What Is The Gospel Message?
The word "gospel" literally means, GOOD NEWS! In a world where the majority of people are not in fellowship with their creator, and on the wide highway that leads to a very real place called Hell, it is EXTREMELY GOOD NEWS that you can enjoy a close and fulfilling relationship with your creator, you can enjoy the rich and full life that Jesus paved the way for you to enjoy, and you can be absolutely confident that you are on the NARROW PATH!
"16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:16-17
The Good News
The Story Starts At The Beginning
To understand the Gospel story, it's important to take a brief look at the beginning. Whether we believe it or not, God created the heavens and the earth as well as human life. Man has tried for years to explain God's creative work away through all manor of philosophical hypotheses and un-proven, pseudo-scientific theories; however, each and every hypothesis and theory breaks down under scientific and logical scrutiny. The reality is that modern science is constantly uncovering new evidence suggesting that "some" creative force was likely crucial in the origin of the universe. The complexity and majesty of nature and the human anatomy demonstrates that we have not evolved from nothing, but were indeed created by the all-powerful, creative force of God. And God created us with one goal in mind, that we might have a deep and intimate relationship with Him and exist with Him forever.
NOTE: Due to the magnitude of the information needed for even the briefest of explanations here, if you desire more information on creation or the debunking of other evolutionary theories, we recommend the following books:
- The Case For a Creator - Lee Strobel
- Darwin's Doubt - Stephen C. Meyer
*** we'll list more books soon!
Our Mistakes Have Separated Us From God
God wants to be in a close relationship with every single one of His creations. Being the creator, the designer, and the one who understands us more than we understand ourselves, He laid out guidelines for life so that we might not hurt ourselves, hurt others, or ruin our relationship with Him. Whenever we ignore these guidelines, the Bible calls this SIN. It is our sin, that keeps us out of fellowship with God. God cannot be in fellowship with those who hurt themselves, hurt others, and live in defiance to their creator. Furthermore, God is a Holy God who is perfect and without fault. As a Holy and just God, He cannot be in fellowship with those who are unholy and imperfect (those who sin). As His word points out "How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14). In a nutshell, sin, has separated us from God.
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As our creator and the only one who has the right to judge or is qualified to judge His creation, He has issued consequences for our sin and our rebellion. God's word tells us in Romans 6, "23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." As our creator, He alone has the right to judge us and to determine the appropriate punishment for sin, and with this right and responsibility, He has sentenced all who engage in sin... to death and eternal separation from Him.
Everyone Has Sinned
Now at this point, you might be thinking to yourself that you are a pretty good person, and that you certainly don't engage in some of the evil things that "truly bad and evil people" engage in. You might think that as a "good" person, you may just squeak by on your own goodness, and that God will give you access to Heaven due to your good deeds and lack of bad deeds. Though you might indeed be "good" compared to the majority of the world's population, you are still a sinner when compared to the holiness of God and the standard that He must, as a Holy and just God, hold us to.
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Romans 3:23 tells us very clearly, "23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard." Again, in 1 John 1, we read, "8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth." According to our standards, we might be "good" people, but when compared to God's perfect standard, we fall woefully short. For example, you might say, "I've never committed adultery, but as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 5:28, "anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." You might say, "I have never murdered anyone", but as Jesus points out in Matthew 5:22, "... I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell." The bottom line here is that we can never be good enough to be in a relationship with a perfect and holy God.
So Now What?
So at this point, you might be asking, "Where's the good news?" So far, we've certainly painted somewhat of a negative image of where we all stand with God. He created us to have a relationship with Him, but now there seems to be a giant chasm between God and ALL of His creation, with no apparent way over. So, is everyone headed for Hell? Are we all doomed?
Well, from a human perspective, we are ALL indeed doomed and headed for a very real place called Hell. Due to our sins, we have all been sentenced to eternal separation from God. But THIS IS WHERE THE GOOD NEWS becomes... well.... GOOD NEWS!!!
The GOOD NEWS
While it is true that there is nothing that we can do to "earn" our way into Heaven, and without a real miracle, we are all on our way to Hell, God, even though we were still sinning and rebelling against Him and deserving of death and eternal separation from our creator, made a way for us to be "saved". Though we all deserve death, He, in His love for us, did not want to see us perish. Being a Holy and just God, He could not just let us off the hook, turn a blind eye to our behavior, and just let us come on in without our debt being paid. That wouldn't be holy at all and would be out of sync with His character.
To understand this, consider for a moment that you were the parent of a 3-year-old toddler. Imagine that one bright summer's day, you, several of your neighbors, and your 3-year-old were out in the front yard having a cookout together. Let's say your neighborhood is in a small subdivision of a larger city, and the street in front of your house was in a 25mph zone. Imagine that just as you set down to eat, a car comes down the street, swerving right and left, and so far over the speed limit that it approaches quicker than you can even react. Before you know it, the driver loses control, drives completely off the road into your yard and runs over your toddler, killing him instantly. Imagine now that as the police come onto the scene, they determine through a breathalyzer test that the driver was intoxicated WELL over the legal limit, and find an open container of methamphetamines in the front seat suggesting that they also likely played a part in the accident. Imagine the pain that you would feel. Imagine the desire for justice that would grip your heart. This driver did something dangerous and illegal, and as a result, killed your child. Certainly, you would agree that there is a debt that needs to be paid in this scenario?
