The Gospel Beacon

Our message is to repent and believe the Gospel.

“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe
the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Why do we say repent? The truth is that you have
sinned against a holy God. Sin is a transgression of
God’s law. This is not a general statement about
mankind, this is the condition of you, the reader.
You have sinned against a holy God.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23)

God is perfectly holy, righteous and just. He must
punish sin. The Bible teaches that those who have
sinned against an infinitely holy God deserve
infinite punishment in a place called the Lake of
Fire, a place of suffering separated from the
goodness of God.

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God. “ (Psalm 9:17)

“And whosoever was not found written in the book
of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation
20:15)

Because our nature is sinful, we cannot reconcile
ourselves to God by good works. Baptism,
moralism, and religious duty cannot make us right
with God.

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do
fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind,
have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Even keeping the 10 Commandments cannot make
us right with God.

“Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:
for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans
3:19-20)

Although God is just, He is also merciful and full of
grace.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us…”
(Titus 3:5)

Jesus Christ, who is the eternal God, became a man.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God… And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14)

He took to Himself human nature and a body. He
did this for two reasons. First the law of God
requires perfect obedience. Jesus being God was
free from a fallen nature and was able to obey the
law of God perfectly.

The second reason was to offer Himself as a
sacrifice for sin. Jesus being a sinless man offered
himself on the cross to atone for our sins.

“By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
(Hebrews 10:10)

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement
of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes
we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

God demonstrated his satisfaction with the
offering of Jesus by raising Him from the dead.

“Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible that
he should be holden of it.” (Acts 2:24)

Today Jesus is alive and seated in Heaven. He
commands all men everywhere to repent. To
repent means to turn from our sin.

This is not just fixing our outward actions but a
change of heart and mind toward God and sin,
which affects our outward actions.

The second half of our message is to believe the
Gospel. This is not simply head-knowledge of a
historical event, but to trust the promises of God
in Christ by faith.

The Gospel is the good news that our sins are
forgiven because Christ has suffered in our
place and offered us his righteousness before
God.

We are saved when we take hold of that news
and look to Jesus alone for our righteousness
and forgiveness. When we repent and believe
the Gospel, God forgives our sin and makes us a
new creation.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

If you have questions about the Gospel, we
would love to answer them.