What is the TRUE gospel? What MUST we believe in order to be SAVED?

Does the Bible ITSELF say that we MUST believe that Almighty God Himself died on the cross for the sins of the world?

Does the Bible ITSELF say that if we do NOT believe that Jesus is Almighty God in the flesh, then we cannot be saved? What does the Bible itself teach?

B-5 Ch1. What is the TRUE Gospel?

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Chapter 1.

What Exactly is the Gospel?

Now, if you were to ask this question “What EXACTLY is the gospel?” to 100 Christians, then you might get 100 different answers. For you see, Christians have been taught different things concerning what we must do to be saved.

And thus, the answers to these questions will range from “You must believe the gospel to be saved!”, all the way to an hour long detailed sermon explaining how to be saved.

So then, while it is true that the gospel is simply to BELIEVE it and you shall be saved, is not always easy to explain EXACTLY what that means to everyone in a few sentences. For you see, not everyone “gets it” or understands the WHOLE gospel when they hear it in a “condensed form” of just two or three sentences.

Let me share a story from my childhood to illustrate how FEW words do not always get the INTENDED message to to the one hearing the message to be understood by the hearer.

“My mom took me to church just to pray. No one else was there, just me and my mom. And after about five minutes, I was antsy and wanted something to do, I really wanted to go outside and play.

Anyway, my mom gave me a rosary to pray to occupy my time. I ask her how do I pray a rosary, because I did not know. She pointed to each bead on the rosary and explained, on this bead you say the Our Father. Then on each one of these ten beads you say the Hail Mary. And you repeat the same prayers in each section all the way around the rosary and you are done praying the rosary. She also told me to pray the rosary three times and then we will go home so you can play.

And I did what my mom said to do, concerning HOW to pray the rosary, and I came back in about five minutes saying that I was done praying the rosary three times just like she SAID.

And my mom said, do not lie to me! I said, I am not lying, I did EXACTLY as you SAID to do.

Then I explained how I prayed the rosary three times following her instructions on how to pray the rosary. I said, on this bead I said, “Our Father”, then on these ten beads I said, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, on each bead like you said. Then I repeated it five times all the way around to rosary like you said. And I did the same thing two more times EXACTLY like you SAID.

She laughed and said, NO, that is NOT “praying” the rosary. All you did was say the NAME of the prayers, you did not pray the WHOLE prayer. But I did EXACTLY what you SAID to do, and I would be done. And you said you would take me home to play. But I had to stay and pray the WHOLE prayer, which I had to read from a book in the church pew, because I did not know the words.”

So then, we, who have been Christians for a long time, might ASSUME what we would think that other people already know what the gospel is. And thus, some of us might say, in order to be saved you simply have to BELIEVE the gospel and confess out loud to God and to others what the Apostles said to SAY.

But, like me asking my mom, what is a rosary and how do I pray the rosary, they may ask WHAT is the gospel and WHAT do I CONFESS? And over the past 2000 years there has evolved many so-called “gospels”, which are NOT what the Bible ITSELF teaches us.

And in 2 Corinthians 11:3,4, the Apostle Paul WARNS us about there being another gospel and a different Jesus that is NOT the TRUTH of the gospel that he preached. Please notice that Paul warns us about a DIFFERENT Jesus in those other gospels that is NOT the TRUE Jesus that the Bible ITSELF teaches. In other words, there was another Jesus or a DIFFERENT Jesus than the Jesus that what Paul preached.

2 Corinthians 11:3,4.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be CORRUPTED from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:4. For if he that comes preaching ANOTHER Jesus, whom WE have NOT preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or ANOTHER gospel, which you have NOT accepted, you might well bear with him.”

Now, sadly, some Christians have ACCEPTED or believed another gospel, UNKNOWINGLY, which they sincerely believe with all their heart is the TRUE gospel. But, in truth, it is NOT the gospel that is PLAINLY taught in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament of the King James Version of the Bible.

The reason the I emphasized the King James Version is because there are some Christians who will NOT accept any other translation of the Bible as being the word of Almighty God. They only trust what they call the PURE 1611 King James AUTHORIZED Version of the Bible. And that is not a WISE thing to do.

I explain WHY it is dangerous to trust ONLY one Bible in Book Four called B-4 King James ONLY Controversy! But for now, let us continue this book.

