What is the Gospel?
Sometimes as a pastor, I forget how many people don’t know the gospel, even Christians. They may have prayed to receive Christ or walked down an aisle at church, a conference, or a camp sometime, but if you were to ask them what the gospel was, they wouldn’t be able to explain it to you.
As a matter of fact, I was talking to someone a few weeks ago who was interested in pursuing a ministry leadership position. I asked them the question, “What is the gospel?” They couldn’t tell me.
That interaction got me thinking. If this person feels called to leadership in a church, but can’t explain the gospel, then how many other people don’t know the gospel?
So, today, I am going to share with you the simple gospel message according to Scripture.
GOSPEL MEANS GOOD NEWS
Gospel comes from the Greek word, euangelion. It is a compound word, made up of two words: “Eu” and “Angelion.” “Eu” means “good,” and “angelion” means “announcement.”
Gospel means “good news.” It is an announcement of the good news that Jesus came to rescue us from the dire situation that we were in.
However, if you don’t know that you need to be rescued, then this hardly seems like good news. In other words, in order to know how good the good news really is, you have to know how bad the bad news really is about our current situation.
Thank goodness the Bible doesn’t shy away from that. God shares the truth with us about how desperate of a situation that all of humanity finds ourselves in.
THE BAD NEWS
YOU ARE A SINNER
In Romans 3:23, the apostle Paul shares the truth that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. We’ve all messed up before. None of us are perfect. We make mistakes.
It’s more than that though. Scripture tells us that since we live in a fallen world, we are all born with a sinful nature (Romans 5:12). Having a sinful nature means that we will produce sins. At some point, we will lie, gossip, steal, cheat, etc. throughout our lives.
SIN BRINGS SPIRITUAL DEATH
The reason sin is such a big deal is because it separates us from God. God is holy and perfect. Heaven is a holy and perfect place.
We were created to be in a spiritual union with God, drawing from Him as our Source for living this life. Sin severed that union and caused spiritual death in our lives (Ephesians 2:1).
SIN LEAVES YOU STUCK
You can’t undo the situation you are in. No amount of good behavior or religious activity can make you perfect again.
You don’t need to learn how to behave better; you need to be resurrected from death to life!
You are stuck with no way out. The only hope is that you will be rescued.
THE GOOD NEWS
JESUS CAME TO RESCUE YOU FROM SIN
Jesus left the glory and riches of heaven and was born into this world to rescue you from your sin (Matthew 1:21). His primary mission was not to give some good advice about wise ways to live your life. He didn’t come to be a nice guy and help people out with their situations. He was nice, and He did help people; however, His primary mission was to rescue you from you because you were stuck in your sin.
JESUS DIED FOR YOU
To rescue you from your sin, Jesus had to pay the penalty for your sin. The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23, Hebrews 9:22). Jesus was born to die.
Jesus could pay for your sins because He was fully God and fully man. As God, He didn’t have any sin to pay for in His own life. As a human, He could represent you.
When Jesus went to the cross, He took all of your sins and all of the sins of humanity, and He placed them upon Himself (1 Peter 2:24) and died for them. Three days later, He was raised from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever.
JESUS OFFERS SALVATION AS A GIFT
Now that Jesus has accomplished what was necessary to remove the barrier between you and God, He offers salvation to you as a gift (Ephesians 2:8). As a gift, that means there is nothing you can do to earn it. However, just like any gift, you have to receive it.
If someone offers you a gift, but you don’t receive it from them, then it’s not really yours. You have to take it and open it for the gift to be in your possession.
The way you receive Jesus’ free gift of salvation is by faith (Eph. 2:8-9, John 3:16). When you place your faith in Jesus to be your Savior, He rescues you. He applies the forgiveness that He purchased for you on the cross to your life and reconciles you to God.
JESUS GIVES YOU NEW LIFE
The moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you (Ephesians 1:13) and you enter into a spiritual union with Jesus (Galatians 2:20).
You move from spiritual death to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:4). You are made into a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have a new heart and a new nature (Ezekiel 36:26) to live from in Christ.
The new life you receive from Jesus is eternal (John 3:16) and will be spent with Him in Heaven. You are already spiritually seated there now (Ephesians 2:6), and your body and soul will join Him in Heaven at His second coming (1 Corinthians 15).
THE SIMPLE GOSPEL MESSAGE
The simple gospel message then is that Jesus died on the cross to secure the forgiveness of your sins and offers salvation to you as a gift that you receive by faith. The moment you receive His salvation, you are completely forgiven, made into a new creation, and have eternal life.
This is the good news, and no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done, this gift is available to you. If you’ve never received it, then why not do it today? And if you have, then rejoice and walk in the new life you have in Christ.