Gospel Presentation

“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth” (Genesis 1:1). Then on the sixth day God created man, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’" (Genesis 1:27-28). So in the beginning God created man to rule over the earth, to taking care of all that God had created from the plants and trees to the beast of the field and the birds of the air. But that was not the only reason that man was made, for God created man so that he might have a relationship with them for, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8-9). God was not some powerful force that sat in the heavens and just watched the world take its course like a TV sitcom, but rather He wanted a relationship with His creation. God would walk with man, showing that there was an intimate relationship between the two. He calls out to them, “where are you?” and engages with them.
But God had allowed for his creation to have free will, as seen in Genesis 2:16-17 when God tells man, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Here you see that God clearly gave man a choice to obey what he was told or to disobey; free will. Again it is seen clearly in chapter 3 where the snake tempts the woman; God doesn’t stop them but allows her to make the choice. Finally it can be seen in the way that the devil has to tempt her to take the apple by giving her a twisted truth, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1) He put doubt into the heart of the woman and she decided to eat of the tree that God had told them was forbidden, “she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked” (Genesis 3:6-7). When God came to them during the cool of the day He called out to man, but they hid from Him and when they had told him what they had done, he placed a curse on man and woman. To each he cursed them and their pain is ours to bear as well, for the Bible says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). So because of the sins of the first man and woman, we have all sinned before God. We have been born into sin, completely unable to do anything about it, for it says in Psalms 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Then also in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” clearly stating that we can’t make it to God’s glory on our own. Some will say that they are a good person, but no one is good enough to meet the standards that God has called us to, for it says in Leviticus 19:2, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” The standard is set far beyond anything that we can match for it also says in Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” and so we know that we are completely effortless to do anything about our helpless state.
For the majority of my life I have tried to live a good life in the eyes of my church, parents, and friends, but because it was only in their eyes, behind closed doors, or when no one was looking my life was not the cleanest. I went to youth group, but there was nothing that could ever really help me get past the sins in my life. For I have always tried to live a good life, following the commandments in the Bible in an effort to be a good Christian, yet my life was still void and I couldn’t figure out why I was so empty. In my senior year of high school I was not walking with the LORD, but I had not walked away from him, so I knew that when I chose a college it had to be a Christian College so that I could grow with God. So when I finally found Crown College I knew that God was calling me to go there. I knew it was a calling to come here because I was challenged to a faith that was more then just my law abiding mentality that I had when I was younger, but instead I gained a relationship with the God. My faith and love for God and people has grown leaps and bounds since coming here and I praise His name. He set me free from a lifestyle that was fruitless and void of life with Him.
The change that happened to me while in college was due to one Man, and if it was not for Him, I would still be living a worthless life trying to serve God with my fruitless labor; with my “filthy rags.” But when I came to college I met Jesus for real, and this Man’s life changed mine. If you don’t know Him or if you think you know who He is, let me explain what the Bible really says about Him or even what He said about Himself. First, you have to understand that Jesus was a man yet fully God, for in John 1:1, 2 it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” and then in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the word of God and testifies to that in John 14:6 when “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” So we know that Jesus was God and man, stating that he was and is the only way to Heaven, the bridge to bring us back to a relationship with God. For it says in 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.”
So how do we respond to all that? It may sound like the work is done and I don’t have to do anything, because Jesus already did it. This is only half true. For in Romans 5:8 it says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We did nothing deserving God’s plan of salvation or restoration but God loved us enough to give His Son to bridge that gap so that we could come back. So yes, the work has been done for us to come back to a relationship with God, but you have to accept that hand that Jesus offers to come across the bridge. “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13), because “if you confess 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 confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). Jesus did all the work for us to come back to God, but it is still up to us to accept that love. The first and hardest part is done, all that is left is for you to believe it and confess that Jesus is LORD.