So then, for my KJV only readers, all of the quotes in this first chapter will be taken for the KJV. But I will update the Old English to the English language of today for my readers who are not KJV only Christians.

Now, here in chapter 1 of Book 5, we will focus on the meaning of the word “gospel”. The word “gospel” simply means GOOD news, or good MESSAGE. And there are MANY good “messages” written in the New Testament.

For example, in Matthew 26:13, Jesus said THIS gospel shall be preached in all the world, and the context of the message he preached has nothing to do with how to be saved. It was simply a GOOD message about Mary washing his feet with her hair, something to learn that is good to apply to a godly life. But certainly not required to DO in order to be saved. How would it even be possible to wash the feet of Jesus today? So then, this good message is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Then, in Matthew 4:23, Jesus preaches the gospel of the KINGDOM, and some Christians get into a big controversy over which kingdom, the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven?

My point is that some Christians can be very dogmatic and even judgmental if “their” EXACT formula of WHAT the gospel of SALVATION is.

And more particularly, the controversies are over HOW to be saved. And if how you say that you were saved does not followed to the “letter” as to how they claim must be done to be saved, then, to THEM, you are not truly saved.

And thus, this controversy has caused great fear among some Christians wondering if they are TRULY saved.

So then, WHAT does the Bible ITSELF teach us as being the TRUTH of the gospel? In other words, what did the Apostles PREACH that the unsaved people HEARD that caused them to be SAVED?

In Acts 10:44, we learn that WHILE Peter was speaking THESE words, many Gentiles were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. So then, what were the words that Peter preach that WHILE he preached those words many Gentiles were saved?

That PARTICULAR gospel or good MESSAGE is found in Acts 10:34-43. I emphasis the word “particular” gospel, because each “MESSAGE” of the gospel is a GOOD message, but none of them are the WHOLE gospel. In other words, all of the messages of the gospel are conveyed, preached, and taught in different ways or different words.

But yet, during or right after each gospel message people were saved by BELIEVING what the HEARD. Let us take a closer look at Acts 10:34-44 so that you can see what I am saying.

The comments are mine to explain in more detail different points or meanings of the gospel.

Acts 10:34-44.

“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (In other words, the first meaning of the gospel is that the Son of God died on the cross for every single person in the whole world in every generation. So then, the only requirement to be eligible to be saved. is for you to be BORN as a human being, And if you are a human being, then it is God’s WILL for you to be saved, according to 1 Timothy 2:1-6 and 1 John 2:1-6)

Acts 10:35. But in every nation he that fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted with Him. (This is saying that no matter what you race, if you reverence the only true God and obey His way to walk in His righteousness, then God will accept you or receive you)

Acts 10:36. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

Acts 10:37. That word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; (In other words, Peter is preaching to godly people who have ALREADY love the only true God and who have ALREADY HEARD much of the Scriptures in the Old Testament. And they have even heard much of what John the Baptist taught, as well as what what Jesus taught. But, before this point in time, the gospel of salvation was ONLY preached to the Jews ALONE. So Peter, perceiving from God what to say, now realized that God desires ALL men to be saved. And thus, Peter summarizes part of the “core message” of the WHOLE gospel is the next few verses of Scripture, which again is NOT the WHOLE gospel. But rather, it is enough of the gospel to get THESE PARTICULAR Gentiles saved. For you see, they have already HEARD much of the gospel while it was being preached to the Jews ONLY. So pay attention to the DETAILS of the “core message” of the gospel. Again, this is only PART of the summarized condensed core message of the gospel)

Acts 10:38. How God ANOINTED Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was WITH him. (Notice that part of the core message of the gospel is that God ANOINTED His Son to not only preach the gospel but to LIVE the gospel. The meaning of being anointed means that God was WITH His Son, Jesus, by DWELLING in him. That is one of the meanings of the word “Christ”. And thus, Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus mean Jesus ANOINTED and ANOINTED Jesus. And in order to be saved, we must believe in our heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, according to Matthew 16:15-18)

Acts 10:39. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: (We can TRUST any and all translations of the Bible which say that the Apostles of Jesus were eyewitnesses to the crucifixion of Jesus. So, another part of the core message of the gospel is that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the sins of everyone in the whole world)

