The Gospel

The gospel is the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, Who died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all His enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe.

The good news is that those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will spend eternity with Him.

“…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; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10

God saves us through His Son, Jesus Christ. We are sinners, all of us, and we are separated from God because of our sin. We cannot fix this on our own. But God, by His power, provides the means of redemption for us in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Salvation cannot be obtained by the efforts (or works) of man. It is only by the power of God, by His grace through the gift of faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

When man fell (Genesis 3), it affected every part of man, of us – from our mind, our will, our emotions, our bodies, our spirituality – ALL of it! The fall corrupted all of God’s creation. We are literally hostile towards God.

“…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so…” Romans 8:7

God is holy and righteous, we are not. We are sinners and our sin condemns us to Hell, God’s wrath, for all eternity.

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Thankfully, in the gospel, God, in His mercy, provides a way for us to come to Him. He sent a substitute for us, Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin by His sacrifice on the cross – His death, burial, and resurrection.

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Our old nature died with Christ on that cross and was buried with Him. We are resurrected with Him to a new life.

There is no other gospel. Anything and everything else is in vain.

So what does all this mean? It means that we have hope. We have hope in the power of a living God to save us!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The gospel of Jesus Christ will not only save you from the wrath of God (Hell) but you are given a new nature with a changed heart, mind, will, emotions, attitude, desire, etc.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

This is the work of the Holy Spirit, to produce fruit in us by His power. Those who are saved by the power of God will always show the evidence of salvation by a changed life.

God calls everyone everywhere to repent and believe. Repent of your sin of unbelief and call on the Lord Jesus to be saved. Repent of your sins and seek His forgiveness.

“…and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel…'” Mark 1:15

”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

*Scripture quotations taken from the NASB ’95. Copyright by  The Lockman Foundation.