What is the Gospel?
Perhaps you’ve heard this word before. The Gospel quite simply is good news.
Specifically, the Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s the good news that Jesus Christ came to this earth, he lived a perfect life, he died on the cross, and three days later he rose again. But why is this good news? What does this have to do with you? Why does any of this matter? In order to understand that, we have to go all the way back to the beginning.
God
Everything begins with God. The first sentence in the Bible is, “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” God created human beings as the capstone of creation. Humans were created in the image of God, to know God and be in relationship with him. But humans have rebelled against God. We have sinned.
Sin
Sin is quite simply anything that goes against the will of God. It is rebellion against our creator. Sin is the problem in the world and it is the problem in our own lives. And sin has consequences because God is perfectly just. The Bible teaches that God will punish all sin and the punishment for sin is eternal judgement. Because God is perfectly just, he cannot allow sin to go unpunished. But God is also merciful. And that is Good News.
Christ
God, in his mercy, looked upon this world in all of its sin and brokenness, and he did something about it. God sent his Son into this world to live a life of perfect obedience. Jesus never sinned. He never rebelled against God. And yet he died a horrific death on the cross. He did this not because of what he had done. Rather when he died on the cross, he took upon himself the sins of all who would believe. He stood in our place and took upon himself the punishment that we deserved, so that we could be forgiven and have his perfect life credited to us. But he didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave three days later and he is coming again, to make all things new and bring about a New Heaven and a New Earth, where God and his people will live in perfect peace for all of eternity.
You
How can you receive this free gift of forgiveness? How can you be reconciled to God and enjoy an eternal relationship with him? The answer is faith. The answer is to abandon your efforts to be right with God on your own power, and trust in Christ and what he did on the cross. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”