The word Gospel is used a lot in Christian circles. It is a core part of a relationship with Jesus. But why does the gospel matter so much? What makes it so special? These are important questions to understanding the gospel and the implications it has on our lives.
What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that God sent his Son, Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. Jesus was a random for our sins. Through his death on the cross, He defeated death. Now, we are able to enter into a relationship with God. We see the gospel play out in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament.
The gospel is the transformative message of what God did to save his people whom he loves. We are God’s creation but stuck in our sin and death. It is Jesus’ amazing sacrifice on the cross that saves us from death and brings us into life.
It is important to not only understand the gospel but also why it matters so much and what we are to do with the message of the gospel.
Gospel Definition
Gospel means good news, so you can expect the gospel to be good. It is the story of redemption through Jesus for mankind.
Our Sinful Nature
We as humans are not perfect, we see it everyday in the pain and suffering all around us.
Our sinful nature originated with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. They disobeyed which lead sin to enter the world.
When sin entered the world, we became people who innately had sinful desires. We are not bent to do the right thing, but the wrong thing.
By looking at current events, and everything happening around us we can see the repercussions of sin everywhere.
We all have a sinful nature, and because of this, we are condemned to death. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, we can’t become a better person in hopes of escaping judgment.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 6:23
God’s Plan of Redemption
God loves his people, but because of sin we have been distanced from God, we no longer live in harmony with him as Adan and Eve did in the garden.
God wants to redeem us and our redemption comes through a sacrifice.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The word is God, and he became flesh on earth in order to bring redemption for all mankind.
Jesus was 100% God, and 100% man, he experienced life as we do, but also was perfect and sinless. It says in Hebrews 4:15 that can sympathize with “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Because of Jesus’ perfect life, he was able to minister here on earth and give us instructions on how to live, but more than that while on earth Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Jesus died for our sins while on earth, he was accused and crucified although he was perfect, and when he did, he took on himself the sins of the world and the wrath of God.
God is just and does not let sins happen without punishment, but Jesus took that wrath on himself. He died in our place, we should have to experience that judgment, but we don’t have to because of his sacrifice.
Jesus died for us before we even accepted the sacrifice he made for us. He loved us and those who nailed Him on the cross.
Resurrection
Jesus did not stay dead, he rose from the dead, after three days. His grave was empty.
That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 15:4
As Jesus said during his earthly ministry, and as prophesied in the Old Testament, even as God had told Adam and Eve after sinning, death was defeated.
We can now be free from sin. The power of sin was defeated when Christ rose from the dead.
After Jesus rose from the grave over 500 people saw Jesus. Jesus appeared to the disciples and many others showing that what he said was true, that he would die but be raised after three days.
Our Response
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, what did he say? Go.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19,20
Jesus instructed them to go and share the Good News of the Gospel all over the world. The same command stands for us today.
Our salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. We are dead in our sins. It is by putting our faith and believing in Jesus, who came to earth lived a perfect life, and dies for our sins we can be saved.
We read about the missions work that takes place after Jesus’ ascension, Paul tells one-man
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.
-Acts 16:31
Our whole lives are changed when we accept the good news of the gospel and follow what it says in Matthew 28:19 and 20. We live on a mission and as it says in verse 20, “I am with you always.”
Our relationship with God may not be currently like the closeness Adam and Eve had while walking with God, but our relationship has been restored. When we accept the Good News of the Gospel and believe in Jesus we are now in a personal relationship with him.
He knows our hearts and our stories and we see again and again in scripture how God works in our lives, how he loves us, and how we are his children.
God’s love for mankind and his promise of redemption to Adam and Eve resulted in God sending his son Jesus to die so we can have eternal life. Jesus’ death on the cross was the exchange of a perfect man taking on the sins of the world and dying for us.
The Gospel is more than rules to follow or a book to read but a relationship with the living God. God is not a god who is legalistic but instead loves us and gives us grace and mercy.
God does not want us to sin, he wants us to walk in accordance with the scripture and to exemplify him in our lives. He loves us, has created us, and works in us every day, he is deserving of our glory.
The Gospel is Good News that needs to be shared.
Story Of The Gospel
The complete story of the Gospel still goes on today. Our acceptance into the family of God when we put our faith in God is a continuation of the blessing of the gospel.
It all started when God declared his plan for redemption to Adam and Eve after the fall when they disobeyed and sin entered the world.
