What you need to know:
1. Adam chose to disobey God’s instruction and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. The moment Adam disobeyed God and ate of this tree he ensured his death (Genesis 2:17). Sin and death came into the world through this one disobedient act of Adam and death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12). By failing to keep one point of God’s moral law we have become accountable for all the law (James 2:10). No one is exempt from sin for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and also of his requirement for righteousness which is sinless perfection (Matthew 5:48).
2. Not only did Adam’s sin in the garden result in eventual physical death but he also experienced spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1). The penalty for our sin is death (Romans 6:23).
3. While we were still sinners doing nothing to merit God’s favor, Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins (Romans 5:8). We did not seek God in order to be delivered from the death penalty which we all justly deserve (Romans 3:10-12). While we were powerless over sin and while we were enemies of God, Christ died that we might be reconciled to God by his life, death and resurrection (Romans 5:6, 10).
Personal Response:
1. Jesus gives the invitation to come to him with the promise that he will give you rest; he will give you salvation (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus’s invitation is for all who have lived throughout human history. All who receive Jesus and believe in his name are given the right to become a child of God (John 1:12). The invitation for each and every person without exception is to come to Christ to receive salvation to drink the water of life without a price (Revelation 22:17).
2. Responding to the gospel invitation to come to Christ for salvation results in becoming a new creation, the old has passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). When one receives and believes in Jesus for salvation there is a turning from sin and turning to God – this is repentance (Acts 2:37-38). Initial saving faith, trusting in Christ, and initial repentance, turning from sin, occur only once in our lives when we first become a child of God. This represents the beginning of a lifelong attitude of faith in Christ and repentance of sin. Faith and repentance give evidence of salvation and continue throughout the Christian life (Galatians 2:20).
Forgiveness and Eternal life:
1. The promise of God in the gospel message is forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God (John 3:16). The one who receives and believes in Jesus Christ for salvation enters into an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ (John 17:3) and has assurance of sins being forgiven (Hebrews 8:12). By God’s grace we are saved from the penalty of sin and brought into fellowship with God that will last for eternity (Ephesians 2:4-8).
Many search for salvation and attempt to merit God’s favor in different ways and through different religions. The truth is that there is only one way to God and there is only one way to experience true and genuine forgiveness and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 – And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
The invitation to all is to come to Christ. Will you come to him and receive the gift of eternal life?

The Gospel