What is the Gospel?

The gospel is the good news of the Bible. So what good news does the Bible have to tell us?

Who God Is

God is holy, morally pure, perfect, righteous and just.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. (Psalm 89:14)

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy. (Psalm 99:9)

Who Man Is

But man, because of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, are sinners from birth. “Sin” means to miss the mark. We miss the mark of God’s holy standards and we’re so corrupted by sin that the Bible says even our good works are filthy.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

Man Deserves Death

Herein lies our problem: We are separated from God because of our sin and when we die we will be separated from God for eternity in hell and we have no way within ourselves to make up the difference, to change, to earn a place with God in heaven. God’s justice demands a penalty for breaking His holy standards and that penalty is death. The Bible says our sin literally earns us death.

For the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a)

Jesus Christ Died on the Cross in Our Place

Thankfully, God loves us and didn’t leave us doomed with our sin problem. He stepped in and provided what we desperately needed: a Savior, someone to do what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Out of His love for us God sent His Son to live on earth as a sinless man to die for us sinners. Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully man, was uniquely qualified to pay our sin penalty. Jesus Christ died on the cross as our substitute and His death paid the penalty for all sin, for every human, for all time. He then rose from the dead so that we could be justified (declared righteous) before God. Our sin problem was taken care of by Christ on the cross and now God offers us eternal life as a gift.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23b)

How God Wants Man to Respond

How do we respond to Christ’s work? What do we do? God offers us eternal life on the basis of Jesus Christ’s death as a gift. God’s only qualification to receive this gift is to place your faith in what Christ has done for you. Faith means to rely on, to be persuaded so as to trust, to believe. That’s it. You do not need to pray a prayer, get baptized, turn from your sin, change your life, raise a hand, walk the aisle to the altar, make a public proclamation, keep the 10 Commandments, or ask Jesus into your heart. All we have to do is believe.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith. The word “grace” means an undeserved gift; an unmerited favor. We simply accept the gift of eternal life that God offers by believing. We can do nothing to deserve or earn eternal life because otherwise it wouldn’t be a gift!

And if by grace, then is is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. (Romans 11:6)

The Result is Guaranteed Eternal Life

Since we did nothing to earn it, once we have the gift of eternal life there is nothing we can do to lose it. It is eternal! Eternal life is guaranteed by God and you can have complete assurance of your salvation for the rest of your life. Why? Because all the sins you will ever commit have been paid for. And because God says so.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29)

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 5:24)

Choose to Trust in Jesus Christ Alone

Everyone has a choice to make: to either receive the gift of eternal life through believing or to reject it through unbelief. The only thing that would result in someone going to hell today is their rejection of Christ as Savior.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

What do you believe about Jesus Christ and His death on the cross? Place your trust in Jesus Christ! It’s that simple. Believe and be saved!

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)