Text Box: God created us in His image. He created us to worship and honor Him. Let’s look at the character of God and compare Him to ourselves.   The Bible; God’s word, tells us God is perfect, holy, pure, and righteous. In Him, there is no sin. He is so pure and holy, it is impossible for God to tell a lie or to sin.    Man, however, sinned against God very soon after he was created. We see the fall of man in the garden of Eden. Mankind tends to follow fleshly desires, he is sinful, and often self-centered. Man has the capacity to be good, but often chooses to sin against God.   Mankind has a problem. Because of our sin, we have caused a separation between God and ourselves. God is so pure and holy, He cannot allow us to be with Him because we are sinful. Isaiah 59:2

 
We are told in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. We know eventually that our human bodies will die from old age, illness, or accident unless Jesus returns before we die. We can do nothing to prevent this type of death. Let’s call this the 1st death. There is another type of death mentioned in the bible which we should all fear and we can prevent. This death is called the 2nd death.

 

The 2nd death is mentioned in Revelation 20:14-15. When we die, many people will go to a place of suffering where they will be separated from God for ETERNITY. This death is the death we should avoid at all cost! In other words, our spiritual body goes on living after our physical body dies. Without God, it will be punished...forever. In short, we earn the 2nd death because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Can you imagine being in a place of torment where Satan is everywhere and God is nowhere to be found? That would be a terrible place indeed!

 

Some people fear God and try to become more like him. They do good things and hope to avoid being punished. Let’s call them good moral people. You may be one of them. Let’s see what good moral people do to try to be more like God.

 

Good moral people do things like go to church, give away money to good causes. They don’t cheat on taxes, and they are faithful to their spouse. Will these things help us earn our way to God and avoid punishment? Can we avoid hell by doing good things? Read Romans 3:23 to find out.

 

Even good moral people sin. God is not displeased by their good deeds but alone, they fall short and won’t get them to heaven, “...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  Does that mean that even good moral people are condemned to hell too?  Yes! Good moral people sin, they still have a sin problem and are condemned to death. What can man do to save himself?  Without a gift from God, we can do nothing to save ourselves. We are hopeless and lost without God’s help!

 

 

 Before we were even created, God knew He would have to bring us back to Him, into a relationship with Him. Who could bring us back? It had to be someone perfect. None of us could do the job for God because, we are all sinful. Because He loves us, God was willing to pay our death penalty, Himself! God offered to build a bridge between us and Himself and the bridge starts on His side.  Imagine we are on death row and God stepped in to die in our place! This gift from God can cancel out our sin and our death penalty. We can avoid the 2nd death!

 God sent His own son to walk upon the earth with us. God came as a man with a body of flesh. His name is Jesus. Jesus became a man, humbled Himself and died on a cross for us. Jesus was perfect, He had done no wrong. He paid our death penalty, He died in our place. God required the blood of His own son to pay the price for our sin. Jesus became sin for us. That bridge between us and God is Jesus. God’s grace may be a free gift, but it cost God his own son. The blood of Jesus, God’s one and only son, was the price God had to pay to cancel out our sin and pay our death penalty.

 

 

Let’s turn our attention for a few minutes to the cross and why blood had to be poured out for us. It is blood that gives us life. In the Old Testament, God required animal sacrifices from His people because of their sin. We see the blood of rams, goats, bulls, and sheep poured out on an alter. These animals died because of sin. If we turn to Exodus chapters 11 and 12, we read about the death of the firstborn which was God’s final punishment (called a “plague”) which Egypt suffered when Pharaoh refused to release God’s people from captivity. We also see how the blood of a little lamb which had “no defect” was placed over the door post to keep the first-born from dying. The death angel “passed over” the homes of God’s faithful children who obeyed God. God required the lamb to be without blemish. This story teaches us that obeying God and coming in contact with the blood of the lamb brought life, not death! In John 1:29-34, John the Baptist sees Jesus and says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  Are we to believe then that this Jesus was going to pour out his blood and be a sacrifice for us just like the little lamb we read about? Yes! Jesus was pure and without sin and His blood paid the price for our sin.

 The “GOOD NEWS” is that Jesus was not only willing to do these things for us, He did them!  We call this good news the gospel and it is the gospel that saves us. How do we know this?

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Paul is reminding Christians what he preached to them and what they had already done to be saved. He says “by this gospel, you are saved.” Here is the gospel.

 1.  Jesus died for us

2.  He was buried

3.  He rose again.

 These three things had to be done to save us from our sins

 It is this gospel, the plan carried out by God that saves us now. Read Romans 1:16

Let’s review…

 

Isaiah tells us our sin keeps us separated from God, (Isaiah 59:2)

 

The Bible tells us our sins are removed  (washed away, taken away) by the blood of Jesus. (Eph. 1:7)

 

Since the Bible says these things, then how can I be covered by the blood of Jesus? How can the blood of Jesus wash my sins away?

Text Box: God loves you! Obey the gospel today.  

As we bring this study to a close, we have seen how God built a bridge between Himself and His creation by using Jesus Christ. It was our sin that caused a separation between us and God. The only thing that can remove our sin is the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

 

You can reach that life-giving blood of Jesus Christ when you join Him in His death. God asks us to become His children. God promises us that His faithful children will one day join Him in heaven, for eternity. What a great day that will be! To become a child of God, we must obey the gospel. The bible tells us we clothe ourselves in Jesus, (wrap ourselves in Jesus) when we obey the gospel. Galatians 3:26-27.

 

You may be asking yourself, “What if I do not want to obey the gospel now, or ever?  Please understand that God’s word answers this question for you. Read 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. God makes Himself very clear about the judgment and we can understand what will happen to those who do not know God or do not obey the gospel. 

 

Please read Romans 10:9. The bible tells us we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is the son of God and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Are you ready to do these things? God asks you to trust Him, follow Him, serve Him, and obey Him for the rest of your life. Are you ready to Obey the gospel?

 

Read Acts 22:16 and give your answer.

 

Text Box: Die to self Bury the old person Be raised up as a new child of God

 

 

 

 

 

Written and designed by - Tom Payne, Clarksville, TN

 

This training tool was adapted from “The Bridge”, an evangelistic tool used by the Navigators in campus outreach work. If you would like more information about how to use this tool or would like someone to help you obey the gospel, please contact :