I heard a sermon on the Gospel right before I wrote this. The Gospel really is not that complicated when we get right down to the basics of it. It is so simple that anyone can understand it. We as human beings are all sinful. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins. We accept Jesus into our lives, ask for forgiveness for our sins…and He forgives us and grants us eternal life. How hard is that? Sounds too simple right? Just stick around a while in the “Christian life” and there will be people who will add on regulations and make the Gospel into things it is not. God made some pretty tough rules, and He expected them to be obeyed. At the same time He knew we could not obey them all. Hmmmm…what was God to do about this? Answer…He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross, thereby making payment in full for our sins. Why would God do all these things? Yes He loves us…but of greater import than that…God has to remain true to Himself first. If He did not…well He would not be God.

The Gospel Truth

The Gospel truth, what exactly is the gospel truth anyway? People have been saying it for years…it’s the gospel truth! A better question would be what is the gospel?  The gospel…it really is not at it’s core very complicated.

We are all sinful, every one of us. The penalty for sin is of course death (Romans 6:23). Not physical death as we all will die…no I’m referring to the second death, or spiritual death. If you know Jesus as Savior, you will receive a new body and will live forever with Him (1 John 5:13). If you do not know Jesus…you will spend eternity in hell and be separated from God forever. This then is the second death (Revelation 20:15).

Jesus who was, is and always will be God, (1 John 5:20) came to this world and was born in the flesh. This God/man suffered death, death on a cross. By Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross we are forgiven our sins. All we need to do is ask God for forgiveness of our sins, and He will grant forgiveness. If we believe in Jesus and His resurrection from death to life…He grants us eternal life. Pretty simple…ask for forgiveness of sins, believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord…and in return we are given eternal life as a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 20:31, Romans 10:9, Acts 16:31).

No one is good, no not one (Romans 3:12). The context here is that Jesus is good, if we have to be like Jesus in order to be considered good…well we aren’t going to make it are we? We can try as hard as we can, but we are still sinful. God the Father provided a solution to this problem for us. It’s called the Good News…or the Gospel. By this Gospel we are saved (1 Corinthians 15 2-4). Christ paid for our sins by His sacrificial death on the cross, and grants to us eternal life as a gift. Jesus calls us to impart the Gospel to all people that they may hear this Good News (Mark 16:15-16).

If you don’t know the Lord, take some time and think about these things. Once you have passed from this life…it will be to late to accept Jesus. Your name will not be in the book of life…therefore you will not have eternal life with God. Instead you will suffer…alone, completely alone. Give your life to Christ and have a better life here, and in eternity.

gth                                                                                                                                                          8/12/11