The gospel is the good news of God’s saving actions on our behalf through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The word “gospel” literally means good news. The gospel is the good news about what God has done for us. However, in order for us to understand and appreciate the “good news” we must first accept the “bad news”.
In the gospel we discover that each of us has been alienated from God through failures to do what he requires of us.
God is the creator of all things and the loving ruler of the world. He made it. He owns it. He is the King. He does not rule like us. God’s rule always does what is best for His subjects. He is the perfect King anyone would like to be ruled by.
God also made us. He created us in His image to be like Him in many ways. He made us to rule, care for, be responsible for, and enjoy His world under His authority. He appointed us to basically supervise His creation, honoring and obeying His direction. God created us to know Him, love Him, enjoy Him, and worship Him in true fellowship under His good rule. (Genesis 1:27-28; Revelation 4:11; Romans 11:36; Isaiah 46:9; 2 Samuel 7:22).
God placed the first people He created (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden to care for it and keep His commands. However, although Adam and Eve had complete freedom to live in fellowship with God, they chose to rebel. As the first man, Adam was the representative for all human beings. So when Adam chose to rebel against God, his sin was catastrophic, not only for him and his wife, but also for us. When Adam fell, we all fell in him. Because of Adam’s sin, mankind’s fellowship with God was broken. Now all humans are born morally fallen. As a result of man’s sin, God righteously cursed the world over which we were to represent Him in. (Genesis 1-3; Romans 5:12, 18; Romans 8:20).
Just like Adam, we all have chosen to sin against a holy God. Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. Sin is basically rebellion against God. (1 John 3:4; Matthew 5:27-28; James 4:17; Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Psalm 51:4). We have all rejected God’s rule by trying to run life our own way without Him. We have refused His telling us what to do and how to live our lives. We have basically told God to “get lost – we want to live life our way”.
We have decided to find our enjoyment and satisfaction in other things besides God. We rather worship ourselves. We rather decide for ourselves what is right and wrong for us instead of letting God decide and declare what’s right and wrong for us. We are not God’s friends. We are not His children. From birth, all people are alienated from God, and hostile toward God. (Romans 1:21; Romans 3:9-12, 23; Colossians 1:21).
All of us in our natural sinful state apart from God are unwilling to, and thus incapable of, pleasing God or obeying God. Even the seemingly good things that we do are tainted by sin and need forgiveness. (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 8:7-8).
Because God is holy and just, he must bring justice for the sins each person has committed.
Since we are rebels against God, each of us deserves God’s wrath; i.e. God’s righteous judgment and punishment against us for the sins that we have committed against Him. (Habakkuk 1:13; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 59:2; Psalm 11:7; Isaiah 5:16; Psalm 7:11-12; Galatians 3:10; Ephesians 2:1-3).
God is infinitely higher than man. He is morally perfect and infinitely pure. God is not neutral toward sinners. His disposition toward them is fierce opposition. He hates their sin. God’s holiness and justice demands punishment for sin. God’s wrath against sinners is His holy and right response to sin. If God failed to punish sin then He would cease to be just. (Isaiah 46:9; Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Romans 1:18-32; John 3:36; Romans 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10; Hebrews 9:27; Romans 2:5-8).
God is not neutral toward sinners and sinners are not neutral toward God. We are radically opposed to one another; us in our willful rejection of a good God, and God in His righteous response to our rebellion against Him and His authority/rule, and His ways, and His will, and His Law.
Therefore man’s greatest dilemma is this: Man has rebelled against God; the holy, just, and loving creator King of the universe. God gives rebels what they ask for. So how can guilty sinners be saved from our sins and the righteous wrath of God? (Genesis 18:25; Proverbs 17:15). The answer is the gospel!
In God’s unexplainable love, he freely chose to send His Son Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and also fully man, to take the place of sinners and receive the justice of God for their sins when he died on a Cross.
God has not left us to suffer the consequences of our own foolish rebellion. While maintaining His holiness and justice, the Bible also affirms that God is love, and that in love He has answered man’s great dilemma. The good news is that even though we are deserving of eternal punishment, God, motivated by His infinite love, chose to take upon Himself in the person of His Son (Jesus Christ) the full measure of divine wrath. (1 John 4:7-10).
Because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, God can save us in such a way that, in one and the same act, He preserved His uncompromising holiness and expressed His fathomless love and mercy. (Romans 3:23-26).
Jesus is both fully God and fully man (John 1:1; Matthew 1:20-21; Hebrews 2:17; Philippians 2:5-8). He lived a perfect life of obedience and died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5; Hebrews 7:26).
On the cross, Jesus bore your sin, and suffered God’s wrath, in order to satisfy God’s justice. Jesus paid the penalty for every sin, ever committed, by every person who would ever be saved through Him. (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 9:28; Mark 10:45).
Because Jesus paid the debt we owed to God for our sins by taking the full force of God’s justice on Himself, forgiveness and pardon is now available to us. God now has a way to no longer hold us responsible to pay for our rebellion. All of our sins can be forgiven: past, present, and future (Colossians 2:13-14; Romans 5:1-11; Galatians 3:13).
