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What Is The Gospel?
What is soon obvious to all people is that we are going to die
after a span of life that may be short or long(ish), but we are
going to die! And interestingly this death is innate to the human
condition. The bible says we inherit death from Adam because Adam
sinned. It's something he brought on the whole human race
regardless of how we individually live.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men,
because all sinned.{in Adam}...
Our lives may be short(ish) but man has a yearning to live forever
and it is possible but not by our own efforts. Just in case anyone
might think that while Adam blew it they would be able to live a
sinless life we have the record of the nation of Israel which lived
under this option and no-one came up to the standard of living a
perfect life!
So how can we get
from this normal human state where we will die, to the state where we
will live forever? Someone had to pay the penalty for sin but only
a sinless person could do so! If ALL have sinned who can pay the
penalty? We're all due to die. Someone who has committed NO
sins is required and they have to volunteer to die, agreeing that
their death can be used to cover your sins and mine. If they were
sinless then by dying for us, ALL humanity could be saved!
Fortunately;
Jesus Christ, who was and is God came down to earth as a man,
lived a sinless life and voluntarily died for us so that we
might live. This offering on the part of our Lord Jesus Christ
led to the need for the Gospel message. People had to be told!
Gospel is an old
English word which comes from 'good spell' and spell means
tidings or news, so 'good tidings' or 'good news'. And the 'good
news' being referred to in the bible is very specific.
So what is it?
Is the good news a
call for us to change our ways and be better people so God will
let us live on? Is it some good advice for us to keep? Is it a
call to give up bad habits we may have and to develop good ones?
Is that the Gospel?
Notice what Paul
says...
1Co 15:1-4 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I
preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and
by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word 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 in accordance with the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures,
From this we can see
a few things... The Gospel is not good advice to be kept! It's
not a better government. It's not good laws to guide you to live
a better life! In fact the law was given to show people the need
for the Gospel,
as you'll see in a separate article!
No, the Gospel is good news to be believed.
You can do or have
all those things (better laws, good advice, etc) and not believe
the Gospel, and so you will never be saved! No, the 'Good News'
is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Good News is
that what you required in order to be able to live eternally has
been provided by Jesus Christ.
Let's look at some
of the different ways the Gospel is referred to in the bible.
The Gospel (There is
only one!) is 'The Gospel of God'.
It is not anything that man
has made. It's the creation of God. It came out of his love for
us. That is why he sent his son to die for us.
John 3:16 "For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life.” God gave his son as a ransom for us, a voluntary
sacrifice, so that we believing and trusting in him to be the
replacement for us in death, should not perish but go on to
everlasting life.
Rom 1:1-6 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle,
set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand
through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son,
who was descended from David according to the flesh and was
declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit
of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our
Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among
all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus
Christ.
The Gospel is called
'The Gospel of His Son'.
It is the good news about God's son.
Jesus did not just talk about the Gospel. He, Jesus is the
central theme of the Gospel.
Rom 1:9-12 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in
the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always
in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at
last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I
may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- that is,
that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both
yours and mine.
1 Cor. 1:23,24 "We preach Christ crucified...
the power of God, and the wisdom of God"
Paul preached about what Christ had done for us as his primary
message, because without believing and accepting this sacrifice
we have no hope!
The
Gospel is also called 'The Gospel of Jesus Christ'.
Mar 1:1-3 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send
my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the
voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the
Lord, make his paths straight,'"
What did Peter preach about in the first sermon after Christ's
death and resurrection? Jesus, who is the gospel.
Act 2:32-33 “This Jesus, God raised up.
And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the
heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the
Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just
received. That is what you see and hear.”
He
preached Jesus! Jesus has died for our sins, and further he has
been raised back up to eternal life. He is the proof of what God
will do for us. He has also poured out his Spirit on us to
empower us to live lives in keeping with our new eternal hope.
To
live righteously in other words!
The Gospel is "The
Gospel Of The Grace Of God".
We can add nothing to what
God does through Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel of Grace.
Unmerited pardon granted to us by God on the basis of the death
of his son Jesus for us. Grace freely given to us undeserving
sinners.
Grace which teaches us to say NO to all ungodly things.
Act 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as
precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the
ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to
the gospel of the grace of God.
Tit 2:11-13“For the grace of God
has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, educating us to deny
impiety and worldly desires and to live soberly, righteously, and
piously in the present age”
Christ died for us
and rose from the dead. That's the simple message of the Gospel.
Without his death as an atonement for our sins we would have no
hope. There's nothing we can add to that sacrifice that will
improve our standing before God. Jesus Christ is all.
1Co 15:1-4
(Message bible) “Friends, let me go over the Message with
you one final time--this Message that I proclaimed and that you
made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by
which your life has been saved. (I'm assuming, now, that your
belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you're in
this for good and holding fast.) The first thing I did was
place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that
the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it;
that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third
day, again exactly as Scripture says;”
Paul tells us quite
simply and clearly, this is the Gospel; - That Jesus died for our
sins, exactly as scripture said he would; That he was buried; and
that he rose again on the third day, exactly like the scripture
said. Simple, straightforward. Can anyone have difficulty in
understanding it? Unfortunately, yes!
Mark 16:15,16 And
he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the
gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized
will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Not all will accept
it. To some it's too simple. They want a part for themselves
perhaps. They feel that they have to do something tangible!
Surely God expects something of them in recompense for giving
them eternal life? But if you have to do something tangible for
it, is it a gift? If YOU have to do something tangible to be
saved, 'who's your savior'?
It's not about us and what we do. Sin has been dealt with totally by
Jesus alone and we have to believe and accept what he has done for us.
Then sin will no longer be an issue. Believing in Jesus and living
after the spirit will become our focus. We will have no consciousness
of sin. {See
Forgive Us Our Sins}
The Gospel is
very simple and it's all about Jesus. But even so some just don't
see it! Paul says in (2 Cor. 4:3),
2 cor 4:3 "If our Gospel is hid, it
is hidden to those that are lost".
But Jesus came to
save the
lost. He said -
"The time is fulfilled and the
Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel!"
Only to that extent
do you have to do anything to gain eternal life. You have to
believe. Having believed and accepted Jesus Christ as your
savior, you'll then embark on a new life. A lifetime of listening
to Jesus and following him. But that is your natural follow-up to
having already received salvation and eternal life.
1Jn 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been
born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has
been born of him.
Amen.
Attlee.
For more on
salvation Click Here.
For more on why what we do
counts Click Here.
For more on which law
for Christians Click Here.
For the list of articles
Click Here.
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