What is the gospel? How can we be made right with God? The most important thing to know in this life is the answer to those questions. We will all stand before God in judgment. We must all be ready.
Acts 17:31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
God is holy and just. He is the standard for what is right. Because he is just, he must punish sin. A judge who lets a murderer go without consequence is not just. But God upholds his law. And the punishment for sin against an eternally holy God is eternity in hell.
Psalms 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Luke 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
We are all born dead in trespasses and sin. We have all broken God's law and fallen short of his perfect standard.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Ephesians 2:1-2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
So, we all deserve condemnation and eternity in hell. We are hopeless and helpless on our own. That may seem harsh, but to see the glory of the gospel, we must first understand our need for it.
The good news is that God himself has provided a way of salvation.
God the Son took on flesh and became a man. Jesus obeyed the law perfectly. He died on the cross and bore the wrath of God for the sins of everyone who believes in him (past, present and future). He rose on the third day, conquering death and showing that God the Father had accepted his sacrifice.
Hebrews 9:28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
(Rom 5:6) Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Romans 6:9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Jesus was punished as sinful on the cross so that we might be counted righteous before God. In Christ, everyone who believes receives full pardon and eternal life. It is all of grace and not of works that we have done.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
God commands everyone to repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation. Repentance means a change of mind. It is acknowledging our sin, hating it, seeing Christ as glorious, and fleeing to him for salvation. Faith is simply resting in the work Christ has accomplished.
Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
(Eph 2:8-9)For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
When Jesus saves us, he not only saves us from the penalty of sin but also its power. He sets us free from sin and calls us to obey him. Not to earn a right standing with God, but because he loves us and we love him. God adopts us as sons and daughters. He brings us into a permanent relationship with him. Not one of his children will be lost.
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the gospel. And this is how we can be made right with God. It is the only way of salvation. It is our only hope. I pray every person who reads this trusts in it with all their heart.