God’s word the Bible tells the story of redemption. Again and again, before Jesus comes as a man to earth, we see promise and prophecy of how one day there will be a restoration of man to God.
Even now we have not seen this fully as sin is still in this world, we can fight against sin and be cleansed of sin because of Jesus Christ.
God promises Abraham that his descendants will be great and all family’s in the world will be blessed by his,
And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
-Genesis 26:4
We see God promise to many other descendants of Abraham throughout the Old Testament that their lineage would indeed establish God’s kingdom and be a blessing.
We also see many prophecies that tell of the coming of a Savior. One of the most notable is in Isaiah,
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
-Isaiah 53:5
This verse describes what Jesus did on the cross. He was pierced and crushed and because of that sacrifice, we are healed.
The Jewish nation before Jesus came were expectant, they wanted to be delivered, and although they were delivered in a way they did not expect, Jesus dealt with the ultimate problem of sin in our lives.
We get to read of Jesus’ life on earth and the sacrifice he made in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They each recount his life and death but all emphasize different parts of his earthly ministry and are written for different audiences of the day.
The authors of the Gospel shared the good news.
Why The Gospel Matters
The Gospel matters because without the saving grace of what Jesus did on the cross. We are dead in our sins without Jesus
Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:3-5
Scripture lets us know that without salvation we are dead in our sins. As it says in Ephesians we deserve wrath. We are sinful and not worthy at all of coming before a Holy God.
There are many who think that good works will get them to a better position with God,
All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
-Isaiah 64:6
We can try but we will never make it. What we even try to do good, our “righteous deeds” are still a mess they are not worthy and take us no closer to the holiness of God.
The Gospel matters because there is no there way to be saved except through faith in God.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
The Gospel is vital. We cannot ignore the message of the gospel, without it we are dead. Condemned to hell because our good works or our trust in anything else will get us nowhere.
When we are saved God works in us so we can escape from the bondage of sin, while we are in the flesh we will always have to war against the flesh, but because of our salvation, God works in us to cleanse us.
But even when we live in the spirit and no longer sin like we did in the flesh, it is still not our works that save us, it is our faith in Christ and only our faith in Christ.
The Gospel is our hope. we know that this sinful world we are living in is not the end.
The Gospel is freeing, because of the good news we are no longer under the yoke of slavery,
We are no longer slaves to sin.
-Romans 6:6
The Gospel is redemption, we are no longer defined by our sin and our sinful nature.
Through the Gospel, we are forgiven, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Life without the good news of the gospel is one without purpose. We see in the great commission God gives us a mission.
We are to spread the good news, the gospel, of the life and death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and because of his life, death and resurrection, we also can have life. He is deserving of our worship.
Sharing The Gospel
We are given the Great Commission in Matthew 28, so how do we practically apply this in our lives?
There are many different methods to share the gospel. You can use pictures, symbols, colors, stories, testimonies, but there are some things you should never leave out of your presentation of the gospel.
Jesus is the only way. As discussed earlier in this passage without Christ we are dead in our sins, and our own good works can not save us. God’s amazing work of redemption in this world through Jesus affects everyone, but not everyone knows it. It is only our faith in Jesus that saves us.
God demonstrated grace and truth when offering salvation. We should also treat others with grace and truth as we share the gospel.
We all are born with a sinful nature and because of what Jesus did on the cross he offers grace to everyone through faith.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Many who go to share the Gospels are called missionaries, but as Christians following God’s work we should all be missionaries whether that is near or far.
Inexcusably we are called to share the good news, and why would we want to do otherwise, this message is about going from death to life.
Sharing the gospel is very important, we want to communicate God’s love in an effective and powerful way to those who are hurting and lost. You can learn more and grow in this area by taking an online enrichment course called How to Share the Gospel.
It is a free course that goes over what the gospel is and isn’t, the theology of evangelism, and tools and techniques for sharing the Gospel.
The Gospel, God’s redemption for the world, is the story of God coming to earth as a man, suffering and dying on our behalf and rising again, and defeating death.
Because of this good news, our lives are completely changed, we no longer live as those who live in their sin. We overcome sin and death only through God and are brought into life everlasting because Jesus took the wrath and judgment for our sins.
Because of this message we are set free and are given the mission by God to worship him and to share this good news with those in the world that is dying and without hope.
The Gospel is Good News that matters because we no longer live in death, but in life everlasting.