What is the Gospel? Part One

What is the Gospel? It sounds like an easy question, but is it? If you were asked to define the Gospel, what would you say? The Bible warns us in Galatians chapter one, that there is but one Gospel, and to distort it or get it wrong, is a curse and can be damning to the one hearing it. Verse 8 says,” But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." The warning is so strong that it is repeated in verse 9, so it is imperative that we get the Gospel right. It truly is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. We cannot afford to get this wrong, because wrong belief will effect your eternal destiny. There is NOTHING more important, so what is the Gospel? First, let's look at what the Gospel is not. The Gospel is not works based (be or do enough good to earn it). It is not religion (being a member of a church) or mere belief (just believe and you will be saved). It is not if you become a Christian, all things in your life will become better. I believe that the Gospel today has been reduced down to a few Christian cliches that go something like this, "just repeat this prayer", "ask Jesus into your heart", " invite Jesus into your life", "make a decision for Jesus", "accept Jesus into your life", "make Christ Lord of your life", and " God has a wonderful plan for your life and if you just believe that you will be saved". Nowhere in the Bible will you find that any of those phrases are a means of salvation or the Gospel. I know what you are thinking. "Royce that sounds like semantics to me", or "you are just playing on words". I am not saying a person cannot come to faith in Christ by hearing those phrases. I am saying they are not the complete Gospel. I think R.C. Sproul said it best,

"People think they're preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, "you can have a purpose to your life", or that "you can have meaning to your life", or that "you can have a personal relationship with Jesus." All of those things are true, and they're all important, but they don't get to the heart of the Gospel."

What is the Gospel? Part Two

I can in no way answer all of the questions about the Gospel in this short Blog. Before we talk about the Gospel, I would like to suggest some books that might help you answer some of the questions that you might have about the Gospel. The books are The Gospel The Gospel According to Jesus , Faith Works (The Gospel According to the Apostles), and Hard to Believe, all by John MacArthur, and also, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer. The short answer to" What is the Gospel?" is this.

"God being completely Holy and righteous sent His only son Jesus born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit who was completely Holy and righteous to earth who lived a sinless life and died on the cross to make atonement for the sins of mankind. He died and rose again on the third day by the power of the Holy Spirit and ascended to the right hand of God. If we by God's grace through faith repent and believe that we shall be saved."

That is the Gospel or "the good news". Now how do we explain the Gospel to a lost world? I believe the Bible teaches us that salvation starts with God and understanding who God is. The Bible teaches that God is completely Holy, Just, and Sovereign. The requirements to be in His presence demands that we be Holy (I Peter 1:15-16) and perfect (Matthew 5:48). Complete holiness and perfection are God's righteous requirements to be in His presence(heaven). If that is God's standard, then how do we stack up? The Bible teaches that we all have sinned (Romans 3:23). We have all broken God's laws. We have all told a lie and have broken the ninth commandment. We have all not loved the Lord God with all of our hearts and broken the first commandment. The Bible says if we have broken one of the commandments, we are guilty of them all (James 2:10). We are all hell bound and hell deserving, but there is hope found in Ephesians 2:4, " But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved.)" Jesus Christ lived the perfect life and fulfilled God's Law and died to make atonement (payment for our sins). (2 Corinthians 5:21) The Bible teaches if we confess our sins, repent (turn away from our sinful ways), and trust and receive Jesus Christ in our life as Lord and Savior, we shall be saved. This, upon doing so, WILL produce fruits unto righteousness or evidence of the new birth (Matthew 3:8, Galatians 5:22-24). There is so much more that could be said about the Gospel. We may continue this conversation at a later date. I hope this helps you, as you study more about this Great Gospel God has given us.