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The Gospel:
Is the
Good News
that
God Saves Sinners
Through
Jesus Christ's
Life, Death, and Resurrection.
The Gospel Has Good News and Bad News
The Bad News Of The Gospel
You Are Not as Good as You Think You Are
God created everything (Revelation 4:11). This means that we must obey Him. This means that we must worship Him. This means that He make the rules. Everything that God commands is good and just, but people disobey Him. We sin. Sinis not obeying God’s laws (1 John 3:4). In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul says, “None is righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10-12) and, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). No one does good, not even one person. Maybe you disagree with this. Maybe you think you are a good person. Please read these questions and try to honestly test whether you have obeyed God.God commands us not to lie. Have you ever told a lie, even a small one? God commands us not to steal. Have you ever stolen something, even something small? God commands us not to commit adultery. The Bible says that even looking at someone with lust makes you an adulterer at heart. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? God commands us to love others. Have you ever done something that wasn’t loving? God commands us to love Him (Matthew 22:37). Do you love God with everything you have? If we are honest, each of us must admit that we have sinned. We have not obeyed God. We are not good.
God Will Judge our Sin
God is good. This means that He must punish evil. God and evil are as opposed to one another as light and darkness(1 John 1:5-7). Often we see people getting away with awful things and wonder where justice is. God is giving people time to repent. He is not immediately righting every wrong. But he will. At the end of our lives, God will judge every evil deed. The Bible says, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” (Romans 1:18) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Our sin places us under the wrath and judgement of God. The terrifying truth is that the punishment for our sins is eternal suffering in a lake of fire. God is infinitely good. He is infinitely Holy (separate from evil). When we sin against someone so great, the punishment is equally great. This is truly bad news. But God has given good news, the Gospel.
The Good News of the Gospel
God is Rich in Mercy
Some of the most wonderful words in the Bible are “but God” (Ephesians 2:4). In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul teaches what we explained above. He uses different terms, but they are the same truths. He says we are spiritually dead because of our sin (Ephesians 2:1), and that this is the direction of the whole world (Ephesians 2:3-4). God’s anger at our evil and sin is so serious and permanent that he describes us as ‘children of wrath’. But then we see these wonderful words, “but God”.
(Ephesians 2:4-5): “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”.
God has an abundance of mercy. He has provided a way for us to not receive the punishment we deserve.
God Provided a Saviour
Because of His great mercy and love, God has provided a saviour for sinners. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God sent His son, Jesus, into the world as a man, to save us from our sins. Jesus lived a perfect life. He obeyed every one of God’s laws. He loved God and people perfectly. He is the only innocent and good person to have ever lived. Jesus had no guilt that God needed to punish Him for. This means he was able to be a sacrifice for the guilt of others. Jesus was crucified on a cross. He offered up His life as a sacrifice for our sins. On the cross, Jesus suffered the punishment we deserve. God’s anger against sin was poured out on Him so that anyone who asks for mercy will receive none of God’s anger. Instead they receive full forgiveness and eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:21). After being in the grave for 3 days, God raised Jesus from the dead. Death is a punishment for sin, and because Jesus paid the penalty for sins, death no longer has any hold on Him. Jesus’ resurrection proves that He is the son of God, and that His sacrifice paid the full price of our sins. This is the Good news.
What Must You Do?
I hope you have noticed that everything that is needed for us to be saved from the punishment that we deserve for our sins has been provided by God. God loved us when we rejected Him (1 John 4:10). God provided a substitute to be sacrificed in our place. God had mercy on sinners. We can do nothing to pay the debt we owe. We cannot earn acceptance with God. All we can do is repent and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. To repent means to feel very bad about your sin, to agree with the judgement that you deserve, to ask for mercy, and then to stop your sin and do what is righteous instead. Believe (have faith), in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as the only way you can be saved (John 14:6). Repent and believe (John 5:24). If you do that, God will forgive all of your wrongdoing and give you the gift of eternal life with Him (Romans 10:13). Please do not wait to be reconciled to God. You do not know when you will die. It could be in a week, today, an hour or even a minute (Hebrews 9:27) (Ecclesiastes 9:5). God has given you an opportunity to learn about sin and death, about guilt and forgiveness. He has said much more about it in the Bible, which is His Word to mankind. God has saved others from their sins too, and they are called His Church. Read the Bible to know God better, and join with His Church to worship Him with other forgiven sinners. Make right with God. Get yourself a Bible and read all of it. Find a church that preaches the Bible, and learn how to worship Jesus Christ.
The Bible Is God's Word.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
– Romans 1:16