Life is truly empty without the Lord Jesus Christ.  Without Him, life is just a dead-end street, and after death, it leads to an even emptier existence apart from God forever in a place of darkness and suffering.  This is why we need to wake up NOW, realize we're on a collision course with our eternal destiny, and get TURNED AROUND onto the narrow road with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being on the narrow road with the Lord is a walk of peace in His forgiveness, hope, joy, and service toward a true mission!

The first and most important area that people must understand is if they are on the path of salvation with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everything else in life, in comparison to this, is like an empty hole of nothingness.  We are living in the final days of human history and the Bible teaches that this is a time when false teachers will flourish and many people will be deceived by their false teachings and fall away from God's most important truths. (1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Thess. 2:3, 2 Tim. 4:3-4, Matt. 24:11)

Please carefully read the following Gospel message. There are many false "ear-tickling" gospels in the world that lead men astray and so it is important that you read the following message and compare it to what the Bible teaches so that you can know for certain that it is sharing the full truth and nothing but the truth. 

After you read it, you will feel convicted to respond to it.  Many people will respond by ignoring it, others will despise it, but yet a few will understand it and realize that they have not been sincerely walking with the Lord and that they need to fully come to Him.  To ignore the true Gospel is like ignoring your eternal soul and not caring what happens to you after you pass away from this life.  To despise the true Gospel is like despising the Lord and His message of grace, mercy, and redemption toward lost sinners.  To cleave to the true Gospel is to become a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ - your life will never be the same again and all will be made brand new!

Please take some time to read the most important message which is the very heart of God's teachings - the True Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords!

The gospel is God’s amazing message of hope to mankind.  Just by simply looking at the incredible world around us, all people can realize the fact that an all-powerful God exists who created this world and everyone who is in it (Rom. 1:20).  Men can also clearly observe as they look at creation that God is perfect, holy, glorious, and just.

God’s creation also reveals to us just how weak and imperfect we are, especially in the presence of an all holy God.  We are designed to naturally understand that all of us have committed sin and have fallen immensely short of the glory of an all-perfect God (Rom. 3:23).  We also know that life is brief and that we will one day stand before a holy God to face Judgment (Heb. 9:27).  We instinctively realize that no matter how “good” we tried to live, that this still does not cancel out the sins we’ve committed which separate us from a perfectly holy God.  We’re aware that apart from an extreme act of grace from God Himself, that we will continue to be guilty of these sins, and therefore deserving of our just due which is eternal separation from God.  We have an extremely serious problem, and only God Himself can graciously provide us with a hope.  We can rest assured that for all people who take this problem seriously, and who desire more than anything to get right with God, that God will graciously and lovingly lead them to the truth and to know the way of marvelous hope! (Deut. 4:29, Jer. 29:13, Heb. 11:6, 1 Tim. 2:3-4)

Mankind’s most serious and grievous problem could not be solved apart from a miracle of grace, for we would not be able to face a perfectly holy God after this life since we have all committed sin. We could also have no hope, for our sin would send us far away from God where there is only darkness, pain, and sorrow (2 Pet. 2:4-10). 

But the Good News is that God so loved this world and has offered us a way of hope to get right with Him! God in His incredible love and mercy desired so greatly for humanity to know a way of salvation, that He was willing to give the gift of His only perfect and divine Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to become a Savior for mankind and thus meet mankind's most critical need. His Son unselfishly came to earth as God in human form, where He suffered unthinkable agony throughout His life and during His works on the cross, in order to provide the way of salvation from our sins which would otherwise condemn us to hell. What Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross is the only way of atonement for our sins that could ever reconcile us to the Father (Eph. 1:7). As human beings we have all committed sin and thus we could have no hope of ever standing before God the Father, apart from Jesus Christ, who gave His all for us when He graciously shed His blood as a perfect sinless sacrifice for the sake of providing perfect atonement for our sins (Heb. 10:19-23). What a humbling and awe-inspiring thought this is which should cause us to fall to our knees in thanksgiving and praise! Without the Lord Jesus all humanity would be lost, but because of His gracious sacrifice, we can have hope that we can be delivered from the wrath to come! (1 Thess. 1:10)

The Lord has made the way of salvation possible for all men because He lovingly desires for all men to be saved and for none to perish in hell (1 Tim. 2:4, 2 Pet. 3:9).

The Lord, however, does not force us to follow Him but allows us to individually respond to Him under Holy Spirit conviction.

We can either respond to His message of grace by: 

1. Rejecting God's Message (Blaspheming the Holy Spirit) - This will be evidenced by those who refuse to truly place their faith in God since they refuse to repent of their sins because they still wish to live in ways that they want instead.

