The Gospel is a very specific message…
The word “Gospel” is a translation of the Greek word, “euangelion”, which occurs in the Bible approximately 100 times. The “eu-” means “good”, and “-angelion” means “message”. So, “Gospel” means “good message” or “good news”. It is a very specific message, and it is the chief message of the Bible. It is God’s chief message for mankind and God’s message to and for you.
Anybody can appreciate good news to some degree, but when good news is directly applicable to you, personally, it can transform your life. For instance, let’s say I told you the “good news” that I discovered a medicine that cured a deadly disease. Now, if you did not have this deadly disease (or if you were unaware that you had this disease), you still yet might appreciate this good news for the benefit it would provide to others. But how much more would you appreciate this good news if you knew you had this deadly disease and were about to die?!!
The Gospel applies directly to you…
Most people don’t perceive that they have a need for any “good news”, especially when it concerns anything to do with religion. This certainly applied to me, when I was an atheist. So, simply sharing with you what that good news is will simply fall by the way side. So, let me begin by explaining our need, which you may not perceive. Every one of us has this need – including you – even though most people are completely unaware of it. And since we all have this need, the Gospel applies to you directly.
God is holy, and commands us to be holy as He is holy…
God created this world. He created mankind. He created you. He can do anything He wants to with His creation. Who can oppose Him? If God were evil, and created mankind simply to torture mankind for “fun”, what could mankind do to stop God? Absolutely nothing.
Part of the good news is that God is not evil. He is good; He is righteous; He is holy. In fact, the chief characteristic of God is that He is holy. Everything about Him is holy. His love is holy. His justice is holy. His mercy is holy.
God created mankind in His own image, to be holy as He is holy. And we are commanded by God to be holy as He is holy, and therefore not to “sin“, lest we suffer the consequences that God determines as our Judge.
So, the question is: Are you holy as God is holy?
…that is, not “holier than most”, but as holy as God, Himself?
Within the well-known Ten Commandments, there are commands not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to lie, and not to covet. Perhaps you think yourself innocent of some or all of these. Perhaps other people have not witnessed you breaking these commandments, or perhaps you have escaped getting caught a time or two. But God sees all things, and you cannot escape His judgment.
Yet, a truth that is even more striking is this: God judges your heart, not simply your outward actions.
Consider these astonishing words spoken by Jesus:
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. -Matthew 5:21-22
And:
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. -Matthew 5:27-28
So, perhaps you will grant me that you are guilty of “murder of the heart”, “adultery of the heart”, that you have stolen, lied, or that you have coveted something or someone that was not yours. And perhaps you excuse yourself of these “minor” offenses. But in the sight of God, who is the Judge, no offense is minor. No sin can be simply dismissed without consequence. As a matter of fact, the Bible even states this:
Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. -James 2:10
Have you stumbled at just one point?
Surely, we all have:
We all stumble in many ways. -James 3:2
Even failing to do good when we ought to is a sin:
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. –James 4:17
Absolute perfection is required:
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. –Matthew 5:48
God does not grade on a curve. You are either holy as He is holy, or you are not. There is no in-between. God is holy and cannot sin; you are guilty of sin and accountable to God.
Hell is the just consequences of our sin…
Although the Day of Judgment and hell may be “more tolerable” for some than for others based on the seriousness of their sin, nevertheless the Bible is clear that all sinners will be judged, no matter how “small” the sinner estimates their own sin to be. God is just, and the punishment will match the crime. But the truth is, criminals tend to minimize the seriousness of their crimes. And never is this more true than in the case of our sins before God. And while people vehemently demand justice to be served to people that have harmed them or others, for what they consider to be “egregious sins”, they nearly always minimize their own sins and feel as though God would be unmerciful not to just simply overlook their “minor offenses”. But the truth is that God is just, and no sin can be simply overlooked by Him.
The Bible makes it clear what the judgment for sinners is. Despite the common myth of a “God of justice” in the so-called “Old Testament” and “God of mercy” in the so-called “New Testament”, no one in the Bible spoke more about hell than Jesus. And if you read any portion of the Bible, it is impossible to miss all the references to hell. Here are but a few verses:
The wages of sin is death. -Romans 6:23
As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. -Matthew 13:40-42
And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night. -Revelation 14:11
The desperate and seemingly hopelessness inevitability of hell…
So, you may finally concede and say, “What then?! Are you saying that everyone is going to go to hell?!”
At first glance, this would seem to be the case. This only demonstrates how desperate our need is. For, no one is perfect! We are all guilty. We have all sinned, and no one is holy as God. And the Bible makes this crystal clear in a vast number of passages, such as:
There is no one who does not sin. –1 Kings 8:46
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. –Ecclesiastes 7:20
There is no one righteous, not even one. -Romans 3:10
All have sinned. -Romans 3:23
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. -1 John 1:8
If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar. -1 John 1:10
And the apostles were equally astonished about these things and asked a very similar question to Jesus, 2000 years ago:
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” -Matthew 19:25
And, as history repeats itself, David asked a very similar question 3000 years ago:
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? -Psalm 130:3
The answer, of course, is no one. Not one of us could stand.
