They are SIN, SUBSTITUTION, and FAITH.
When we talk about SIN, we’re saying there’s a barrier between you and God. That barrier has been put there because of a natural tendency to live your life independently from God. That barrier will have eternal consequences if it’s not removed. But no matter how hard you try, you cannot get around that barrier by your own effort.
But the Good News is, God has taken care of that barrier for you. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place and pay the penalty for your sin. And God says you can now be set free from the penalty of your sin. This privilege isn’t something you deserved. Jesus did it simply because of His great love for you. That’s SUBSTITUTION.
When we mention FAITH, we’re talking about your willingness to trust God, and trust Him completely. God wants you to realize He has done everything required for your eternal relationship with Him. There’s nothing left for you to do. And therefore, you must trust Him and Him alone. In order to do that, you must first stop trusting your own efforts or your own goodness. It simply won’t work until you choose to believe that God wants to save you, and will if you ask Him.
To summarize, SIN is the barrier, SUBSTITUTION is God’s solution, and FAITH is your recognition that God will remove that barrier, simply because He wants to. These are the Gospel basics that we need to share any time we present the Good News of Christ.
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Gospel Presentation Script
Volunteer: Let me explain to you what the Bible says about beginning a personal relationship with
God through Jesus Christ. There are four steps that I want you to remember.
Step One
God’s Purpose: Peace and Life
Volunteer: The first thing you need to know is that God loves you and wants
you to experience a life of peace that is abundant and eternal.
The Bible says . . . (Pick one or two verses)
“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly.” John 10:10
Transition statement: So we see that God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you,
but there is a problem. You see we have sinned, and that causes a separation between God and
us. This is Step Two.
Step Two
The Problem: Our Separation
Volunteer: The Bible tells us that man has sinned against God. It also
says that sin separates us from God.
The Bible says . . . (Pick one or two verses)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Volunteer: Many have tried to have a relationship with God, but they have tried to do it their own
way. They try to be good, and give of their time and money to help others. Those are good things,
but they won’t erase the sin that separates us from God.
The Bible says . . . (Pick one or two verses)
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” Proverbs 14:12
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so
that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
Volunteer: Therefore, something other than us needs to bridge the gap between God and us.
Transition statement: So, let’s review. God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us,
but we make that impossible because of our sin. Something other than us needs to bridge the gap
between God and us. What God wants you to know is that He took care of it through His Son Jesus
Christ, and that brings us to Step Three.
Step Three
God’s Bridge: The Cross
Volunteer: God has provided a bridge for us to have a life with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus died on the Cross and rose from the grave. He paid the penalty for our sin and bridged the
gap between God and people. It is His death alone that can bridge the gap between God and us.
The Bible says . . . (Pick one or two verses)
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus
Christ.” 1 Timothy 2:5
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring
you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Transition Statement: God has provided a way for you to go to Heaven through Jesus Christ.
Jesus removed the sin problem by paying your penalty when He died on the cross. The way to
have your sins forgiven is by receiving Jesus Christ as your only Savior, and that’s Step Four.
Step Four
Your Response: Receive Christ
Volunteer: God has provided the bridge, and the way you walk across that bridge is by putting
your FAITH in Jesus Christ as your Savior and receiving Him by personal invitation.
Illustration: When you walk across a bridge, you are trusting the bridge to
support you. You’re trusting in the bridge completely to get you safely to the
other side. The same is true with Christ. He is the only bridge to God, and the
only way to cross over to God is to completely trust in Jesus Christ to carry you
safely to the other side.
The Bible says . . . (Pick one or two verses)
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God.” John 1:12
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’and believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not
as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Volunteer Close: You see, God has made it possible for you to be in a right relationship with Him
and to know for certain that if you were to die today, you would spend eternity with Him in heaven.
It is by Faith and FAITH alone in Jesus Christ.
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Sin
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:12 – “All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
With our sin being so obvious, we must also speak of the consequences of sin, which is death. Every sin has a bill attached to it that must be paid because nobody sins for free. Not just a physical death, but also a spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God.
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death…”
Substitution – The good news is that Christ took the bill for our sins and paid it Himself. As a result of God’s love and grace, He sent His Son (John 3:16) to pay the penalty for our sins. He died in our place so that we could be freed from sin’s penalty and bondage.
Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Faith – One does not receive this gift by going to work for God in any capacity. The gift of God’s forgiveness through His Son is made possible by His grace, and is received only by faith. If we could somehow earn God’s forgiveness, then Christ should never have died.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Titus 3:5 – “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy…”
Example from Need Him: https://needhim.org
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