Acts 10:40. Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; (And what separate the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from every other religion in the world is the RESURRECTION of Jesus. On the morning that God resurrected the Son of man from the dead, Jesus ascended up into heaven to his God and Father. Then on that same day of his resurrection, the GLORIFIED Son of MAN< Jesus, descended back down to the earth to PROVE that God gave him ETERNAL LIFE never to die again. Jesus showed many infallible proofs for forty days that it what truly him that his God raised from the dead and gave him a new glorified immortal body of flesh and bones, according to Acts 1:3 and Luke 24:36-53)

Acts 10:41. Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. (So then, the TRUTH of the CORE Gospel message is what the EYEWITNESSES recorded for us in the New Testament, And thus, the WHOLE New Testament contains the WHOLE gospel of Jesus Christ. And the New Testament ALSO contains the FALSE gospels as well, warning us to NOT believe those other gospel that are NOT the TRUTH of the gospel that the Apostles preached)

Acts 10:42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ORDAINED of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. (Again, this is part of the CORE message of the gospel. In other words, if you TRULY BELIEVE that God ORDAINED the MAN, Jesus, to be the JUDGE of YOU, as to whether of not YOU, will receive eternal life or be cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed, then you will LISTEN and OBEY what Jesus taught his Apostles to preach and teach that is recorder in the New Testament)

Acts 10:43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his NAME whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. (And part of the gospel that some Christians have never been taught is that the Son of MAN, Jesus was given a NEW NAME after the cross and resurrection)

Acts 10:44. WHILE Peter yet spoke these words, (The words of the GOSPEL in verses 38-43) the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.”

But yet, in Acts 2:38, the Jews asked what they must DO to be saved. And Peter said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

And then, in Romans 10:13, the Apostle Paul says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But Jesus said that only those who endure unto the end shall be saved.

So then, WHICH message is the EXACT message that MUST be believed in order to be saved?

Well, to start with, Act 2:38 and Romans 10:13 were both taken OUT of their context. And, in truth, the verses of Scripture in Acts 10:38-43 were also taken out of their context as well. For you see, those particular Gentiles already HEARD a whole lot more of God’s word from others before Peter preached those FEW words of the TESTIMONY of Jesus.

The “testimony” of Jesus is life, death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus, who was a MAN that God ORDAINED. Not just any ordinary man that God randomly picked, but a man that God PROPHESIED into existence to be the EXACT image of His person. And then God would use that MAN to create MANY brethren in the IMAGE of His Son.

So then, a summarized “condensed” gospel message will briefly state some FACTS about Jesus, which the EYEWITNESSES of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. In other words, a brief gospel message like Acts 10:38-43, Romans 10:8-13, and Acts 2:22-38 is ENOUGH to get people save, but they are not the WHOLE gospel of Jesus Christ.

And thus, it is the not correctly understanding the REST of the gospel of Jesus Christ that leads to ERRORS on OTHER church doctrines. And those errors we will cover in the other chapters of this book.

But for now, let us take a look at the CORE message of the FACTS that are ENOUGH to get people INITIALLY saved or born-again to have the kingdom of God WITHIN them. Here is an example of the SIMPLICITY of the gospel.

For example, do you believe the following facts about Jesus that were prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures and fulfilled in the New Testament Scriptures?

In other words, if you have already heard or ready the prophecies about Jesus, then me simply asking you the question, “Do you BELIEVE those prophecies?” That is only a brief gospel message to those who have already HEARD those sermons about Jesus before.

So then, you are simply asking if the BELIEVE the Scriptures with all of their heart? If they say yes, then you get them to CONFESS what they believe with their mouth.

And if what the confess is in agreement with what the Scriptures actually teach, then they are believing and confessing the TRUTH of they gospel, which is ENOUGH to get them INITIALLY saved.

For now, “initially” being saved means that you have been forgiven of all your PAST sins. God creates in you a new heart and gives you a measure of His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. And thus, you are saved to do GOOD works.

Therefore, we must OVERCOME even as Jesus OVERCAME if we want to be judge WORTHY to be given eternal life in the world to come.

Here is a list of Scriptures teaching the major events in the life of Jesus, which are ENOUGH to get people INITIALLY saved.

And further on in the next chapter, I will condense this list down even more to show the CORE foundational beliefs that I personally believe should be believed from the heart and confessed with the mouth in order to be saved AND in order to RECEIVE eternal life in the world to come.

#1. The Virgin birth of the Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6,7, Isaiah 7:14, and Jeremiah 31:32 are all prophecies that prophesied that a child would created or formed in the womb of a woman and be born of a VIRGIN.

