Gospel Message

The Good News of the Gospel

One of the first men to spread the Good News of the Gospel was the Apostle Paul. He wrote:

‘Let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before.  You welcomed it then and you still stand firm in it.  It is the Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you-unless of course you believed something that was never true in the first place.  I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me.  Christ died for our sins, just as the scriptures said.  He was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the scriptures said.  He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve’  (1 Corinthians 15: 1-5 NLT)

So what is the gospel of good news?

The Greek word for ‘gospel’ is euangelion.  Originally, it meant ‘a reward for doing something good’; in time it came to mean ‘good news’

The gospel is simply but profoundly, the ‘death and resurrection of Jesus Christ’

The gospel includes both Jesus’ death and resurrection.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, he would be no different from any other religious leader; after all, every other religious leader died for something!

But, only Jesus validated His claims by coming back from the dead.

Paul writes: ‘Christ died for our sins’

So first of all we have Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross on our behalf.  In other words Christ took our punishment for us.

When God made the first humans Adam and Eve, He gave them a free will and they used that free will to turn against God.  Ever since, people have been alienated from God and as a consequence, society has been marred by evil, pain, hatred and tragedy.  This is called sin and it creates a great chasm between God and us.

But God loves His creation so much that He intervened in the person of Jesus Christ. As a man He came to earth to make it possible for us to be totally forgiven of our sin, so that we could be reconciled to Him and that we might live with Him forever as part of His universal family.

His very purpose for coming was to save sinners (Luke 19:10).

Jesus Christ, the God-man, was perfect, yet He died by crucifixion, a cruel form of death reserved for the worst of criminals.  The Bible assures us that Jesus submitted willingly to that death out of love for lost and wayward people like you and me; on the cross He suffered the punishment due to us for our selfishness and sin.

Paul again writes: ‘For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sins, so that we could be made right with God through Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5: 21 NLT)

The heart and core of the gospel is that ‘Christ died for our sins’, but the message of the gospel does not end with the cross.

The resurrection of Jesus is the second part of the gospel.

When Christ rose from the dead, it was God’s proclamation to all humankind that He accepted His Son’s atoning death on the cross and the Father was satisfied. The barrier of sin had been removed.

The resurrection was a proclamation that Christ had conquered sin and death and thereafter it guarantees  a life  with Him beyond the grave.

The resurrection also serves as further proof of Jesus’ identity.  He predicted He would come back to life after three days.

If there had been no resurrection, Christ would have been a liar.

His resurrection was undeniable evidence of His divine origin.

And it is also because Jesus Christ rose from the dead that all who put their trust in Him will also go on to live beyond their earthly lives. Eternal life and friendship with God is secured through the resurrection.

So as you can see….. the gospel really is GOOD NEWS.  The best news that a person can ever receive.

‘Religions are man’s search for God, the gospel is God’s search for man’ – E.Stanley Jones

‘The gospel is not a secret to be hoarded, but a story to be heralded.  Too many Christians are stuffing them selves with gospel blessings, while millions have never had a taste’ – Vance Hayner

‘The gospel to me is simply irresistible’ – Blaise Pascal

Note: Thanks also to David Matthew (www.davidmatthew.org.uk) and Charles Stanley (Handbook for Christian Living)