Did you know that the Gospel matters more now than ever? This is because of the world’s animosity, friction, hatred, and lack of peace and trust. There’s no shortage of theories on how to get all of this resolved, but what does the Bible have to say about it? Take a look at Romans 5:1. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV).
Everyone needs to recognize their need for God. Without Him (without having faith in Him), you’re not going anywhere! Romans 3:23 says we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You can’t get to heaven by trying to make deals with God or trying to be good enough. I’m sure you’ve heard John 3:16, the most famous verse in the Bible! “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” (NIV). You can read more about salvation in the following verses: Acts 4:12, John 14:6, John 3:36, 1 Timothy 2:5. This is the best “deal” that God offers, His ONLY deal.
If you haven’t already, you need to make a decision regarding what you believe. I’ve had countless friendships with people who believed that all roads lead to heaven and that there’s no such thing as absolute truth. All beliefs cannot be true! And righteousness from God is only received by faith. Righteousness is not received by seeing things from your own point-of-view, being a democrat or republican, from posting the right hashtags, or from trying to be so good that God is sure to notice.
I want to leave you with one more reason why the Gospel is so powerful. By the righteousness in the Gospel men and women are declared just in the eyes of God. To prove his point to the people, Paul includes a quotation from Habakkuk 2:4—“The just shall live by faith.” In fact, it was this text, quoted by Paul in Romans 1:17, that ultimately shook Martin Luther to the core and brought him to saving faith in Jesus Christ. I mentioned this story yesterday and bring it up again because the ripple effect blows me away! I hope Scripture shakes you in the same way and that you come to realize that faith is complete reliance upon another person to do that which you could never do for yourself. If you’re willing to trust Jesus Christ with as much faith as you happen to have, you can be saved. There’s nothing you can do to save yourself.
Saving faith is putting your trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone.