What is the Gospel?
The word gospel means “good news.” What is the good news? In order to understand what the good news is, you must first make sure you understand the bad news.
The Bad News
About 6,000 years ago God created the Universe, including Earth, all the plants and animals, and Adam and Eve, and He did it in six days. And everything was good. There was no suffering, no disease, and no death. But God gave Adam and Eve a choice:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
(Genesis 2:16-17)
But Adam and Eve ate of that tree. As a result, sin entered the Earth, Adam and Eve began to age and die, and the Earth started becoming a scary, violent place, as evil was now inherent in man. All who descend from Adam and Eve are sinful to this day.
The Bible uses this parable to describe what will happen on the Day of Judgement, when God judges the Earth:
“…[T]he kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
—Jesus (Matthew 13:47-50)
Which of the two groups will you be in? Here is a simple test to find out:
- Have you ever lied?
- Have you ever stolen anything?
- Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said if you even look at someone with lust, you've already committed adultery with them in your heart.
- Have you ever committed murder? Jesus said if you've even gotten unjustly angry at someone, you're a murderer at heart.
- Have you ever failed to honor your parents?
- Have you ever been more devoted to anything but God and thus committed idolatry?
Those are some of the Ten Commandments, and the Bible says everyone has broken them. You aren't a good person who just happens to sin sometimes. You sin because you are a bad person who is sinful to the core. If you really were a good person, you wouldn't sin, would you?
“...Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
—Jesus (Matthew 7:16-19)
If you die right now, you will go to Hell because you are sinful in the sight of God...unless you are somehow forgiven.
The Good News
God sent His Son Jesus to Earth, to be born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life and was arrested and crucified. This was according to God’s plan which He formulated before He ever created the Universe.
He made Jesus suffer and die in your place, for your sins; then He resurrected Jesus from the dead three days later. He did this so that He could make a way for us to be made righteous and just before Him, to the praise of the glory of His grace! If you repent (turn from your former life of sin) and cry out to God for the mercy that comes through Jesus, He will save you.
Links
Here are some other websites with more information on Jesus and how you can be forgiven of all your sins forever:
- The Gospel in 6 Minutes by John Piper
- How Can I Know God?
- The Gospel of Jesus Christ
- C. H. Spurgeon - All of Grace
Any Questions?
Feel free to ask me.
