What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the "Good News". Good News? Good news of what? It's the good news of God’s redemption of sinful humanity through the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
A simple way to remember the gospel is by the four D's:
Design, Downfall, Deliverance, Decision
The Gospel demands an obedient response to all that God has done for humanity in Jesus Christ. This includes faith in God, trust in the work of Jesus Christ, the repenting of sin, being baptized, and becoming like Christ through discipleship.
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The book of Genesis tells us that God created us in His own image. We were created to be image bearers of God, to reflect His image, to reflect His glory and be with God forever,
But ..........
Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all"
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, lights.”
... that changed once man chose to go his own way. Man is no longer a reflector of God's image as it was in the original design. Man going his own way brought sin into the world. This sin creates a separation between man and God. Sin is simply an archery term for missing the mark. No matter how hard we try, how good we think we are, we will always miss the mark. What's the bullseye? God's glorious standard, the ten commandments. Even if we break one commandment, we fall short of God's standard. God is a righteous judge and to be righteous He must uphold His standard. This short coming, this sin, earns us wages. Wages are something we all have earned. It doesn't matter how small the sin is, it is still an offense against a righteous and holy God. These wages lead to death. Not just a physical death, but a spiritual death separated from God.
But God.....
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me...."
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
... So loved the world that He gave us a way to pay our wages, to pay for our sin. To bridge the separation between us and God. To once again be reflectors of a righteous and holy God. We can never do it on our own, no matter how hard we want to try. But God gave us a way. That way is through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life that whoever repents, turn from their old, wicked ways and believes in Him, the separation from God and man is bridged by Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the grave. This proves Jesus has the power over our sin and death and can now give us eternal life through His resurrection. Our King reigns today. We don’t worship a dead God. He is alive!
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me...."
Jesus tells us, He is the only way for us to be saved from our sins. There is no other way.
We have a decision to make.
John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 4:3 “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.””
If we decide to not repent, not obey and not put our trust in Jesus then the judgement of God, the wrath of God remains. Which means we don't just die physically, but spiritually and we are cast into hell. The Bible describes this as a fiery furnace, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal punishment separated from God.
But..........
...... If we do repent and put our faith in Jesus the Bible is clear, we are saved from God's judgement, God's wrath. Saved from hell. We become a new creation in Christ, restored to be image bearers of God once again. A new life with Jesus. On judgement day God will not see our sins, He will see His Son, because of the covering of Christ's blood. We will die a physical death. For it is appointed for all men to die, but we will not die a spiritual death, we will live eternally with God.
Scripture tells us, now is the day of salvation, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you will receive the Holy Spirit and you will be saved.
Memory Verses: John 3:36, Romans 10:9, Romans 4:3, Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, James 1:17, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, John 3:16, John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
