What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the good news of Salvation found in Jesus Christ alone

1-God Creates

God is Holy. In other words, He is set apart. He is separate, He is different, and there is nothing and no one like Him. (1 Samuel 2:2) In His holiness, the Lord is perfectly righteous and without a trace of sin (Psalm 11:7). Because of His holiness and the radiance of His glory, He cannot and does not dwell amongst sin (Habakkuk 1:13, Psalm 5:4). The eternal, sovereign Lord chose to create the universe, and mankind as part of that creation (Genesis 1). When God created mankind, He created them in His own likeness and image (Genesis 1:26-27). This does not mean that He created us to be the same as Him, but that He created mankind with a heart, a mind, a will, a soul, and with the capacity and purpose to have fellowship with God. God, being holy and sinless, requires that holiness as the standard. And so man, being made originally without sin, enjoyed perfect communion with God (Genesis 3:8).

2-We Sin

However, that unbridled communion and relationship with God was broken when Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Sin, being all disobedience to God’s law, or lack of obedience to it in thought, word, or deed (1 John 3:4). Because of their sin, they experienced both an eventual physical death and immediate spiritual death (Genesis 2:17). Through their actions, sin and death entered into the world and everything therein became corrupted by sin (Genesis 3:16-19). As “children” of Adam, all of mankind inherits his sin nature, is born into a state of inherent sinfulness and unbelief, and we are spiritually dead (Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3). The Bible teaches us that the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That includes physical death, but also an eternal enduring of the wrath of God in hell (Romans 2:5). God is a just God, which means sin must be punished– it must be held accountable. God executes justice towards sin in the form of His wrath (Romans 1:18). All humanity has sinned, and will continue to, there are none righteous (Romans 3:10, 23). Therefore, all of us are deserving of death and wrath for our offense against the Holy God. We cannot save ourselves or earn God’s forgiveness (Ephesians 2:8-9). Even our righteous deeds are as filthy rags before God, they cannot atone for our sin and the debt we owe (Isaiah 64:6). Left to our own devices, we are left without hope.

3-God Provides

Thankfully, God intervened. He sent His Son Jesus to the world in the form of a baby (Galatians 4:4, John 1:14). He was fully God, and yet fully man (Colossians 2:9, Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus went on to live a life that was morally perfect unto the law, without a spot of sin, perfectly righteous (1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5). Submitting himself to the will of the Father, he willingly went to the cross to die, after being tried and beaten (Luke 22:42). As he was on the cross, our sin was spiritually placed upon Him, and in His suffering, He received the wrath of God which that sin justly deserved (Isaiah 53:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22). In His suffering and dying, satisfying the wrath of God for our sin, Jesus sufficiently provided the atonement for that sin (Romans 5:8-9). His work on cross has provided a way for us to receive forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13-14). His death was a substitutionary sacrifice. In other words, Jesus stood in our place on that cross, He was our substitute (1 Peter 3:18, Galatians 3:13). He lived the life that we needed to live but couldn’t. And He died the death that we rightly deserved. And so our sin was laid upon Christ and applied to Him, and in exchange, Christ’s righteousness is then applied to us, and we receive the fruit of Christ’s sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24). A trading of places. After His death, He was buried. And on the third day, being Sunday, Jesus resurrected from the grave (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20). This validated His deity, and fulfilled God’s promises (Romans 1:4). And by it Christ laid our sins to rest, and displayed His power over hell, satan, sin, and death as He defeated it (Revelation 1:18, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 2:14, Isaiah 25:8). It is by His resurrection that new resurrected life is made possible (Romans 8:11, Romans 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:14, Philippians 3:10-11).

4-We Respond

This is all given to us freely and received by faith, apart from our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we genuinely trust in Christ’s atoning work on our behalf, His death and resurrection, and believe in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are given the benefits of what Christ earned. Our sin is pardoned, and we are declared justified before the Lord (Galatians 2:16, Romans 5:1,9, John 6:47). Christ’s righteousness is applied to us, and the Holy God accepts us as perfectly righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). Pardoned of sin, and accepted as righteous, we are reconciled back to God, as fellowship and relationship with Him is restored (Romans 5:10). All strictly earned upon the basis of Christ’s work, not ours. Our faith in Christ is made possible by the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration, whereby He gives us a new heart and we are born again and made spiritually alive (2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:3-8, Ephesians 2:5). This regeneration results in both our faith in Christ, and the repentance of our sin and unbelief . Repentance, being a conviction of sin, confession of it, and a turning away from it. Both faith and repentance are essential in salvation (Acts 3:19, Acts 2:38, Romans 2:4). Being justified and made righteous before God, and given a new heart and a new nature, saving faith will result in the believer’s obedience toward God and a pursuit of God’s will (Ezekiel 36:26-28, John 14:21, 1 John 5:3). This salvation brings many benefits to the believer. We receive eternal life in Christ, to experience the new heavens and new earth for eternity (John 3:16, 5:24, 1 John 2:25, 5:11). We are received as children of God through adoption, as we are are brought into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5, John 1:12-13, 14:18, Romans 8:14-16). We are made to be co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). We are given fellowship with God, to enjoy communion with Him, and experience true joy and satisfaction (Psalm 16:11, 37:4, 90:14, John 4:14, Philippians 4:4, 1 John 1:3). By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are sanctified, as the Lord conforms us more and more to the image of Christ (Hebrews 10:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Romans 8:30). We’ve been given freedom from sin (Romans 6:18). And this is all an act of unmerited grace, and it is our only hope.