The Gospel
The “Gospel” literally means the “Good News” about God’s plan to save people from the rightful penalty of their sin against him. This grand plan of God is first introduced after the first man and woman rebelled against God’s clear command, but God promised that he would destroy the one who brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:15). When Jesus began preaching, the summary of his message was, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Gospel announced by Jesus is the good news for sinful people about how to be reconciled to their Creator God. Our information about this message comes directly from God’s word, the Bible.
God is the creator of the world and every individual, including you (Genesis 1:1). While we might be more comfortable thinking of a distant and impersonal force who started the creative process, the Bible describes God as eternal, self-existent, unchangeable, and personal. God exists in Trinity, with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This God made the world and everything in it by the word of his power, and he is the rightful authority over everything and everyone he made (Colossians 1:16, John 1:3). None of us are accidents or the result of random chance. This places all of us under his direct authority. God is called the judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25) who will hold you accountable for how you lived according to his standards. And the God who made us is holy, righteous, and morally perfect, so his standards match his character (Exodus 34:6-7).
From the beginning, humanity received God’s commands and decided to rebel and do what they wanted instead. This is called “sin.” Breaking God’s commands, not meeting his standards, and failing to do what is right is sin! Adam and Eve’s first sin makes us all guilty as law breakers against God which carried a severe punishment along with it: death. Because we sin against God, we deserve to die (Romans 3:23, 6:23). And every subsequent human being has decided to sin against God as well. God’s just punishment for sin is called “the Lake of Fire,” where people are judged according to what they did on earth for eternity (Revelation 20:12). The Bible says that we are all born “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) with no hope of changing that on our own. This is truly bad news for us! But it is essential you understand your situation before you will respond rightly to the good news!
Because of God’s great love for us, he made a plan to save us from the just punishment for our sin (Ephesians 2:4). He sent Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, God in the flesh, to save us (Colossians 2:8-9). Jesus was conceived and born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:20-21, Luke 1:31-35), then lived a perfectly righteous life (Matthew 3:15), and was tempted by sin but never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). Being the one righteous man without sin, he was uniquely qualified to be the only appropriate sacrifice for sinful people to the righteous God (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 3:18). Jesus willingly went to the place of his death (John 10:18) where he was falsely accused by his own people, then was humiliated, tortured, and crucified by the Roman authorities. All the while, God was crushing him for the sins of his people (Isaiah 53:10). Because Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice, God’s wrath for sin was satisfied (Hebrews 10:14). To prove it, God raised Jesus from the dead three days later (Luke 24, 1 Corinthians 15:4-7) to real physical life. He interacted with his disciples, appeared to over 500 people at once, and ascended back to heaven 40 days later (Acts 1:6-11).
Now he calls all people to respond to his actions with “repentance” from sins and “faith” in him (Acts 20:21). We call the people who rightly respond to the gospel message Christians, Disciples of Christ, Followers of Christ, or Believers.
“Repentance” means to turn around or to turn back or to change. If the gospel is God’s way to save people from their sins, he calls people to stop sinning and have a whole different orientation towards it (Isaiah 55:6-7). The examples of repentance in the Bible show us that a radical change in attitude and behavior is what we should expect (Luke 3:8-14, 13:1-5, 15:11-24, 19:8-10, 2 Corinthians 7:9-11). If you are going to be a follower of Jesus, it is required that you recognize him as Lord and that you would obey what he says (Luke 6:46).
“Faith” is the means by which we receive the salvation offered in the gospel (Ephesians 2:8). It is the transfer of one’s trust from themselves and their own good works to Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9-11). He lived a righteous life in your place and died a sacrificial death on the cross in your place, and he rose again for you (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). It is by faith that we are “justified” or declared righteous in God’s sight (Romans 3:22, 4:5, 4:22, 5:1), not by any works or achievement of the sinner (Ephesians 2:9, Galatians 2:16). This kind of living faith produces a serious change in our lives that is more than a kind of mental assent to the truthfulness of the facts of the gospel, even demons believe Jesus died on the cross (James 2:19). We would be wise to make sure that our faith in Christ is genuine so we don’t reach the judgment apart from Christ (Matthew 7:21-23).
Those who have received the gospel message with repentance from sin and faith in Christ are saved from the penalty of sin, even while they live! The Holy Spirit “regenerates” us (Titus 3:6), which means that he makes us “born again” (John 3:3-8). Thankfully, Jesus keeps us as his own to the very end (John 10:28-29) and he will finish the work of transformation he begins in us (Philippians 1:6). He will raise us to new eternal life one day (John 6:40) and we will inherit the kingdom of God along with Jesus. He is making a new earth for us to enjoy where everything will be good and right (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-7).
Have you understood the problem of your sin before a holy God? Have you called out on God for mercy for your sin? Have you turned from your lifestyle of sin in repentance? Have you looked to Christ as the only sufficient sacrifice for your sins? If not, today is the day to call out to God to be saved! (2 Corinthians 6:2)