Not only can God now forgive our sins, but He also can “justify” us; i.e. declare us righteous. “Justify” is a legal term. It speaks of a “right standing” before God. If we are in Christ, God considers the righteousness that Christ achieved as belonging to us. He reckons or imputes this “declaration of righteousness” to us as a free gift. This declaration is a once-for-all, permanent event in our lives that nothing can change. God can now look at us as if we were as righteous as Jesus Himself because we are connected to Jesus (Romans 4:4-8).
All of this is absolutely unmerited and undeserved by us. It is a tremendous and generous gift, from start to finish. God is in no way obligated to show kindness and mercy to anyone – least of all those who have rebelled against His rule.
We are completely unable to earn any merit from God; we stand condemned in the courtroom of God’s justice. Yet God resolves to extend mercy and favor to us in spite of our guilt! This is called grace. Grace refers to “God’s free unmerited favor”. It is God freely bestowing His goodness to people who deserve only punishment. Grace is the source of our salvation and is what characterizes what Christ has done for us. (Ephesians 2:4-5).
We could never earn our salvation or contribute anything to it. For all eternity, God alone will receive the glory and credit for graciously giving to us what we could never merit on our own. (Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:24).
Christ was then resurrected from the dead and now lives in heaven and is the Savior of all who will turn from their sins and place their trust in what Jesus did to reconcile them to God
Jesus is not dead, He’s alive! God raised Jesus from the dead as ruler of the world! God accepted Jesus’ life and death as payment in full for our sin to satisfy (appease, or propitiate) God’s justice, and He showed this by raising Him from the dead.
The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus’ death was an acceptable and effective sacrifice on our behalf. He rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, and He is alive in heaven at the right hand of God. (Romans 4:25; Hebrews 8:1).
Jesus is now what we were meant to be: God’s righteous ruler of the world. As God’s righteous ruler or King, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to King Jesus (note: The word “Christ” is not a last name, but rather a “title” referring to God’s anointed or chosen one who is to rule as savior and king; 2 Samuel 7:11-16). He is God’s judge of the world. One day Jesus Christ will return to His earth and call every person who ever lived, alive or dead, to account for all of their rebellion against God.
Until then, the Lord Jesus offers salvation for all who are called and who desire to come and freely receive forgiveness and pardon and to turn from their rebellion against and separation from God to friendship and fellowship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who receive the pardon of King Jesus need not fear the judgment since Jesus Christ has done all the work to make them acceptable to God. Thus, when God looks at His people, He lovingly only sees them as His beloved adopted children who are wearing the righteousness of King Jesus. (Acts 17:31; 1 Peter 1:3; Romans 3:23-26; Ephesians 1:3-14).
Those who repent and believe the gospel receive the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life.
The gospel calls for its hearers to respond. It leaves us with a decision to make. Are we going to continue in our rebellion against God and try to run our lives our own way without God? Of course the end result of this is God giving us what we ask for and deserve; eternal condemnation in Hell. Or, for those who see themselves as undeserving and helpless, there is an opportunity to turn back to God and appeal for mercy, trusting in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection (John 3:16, 36).
So there are basically two options: (1) Continue to reject God’s rule and live life your own way, and thus face God’s judgment and just condemnation, or (2) Submit your life to King Jesus and rely on His life, death and resurrection to be declared right with God, and thus receive forgiveness and eternal life.
What will you choose?
Jesus openly invites you to come to Him and receive underserved forgiveness (Matthew 11:28-29, John 1:12-13). God is rich in mercy and love (Psalm 86:5, 15). However you must come to Him on His terms.
God commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ alone in order to be saved. You can’t turn to God without turning from your sins. You can’t love sin and love God at the same time.
Repentance and faith is the attitude that God produces in the heart of a sinner that says “I can’t save myself, but Jesus Christ can, so I am going to stand on who He is and what He did for me to be saved.” (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, John 3:16).
Faith
The offer of salvation is to be received by faith (trust) alone. Faith is a complete simple dependence on Christ through trusting in who He is and what He did alone. Anything we “do” or bring of our own will only lead to God’s wrath and not His forgiveness since all we do is tainted with sin. The gospel is God’s promise and anyone who believes it receives it.
Believe the gospel is true. Believe Jesus is who He says he is. Believe you need to be rescued. Believe that Jesus can save you, and that He desires to save you, and that He will save you. Believe that Jesus’ work secured that rescue. Believe he rose from the dead and is alive, able and willing to save you. Reach out and grasp this as your only hope. Lean upon Him and entrust to Him your life. Always remember that it’s not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that saves you.
Repentance
Repentance is a change of mind and heart about sin and your commitment to sin. Repentance is seeing sin as wrong, and seeing yourself as a wretched sinner in need of Jesus. It’s a heart attitude that says, “I’m lost! I can’t save myself! I need a savior! I don’t want to sin anymore! I want to follow Jesus Christ instead! Help Lord. I surrender all to you! Save Me! Change Me!”
