The Gospel

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God when in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And In the Word was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. And it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, for the wages of sin is death. 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. In fact, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. And the wages of sin is death.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. So the Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Because God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him could be saved.  

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-written by Christy Poe, Redeemer member