What is the Gospel?
The word Gospel literally means, "good news." And the Gospel of God is the "good news" that He has made a way for sinful human beings, like us, to be brought into a life-giving and eternal relationship with Himself. This is the heart of what it means to be a Christian, to have received and believed the "good news" that God sent through His Son Jesus Christ.
Why do I need the Gospel?
Perhaps you are wondering why this should be important to you. When God created mankind, along with everything else (Genesis 1–2), He made man perfect in every way. As a result of that perfection, man was able to live in a right relationship with God, his Creator. However, it was not long before man first disobeyed the command of God (Genesis 3), the prerequisite for enduring life and right relationship to Him. As Creator, God maintains the sovereign right to set the rules for everything, especially for remaining in a positive relationship with Him. When Adam (the first man and father of all humanity) sinned, he severed himself from that life of fellowship with God and, as a result, suffered death as the consequence. Adam and all his descendants, by inheritance of his nature, stand under the judgment and wrath of God and are destined for death as the penalty (Romans 3:23).
Because God is holy, completely separate from sin, He cannot tolerate the presence of sin (Habakkuk 1:13). He alone is the standard by which He judges all men. He requires of all mankind complete righteousness, a holiness befitting His own (1 Peter 1:16). Since all men are inheritors of Adam's sinful nature and sin in our own ways, we are left without hope of being in a right relationship with God on our own (Romans 5:12).
This violation of God's holiness and perfect requirements leaves all sinners under the wrath and penalty for our sin (Jeremiah 30:23; Romans 1:18; 6:23). While many may object to this punishment for sin, it must be remembered that it is we who violated (and still violate) the commandments of the Lord of creation. We were brought into His world and violated His law for us. We do not make the rules, nor interpret the rules. That prerogative belongs to God alone.
Who is Jesus?
As an answer to our sin, God, in His vast grace and mercy, sent us His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself, being God of very God, took upon His deity our true humanity and came to earth to live among us (John 1:14). While here, Jesus perfectly obeyed every command and law of God the Father on our behalf (Matthew 5:17–20; Romans 8:3–4). What Adam, the first man, did not do, Jesus did with utter perfection. Jesus becomes the second Adam we so desperately need to reverse the curse of sin and lead us back to God (Romans 5:19). He lived and pleased God the Father in every way (John 8:29). The Bible even tells us that Jesus was tempted with sin and weakness, just as we are, yet He never yielded to that temptation and pleased His Father (Hebrews 4:15).
Having pleased the Father in everything, Jesus was found perfect and sinless, a perfect Law Keeper. The Father was pleased to the infinite degree with His Son (Matthew 3:17). Because Jesus is perfect before the Father, He is qualified to stand as a substitute for those who are not. God is holy and must punish sin. All sin. Our sin (Ephesians 5:6). However, because Jesus had no sin of His own that required payment, He was able to take the punishment for the sins of Adam and all his descendants who would believe this Good News (Romans 5:17). Jesus suffered the penalty for sin in our place on the Cross. God poured out all of the wrath reserved for us upon Jesus so that in believing the message of Jesus as God's Son and perfect substitute on our behalf, we have the penalty of our sin removed from us and placed on Jesus. In exchange, Jesus gives us His perfect righteousness that is required by God for life and fellowship with Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later, God raised His Son from the dead, establishing once and for all His acceptance of the Son's sacrifice for the sins of all who will believe in Him and His finished work (Romans 6:5-6; I Corinthians 15:3-4).Remember, God is holy and demands holiness (complete separation from sin) and righteousness (complete perfection and obedience) equivalent to His own. Through Jesus, our sin can be removed, and the required righteousness of God the Father credited to our account. What a great exchange God has provided for all who will believe this Gospel, this Good News!
How do we receive this gift?
One of the common experiences shared by all humanity is that our best efforts to live a righteous life fall completely short of God's required standard (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 8:8). Therefore, nothing we can do will earn us a right relationship to God. But the Good News of Jesus Christ tells us that we can be made right with the Father by accepting the work of His Son's life, death, and resurrection as true and sufficient for us. Simple faith in God's promises and the fulfillment of those promises in the Good News is what God requires (Hebrews 11:6). When we see and confess ourselves to be sinners and Jesus to be the answer, God is pleased (Romans 10:4, 8–11).
Are you willing to humble yourself and confess to God that you are a sinner in need of salvation that only He can provide? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Lord of all? Do you believe that He came and lived the perfect life that God requires on YOUR behalf? Do you believe that God the Father was satisfied to punish your sins on Jesus at the Cross? Do you believe that God the Father raised Jesus from the grave after three days as proof of His acceptance of Jesus' work for you, and that He lives today as your representative before the Father?
If you believe these things and desire to turn away from your sin and to Jesus that you might live because of Him, God has promised to hear your prayer of confession and trust in Him, and as a result, to forgive you and to exchange your sin for Christ's righteousness. The greatest promise in the world comes to us from God, Who cannot lie: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
If you believe in your heart and are willing to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and Savior, you too can know what it is to be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with the Heavenly Father and God of all!
