What is the Gospel?

The Gospel simply means the “good news”. That is, the good news about Jesus Christ and what he came to do. Now why is this “good news” so important? Why should I even care about this good news? You should care because unfortunately, before the good news, there is a lot of bad news.

BAD NEWS 1

The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If you are a person who lives on this earth, you have sinned.

Now what does it mean that I have sinned? Well to sin is to miss the mark of God’s perfect standard. God is our creator, our sustainer, and our source of life. He created us to know, love and follow Him, and we would enjoy sweet communion with him forever. But instead of doing that, we reject, rebel and fall short of keeping his commands. This is what happened with the very first humans in the Garden of Eden and what happens with every person since.

If we just look at a few of the 10 commandments, we will see that we fall short in many areas. God says do not lie (Ex. 20:16), but we all have lied. God says do not misuse the name of the Lord (Ex. 20:7), we have all misused or misrepresented his name (that’s called blasphemy). God says do not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14), and Jesus further clarifies that to even lust after someone is to commit adultery (Matt. 5:28), but we have all lusted. So we see that just by looking at three of the commandments, we are liars, blasphemers and adulterers. The point is clear. We are all sinners. That is bad news. But it only gets worse.

BAD NEWS 2

God is a holy, good, and just God. That means that He will not tolerate any sin. Which is a good thing, because if we had a God who was fine with letting sin go unpunished, he would not be a God worth worshipping. But this means we will not go unpunished, because we are sinners.

The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). There is a cost to our sin. And it is death. But it is not just physical death, it is spiritual death. And it is spiritual separation from God, our creator. And it is an eternal separation, where we will bear the righteous and just wrath of God for all eternity in hell. That is a bad news. But it only gets worse.

BAD NEWS 3

Surely there must be a way that we can save ourselves from sin. Surely we can do enough good and God will let us into heaven instead. There must be some way I can make this right. Unfortunately, there is not. The Bible says that “all our works are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6). A good and just judge would never let someone free from their punishment because they did some good things to try and make up for their life of rebellion and lawlessness. There is no way for you to remove your sins apart from bearing them yourself. That is bad news. But praise be to God that it can get better.

GOOD NEWS

There is no way we can save ourselves, but God is able to save us. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life”. God, because of his great love, mercy, and grace, chose to do something about our sin, so that we might be saved from being punished for it.

He sent Jesus. Jesus, God in the flesh, willingly came to earth take on the form of a man, in which he lived a perfect life without sin, and he gave his life as a substitute in our place. Instead of us paying the penalty for our sin, Jesus did. He bore the wrath and justice of God in our place. Isaiah 53:5 says, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” It was the great exchange. The righteous for the unrighteous. The perfect Son of God for filthy rebellious sinners. We receive his righteousness, and he receives our sin. But it gets even better!

Jesus conquered sin and death, rose from the dead, and promises us the same. Instead of eternity in hell, he promises us eternity in heaven with him. And even before then, God gives us a new heart that no longer desires the way of sin, but desires to follow after God. And God gives us his Holy Spirit, to lead, guide, encourage, and strengthen us to live a life that seeks to know, love and follow God (remember! That was God’s plan all along from the beginning). The Bible says that God has blessed us with “every spiritual blessing” (Eph 1:3). And most magnificent part is that God gives this all to us solely by his grace.

HOW CAN I BE SAVED? The Bible says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Two things are required to be saved from you sins. First, we must believe in Christ. We place our faith in Jesus and his work on the cross. That in his death and resurrection, sin was dealt with and that we can be saved through his sacrifice.

Second, we must confess Jesus as Lord. Jesus becomes the Lord of our lives. That is, Jesus now becomes the one who rules us, nothing or no one else. The Bible calls us to repent (turn away) from our sin and our sinful lifestyle, and turn to Jesus as the ruler of our live. If you confess these things and truly believe them, you can be confident that you will be saved.

So what are you waiting for? You do not know when you appointed time to die is. Jesus says “I came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). You are lost. But Jesus can save you! Please come to Him and be forgiven of your sin today!