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Now, let's fast forward to the trial. Imagine that you and all of your neighbors have truthfully testified as witnesses to the events leading to the tragedy, blood tests results were provided to the court proving that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamines, and policemen testified that the skid marks and path of the car suggested that the driver was driving in excess of 50mph in a 25mph zone. As the trial comes to a close and the verdict is given, you are likely pleased when the judge finds the driver guilty of driving under the influence, possession of an illegal substance, and vehicular manslaughter, and indicates that the typical punishment would be up to 20 years in prison. But then imagine the judge saying, "yes, we know this man is guilty, and he does deserve to be punished for the death of this innocent child, however, in light of the fact that we should be a loving and forgiving people, the court is going to set this man free without sentence. As a parent, would you not feel a sense of injustice? Wouldn't you, out of love for your child, demand that the debt caused by this criminal behavior, be paid?
This is the predicament in which God found Himself. On one hand, He loved us so much that He wanted to overlook our sins, but at the same time, He also loved those people who were hurt by our wrongdoings! He knew there was a debt that had to be paid if He was indeed just. He knew that we all deserved the death sentence, but He didn't want us to have to pay that price. So what did he do? He sent His one and only Son Jesus, to come to earth, live a perfect life (completely without sin), and then PAY THE PRICE FOR ALL OF OUR SINS, by taking the death sentence for us. Romans 5 says, “8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” God didn't want us to have to die, so he sent His son, Jesus, to die in our place, and he suffered a criminal's death on a cross.
"24 He (Jesus) personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
That is how much God loves us... that is how much God loves YOU! John 3:16 says, "16 For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." That kind of love is absolutely, off the charts AMAZING!!! Consider Romans 5:6-8 which says, "6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." God's love is AWESOME, UNPRECIDENTED, and truthfully, more than we can even fathom. The apostle Paul, when praying for the church in Ephesus, prayed, "18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." (Ephesians 3:18-19)
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So, in summation, what is the Good News? The good news is that even though we all deserve the death sentence and complete separation from our holy creator, God in His love and grace, sent His own son to die for us so we might have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him and live forever with Him in Heaven.
So What About That Narrow Path If All Debts Are Paid?
Though Jesus did die for our sins (and by the way, He proved He was God's son by rising again on the third day, and making His presence known to many witnesses who could testify openly of His resurrection), God is still not able to welcome, with open arms, those who are rebellious and blatantly disobedient to their creator. Jesus' sacrifice was not made to pay for blatant disobedience and rebelliousness, but rather our mistakes and shortcomings as we pursue a relationship with Him. For several thousand years, prior to Jesus' coming to earth, God proved to us that we could not earn our way to Heaven by our own efforts, even if we tried to love Him and live in obedience to Him. God gave His law to Moses (see the book of Exodus) and instructed us on how we could stay in His good grace's and remain in fellowship with Him; however, time and time again, we fell short, making mistake after mistake. Remember, His objective for creating us was to have a love relationship with us, a two-way relationship where He loves us, and we love Him. His salvation has always been, whether through the Law of Moses or through Jesus Christ, for those who love Him and live in obedience to Him and His guidelines.
With this in mind, God didn't send His son so He could simply cancel everyone's debt, regardless if they believe in Him, trust Him, love Him, or live in obedience to Him, He sent His son so that those who choose to enter into a relationship with Him, have the ability to be in fellowship with Him even though they drop the ball from time to time and fall short of His standard. This means we have a choice. We can choose to do our own thing, be our own boss, and live apart from God OR we can choose to enter into fellowship with our creator, living in obedience to Him to the full extent of our abilities, but with the confidence that we have our accidental sins, imperfections, and failures covered by the sacrifice Jesus made as payment on the cross.
What this all means is that we all have a choice to make. We can choose to deny our creator, rebel against His guidelines, and choose to be our own "god" OR we can choose to reciprocate the love He displayed to us by creating us and making a way for us to be in fellowship with Him regardless of our mistakes, by choosing to enter into a relationship where He is the Father, we are the children, and we obediently follow His guidelines for life and let Him be in charge. If we chose to be our own god, then, due to our rebellion, we will suffer the consequences of our unwillingness to bend to the will of the creator. If we choose to enter into a relationship with our creator, submit to His leadership, live according to His guidelines, and do the things that please Him, we will be adopted into His family, we will enjoy fellowship, guidance, encouragement, and blessings from Him while on earth, and we will share in Jesus' inheritance as God's son and live with Him for all eternity when we die, in a perfect place called Heaven where there is no sin, there is nothing to hurt us, and no reason for anxiety, depression, and any of the other emotional problems that plague us here on earth.
So how many chose the path to Heaven? Unfortunately, very few. Most people want what they want, they want it now, and they don't really want to live according to anyone's rules.... even the rules of the one that created them. In order to cope, they deny God's existence, pretend that His guidelines don't apply to them, play all sorts of mind games, or just openly rebel. Many just close their ears, cover their eyes, and live in ignorant bliss (for now), assuming that God will forgive them because they didn't know any better. These people are all on the wide road that leads to Hell. However, some, though in reality the numbers are few, choose to be obedient creations (obedient, yet not perfect). They chose to enter into a beautiful, amazing, and wildly rewarding relationship with the one who created them. They surrender to God's leadership, seek forgiveness for their mistakes, and attempt to live according the guidelines for life outlined in God's word (the Bible) and to please their Heavenly Father who has shown so much love to us. Though this path is narrow, it is COMPLETELY ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE!!!!!
"13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
Romans 10:13