Developing A Biblical World View

When God looks at the world, He sees sinful mankind in need of a Savior:

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Through belief in Jesus and repentance from sin, man can be reconciled with God and receive the gift of eternal life.*

SECOND: "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached.”

The second part of the master key to Scripture is that repentance and remission of sins must be preached in His name in all nations. This means believers have an important responsibility:

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. (Ezekiel 3:18-19)

Even though Jesus died for all mankind, everyone is not automatically saved from sin. Each person has a free will and must decide whether or not he will repent [turn from sin] and accept Jesus as Savior. In order to believe in Jesus and receive forgiveness of sin, people must first come to know about Him:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:13-14)

To preach repentance and remission of sins is called evangelizing or spreading the Gospel. The subject of evangelizing the world was a constant theme of Jesus' conversation with His followers after His resurrection from the dead. (See John 20:21; 21:15-17; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48.) When you are talking with someone for the last time, you tend to discuss that which is most important. The final words of Jesus before returning to Heaven concerned evangelizing:

But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

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• The Harvestime International Institute course, "Foundations of Faith,” provides more detail on repentance

and remission of sins.