So, to return to my original analogy, “sin” is the deadly disease in which you are infected. All of mankind is infected. And hell, for all of us, is well-deserved and well-earned. Again, perhaps hell would be more tolerable for you than for others, but hell is hell. Hell is real; and even the “best hell” is horrific.
However, now that you perceive this need – your seemingly hopeless case (the seemingly hopeless case for all of mankind) – now comes the “good news” (i.e the Gospel). For now that you see that this is directly applicable to you, perhaps you will be willing and able to hear the message that can help you.
The Gospel: the good news and specific message from God to you…
The good news is that God has provided a way for His justice to be satisfied and for us to be “counted” as righteous and holy, in His sight. Therefore, instead of us being punished for our sins and going to hell, we may be freely forgiven by the Judge and granted eternal life. It is a gift from God; a gift that God was not obliged to give. He could have simply decided to punish us all in hell for our sins, as we all deserve – and justice would have been served. He would not be evil, unfair, or unjust if He were to have done so.
But God, as it happens, is a loving, merciful, and gracious God – to us, even us who have sinned against Him! And certainly, that is good news for us. The way that God provided (that is, His free gift to us) is as follows:
God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth. Jesus was Immanuel, which means “God with us”. He became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. He preached the Gospel, turned water into wine, healed the sick, walked on water, miraculously fed thousands, controlled the weather, and raised the dead. His teaching was authoritative and without fault.
He was tempted in every way we are tempted, yet He was without sin. He lived the perfect, holy, righteous life, fulfilling the law of God.
Then, He willingly laid down His life, being crucified on the cross.
Even though Jesus could have easily escaped death and crucifixion, this was His plan from the very beginning – even as He told His disciples long before He was betrayed, foretelling the future multiple times. His plan – God’s plan – was to demonstrate His love and justice in this most extraordinary manner: a sacrifice. The innocent dying for the guilty, to free the guilty, as:
Greater love has no one than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. -John 15:13
And how much more astounding is His love and mercy for us, in laying His life down for us, while we were yet sinners!
God cannot simply “overlook” your sins and forgive you, me, or anyone. For then, He would be shown to be unjust. Neither does a human judge let a serial killer go free, or else such a judge would be condemned by the victim’s families and others, who would cry out for justice to be served.
God has declared that the wages of sin is death. In other words, our sin has earned death. And if God is to be just (and He is just), then death must come.
However, the good news is that God provided an acceptable sacrifice, to mediate between us and Him. And this Mediator, this Sacrifice, is Jesus Christ. The word “Christ” is derived from Greek word “Khristos” which is derived from the Hebrew word “Masiah”, or “Messiah” – all meaning “Anointed One“. God anointed His Son, Jesus, born of the virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be the Mediator of the covenant of God to His people who would receive the promise of eternal life through faith in Him.
And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He suffered the wrath of God for our sins by way of crucifixion, and He died and was buried. This death served to satisfy the justice of God for our sins. After dying and being secured in a tomb, He physically rose from the dead to demonstrate that He had power over death and that His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. Later, He proved Himself to be alive again by showing Himself to many and then ascended to Heaven right before the eyes of witnesses. From there, as promised, He sent the Holy Spirit to live and dwell within those who believe, blessing them with the fruit thereof (love, joy, peace…) and giving them power to be witnesses for Him, sharing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And, yes, Jesus will come again to Judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
Therefore, salvation from sin is offered to all as a free gift from God by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no other way , as Jesus Himself declared:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. -John 14:6
Since God is Creator and Judge, and it is He who is the giver of this gift, there is no other way to heaven. For God has not provided another way. Outside of Christ, there is no hope. For in and of ourselves, we have all sinned. We cannot earn or merit salvation, and neither can we negate the sin we have committed. All of our “good deeds” and “righteous acts” and “religions” are not enough. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way. Again, as it is written:
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. -Acts 4:12
But though this way is narrow, it is by no means restrictive. The way is open to absolutely anybody and absolutely everybody, as it is written:
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. –Romans 10:13
In fact, God now commands all people everywhere to repent:
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. –Acts 17:30
And by reading these very words, your time of ignorance has now come to an end. God commands you to repent, even right now:
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. –2 Corinthians 6:2
Even the worst of sinners was saved to demonstrate that no one –including you – is beyond salvation because of their sins, as it is written:
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. -1 Timothy 1:15-16
Therefore, repent, cry out for mercy, confess your sins to God, and make your plea to Him for forgiveness – knowing this:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
And trust in, obey, and follow Jesus as your Lord, believing this Gospel in your heart – knowing this:
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9
This is the Gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other. May the Lord God open your eyes and heart to the truth of His Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, and lead you to repentance, give you strength and courage, and grant you eternal life in Him to the praise of His glory.
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