Christians claim that the message of the gospel is the most important message in history. Some of you reading this will agree with that statement. I certainly do. Yet I wonder do we have a clear understanding of the gospel? If this is the most essential message in history it is of utmost importance that we understand this message. I am afraid that most of us understand the basics but are not truly instructed in it's message. With that thought in mind I ask you to explore the depth of the gospel with me. Let's begin with a question. Please help me by taking a moment to answer no matter what your opinion is. What is the gospel?
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because we are enemies in our minds due to evil behavior, Christ has to reconcile us to God through his physical death on the cross and ressurection to present us "holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" if we "continue in our faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel". col 1:22-23a
The Gospel is this.
From the beginning of time, God has received glory from all of His creation. The heavens - which include the stars, the planets, comets and all other heavenly bodies. They all worship Him. Their majesty and splendor belong to Him solely. The entire universe is His and 'calls' Him its Creator. On earth, all of His creation "sings" praises to Him. The prairie grasses that sway in the wind do so in declaration of His glory. The morning dew glistening in a valley declares His glory. All of His creation on earth brings Him glory. God, in His infinite glory, gloried in Himself through all of His creation. But none of His creation had been so intimate or loved by Him, than when He created man. In doing this, God gloried in Himself most. God loved man so much, He created him in His own image! Initially, man brought glory to God as well.
But God gave man (whom had the God-given ability to understand such things) only one command to not disobey. Man broke this one single command. In an instant, mankind figuratively spit in God's face, rebelled and became God-hating. We became enemies of the one true God - our loving Creator. It was thus that sin entered into God's created earth. From that moment, every human that was born would be born under the curse of sin and would therefore be born into this world disconnected from fellowship with God. Yes, the trees would still reach into heavens majestically declaring God's glory, but man could no long declare God's glory for we despised Him and saw nothing lovely in Him. Man wanted absolutely nothing to do with God. It's not that we would just sin sometimes, it was now our nature! We could do nothing but sin.
But God had an eternal, loving plan though - since the beginning of time. God chose out of the human race a holy people through which God Himself would enter the human race (through His Son) and make atonement for the sins of the people of the world. God's Son (God in the flesh) came to earth as the awaited Messiah within the Jewish race - Jesus the Christ. Jesus Christ was the perfect, sinless Son of God. Unlike us, it is well documented that He committed no sin. This allowed him to be our "sin bearer" (He would bear the consequences for the sins of the entire world) - the One that would allow Himself to be beaten, tortured and crucified on a cross whereupon God could pour out all of his vengeful, holy wrath upon this perfect sacrificial Lamb - His earthly Son. After receiving all of God's punishment that had been ear-marked for us, Jesus Christ died an earthly death. And then He did what no other earthly man could have done. He rose from the dead three days later.
Jesus Christ did all this, in perfect submission and obedience to the Father, so that we may have access to the kingdom of God and to God Himself. He is the Bridge that gives us the opportunity to have eternal life. Life that is everlasting and does not end with our earthly death. But the key word is "opportunity". God has done it all through His Son. He only asks that we fully claim the gift of salvation. This gift of grace can be ours. This gift that we in no way deserved can be ours. How do we receive this gift? How do we enter into an eternal relationship with God Himself?
The Bible tells us that we are to "confess your sins" and to "believe in the Lord Jesus" and to "receive Him" and to "repent...turn from [your sins]" and obey him ("Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life."). We are to be childlike in this new faith that God gives us solely through His grace. We are to deny ourselves, seek Him and becomes slaves, bondservants of Jesus Christ. In short, we are to turn our back on everything we have come to know, love and worship in this world (money, ungodly relationships, lust, greed, slander, gossip, etc...) and give it all up for the glory of God. This, by the grace of God, is genuine regeneration and what Jesus meant by "you must be born again".
And in doing this, we are saved to Him to enjoy Him forever by bringing Him glory once again.
The Gospel is the story of God's loving hand reaching out and offering redemption to mankind - all for His glory once more.
