The Gospel

To understand the good news of the gospel, we must start with the bad news. The Bible begins by

revealing God as the creator of all things. All that He created was “very good” including our first parents Adam and Eve. But Adam and Eve disobeyed Gods’ commandment (His law). God calls that disobedience “sin,” which is falling short of His standard of “goodness” or perfection. God prescribed the punishment for sin to be death.

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Gods’ moral laws are still the measure He uses for you and me to see our sin clearly. Those laws were written down by the prophet Moses and summarized in the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21. These laws are a measuring stick that proves we also fall short of being “perfect” according to Gods’ holy standard. The Bible says whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10) and deserves eternal punishment through death. It doesn’t matter how much we miss the mark of Gods’ perfection or holiness, it just matters that we are not perfectly holy and therefore cannot be in His presence. Despite our “goodness” or “badness” compared to each other, we have all followed our first parents Adam and Eve into disobedience. Paul put it this way in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And the punishment for that sin is death, or separation from God, the source of life (Romans 6:23). In order for us to go to heaven - God’s dwelling place and kingdom of life and light - sin must be somehow removed or paid for.

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This is where we turn to the “good news” which was first revealed to Adam and Eve. Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were deserving of both physical and spiritual death, He provided a substitute blood sacrifice to “cover” their sin. That sacrifice pointed toward a Deliverer to come in the future whose perfect blood sacrifice would not just cover our sin, but remove both the power and punishment of sin for those who repent and believe in Him as Lord and Savior.  That promised Deliverer is Jesus Christ. He is the perfect blood sacrifice promised in the Old Testament and fulfilled when He Himself, while being God, became a man here on earth, lived a perfect life, and then became our sin offering when He was crucified on a cross. The gospel, the “good news,” is that Jesus’ death on the cross was the only sin offering that could fulfill the Law’s righteous requirement (Romans 8:3–4; Hebrews 10:5–10), and becomes our salvation from the penalty of sin (eternal death) if we repent, believe God and accept His sacrifice for sin.  2nd Corinthians 5:21 is one of the clearest descriptions of that eternal payment for sin – it says: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

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This gospel, or ‘good news,’ is repeated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3–6: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living.” Notice, first, that Paul “received” the gospel and then “passed it on” - this is a divine message, not a man-made invention. Second, the gospel is “of first importance.” Everywhere the apostles went, they preached the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Third, the message of the gospel is accompanied by proofs: Christ died for our sins (proved by His crucifixion and burial), and He rose again (resurrection) the third day (proved by the eyewitnesses). Fourth, all this was done “according to the Scriptures.” The theme of the whole Bible is the salvation of mankind through Christ. The Bible is the gospel.

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The gospel is the good news that God loves the world enough to give His only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). The gospel is good news because our salvation and eternal life and home in heaven are guaranteed through Christ if we believe in Him (John 14:1–4). “He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4).

The gospel is good news when we understand that we do not (and cannot) earn our salvation; the work of salvation is complete, having been finished on the cross (John 19:30). Jesus is the satisfactory payment for our sins (1 John 2:2). The gospel is the good news that we, who were once enemies of God, have been reconciled (brought back into relationship with God) by the blood of Christ and adopted into the family of God (Romans 5:10; John 1:12). “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). The gospel is the good news that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

To reject the gospel, Gods only offer of salvation, is to hold onto the bad news and be eternally condemned. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17–18). God has given a doomed world good news: the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Jesus said Himself in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Paul wrote; “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:9-11).

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Do you believe this? Are you willing to change your mind about Christ and about your sin and your eternal soul?  Repentance is turning from loving your sin and hating Christ, to loving Christ and hating your sin. Believing in Christ is more than just believing who He is; it is embracing Him through faith, putting all the 'weight' of your trust in what He has done to save you.

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Repentance and faith can be understood as two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about your sin and about who Jesus is and what He has done. It doesn't matter whether you were simply ignorant of who Christ is, just uninterested in Him, or willfully rejecting Him, repentance involves recognizing that you have thought wrongly in the past and are now determined to think rightly in the future. The repentant person has a new way of thinking about God, about sin, about holiness, and about doing God’s will. True repentance is brought about by a “godly sorrow” over our past sin and rejection of Christ that “leads to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Pray for repentance. Pray for saving faith. God gives us both even though we don’t deserve them. The Bible calls that “grace.” You cannot earn Gods’ favor or earn your salvation; He has freely provided it all (Ephesians-2:8-9).

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And so here is the ultimate question: are you willing to change your mind about Christ, believe He died and rose again for your sins, recognize that He is indeed “Lord and Christ (the promised Deliverer from sin)” (Acts 2:36), and follow Him as your Savior through faith?

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Will you believe in the promise of Christ and accept His payment for your sin?  Ask Him to save you!  Tell Him you have changed your mind about sin and you want the forgiveness of sin that only He can provide. Tell Him you want to begin living a new eternal life now and follow Him forever more.

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Please use the Contact us link for more information on becoming a Christian or for what the next steps are that God calls you to as you live this new life in Christ.

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