The Gospel

When people talk about the Gospel, they often point to the four books in the Bible that tell about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. These are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But what if I told you that the Gospel didn't just start with these four books? What if I told you that the good news of God rescuing us from the "domain of darkness and [transferring] us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Col. 1:13), actually started at the beginning of time? But in order to talk about the greatest news ever, we have to talk about the One who makes it so good.

God At the beginning of time, we meet the greatest character, the greatest person, and the greatest being of all eternity. He is God. Father, Son, and Spirit, the Trinity existed before time began in perfect love and communion. Scripture says that in the beginning, “the Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn. 1:1).

God is Creator. He made everything that you and I see. He made the light as well as the darkness (Gen. 1:1, Is. 45:7). He formed the universe by the very power of His breath. By His word, He spoke everything into existence. He is the immortal, eternal, and omnipotent God. By Him, through Him, and for Him all things are made (Col.1:15).

God is Holy. Set apart and lifted up, God reigns over all creation. High above anything we can ever see or imagine, the Holy One is seated in a throne room of perfect splendor. Before his very throne, seraphs cry out to one another with voices that shake the very foundation of heaven, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty and the earth is filled with His glory" (Is. 6). God's holiness also means that He is perfect. Righteous and sinless, God does no wrong. He makes no mistakes.

Man God, to the praise of the glory of his grace, decided to share His love and communion and created man.

Man is made in God's image.  God said "let us make man in our image and after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). We are created as thoughtful, emotional, and willful beings. Before we sinned, mankind was holy, moral, immortal, and perfect. Every human is created in the image of God. We mirror God in our character and in our likeness. But unfortunately, that perfect reflection of God's image was fractured and marred by sin.

Man is sinful. Before the Fall, man dwelt in perfect communion with God. In Genesis 3, Adam broke that communion by rebelling against God, breaking His commandment, and bringing sin and death to all men (Rom. 5:1). The reality is that you and I rebel against God as well. We choose the creature over the Creator. Idolaters and adulterers at heart, we experience death and separation from God because of our sins. We've all "fallen short of the glory of God" and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). And the only way that we can ever have the image of God and communion with God restored is through Jesus Christ alone.

Christ Jesus Christ provides the only way for you and I to once again have a relationship with God.

Christ died for our sins. As a man, Jesus lived a perfect life and died a death on a cross in order to pay a debt that no one else could pay. As God, Jesus gave that death infinite worth. Christ paid for all our sin as our propitiation and our Lamb. Because of Adam, sin entered the world, but through Christ, sin's wage has been satisfied. Truly, He is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn. 1:29).

Christ rose to conquer death. Without the resurrection, the Gospel wouldn't be good news. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (17). Christ rose to show His power over death, proving that He is indeed the Son of God. As we are united to Christ by faith in the Spirit, we are raised with Him by the love of God. We experience new life because of our resurrected life in Jesus. And just as Christ is seated at the right hand of God, so too are we seated with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2: 5-6).

Response If this is the first time you heard this good news or even if this is the hundredth time you've heard it, the Gospel of Christ commands you to respond. You must believe.  And you must obey.

Respond in faith. When the Philippian jailer understood the weight of His sin and the beauty of Jesus’ paying sin's wage for Him, He asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul gently commanded the jailer to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). No gimmicks. No priestly sacrifices or sacraments. Just believe. We are "saved by grace through faith," not of ourselves, but "it is a gift of God, not a result of works" (Eph. 2:8-9). And by this grace and faith, we also live for Christ. "Just as you have received Christ, so walk in Him" (Col. 2:6). Trust in the Lord and lean on Him as He gives you the strength to obey His word.

Respond in obedience. By God's grace and the new life with which He gives us, we "are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph. 2;10). With the power of the Gospel, we "set our minds on things above", putting off the "earthly things", and putting on Christ likeness (Col.3). No longer slaves to sin, we are free to please the One who loves us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). Do you see the beauty of Jesus and of His Gospel, my friend? If you do, then trust and obey.