Do you believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of those prophecies that are described in great detail in Luke 1:26-56?

#2. The anointed one of God.

Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 42:1-6, Psalm 89:19-27, and many other prophecies all prophesied that Yahweh would ANOINT His servant whom He has chosen from among the people.

Do you believe that Jesus is the FULFILLMENT of those prophecies, according to Luke 4:1,14-21, Matthew 3:15-17, Acts 4:27, Acts 10:38, and many other passages of Scripture in the New Testament where Jesus is called CHRIST?

#3. The righteousness of the Messiah.

Isaiah 50:4-8, Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 53:6-9, Psalm 40:6-10, and Jeremiah 23:5,6 are prophecies of the Messiah walking in righteousness having no guile.

Do you believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies to live his life in OBEDIENCE to his God and Father, according to Philippians 2:8-11, Hebrews 4:14,15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:21-24, 1 John 3:2-6, and Revelation 3:21.

#4. The suffering and death to bear our sins.

Isaiah 53:3-12, Psalm 22:6-18, Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 50:6,7, Numbers 21:5-9, and Zechariah 12:10 are prophecies of the Messiah suffering a brutal death to bear the sins of the world.

Do you believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of being crucified on the cross for the sins of the world and for your sins, according to Acts 2:22-38, Acts 13:22-38, Matthew 27:34,35, Mark 15:27.28, and John 3:13,14.

#5. The resurrection to eternal life.

Jonah 1:14-17, Psalm 2:6-8, Psalm 16:10,11, Psalm 49:15, Psalm 86:13, Psalm 56:13, Psalm 73:24, Isaiah 58:8, and Psalm 8:1-6 are prophecies of the resurrection of Jesus and him being received into glory.

Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him eternal life, according to the prophecies and their fulfillment in the New Testament? Due to the huge number of verses, I will only quote one passage of Scripture.

John 5:26,27.

“For as the Father HAS life in Himself; so has He GIVEN to the Son to have life in himself;

John 5:27. And has GIVEN him authority to execute JUDGMENT also, BECAUSE he is the Son of MAN.”

#6. The ascension of Jesus to be BESIDE God.

Psalm 110:1-7, Psalm 2:6-8, Psalm 16:10,11, Psalm 49:15, Psalm 86:13, Psalm 56:13, Psalm 73:24, Isaiah 58:8, and Psalm 8:1-6, plus many more Scriptures, are the prophecies of Yahweh’s ANOINTED servant being GLORIFIED after the cross and resurrection to be MADE both Lord and Messiah.

Do you believe that God glorified the Son of MAN, Jesus, according to Acts 2:36, Mark 16:19, Acts 2:34-36, Ephesians 1:20-22, Hebrews 12:2, 1 Peter 3:22, 1 Corinthians 15:20-20, Hebrews 1:3-9, and Hebrews 10:12-13, plus many other verses of Scripture?

#7 The COMING of Jesus.

Isaiah 11:10-12, Micah 4:6-8, Psalms 2:1-12, and Isaiah 9:6,7 are just a FEW of the many prophecies of the coming of Jesus to rule as God’s King of kings and Lord of lords over the earth for 1000-years during the world to come.

Do you believe that Jesus is coming back to rule over the earth for 1000-years in the world to come? And do you believe that WE will rule and reign WITH Jesus over the earth for 1000-years during the world to come, according to Revelation 20:4-6, 1 Corinthians 6:2,3, Ephesians 1:3-21, Ephesians 2:6.7, Colossians 1:13-20, and Romans 8:17-19, plus many other verses of Scripture?

I encourage all of my readers to make a copy of these SEVEN core messages of the gospel of salvation. Then place that copy in your Bible to take out and TALK to your brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ.

ASK them if they truly BELIEVE these passages of Scriptures. Then ask them if they are being taught these passages of Scripture in their church denomination.

Ask them if THIS is the Jesus that they are being taught. Or are they being taught ANOTHER Jesus who does NOT fit or match that Jesus that is taught in the Scriptures.

In chapter 2 of Book 5, we will cover what ANOTHER Jesus truly means in the LIGHT of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. To continue reading chapter 2, please click on the link B-5 Ch2. Who is ANOTHER Jesus Part 1?

And if you have not yet read the other chapters of Book 5 What is the TRUE Gospel, here are the links to all of the chapters of Book 5 What is the TRUE Gospel?