One of the most important doctrines for all believers to master is the gospel, but it’s amazing how many Christians are unsure of how to explain it in simple, layman’s terms.
So let’s unpack the basics of the gospel and open up the opportunity to expand and expound on it. Then we can deliver it to a person who is ready to listen to what is the most important message of all time for all people.
Good news
The gospel is essentially the good news that Jesus Christ has done everything necessary to bring us all into an eternal relationship with God the Father as His sons and daughters. Here, the Apostle Paul gives a clear outline of the gospel.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
The essential part of this message is that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. He paid the price of our sin so that we could be redeemed–bought back from death into life with God.
He was resurrected. The resurrection of Christ is incredibly important to the good news, because it means that if He was raised, all those who follow Him can be raised also, because He is called the first born from the dead, meaning there must be others.
He gave His life for us
The fundamental truth of the gospel is that Jesus gave Himself willingly for us so that we could be saved from our sin. Everyone had fallen short of God’s best for our lives (Romans 3:23). He gave us two essential commandments that are summed up in scripture as loving God and loving people.
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40
This love is more than human love, or filial love, or even affectionate love. It is called, in koine Greek, the New Testament language, agapé love, the highest level of love, released from God to believers through the Holy Spirit, that is unconditional and full of grace, mercy and forgiveness. It is the ultimate love that comes from God, who is Love (1 John 4:15-16).
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
1 John 4:7-9
The Law and Prophets, referring to the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments handed down to Moses, are summed up in these two love commandments condensed by Jesus. If we break these love laws we sin, even under the New Testament, because everything in the kingdom is based on faith, hope and love.
Christians–those that are genuinely already saved by grace through faith–are able to regularly confess any sin that they commit after they have been saved, and ask God for forgiveness so He can restore their right standing with Him (1 John 1:9). We’ll look at this aspect of sin, forgiveness and right standing in more depth another episode.
The bottom line is that when we fail in love, we fail in life. This is the standard. The reality is that everyone missed the mark. We all broke covenant with God and with people at some time in our lives. Jesus raised the bar even higher than the Mosaic Law when He gave what is called the Sermon on the Mount.
The only way we would be able to live up to His standard would be a complete change of life, which could only come through a complete spiritual regeneration in each of us.
Substitute
No one qualified, so God sent His Word, who became flesh, who is Jesus, to be that person. He was the only one who ever walked this earth, under the Old Covenant, without sin. He lived under the Mosaic Law in Israel of the tribe of Judah and fulfilled all of its requirements instituted by God.
How did He do this? By fulfilling the two love commandments God instituted through Him. But this was only part of the assignment given Him.
As the innocent, sinless man, He was sent to carry the sins of the whole world at the cross. He was our substitute on that tree. That is incredible love–utterly selfless love. This is called the propitiation, the exchange–He took our place, took our punishment, took the price we had to pay for our own sin.
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10
He loved us long before we knew Him, and long before we returned that love. Amazingly, God loves us regardless of our sin or trespasses against Him. He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to draw us back to Him. It was our sin that separated us from God, because He is absolutely, perfectly holy and unrighteousness cannot stand before Him.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The key here is faith–believing in what God has done through Jesus to bring us back to Him. It is for everyone and anyone. The entry is through believing. It is God’s grace through faith that saves us.
Raised to life
Jesus died, and was buried, in a tomb, but death could not hold Him. It had no claim on Him. The wages of sin is death, but where there is no sin, death has no hold. God, through His Spirit, raised Him up. This is called the resurrection.
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Matthew 16:21
Jesus died on the cross. It was a place of cursing. It was what we deserved, but Jesus was sent to take our place so that we could be forgiven of our sin and redeemed back to God. He was buried, but, on the third day after His death, as He said, He was raised from the dead. This is the resurrection.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
His resurrection is our resurrection. Because He died and was buried and was raised for us, we too can be raised in Him.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26
That is such an important question. “Do you believe this?” Anyone who believes in Jesus, even if their body dies, they will live forever, albeit with a glorified body when we who believe are all raised to be with Him at the end of the age.
Keep going
The last important thing Paul mentions when talking about the gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15 above, is to ‘hold fast that word which I preached to you.’ Keep on keeping on. Stay in faith. Stay in the Word. Don’t let your faith be shipwrecked. Be steadfast.
The Christian life is a rewarding and fulfilling faith life. It is constant growth and development. None of us knows everything, but there’s joy in learning, and we all know something that we can pass on to those who have not come that far in their faith journey yet.
The gospel is our calling card for the lost, an invitation into eternal life, a way to overcome the challenges of life, and means to becoming part of a global community of like-minded believers.
In a nutshell
We needed a Saviour
We were all separated from God through sin. We all needed a Saviour, a Redeemer who would bring us back into God’s favour, which, through the work of Jesus’ cross, was offered in the form of His underserved grace.
We all fell short of His glory
You’re not alone in this. We had all fallen short of God’s love commands, short of His glory. None of us got through our lives without breaking one of God’s love commands, and we were separated from Him, His love, and His providence.
God sent His Word
God the Father sent His Word as the promised Seed to be born of a woman, to live as Jesus Christ who would ultimately live a sinless life, to be crucified on our behalf, to carry the punishment and weight of our combined sin at the cross, and to die our death at Calvary Hill.
Jesus was raised from death
Jesus died for us. He was buried, laid in a tomb for three days and three nights, but death had to release Him and He was raised from death to life at the resurrection. He was seen by many of His followers after He was raised.
Jesus ascended
He ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, and to send the Holy Spirit in His stead to be with us, in us, and upon us to convince us of our need, and to be with us as our Guide in the earth, until Jesus comes again for the Body of Christ at His second coming.
Free gift
God is offering the free gift of salvation to every man woman and child who will hear the message of the gospel. His grace is His loving favour towards us made possible by the sacrificial death and ultimate resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
We can’t earn this grace or salvation. We can’t purchase it, or work for it, or even deserve it by doing good deeds. It comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the work of the cross, and through His resurrection.
If you are not yet saved, but you accept this message, and believe in the hope that is given for a new life of forgiveness, mercy and grace, you can receive Jesus as Lord and be saved, given eternal life, and made part of the Body of Christ.
I’ve written a special free eBook that can be read in a few minutes and gives more information on this important message, including how to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It’s available online to you today.
