. Jesus was the complete and perfect sacrifice for our sins. When He shed His blood on the cross our sins were no longer laid to our account. When He arose from the dead life became possible to those who believe Gods good news. Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Through Gods gospel we are offered salvation.

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The Gospel is more than just good news - it must be obeyed.

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

michael_legna,Your Verse For Today:

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

You been peeking at my verse a day calendar again?

"Please understand how salvation comes to us as a free gift of God and that we receive these blessings not because of anything weve done. We believe and then we receive."



Does believing come out of nowhere? How does one come to believe without knowing? Does not a free gift have to be accepted? How does one know of the offered gift?

"that we receive these blessings not because of anything weve done."

Does not one have to hear or perhaps read today of Christ to know of the gift of salvation through Christ given of God?
Is this not doing something?
Then hearing, believing. Is this not doing something?
 How can one accept an unknown gift? One must be made aware a gift is given and that is done through hearing the word of God or reading or both. The Bible tells of awareness by both methods. Is this not doing something?

Ollie

As a result of believing the gospel and being saved we receive life and immortality.

It is by the gospel of God that we are given eternal life. II Timothy 1:10 says "But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel". After Christ died on the cross for our sins He was buried in the tomb and arose from the dead on the third day following His death. Forty days later He then ascended into Heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father where He lives and reigns eternally today. Acts 1:3 says "To whom also He (Jesus) shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God". Acts 1:9 "And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight." We must give great attention to the fact that Christ LIVES today. Romans 14:9 says "For to this end Christ both died, and arose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living". There is a possibility for something to be risen and not be alive. Something can be physically risen but that doesnt necessarily mean that it is alive. God wants us to have no doubt that Christ is alive today. Thus His statement, "Christ both died, and rose, and revived". Not only was He risen but He was REVIVED. He is alive never to experience death again. Romans 6:9 says, "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." He will live eternally! As Christ lives today those who have believed the gospel of God so too have eternal life. Romans 6:5 says, "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection". Verse 8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him". As Christ will never again experience death so to we as believers will never experience spiritual death. We are dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11). Make no mistake about it, if we believe the gospel of Jesus Christs death, burial and resurrection, we can count it to be so that as Christ lives today eternally so do we live eternally. Colossians 3:3 says "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God". What a comforting verse that proves that a believers eternal life is hidden or laid up in store in Christ. How much more secure and eternal can anything be than to be hid in Christ?

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Believing to the point of obeying, not just faith alone but faith and works together.

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Michael,
Do you think that the people whose hearts God has hardened and whose eyes he has blinded can obey God?

Show me the specific verse you want to discuss instead of hiding your doctrine behind vaguaries as you always do.

In general during the time God has hardened their hearts they are doing God's will because He harden their hearts for a reason and so they are doing exactly what He expects of them and fitting in precisely with His plans.

But show me the precise event in the Bible you want to discuss and I can give you a more complete answer.

No, it isn't. At least, not in my case, for I knew not the gospel of God when Christ called me unto salvation. That learning and knowledge came later.


Once I came to know the word of God, I believed it, but before that, I believed in Christ Jesus....

Make no mistake - I believe the bible and the word of God, but our hope rests not in that alone, but my hope is in Him. The living God does not confine himself to a book.


Hallelujah....He is the Living God! God is good, and even if I get my doctrine wrong, He still is loving, patient, kind and forgiving. Praise God!

blessings
Gracey

The Holy Spirit is what enables us to believe the gospel. I had heard the gospel for years and wanted to believe it but it sounded like gibberish to me. Then when the Holy Spirit entered me, it all suddenly made sense to me! The same thing happened to Paul. He didn't even HAVE the written words of Jesus! All he had was the words of the aposltles and the Holy Spirit!  This proves to me that Paul was right when he said; "The man WITHOUT THE SPIRIT cannot accpet the things of God for they are foolishness to him and he CANNOT understand them for they are spiritually discerned." The Holy Spirit is our enabler, which renders us capable of understanding and believing the bible, ALL the fruits of the SPIRIT and whatever good that is in me. NOTHING comes from me, myself. For NO MAN is righteous except through the Holy Spirit that gives us the power. That's why Jesus said; "No one is good but God alone."

BrotherLove,


Even if we don't really believe wholeheartedly later, or completely lapse, or even attempt to deny Christ, God will not allow it. We made a decision and now we're stuck with it.

I'm glad that you used the word 'human'. If you read the rest you would think it was God himself speaking.
If it were not a possibility there would be no need to even mention it. You are confusing man's faithlessness or weak faith with the God's faithfulness. God cannot deny Himself because He does not change. He does not renege on His promises. For man, that is a different story.

Are you equating a single believer to the whole Body? The Body has tares within, Yes? How did they get there. Will they be gathered with the grain?

GRACE AND DEBT

By Cornelius R. Stam

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, butof debt.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:4,5).

As we look back at all the Old Testament types: the phys-
ical types, the narratives, the sacrifices, we exclaim: "The
cross was not an accident, nor an afterthought on Gods
part: He had it in mind all the while." Surely Paul was
right when he said of believers that "[God] hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II
Tim. 1:9).

It is on the basis of the cross, typified all through the
Old Testament, that God now saves us by grace through
faith alone, and the types show that this was indeed His
eternal purpose. Furthermore salvation should be by grace
through faith.

