The Gospel

If this blog never comes to fruition and I'm able to only leave a small mark on the internet it would be this: everyone is a sinner, all sinners deserve death for falling short of the holiness of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God was sacrificed in your place, died in your place, He was raised from the dead in perfection, His holiness has made you holy when He bore your sins and now you can dwell eternally with God in His perfection.

The gospel means good news, the way of salvation. A critical step in understanding salvation is recognizing why we need it. Romans 3:23 says it bluntly “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Even if you’re a so-called “good person” you are filthy in your sin compared to God. A single white lie or even one evil thought separates us from the holiness of God. Isaiah 59:2 emulates this: “...your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you…”. But why is separation from God a big deal? We must understand who God is in order to appreciate what He has done so that we may be united with Him. The bible is bursting with awe inspiring descriptions of God and His holiness:

• Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

• 1 Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

• Psalm 96:5-9 “the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!”

• Exodus 15:11 ”Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders!”

  
  

There is no wonder we are unworthy to be in His presence without atonement. Every sin can be traced back to pride. We think we know best and we give ourselves what we want. The Law of the Old Testament was impossibly difficult to uphold intentionally, it was a means to show the people of God that perfection is unattainable. We all deserve condemnation. The sooner we recognize our sin, the sooner we can appreciate the splendor of our Saviour. 

• Romans 5:20 → Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

• 1 Timothy 1:8-9 → Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane.

  
  

Sin is punishable by death. Romans 6:23 captures both the death sentence and God’s redemption:  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. We cannot change our nature and we constantly are sinning, Christ is the solution. The incredible power of God’s love is shown in 1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”. God loves us enough to save us, rather than leave us to our condemnation, and He has had a plan since the beginning. 

• Ephesians 1:4 → …even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…

• 2 Timothy 1:9 → ... [God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…

  
  

In the Old Testament the interim solution was the routine sacrifice of animals, namely a spotless lamb, to make the people right before God. In the New Testament we see the initiation of the New Covenant between God and the people. Jesus Christ was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, making Him both God and Man, “he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). He lived a perfect life, even perfect by God’s standards. He was killed in his innocence. Being both Man and God he simultaneously died in our place as a man and died in perfection as God. In John 1:29 Jesus is announced by John the Baptist with this awesome title: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Three days after his death Jesus was raised to life by God and defeated death forever! “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24).  We are now bought and paid for, able to dwell with Christ forever, if we recognize Him as our Saviour. This brings us to the most well known bible verse of all time, and rightly so. John 3:16 can summarize the gospel succinctly “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. This is the foundation of what we believe and the reason for the hope that we have. 

• 1 Peter 3:15 → ...in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect ...

*If you would like to receive a free bible from my Free Bible Program, please contact me via the CONTACT page so I can get in touch with you and send you a free bible!