the gospel

What is "the Gospel"?

Creekside Bible Fellowship preaches and teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The term “Gospel” literally means “good news”. It is called good news because it deals with the most serious problem each of us have as human beings: God is holy, just, and perfect… and we are not!


The Bad News

The Bible says that someday we will all stand before God and be judged by Him (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; Rev 20:11-15). We will either be judged based on our own righteousness, or on the righteousness of another. If you think you are righteous, compare yourself against the ten commandments (do not lie, do not steal, do not covet, honor your parents, etc.), and you will quickly see that you are a sinner who has violated God’s moral law. God doesn’t grade on a curve; the Bible says that if you are guilty of only one sin, you are guilty of violating the entire law of God (James 2:10) – and the punishment for violating God’s law is eternal damnation (Rev 21:8). This is the bad news.


The Good News

The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ lived a perfect, righteous and sinless life (Heb 4:15), was crucified on a cross, died, was buried, and then rose again after three days. On the cross He willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice, paying for the sins of everyone who will repent and place their faith and trust in Him as Lord and Savior. You see, the Bible makes it very clear that we cannot be justified by our own works or efforts, but only by the grace (unmerited favor) of God through faith (Eph 2:8-9). The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and death is through faith: putting your trust in Christ (Romans 10:9-10) – and in Him alone (John 14:6).


What must I do to be saved?

The question of what one must do to be saved was asked long ago by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30. Paul and Silas answered him and said “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” As a result of the jailer's conversion, his entire house also believed and was saved.


In Ephesians 2:8-10, the apostle Paul declares “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Paul also states in Romans 10 that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved." 

So - in order to be saved, you must believe certain things and you must do certain things.


What you must believe:

  • You must believe Jesus is Lord - that He is God incarnate. (Romans 10:9) 
  • You must believe that Jesus died on the cross for sinners, and that He was raised to life after three days (1 Cor 15:3-6) 
  • You must believe that you are a sinner. Because of this (outside of Christ) you are under God's wrath and condemned to eternal damnation (Romans 1:18; Romans 6:23) 
  • You must believe there are no works, nor any good deeds you can do to earn earn salvation (Eph 2:8-9) 


What you must do*:

  • Confess your sin.  Confession simply means to agree with God about your sin - "to say the same thing" to God about your sin that He already says about it (Psalm 32:3-5; 1 John 1:9).
  • Trust in Jesus alone. Believe who He is, and cast yourself upon Him in faith (Romans 5:1). Do not rely on your own righteousness to save you, but on the righteousness of Christ alone.   


* NOTE: We cannot make ourselves be born again (John 1:13). This is the work of the Holy Spirit. God saves you by causing you to be born again through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-8). What one *must do* is what one who has been born again *will do* as an evidence that they have new life in Christ. These fruits of ongoing confession, repentance and trust in Jesus alone become the defining pattern of life for the true Christian.


Now what?

If you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus for salvation, there are a few things you must do to cultivate spiritual growth:

  • Get a Bible and read it daily. This is how the Lord fills you continually with His Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-19; Col. 3:16), enabling you to "walk according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:4) and not according to the flesh. This is absolutely necessary to starve the flesh. You must put the flesh to death; that is, the sin that still dwells in you (Colossians 3:5) or it will kill you! (Romans 13:14)
  • Be baptized as a testimony of your identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to new life (Mark 16:16; Acts 10:44-48).
  • Spend time every day talking to God in prayer. Over time, you will find this becomes like breathing (natural) as you immerse yourself in God's word. He speaks to us in His word; we speak His word back to Him in prayer throughout the day (Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).