The Gospel of Jesus Christ - excerpt from the GREATER IS HE Bible Study
There are two sides in this war between Good and evil. There is no in-between; just two sides. Sin has taken us captive to evil. We are in opposition to God, born into the sin that separates us from God and His Kingdom.
You can’t fully understand sin until you consider the holiness of God. He is the purest of perfection. No matter how small or large my sin might be, I am not perfect. The amount, if you could measure it, doesn’t matter because sin is sin next to pure holiness. There is no rescue, no hope for the sin. It has an eternal stain that casts us from the presence of God.
God’s love is just as great, but it can’t cancel the justice of His holiness. God knew from the beginning, that ultimately He would have to rescue us Himself. He would have to give of Himself, sacrifice the ultimate gift of redemption to restore the people He loves.
Justice requires payment. The payment for sin is death. God cannot compromise His holiness, so what redemption can be given? Death is final. If humans are dead in their sins, all is lost. What payment can restore life? What can cleanse sin? No man can die for another man, because every man must pay the penalty for his own sin. Only a perfect man has life, but no debt to pay. But, all people are born into this slavery. Sin is in our nature and becomes a battle we can never win.
But Jesus.
Jesus.
He is GREATER.
He is greater than sin.
He is greater than human nature.
Jesus is God.
Jesus became man.
By miraculous birth, Jesus is the Son of God who lived the entire human experience. He lived as a man, but with the divine power to trample every temptation; to love all people at all times; to show the world the perfection of the Father. His obedience took Him all the way to the cross.
His life’s mission was to live and die. And there it happened, the perfect replacement.
A man who had no sin died to redeem. Jesus died to redeem the world.
Jesus died for me, because of my sin.
Jesus died for you.
He died to pay your debt, to wash you clean before the King.
Salvation.
We all need to be saved by Jesus. Without Him you are trapped. You are a slave.
Jesus did it all and paid it all.
It’s free.
But His death was not the end.
Jesus rose to life.
Jesus conquered sin to pay the price, and then Jesus conquered death, cancelling its power. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are a complete work of restoration. He paid your debt and brought you eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Your broken spirit has been redeemed and reunited with God the Father. The gift is so complete that God sees you and accepts you as His own child.
When you believe by faith in this miraculous work of salvation, this gift of love and sacrifice, you are restored and welcomed as a child of the King.
If you have never received this gift; if you have never realized how desperate you are for a savior; stop now and seek the Lord. Eternity with God is the gift. Eternal separation is the alternative. Jesus is the only way.
We are lost in our slavery to sin.
Admit your sin to God.
Seek Him humbly. Tell God you believe in Jesus. Ask the Lord to redeem you, to cleanse you because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
He promises salvation to all who believe.
Now rise up in the victory of Jesus.
You are a child in the Kingdom of God. Live a life changed and empowered by the Spirit of God.
Our mission is to spread this Good News of salvation to everyone.
The enemy is raging against it, but
GREATER is He, Jesus my Savior.
SCRIPTURES
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16
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.
Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
John 8:24
“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Romans 10:9-10
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
John 1:12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Galatians 4:6-7
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.