{"id":24,"date":"2021-02-21T18:41:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T18:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2021-02-23T02:51:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T02:51:49","slug":"the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/?page_id=24","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bible_1614048653-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"109\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bible_1614048653-scaled.jpeg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/?attachment_id=109\" class=\"wp-image-109\" srcset=\"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bible_1614048653-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bible_1614048653-300x200.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bible_1614048653-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My Friend:<\/em>&nbsp;I am asking you the most important question of life.&nbsp;<strong>Your joy or your sorrow for all eternity depends upon your answer.<\/strong>&nbsp;The question is:&nbsp;<strong>Are you saved?<\/strong>&nbsp;It is not a question of how good you are, nor if you are a church member, but<strong>&nbsp;are you saved? Are you sure you will go to Heaven when you die?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God says in order to go to Heaven, you must be born again. In John 3:7, Jesus said to Nicodemus,&nbsp;\u201cYe must be born again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Bible God gives us the plan of how&nbsp;<em>to be born again<\/em>&nbsp;which means&nbsp;<em>to be saved.<\/em>&nbsp;His plan is simple! You can be&nbsp;<strong>saved<\/strong>&nbsp;today. How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, my friend, you must realize&nbsp;<strong>you are a sinner.&nbsp;\u201cFor all have sinned,<\/strong>&nbsp;and come short of the glory of God\u201d&nbsp;(Romans 3:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because you are a sinner,&nbsp;<strong>you are condemned to death.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cFor the wages&nbsp;[<em>payment<\/em>]&nbsp;of sin is death\u201d&nbsp;(Romans 6:23).&nbsp;<strong>This includes eternal separation from God in Hell.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c . . . it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment\u201d&nbsp;(Hebrews 9:27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But God loved you so much&nbsp;<strong>He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, to bear your sin and die in your place.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201c . . . He hath made Him&nbsp;[<em>Jesus, Who knew no sin<\/em>]&nbsp;<strong>to be sin for us<\/strong>&nbsp;. . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him\u201d&nbsp;(2 Corinthians 5:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jesus had to shed His blood and die.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cFor&nbsp;<strong>the life<\/strong>&nbsp;of the flesh is&nbsp;<strong>in the blood\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;(Lev. 17:11).&nbsp;\u201c . . . without shedding of blood is no remission&nbsp;[<em>pardon<\/em>]\u201d (Hebrews 9:22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c . . . God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,&nbsp;<strong>Christ died for us\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;(Romans 5:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although we cannot understand how, God said&nbsp;<strong>my sins and your sins<\/strong>&nbsp;were laid upon Jesus and&nbsp;<strong>He died in our place.<\/strong>&nbsp;He became&nbsp;<strong>our substitute.<\/strong>&nbsp;It is true. God cannot lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My friend,&nbsp;\u201cGod . . . commandeth all men everywhere to&nbsp;<strong>repent\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;(Acts 17:30).&nbsp;<strong>This repentance<\/strong>&nbsp;is a change of mind that agrees with God that one is a sinner, and also agrees with what Jesus did for us on the Cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Acts 16:30-31, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas:&nbsp;\u201c . . . \u2018Sirs, what must&nbsp;<strong>I do to be saved?\u2019<\/strong>&nbsp;And they said,&nbsp;<strong>\u2018Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . . .\u2019 \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simply believe on Him as&nbsp;<strong>the one who bore your sin, died in your place,<\/strong>&nbsp;was buried, and whom God resurrected.&nbsp;<strong>His resurrection powerfully assures<\/strong>&nbsp;that the believer can claim everlasting life when Jesus is received as Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut as many as received Him,&nbsp;<strong>to them gave He power<\/strong>&nbsp;to become the sons of God,&nbsp;<em>even<\/em>&nbsp;to them that believe on His name\u201d&nbsp;(John 1:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor&nbsp;<strong>whosoever<\/strong>&nbsp;shall call upon the name of the Lord&nbsp;<strong>shall be saved.\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;(Romans 10:13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Whosoever<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;includes you.&nbsp;<strong><em>Shall be saved<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;means not maybe, nor can,&nbsp;<strong>but&nbsp;<em>shall be saved.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surely, you realize you are a sinner. Right now, wherever you are, repenting, lift your heart to God in prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Luke 18:13, the sinner prayed:&nbsp;\u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d&nbsp;Just pray:&nbsp;<strong><em>\u201cOh God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus was my substitute when He died on the Cross. I believe His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection were for me. I now receive Him as my Savior. I thank You for the forgiveness of my sins, the gift of salvation and everlasting life, because of Your merciful grace. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Just take God at His word<\/strong>&nbsp;and claim His salvation by faith.&nbsp;<strong>Believe, and you will be saved.<\/strong>&nbsp;No church, no lodge, no good works can save you.&nbsp;<strong>Remember, God does the saving. All of it!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>God\u2019s simple plan of salvation is: You are a sinner.<\/strong>&nbsp;Therefore, unless you believe on Jesus Who died in your place, you will spend eternity in Hell. If you believe on Him as your crucified, buried, and risen Savior, you receive forgiveness for all of your sins and&nbsp;<strong>His gift of eternal salvation by faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You say, \u201cSurely, it cannot be that simple.\u201d Yes, that simple! It is scriptural. It is God\u2019s plan.&nbsp;<strong>My friend, believe on Jesus and receive Him as Savior today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If His plan is not perfectly clear,&nbsp;<strong>read this tract over and over, without laying it down, until you understand it.<\/strong>&nbsp;Your soul is worth more than all the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world&nbsp;<strong>and lose his own soul?\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong>(Mark 8:36).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be sure you are saved. If you lose your soul, you miss Heaven and lose all. Please!&nbsp;<strong>Let God save you this very moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>God\u2019s power will save you, keep you saved, and enable you<\/strong>&nbsp;to live a victorious Christian life.&nbsp;\u201cThere hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it\u201d&nbsp;(1 Corinthians 10:13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do not trust your feelings. They change. Stand on God\u2019s promises. They never change.<\/strong>&nbsp;After you are saved, there are&nbsp;<strong>three things<\/strong>&nbsp;to practice daily for spiritual growth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Pray<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; you talk to God.<\/li><li><strong>Read your Bible<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; God talks to you.<\/li><li><strong>Witness<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; you talk for God.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You should be baptized<\/strong>&nbsp;in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ&nbsp;<strong>as a public testimony of your salvation,<\/strong>&nbsp;and then unite with a Bible-believing church without delay.&nbsp;<strong>\u201cBe not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord . . . .\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;(2 Timothy 1:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhosoever therefore shall confess&nbsp;[<em>testify of<\/em>]&nbsp;Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven\u201d&nbsp;(Matthew 10:32).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Friend:&nbsp;I am asking you the most important question of life.&nbsp;Your joy or your sorrow for all eternity depends upon your answer.&nbsp;The question is:&nbsp;Are you saved?&nbsp;It is not a question of how good you are, nor if you are a church member, but&nbsp;are you saved? Are you sure you will go to Heaven when you&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/?page_id=24\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110,"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/calvarybaptistelkhart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}