Repentance carries the idea of turning around or changing direction. Sin is rebelling against God and His rule over our life. To repent is to turn back to God and to embrace Him and His rule and authority over our life. Repentance is simply giving up. Stop fighting against God and stop attempting to gain your own salvation through your own works. Just give up and fall upon Christ.
Important Considerations
It’s vital to note that the call to repent of sins is not the same as stopping all sin in order to be saved. Rather repentance is the beginning of and a progressive ongoing move toward holiness. It’s about the direction of your lifestyle, not perfection of it. Forsaking and overcoming sin is a lifelong battle that takes place throughout our lives and won’t end until we see Jesus face to face.
Also, understand that repentance and faith does not earn you salvation. This is not what saves you. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is what saves you. Repentance and faith is simply (1) a responsive change God produces in your heart (2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 16:14), and (2) how God requires you come to Him to receive this righteousness (John 1:12).
True repentance and faith will grow deeper and continue throughout the rest of your life as you follow Christ. Repentance and faith starts as a seed before it blossoms. The fruit of genuine repentance and faith is that it produces good works, but good works are not the same thing as repentance and faith.
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8)
“repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance” (Acts 26:20)
Being saved from your sin also means that God will give you power to leave sin and grow in holiness and love. You are going to be empowered and called to leave your old life behind. Again, this isn’t what saves you. Changing your life is not what responding to the gospel is, but it is what being saved will result in. If you don’t want to follow Jesus and leave your sins, than you can’t be saved. Real repentance and faith manifests itself in a changed life, and if a person goes on living a life of unrepentant sin it should be a very grave indication that their profession may be false.
“They told the Indians only of Christ’s present glory and power. In this way they pretended to win them over to faith in Christ. By hiding from them what might discourage them they preached a false Christ. … Cursed is the person who encourages you to come to Christ and allows you to think that you can still indulge one sin in your life. I am not saying that when you come to Christ you will at once be absolutely and perfectly free from all sin. But in your heart and by a holy determination you must daily mortify all sin as grace enables you. Your choice of Christ must be wholehearted with no thought of turning back to some favourite sin. It is either God or the world, Christ or Satan, holiness or sin. They cannot be reconciled (2 Corinthians 6:15-18).” - John Owen
What Makes Our Response to the Gospel Possible?
Given what Scripture teaches about sin, it is not surprising that God must do a supernatural work in our hearts before we can be truly converted.
The Bible teaches that the natural condition of man is one of sinful hostility toward God. We are “dead in our sins”. This means that like a corps, in our natural condition we are willingly cold, lifeless, and unresponsive toward our Creator and His offer of salvation in the gospel and powerless to change ourselves. (Ephesians 2:1-3; John 3:19-20)
If this is the case of man than how do we respond to the gospel at all? It is here that the gracious nature of salvation becomes even more amazing: God acts, so that we can act.
A. Chosen in eternity past
God’s saving actions begin before creation when He chose us and determined that He would save us, not on account of any foreseen merit or virtue in us, but only because of His sovereign good pleasure. (Ephesians 1:4-6; Acts 13:48)
“”Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards.” I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” Charles Spurgeon
B. Effectively called
God’s choosing of us eventually results in His calling us and drawing us to Himself. This is often called “effective calling”. This happens as God invites and draws sinners to Himself by His Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel. While God is the one who draws us, this does not mean that a person is somehow saved apart from their own willing response to the gospel. Through the grace of God, the “divine summons” of God brings about the response it requires. (Romans 8:30; John 6:44)
C. Regenerated (“born again”) by the Spirit
When God calls us, He then changes our heart so that we can freely respond. This change is called regeneration. In regeneration, God acts secretly in which He imparts new spiritual life to us which anables us to willingly believe the gospel and repent of our sins. Sometimes this is what’s called being “born again”. (Colossians 2:13; John 3:3)
“Any gospel preaching that relies upon an act of the human will for the conversion of sinners has missed the mark. Any sinner who supposes that his will has the strength to do any good accompanying salvation is greatly deluded and far from the kingdom. We are cast back upon the regenerating work of the Spirit of the living GOD to make the tree good. Unless GOD does something in the sinner, unless GOD creates a clean heart and renews a right spirit within man, there is no hope of a saving change.” - Walter J. Chantry
D. We must act, but God gets the glory
God is responsible for all of the saving and so He gets all the credit. This does not mean that we do not play a role in it. We have genuine feelings and we have the real capability to think and make real choices that matter and that have real consequences. So we have a real response, but God is still responsible for all of it so that He can get all the credit and glory.
“What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand!” - George Whitefield
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:37 ESV
“For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”… For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” Romans 10:11, 13 ESV
“Behold, what manner of love is this, that Christ should be arraigned and we adorned, that the curse should be laid on His head and the crown set on ours.” - Thomas Watson
“To the question: what must I do to be saved? The old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon and peace; and exchanging one’s natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one’s heart by the Holy Ghost.” - J.I. Packer
Miles
