“Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). The Bible says that this “is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance” because the message emphasizes that no one is beyond redemption and that salvation is a free gift of grace rather than earned merit.
It all began with Adam, God’s first created human being, and whom God placed in a sinless environment. God also gave Adam specific instructions on what he could and could not do.
Adam disobeyed God, and as a result, sin came into the world. The Bible points out ”Just as sin came into the world by one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). This means that Adam’s “sin virus” has infected every human being without exception.
We also read: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on [Jesus Christ] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
King David said this about himself, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). This means that no one can remedy or escape his or her sinful condition by themselves.
According to the Bible, the gospel is about the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The apostle Paul writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received; that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Paul states that the gospel is “of first importance” and the fact that he first “received it; he is in a position to let it be known what this gospel is all about.
The fact that Christ was buried is proof of his death. And the proof of His resurrection was the many who saw Him alive after His resurrection. Christ also “appeared to Cephas (Simon Peter), then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five-hundred brothers at one time” (1 Corinthians 15:5-6).
The all-wise, all-knowing God, realizing man’s predicament in hopelessness and helplessness, provided the Savior, Jesus Christ who would come into the world to reconcile sinful man to God. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17).
Since the gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s good news to a sin-defiled world that “Jesus saves,” why then are some presenting “another gospel” to their hearers when it is condemned in the Bible. Paul strongly states, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Paul also expressed his passion for the gospel this way. “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).
Today, people are being misled with a false doctrine of “health, wealth, and prosperity” messages as if that will get them into God’s heaven. No one can get to heaven without salvation.
These false doctrines are opposed to the divine requirement for man to be saved. The fact is that Jesus willingly went to the cross, shed His blood and died for the sins of mankind. This was God’s way and remedy for man to be reconciled to Him. God is not willing that any should perish. Jesus died as our substitute because “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).
The Bible says: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?”(Romans 10:14,15 NIV).
The Biblical response is that “repentance and forgiveness of sins” will continue to be proclaimed around the world in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of mankind.