WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

Introduction

The word gospel means “good news”. It is the good news that Jesus Christ, God became man and lived a perfect life, died on the Cross for our sins, was buried and rose again from the dead. So that whoever believes in him will have forgiveness of sins, eternal life and be reconciled to God. This is one way to summarize The Gospel. The person and the work of the Jesus Christ is at the heart of what the Gospel is. But for a fuller understanding of the Gospel, we will explore the Gospel under these four headings, God, Man, Christ and Response.

God

God created the world and everything in it (Genesis 1:1). God is all-powerful because he spoke the whole universe into existence. And everything he created was good (Genesis 1:31). God is the loving ruler of the world. He has a claim on the world and everything in it. Everything that he created is under his rule (Job 12:10). He gives us life and breath and everything, in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:25, 27).

God is worthy of our worship because he created us (Revelation 4:11). He is holy meaning he is set apart from his creation, set apart from sin, he is morally pure (1 John 1:5). And because of our sin God is angry with us (Romans 1:18 ff, Ephesians 2:3). Because of his wrath (his righteous anger against sin) he is going to punish sinners in hell for eternity (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, he forgives sins, but he will by no means clear the guilty, he is a righteous God (Exodus 34:6-7). He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, whom he has appointed (Acts 17:31).

Man

For the gospel to be good news there should be bad news to make the good news good. What is the bad news or backdrop that leads to this good news. Well, let us go back to Genesis, in the beginning God also created man in his own image and gave them dominion over all creation (Genesis 1:26-27). But he also gave them a command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they will surely die (Genesis 2:16-17). Now the word “die” here is primarily talking about a separation in the relationship between God and man, but eventually physical death also. And when they were tempted by the serpent in chapter 3, they both disobeyed God’s command and they were immediately cast out of God’s loving presence, the separation that God promised happened.

The cause for that separation was man’s disobedience, which is sin, man sinned against God. The word sin basically means choosing to do the opposite of what God commands. So, sin came into the world through Adam because he disobeyed God (Romans 5:12). Because Adam was a representative of every human being, we are all born in sin (Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:23). Every human being is naturally in a state of being dead in their sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1). This is true of every human being (from the most adorable baby girl to the most charming young man, to the most caring mother, to the most loving grandfather).

And so as human beings we are in danger bearing the punishment of the coming wrath of God. We are in despair, we are in a hopeless state, we are lost in utter darkness. This is real, this is not to be taken lightly. if you die in this state you are going to hell, to face God’s wrath for eternity (John 3: 17-18, 36, Romans 6:23).

But is there any hope at all??? Yes, there is HOPE! That is where the gospel comes in. You can be saved from your sin, you can be delivered from the coming wrath of God, through the good news of Jesus Christ.

Christ

Jesus Christ is God; the second person of the Trinity. He is eternal, meaning he always existed (John 1:1-18). He came into this world (John 1:14), through the virgin birth, conceived of the Holy Spirit. God become man, fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect life before God, he was righteous, meaning he perfectly kept the law of God (Romans 5:17-19), he fully obeyed God the father and he never sinned (Hebrews 4:14-15).

Not only did he live a perfect life, but he also died for the sins of all those who will believe in him. He is the perfect lamb of God who takes away our sins. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22), and so Jesus as he died on that Cross, he paid the price for our sins once and for all (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 10:10). On the cross he satisfied God’s wrath against sin, he paid the price that would free us from the bondage of sin (Romans 3:24-25). Through his death we can have eternal life (John 3:15-16). He also rose again from the dead, meaning he defeated death, he proved that he is indeed the son of God (he is God, John 5:18) as he was raised by God’s power (Acts 2:23-24, 10:40).

That is the good news. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, God became man and lived a perfect life, died on the Cross for our sins, was buried and rose again from the dead. So that we may have forgiveness of sins, eternal life and be reconciled to God (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).

Perhaps you are wondering, but how can I have access to this wonderful news? How can I experience forgiveness of my sins? how can I have eternal life and be reconciled to God? This brings us to our next point.

Response

The only way to have access to this good news is by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Those are the only two responses that the Bible demands from people to experience the gospel (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21).

Repentance is a change of mind and attitude against sin, it is a denouncing of sin, a turning away from sin. It is a U-turn from sin toward God, when you have repented you no longer respond the same way to sin, you are deeply hurt by it and you are sorrowful about it. The Bible commands us to repent in response to the Gospel (Matt 3:2, Acts 2:37-38).

The other response is to believe, which means to trust, to put your faith in or entrust yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is when you completely let go of yourself and put all your weight on Christ expecting that he will save you, and he will. When it comes to faith, it is important to note that, what matters is not the quality of your faith (how strong your faith is, for it is not primarily about your ability) but the object of your faith. The object of your faith should be Jesus Christ; he is the only one who can save you from your sins and grant you eternal life. Your faith should be grounded on who he is and what he has done. Again, the Bible commands us to believe in Christ in response to the Gospel (Romans 3:25, John 3:16).

Repentance and faith come together, they happen together, one cannot repent without believing. As you turn away in repentance from your sin in the same event you also turn towards Jesus in faith. Have you done this? Have you repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?

As you consider the gospel it is important for you to have a serious reflection on your relationship with God. There are only two ways in this. It is either you remain in your sin, and you ignore it, you die and go to hell and spend your whole eternity facing the wrath of God. Or you believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin and eternal life. This is the most powerful message in the whole universe and your response to it has eternal consequences. Ponder on it and make your decision and make it now (John 3:36, Romans 6:23).