2. Accepting God's Message (Heeding the Holy Spirit's Conviction) - The wondrous alternative is that we can respond to the Lord by accepting His message of grace which will be evidenced by those who become newly born again creations in Christ! These are people who under Holy Spirit conviction are given the grace to repent and have true faith in Christ which is evidenced because they no longer want to live to please themselves but instead they want their whole lives to honor Christ as they wholeheartedly repent and turn from all sinful ways in full sincerity. These people fully repent out of deep love and thankfulness for the Lord and the sacrifice He made for bringing atonement for their sins. The Lord promises to cleanse and forgive those who genuinely repent by turning from all ways of darkness to now walk in the light. (1 John 1:6-7)

Sadly, the Lord said that most people reject Him and only pay “lip service” to Him (Mt. 15:8-9). These people claim to love God, but their lives prove that they don’t truly love Him because they don’t honestly obey Him (John 14:21-24). These people may pray, attend religious groups etc. to seek to “appear holy” but yet they still follow after their own ways (Matt. 23). The Lord said that many will be surprised on Judgment day since they think they are heaven bound, yet the Lord will exclaim “depart from Me workers of iniquity!” (Mt. 7:22-23) But the Good News is that we can leave this dark wide road of hypocrisy which leads to damnation, and be one of the few on the narrow road which leads to a joyous eternity with the Lord as true, saved, born again followers of Christ! (Luke 13:23-28)

The Bible teaches to test ourselves to make sure we are of the faith (2 Cor. 13:5) because there is a false dead faith like the demons have which believes in God but still lives in ways that dishonor God (James 2:19), whereas true saving faith is evidenced by a new changed heart that has been regenerated by Christ and wants to honor the Lord through works that bring glory to God (James 2:14-26).  This is a new heart which has been born of God and that has turned fully from all forms of sinfulness and worldly lusts (1 Jn. 3:6-9, 1 Jn. 5:18, 1 Jn. 2:15-17) and now instead lives to walk in the Spirit as seen by the fact that this person now walks in righteousness and in love toward others.

The Bible teaches to not be deceived for those who dishonor and mock God by continuing in unrepentant sin (walking in the flesh) will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 6:7-8, Heb. 10:26-31, 1 Cor. 6:9-10).  Those who have true faith in the Lord’s enormous sacrifice for us will not make a mockery of His sacrifice by continuing in sin.  In fact, forgiveness through Christ’s blood is only granted to those who forsake their sins and do not continue in them (1 Jn. 1:6-7).  It is imperative, therefore, that if we claim to have true faith, belief, and love for God, to repent and turn fully away from all sins that dishonor God to include all forms of sexual immorality (sex outside of marriage, homosexuality etc.);  lewdness (ex. We should be deeply grieved by all the lewdness from so many celebrities in our day); drunkenness/intoxication; all sorcery activities including Ouija boards, ‘fortune tellers’ etc.; abusive and strife filled ways; vulgar language; idolatries (anything we love in our hearts more than the Lord) etc.  It is fully necessary to read Bible passages that specifically warn of wicked ways to repent of (such as Rom. 1:18-30, Ezek. chapter 18, Gal. 5:19-21) if one is concerned about their eternal soul and then repent in all sincerity! 

Remember, God is loving and merciful and the Bible teaches that if we are truly sorry for our sins (Psa. 51:17) and confess them that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9).  So come before God and confess if you recognize any sin right away.  The Lord said that people who yell out in anger are even in danger of hell fire if they don’t confess right away for such a sin can grow and develop into hateful thoughts and harden our hearts if we’re not careful (Mt. 5:22). So examine yourself daily for any sinful inclination and confess it.  However, if a righteous man turns away from following the Lord and returns back to sin, the Lord will judge him with the hypocrites (Heb. 10:26-31 and 38, Ezek. 18:24, Mt. 24:45-51 etc.). You can know true peace and joy, however, if you have heeded the Holy Spirit’s convicting drawing to repent and then sincerely follow Jesus as your Lord daily.  These can rest and trust in Jesus Christ as their complete and wondrous Redeemer and Savior!

Lastly, God’s Word strongly warns for us to not get deceived (2 Pet. 2:1-10, Matt. 24:24), for deceivers will grow worse and worse (2 Tim. 3:13) and people will heap up false religious teachers who teach “ear pleasing lies” instead of God’s convicting truths (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Many of these false teachers claim that we can be assured that we will one day be with God in heaven even if we continue to walk in sinful desires such as continuing in pornography, drunkenness, lying, lewdness, sex outside of marriage, covetous/greedy ways etc., but such teachers are greatly deceived (1 Jn. 2:4, 1:6, 3:6-10).  The main way to protect yourself from these false teachers is to know and meditate on God’s Word, so read the Bible diligently especially the New Testament (1 Pet. 2:2). Keep following our precious Lord to the end and then only the joy of our heavenly future awaits us!  God bless you!

We will all stand before God one day.  Will you be standing before Him washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus who came to save us?  Or will you be standing before Him to face your final Judgment because you refused to heed the love of the truth to be saved?  (2 Thess. 2:10)

I hope you won't reject the love of the truth but that you will surrender your life fully to Him, as you turn from all ways of darkness and turn completely to walk in His Light from this day forward!

Do not neglect reading the Holy Bible which are the teachings of God's Word.  It will guide you and keep you from deception and the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Also, continue to pray and meditate upon the Lord all throughout your day.  He will guide you safely through your life if we only continue to abide in Him on the precious narrow road that leads to Life!

God bless you and keep you now and forever!

Article by F. A. Butler