The Gospel Message
Good News
The Gospel (in the Gospel Message) comes from the Greek word, euangelion. It is a compound word, made up of two words: “Eu” and “Angelion.” “Eu” means “good,” and “angelion” means “announcement.”
Gospel means “good news.” It is an announcement of the good news that Jesus came to rescue us from the dire situation that we were in.
However, if you don’t know that you need to be rescued, then this hardly seems like good news. In other words, in order to know how good the good news really is, you have to know how bad the bad news really is about our current situation.
Thank goodness the Bible doesn’t shy away from that. God shares the truth with us about how desperate of a situation that all of humanity finds ourselves in.
The Bad News
In Romans 3:23, the apostle Paul shares the truth that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. We’ve all messed up before. None of us are perfect. We make mistakes.
It’s more than that though. Scripture tells us that since we live in a fallen world, we are all born with a sinful nature (Romans 5:12). Having a sinful nature means that we will produce sins. At some point, we will lie, gossip, steal, cheat, etc. throughout our lives.
Sin... Spiritual Death
We were created to be in a spiritual union with God, drawing from Him as our Source for living this life. Sin severed that union and caused spiritual death in our lives (Ephesians 2:1).
Sin… Leaves You Stuck
You can’t undo the situation you are in. No amount of good behavior or religious activity can make you perfect again.
You don’t need to learn how to behave better; you need to be resurrected from death to life!
You are stuck with no way out. The only hope is that you will be rescued.
The Good News
Jesus left the glory and riches of heaven and was born into this world to rescue you from your sin (Matthew 1:21). His primary mission was not to give some good advice about wise ways to live your life. He didn’t come to be a nice guy and help people out with their situations. He was nice, and He did help people; however, His primary mission was to rescue you from you because you were stuck in your sin.
Jesus Died For You
Jesus could pay for your sins because He was fully God and fully man. As God, He didn’t have any sin to pay for in His own life. As a human, He could represent you.
When Jesus went to the cross, He took all of your sins and all of the sins of humanity, and He placed them upon Himself (1 Peter 2:24) and died for them. Three days later, He was raised from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever.
Salvation is a Gift
If someone offers you a gift, but you don’t receive it from them, then it’s not really yours. You have to take it and open it for the gift to be in your possession.
Jesus Gives New Life
You move from spiritual death to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:4). You are made into a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). You have a new heart and a new nature (Ezekiel 36:26) to live from in Christ.
The new life you receive from Jesus is eternal (John 3:16) and will be spent with Him in Heaven. You are already spiritually seated there now (Ephesians 2:6), and your body and soul will join Him in Heaven at His second coming (1 Corinthians 15).
Simple Gospel Message
This is the good news, and no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done, this gift is available to you. If you’ve never received it, then why not do it today? And if you have, then rejoice and walk in the new life you have in Christ.
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