What is the Gospel?
To a man dying of thirst in the desert, a glass of water is good news.
To a person suffering a heart attack, the sound of the ambulance's siren is good news.
To an inmate on death row, taking that long walk toward the execution chamber, a phone call is good news.
We all need some good news.
A crime against the greatest good is the greatest of crimes, and since that is true, you and I, and the neighbor next door are all the greatest of criminals. We have all committed the greatest of crimes against God, who is the greatest good, because we have refused to serve him. We have all made the decision that we would rather serve ourselves, basically to do what we want to do with no regard for what God has said we should. We want to do what is right in our own eyes.
The greatest of crimes deserves the severest of penalties, and that, indeed, is what we find in regard to this whole issue of our relationship with God. In our system of jurisprudence here in the United States, the severest penalty that can be meted out is death. Regardless of where you might stand on the death penalty, I think all will agree that the death penalty is the ultimate penalty.
And the Bible is abundantly clear that our offenses against the eternal God are destined to be punished with the only penalty that will satisfy justice, and that is an eternal punishment.
But even here there is good news. To the man or woman who has offended God and is facing eternal punishment when he leaves this life, that good news is called the gospel. In fact, the word gospel means "good news."
So what is this good news? This gospel?
Again, it starts with God. Through the gospel God has provided a way in which a sinner (that is you and me) can escape this ultimate penalty, can be reconciled to him, and, instead of eternal punishment, can have what the Bible calls "eternal life."
Now, God can't just ignore sin. His nature makes that impossible. Sin must receive its due reward. God's justice must be satisfied. It's as if a missile has been ignited and is ready to launch, it cannot be aborted. What God did was to give the missile a new target, and that target was His Son, Jesus. Jesus willingly came to the earth and took a human nature so that he could make himself the target of God's righteous wrath against sin. When he hung on the cross he did so as the target of his Father's justice. And he bore the full brunt of God's punishment for sin for every single person who will avail himself/herself of the offer of forgiveness.
But there is even more.
God not only requires us to not do evil, but he requires us to do good, in the words of scripture, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . . and . . . love your neighbor as yourself." We not only owe a penalty for sinning, but we owe God complete and perfect obedience. We've already seen that we can't do that.
But, and here is more good news, Jesus did. In all his years on this earth, he never failed to do what God commanded him to do. He loved his father perfectly, and he loved his neighbor perfectly, without fail. And for those who will entrust their life, body and soul, to Christ, God reckons all of Jesus' righteousness as his own. He also gives each one of them his Holy Spirit, who dwells in them and produces in them the things that God desires.
So the good news is that we who are worthy of hell can be forgiven of all of our sin and considered by God as righteous, and therefore we can receive blessing from God and not punishment, heaven and not hell, eternal life and not eternal death, all by believing in his son.
That is really, really good news.
If you would like to learn more about this good news please use the form below to contact us today.
To a person suffering a heart attack, the sound of the ambulance's siren is good news.
To an inmate on death row, taking that long walk toward the execution chamber, a phone call is good news.
We all need some good news.
A crime against the greatest good is the greatest of crimes, and since that is true, you and I, and the neighbor next door are all the greatest of criminals. We have all committed the greatest of crimes against God, who is the greatest good, because we have refused to serve him. We have all made the decision that we would rather serve ourselves, basically to do what we want to do with no regard for what God has said we should. We want to do what is right in our own eyes.
The greatest of crimes deserves the severest of penalties, and that, indeed, is what we find in regard to this whole issue of our relationship with God. In our system of jurisprudence here in the United States, the severest penalty that can be meted out is death. Regardless of where you might stand on the death penalty, I think all will agree that the death penalty is the ultimate penalty.
And the Bible is abundantly clear that our offenses against the eternal God are destined to be punished with the only penalty that will satisfy justice, and that is an eternal punishment.
But even here there is good news. To the man or woman who has offended God and is facing eternal punishment when he leaves this life, that good news is called the gospel. In fact, the word gospel means "good news."
So what is this good news? This gospel?
Again, it starts with God. Through the gospel God has provided a way in which a sinner (that is you and me) can escape this ultimate penalty, can be reconciled to him, and, instead of eternal punishment, can have what the Bible calls "eternal life."
Now, God can't just ignore sin. His nature makes that impossible. Sin must receive its due reward. God's justice must be satisfied. It's as if a missile has been ignited and is ready to launch, it cannot be aborted. What God did was to give the missile a new target, and that target was His Son, Jesus. Jesus willingly came to the earth and took a human nature so that he could make himself the target of God's righteous wrath against sin. When he hung on the cross he did so as the target of his Father's justice. And he bore the full brunt of God's punishment for sin for every single person who will avail himself/herself of the offer of forgiveness.
But there is even more.
God not only requires us to not do evil, but he requires us to do good, in the words of scripture, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . . and . . . love your neighbor as yourself." We not only owe a penalty for sinning, but we owe God complete and perfect obedience. We've already seen that we can't do that.
But, and here is more good news, Jesus did. In all his years on this earth, he never failed to do what God commanded him to do. He loved his father perfectly, and he loved his neighbor perfectly, without fail. And for those who will entrust their life, body and soul, to Christ, God reckons all of Jesus' righteousness as his own. He also gives each one of them his Holy Spirit, who dwells in them and produces in them the things that God desires.
So the good news is that we who are worthy of hell can be forgiven of all of our sin and considered by God as righteous, and therefore we can receive blessing from God and not punishment, heaven and not hell, eternal life and not eternal death, all by believing in his son.
That is really, really good news.
If you would like to learn more about this good news please use the form below to contact us today.