As our text, above, declares: if man could earn his salva-
tion it would be the payment of a debt, not the bestowal of a
gift -- and God will never be indebted to anyone. He will
never be in a position where He owes us, sinners, a debt.
Nor will He ever allow us to disgrace ourselves and annoy
others by our boasting about how we earned eternal life.

But He can, on the basis of the penalty paid at Calvary,
bestow salvation as a free gift. This is why we read:

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

"It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9).

God owed Abraham nothing, but seeing his faith He said,
in effect: "This man believes Me; I will count his faith for
righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). And this He still does for those
who trust Him, only He has now revealed the basis for this
action: Christs payment for sins at Calvary. This is why, in
Romans 4:5, He forbids works for salvation and declares
that the believers faith is "counted for righteousness."

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GOD FOR US

By Cornelius R. Stam

Many people, even religious people, suppose that God is
against sinners. "Do what is right," they think, "and God
will love and bless you, but do what is wrong and He will be
angry with you and curse you."

Perhaps this view of God comes from the fact that many
Scripture passages, especially in the Old Testament, reveal
God as the Enemy of the workers of iniquity. But He is the
Enemy of the workers of iniquity as such -- as workers of
iniquity, not as individual persons.

In Ezek. 18:23 God asks: "Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die... ?" And in II Pet. 3:9 we learn that
when God might have judged this world for the crucifixion
of Christ. He delayed the judgment because He is "long-
suffering" and "not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance."

The Apostle Paul, referring to the crucifixion, declares
that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him-
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (II Cor. 5:19).
How could He have shown sinners more conclusively that
He desires their good than by imputing their sins to Christ
and telling them that He is not imputing their trespasses
unto them? Their trespasses will be imputed to them, of
course, if they reject God’s provision of salvation through
Christ, but for the present it is a wonderful fact that we can
go to any sinner and say on the authority of God’s written
Word: "Your sins have been paid for; God is not holding
them against you. Will you accept His love and receive
Christ as your Savior?"

No, unsaved friend, God is not against you. He loves you
and provided abundantly for your salvation by paying for
your sins Himself at Calvary.  This is the essence of "the
gospel of the grace of God" (See I Tim. 2:4-7). Will you
believe it? Will you trust Christ now, acknowledging Him
as your Lord and Savior?

PAUL AND HIS GOOD NEWS

By Cornelius R. Stam

St. Paul opens his Epistle to the Romans by declaring that
he has been "separated unto the gospel [good news] of God"
(1:1). This agrees with Galatians 1:15,16, where he says:
"It pleased God, who separated me, from my mothers
womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in
me..."

The last book of the Bible tells of the coming "revelation
of Jesus Christ" in glory, to judge the world and reign on
earth, but here in Galatians we have "the revelation of
Jesus Christ" in Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace.

The salvation of Paul, the one-time leader of the worlds
rebellion against Christ, indicated Gods willingness, yes
His desire, to save sinners. Thus it was appropriate that
God should choose him as the apostle of His grace, making
the good news known "to all nations for the obedience of
faith."

Let us not suppose, however, that Pauls gospel concerned
only himself or Gods grace to him. Apart from Christs
payment for sin at Calvary God could not justly have saved
Paul -- or any of us. Thus the Apostle goes on, in Romans 1,
to explain that this good news which God has sent him to
proclaim is "concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"
(1:3).

All through Pauls epistles he proclaims salvation by
grace, on the basis of Christs finished work of redemption:

"Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

"Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (4:25; 5:1).

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that... grace might reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord" (5:20,21).

So the message of salvation by grace is essentially good
news about Christ and what He has wrought to purchase
our redemption.


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nice Good News!  ;D

Can I have some?   :'(

Keep weeping, satan - Jesus Christ WILL be victorious.  It is written.

You may think this is a strange saying, but it is nevertheless true. There is no salvation in religion. No matter what kind of religion you have, it cannot save your soul, it cannot provide you with a title to heaven.

There is a vast difference between having a religion and having Christ -- a vast difference. Cain had a religion; he brought an offering to God's altar, but he had no Christ. His religion was "floral." appealing to the senses -- as the religion of many a man does today -- but there was nothing in it acceptable to God; nothing in it to atone for sin. So God had "no respect" to Cain for his religion. He rejected it.

Saul of Tarsus had a religion, and excelled his equals in devotion to it, yet he was, as he tells us himself, an enemy of God and an ignorant unbeliever (I Tim. 1:13). If any man could have earned a title to heaven by religion, Saul of Tarsus was that man, but he did not. Neither will you, for there is no salvation in religion, no merit, no gaining favor with God by being religious. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is the sinner's Saviour. His blood can cleanse. His power can deliver. He is willing to save, He is able to keep. If you would be saved, cast your religion from you, and as a guilty sinner, claim Christ as your personal Saviour. Do it now!

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died "FOR" us." -- Romans 5:8


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REPEAT

Once we believe the gospel of God we are saved. Despite our past sins and continual sins we are justified in Gods eyes because Jesus paid our sin debt. Jesus was the complete and perfect sacrifice for our sins. When He shed His blood on the cross our sins were no longer laid to our account. When He arose from the dead life became possible to those who believe Gods good news. Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Through Gods gospel we are offered salvation.

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