The Gospel

What is the Gospel? The gospel is the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It encompasses all His teachings that are laid out in the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The gospel is what saves us from the reign and rule of sin in our lives. It gives us the freedom to obey Christ and to be free from sin. As a Christian, I can testify that the gospel has changed my me. Although I am still a sinner, Christ has forgiven me and given me His righteousness. I now have different desires. I have the desire to please Christ with my body, soul, and spirit. I have a desire to read God's Word and to see what God would have me to do.

For a long time we have had these four points of the gospel posted above our kitchen sink. They show us who God is, what man has become, what Christ has done for us, and how we should respond to Christ.

1. God is Holy!

Our God is a holy and awesome God. He is the creator of the universe and everything in it! (Genesis 1:1-31). He upholds all  things by his power, even our seemingly unimportant lives. Not only is God our creator He is also a holy God. (1 Samuel 2:2) As well as being perfect, He desires man to be perfect as well. God says in Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."  There is a problem though, in the beginning man sinned and rebelled against holy God. He is now separate from God but also guilty which brings us to,

2. Man is Guilty!

Every man has sinned grievously against God and His law. We are guilty and should be punished. God is our judge and we are criminals in His eyes. It is as if we have an immeasurable debt to pay and we are standing condemned to die unless we can pay it. We have to offer something to God so we can go free, but it is not something we can offer. The only way to pay for our sin is to be perfect! This we cannot attain. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are without hope for we can't pay our fine, we can never be perfect. Now, here is where God's plan for mankind becomes amazing.

3. Christ is Saviour!

2000 years ago, Holy God sent to us, perfect man. Jesus Christ, God's very own Son came to earth and took on human flesh. He lived with us for 33 years and pointed mankind to God. He lived no ordinary life here on earth, He lived an absolutely perfect life! He never sinned, and never disobeyed what God's will was for Him. While on earth, mankind killed Him! He came to save us and we killed Him on a cross! But, it does not end with Christ's death. Instead, three days later, Jesus rose from the grave, defeating death and the power of sin! 40 days later He ascended to the right hand of God the Father and now He intercedes on behalf of those who call upon His name.
Now He says to all men that...

4. Sinners must Repent!

Now there is hope for us as sinful man. When we stand guilty before God, as sinners condemned to die, we can point to Christ as our Saviour. He lived a perfect life for us and died for us so that we may be set free! But we must choose this day whom we will serve. We must repent and turn from our sin to Christ putting our trust in Him. God says that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness Romans 10:9-10 says, "That is you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in sanctification."

Blessings,
       Lucas C.