What Is The Gospel?

The LORD hath appeared of old Unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee—Jeremiah 31:3
Do you know? Would you know how to answer this question if someone asked you?

Would you tell them, Do the best you can to be a good person? That is not the gospel.

Would you tell them, Go to church, read your Bible, pray and give tithes? That is not the gospel.

Would you tell them, Stop smoking, drinking, and cursing? Doing so may help them live longer, but it won’t keep them out of hell. It is not the gospel.

Would you tell them to keep God’s commandments and love everyone? Do you keep every commandment? Do you love everyone? If you say you do, you are a liar and there is no truth in you. If you say you do your best, then you are still lying because most of the time you don’t try at all. You don’t love your spouse as you ought. You don’t love your children as you ought. You certainly do not love God as you ought: with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Have you not found this to be true?

Is the gospel accepting Jesus, walking down the church aisle, committing one’s life to Christ, praying the sinner’s prayer? No, my friend, these are not the gospel.

Well then, what is the gospel? I’m glad you asked. All of the things above have been laid down, as it were, as the road to heaven, as the way to God, but they are no such thing. In fact, these things will lead the vast multitudes of people in the world down the broad road to hell. The main highway is the lie that accepting Jesus is the gospel. Most christians will perish at last who trust their profession of faith, or altar call, or that night they opened their heart to Jesus as their basis for obtaining God’s favor.

Let’s be honest for a moment. Haven’t you tried most, if not all of these things? But they have not worked have they? You find, do you not, that you’re still as evil and corrupt as you were the day you became a christian . You still commit as much, if not more sin, than you did before you came to Jesus. All the while you are tempted to act as a hypocrite, as most religious folk, and simply put on the appearance of righteousness.

Would you dare tell church folk that you do not have the assurance that God loves you and that you question whether you even are going to heaven? You won’t, because they might look down on you, think you are unstable, that you have low self esteem, in short, treat you as a poor miserable wretch.

What then is the gospel? Please listen carefully, because the gospel is good news for sinners – not for morally good men; not half way good men, but for sinners! The gospel is the message about what God has done in Christ two thousand years ago. It is about what God has done. It is about what He did in the person of Christ, His only beloved Son. It is about what He has done. The gospel is that God, in Christ, has reconciled lost, hopeless, hell-bound men and women to Himself. He has accomplished it. The work has been completed; and He did it alone, two thousand years ago. ...God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19.

He took the action; He alone did the work. When Jesus Christ suffered, died, and was buried, God was reconciling certain people to Himself. He did not wait for them to come to Him; He came to them. He didn’t wait for them to choose Him; He chose them. He did not wait for them to accept Him; He accepted them when Christ rose from the dead. He did not wait for them to stop sinning; He put away their sins. Listen! While they were yet sinners, still in their sins, Christ died for them.

GOD HAS PUT AWAY THE SINS OF SOME PEOPLE! ...Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Romans 4:7. Now that is what you call being blessed!

God is holy. That is why our sin separates us from our God. Sin makes every sinner God’s enemy, hence, the need for reconciliation. ...your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. Isaiah 59:2-3.

Until you believe the gospel, you do not know God. You despise the thought of God ruling your life. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight:
Psalm 10:4-5. What you do know and sense about God is that He is angry with you and will soon punish you for your wicked ways. You are right. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Psalm 5:4-5. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Revelation 20:11-14.

Everyone will stand before God and answer for his life. What he did, what he did not do, what he thought; unless God has reconciled us to Himself. That is, if God has put away your sins by the sacrifice of His Son, your sins have been put away forever. If God gave His Son as a substitute for you; if Christ was punished under God’s righteous wrath for you; if He suffered the awful pain of hell and divine rejection for you; then by His taking your place and satisfying the justice of God’s holy law (which must punish sin) your sins have already been punished and put away forever. God is no longer angry with you. God has reconciled you to Himself. God no longer regards your sins as belonging to you. ...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6.

The gospel message is that because of what Christ has done, some can now say God has taken away my sins and put them on His Son who bore them away. Christ bore them away into God’s sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered again! They can say this because of the promise God the Father has made, and Christ the Son has fulfilled. ...he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12. Can you say that the Son of God made intercession for you?

This you can be certain of: someone has had his sin put away. Someone is blessed of God to walk with Him in peace and righteousness. Someone has been chosen to everlasting righteousness and glory by Jesus Christ: not because he was good or bad; not because he went to church; not because he prayed the sinner’s prayer; not because he accepted Jesus into his heart; not because he begged, groaned, and bargained with God. None of these things will ever move God from His throne of justice to His throne of mercy to save a soul. God saves sinful men and women (and children) because of His everlasting love and grace which is in Christ Jesus alone.

The question is, Has God put away my sin? How can I know that I am one of the blessed ones who have been reconciled to God? How can I know that forgiveness of sin is sure for me? How can I know that God has aimed his love at me?

The answer is, Are you in Christ? That is the issue. In Christ, God is love. Outside of Christ, God is wrath. If you are in Christ then you can expect all spiritual blessings, but only in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Ephesians 1:3.

Please listen carefully at this point. The only way you can know that you are in Christ, and therefore possess all spiritual blessings of life and peace, righteousness and glory, God’s favor and immutable promise, is by believing that what Christ has done, He did for you. This is the promise of the gospel. ...whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:15. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:12.

There are some men and women in this world who have been given faith to believe the report God has given concerning His Son. They have been given grace to believe that Jesus Christ is indeed God almighty, that He took on our nature and became a man. They believe the word of God as it declares the life, suffering and death, of the only good, only righteous, only just and holy man who ever lived or ever will live. They believe that Christ has forever put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and they believe He did it for them.

They also believe that He rose again from the dead and is now ruling and reigning over all things at the right hand of God His Father. He is LORD of all. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36.

Those who thus believe Christ have obtained peace with God by the blood of His cross. There are some people for whom it cannot be said, God is angry with them every day. There are some sinners in this world who know full well that they deserve to spend the rest of eternity in hell but will not because of God’s reconciling love for them in Christ. Are you such a sinner? You have heard the message of the gospel! Will you recognize your wretched state? Will you recognize that if God does not do it all, off to hell you go? Will you stop trusting in yourself? Will you put no trust in your confession? Will you stop looking for a feeling that you’re saved? Will you stop begging and crying and moaning and groaning instead of believing God? God’s commandment is not to beg, it is to believe the gospel.