Gospel
What is the gospel? There’s a good reason why you see John 3:16 displayed at football games, political rallies, by the side of the road, and even on bumper stickers! It is arguably the most succinct summation of the Gospel (or “good news”) in the entire Bible. The verse can be split into four parts (the idea is not original with me!) that spell out the most essential tenants of the gospel message. Let’s first take a look at the verse, and then we’ll examine its unique message for mankind. Note that I have numbered the four lines by the order we will examine them:
John 3:16:
1. “For God so loved the world,
3. that He gave his only Son,
4. that whoever believes in Him,
2. should not perish, but have eternal life.”
First (1), we must understand that God created mankind to be in a loving relationship with him and to glorify him. This was how it was meant to be from the very beginning, but a problem arose that separated us from God and his love for us. Mankind rebelled against God, breaking the relationship and fellowship we were created to have with God. The Bible gives this rebellion a name, sin, and tells us that all of mankind has entered into this sin. Romans 3:23 paints a grim picture: “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This sin can incorporate anything that violates the standard “of the glory of God” as Romans 3:23 states. Sin can be as overt as murder, rape, stealing, and cheating, or can take on more “innocuous” forms such as lying, sensual lust, desiring what someone else has, and pride. The Bible is clear, any sin, no matter how “big” or “small,” separates us from God. (2)But the news gets worse, which brings us to line two of John 3:16. This sin not only separates us from God now, but if the problem is not dealt with it leads to an eternal separation from God, in a place called hell. That is the bad news, the good news however quickly follows, for we learn that God does not want anyone to perish, “but have eternal life” in a place called heaven.
(3)Which leads us to the third line of John 3:16, where we learn that God gave his only Son to provide a way for us to escape the penalty of our sin. Most go through life trying to earn their way towards pleasing God and entering heaven. The Bible is clear however, that by our own “works” or good deeds we cannot undo the penalty that we have incurred against God because of our sin. Romans 3:20 tells us that “…by the works of the law [good deeds] no human being will be justified in his sight…” Left to our own devices we would be utterly devoid of hope, lost with no hope of reconciliation to our God. This however is precisely why God gave his only Son, to pay the penalty for our sin that we could not pay. Jesus (God’s Son) came to earth, took on the form of man, lived a sinless life, was crucified, buried, and rose from the grave to satisfy the debt that mankind had incurred. (4) Jesus’ work on the cross leads us to the final line of John 3:16, “whoever believes in Him.” The salvation and reconciliation that God provided for mankind through his Son can only be received as a gift, by believing in his Son Jesus, not just intellectually accenting, but by acknowledging that Jesus died for my sins personally, and committing to a life of him as my Lord.
Conversion then, is our “stake-in-the ground” if you will, but our journey does not end here. The Bible is clear that upon our conversion we have moved from the kingdom of this world, to the kingdom of heaven. As kingdom citizens (still living in this world) we must continue to live in light of the truth we have received for all our days. 1 John reminds us: “And now dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” As Christ’s disciples we are not only to remain in him, but out of what he has done for us we are to bear much fruit-fruit which both brings both glory to God and proves that we are his true disciples. Jesus, our example, reminded his disciples of this in John 15: “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
Perhaps the “greatest” part of the good news is what being a kingdom citizen (or Christian) means for us! Not only are we saved from eternity apart from God, we are reconciled to God and to relationship with Him. We have the privilege of calling the infinite God of the universe “father,” or perhaps even more literally translated “daddy.” No other religion in the world has anything even remotely resembling the intimacy with which Christians have with their God. Benefits are manifold, and cannot all be expounded upon here, but include: comforting, being made complete (or whole), receiving mercy, seeing God, healing, purpose, empowerment to bear the fruit required of us, and a promise from God that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6)!
The gospel is, "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." Rom. 1:16
The gospel is, "that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8
In my own words, and another quote from Romans, the gospel is the fact that while man's free will was so fallen that he was incapable of seeking after God and pleasing Him that God sent His only Son to take on the sins of the elect and receive their judgement, which is death, so that "God would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Rom. 3:26
PS. It was a pleasure meeting you and your family Steve. I look forward to getting to know you better in the future. We will be praying for your family as you expect and new one and the decisions you guys will be making. May God and His Word be your guide.
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