What is the Gospel?
The most important information to know as a believer in Christ is the Gospel. So what is it?
The Gospel means “Good News” and it refers to the fact that Jesus Christ has come. When the New Testament was written the word Gospel was a term that was used for a messenger that would come into a village and say that the victory had been one. When a city went out to war and the battle was going on they would send one person to run back to the city and let them know that they had won the battle and they were safe. He would run into the city gates and he would yell, “Gospel, Gospel!” or in other words, “Good News! Good News!” So what is the good news in this story?
First the Bad
Before there can be good news there has to be bad news. In the normal sense there was bad news of war. If that same messenger ran into a town that was not at war or didn’t know they were at war and yelled “Good News!” then they wouldn’t care at all. In the story that we all live in the bad news is that every person that has ever lived has “Sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23). This may not sound like bad news because you might say, “well EVERYONE has fallen short” so I’m not that bad. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 5:9). God is a Holy and Righteous and good judge, which means he can’t just let guilty people go free without punishment for their sin. (Ex. 34:7), and the Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. (Rom. 6:23) which means eternal punishment for sin in Hell. . . This is bad news…but here comes the good news
Then the Good
The good news is that even though we had sinned against God, even though we hated him and worked against him our entire lives, he still did something to save us from our sins. Listen to what the Bible says.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man cam to earth. He lived the life that every person was should have lived and then he died the death we all deserved to die. In that courtroom God cannot let the guilty go free without punishment so instead of us having to take the punishment stepped in to take our place. So, he died on the cross so that sinners might go free.
How Will You Respond?
So the questions should be at this point, well how can I take part in this good news? Jesus’s death isn’t effective for everyone. There will be people who do not take part in the great sacrifice that Jesus made. As we share this good news with people they must respond to this news in order to partake of it. One must repent. This means they must turn from their sins and turn to God. And they must believe in the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. This doesn’t just mean that we agree that Jesus died on the cross. It doesn’t even mean that we agree that he died for my sins. It is much more than that. Faith or belief is trusting our entire lives with Christ. It is handing over the reigns of our lives to our new King Jesus Christ.
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