The Gospel: Explained Simply
The ‘Gospel’
The word Gospel simply means “good news”. It’s critically important to understand that. The Bible is not a book that tells us what we have to do to earn salvation. It is a book that tells us what God already did to achieve and secure our salvation. God sent Jesus, his only son, into the world to do what we could never do for ourselves and he paid for what we had done in his body on the cross. The Gospel is the complete redemptive story about how Jesus is restoring people and making dead souls come alive.
The Fall
God created human beings and intended for them to be ruling creatures. We were supposed to be under God but over everything else. We were supposed to rule over creation under the guidance and authority of God’s Word and to be conduits for all the blessings of heaven. That’s how it was supposed to be, but unfortunately, the Bible tells the story of how our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, fell into sin by rebelling against God’s Word in order to become autonomous ruling creatures (Genesis 3). Adam and Eve wanted to be ‘gods’ unto themselves, deciding good and evil. From that point on, humanity has been moving further and further away from God and our original design and glory. We inherit a nature of depravity, hating God from the moment we are born. We inherit a sinful nature, which is the cause of all evil that happens in this world. Because of our sinful nature, we deserve punishment (Romans 3:23). Because we disobeyed God’s commands, we stand as sinful and wretched creatures in the light of a holy and righteous God (Ephesians 2:3) with no ability of our own to save ourselves from eternal punishment in Hell.
Redemption
Ultimately, sin must be paid for either by the sinner or by Jesus on the cross. The debt MUST be paid. The heart of the Gospel is the Good News that Jesus came as God in the flesh and obeyed God perfectly and has therefore won the right to all the blessings God originally intended to give His people. Through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, he has paid the debt that we, God’s people, owed to God for disobeying his commands. (John 3:16). He took upon himself everything that God hates and became the curse, on which God’s wrath was poured out (Galatians 3:13). Because of this, we can spend eternity in Heaven with God the Father and Christ the Son. Simply confess, believe, and repent (Romans 10:9, Luke 13:3).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Holy Spirit works in us to give us a new heart that has affection for God rather than hatred so that we can be restored to Christ, love Christ, and follow Christ for the rest of our days (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Assurance
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2).
In Jesus, we are spiritually regenerated. Through His Holy Spirit, he is sanctifying his people so that one day they will be glorified. The climax of the Gospel is the great news that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where He now intercedes on our behalf. He gives the Holy Spirit to all his people and changes our hearts, reforms our desires, and teaches us how to be the children of God we were always intended to be. Jesus will never allow us to fully and finally fall away from the faith. His blood, his resurrection, and his Spirit secures our salvation forever.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “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.”
Salvation is not of our own doing. It’s a work of God. He saves us. We can’t save ourselves. If we could save ourselves, we could lose salvation. But praise God, because he secures our souls forever. According to the Bible, it is by faith alone, through grace alone, and in Christ alone that we are saved, for the glory of God alone.
The Hope to Come
For now, Jesus remains in heaven, using his Holy Spirit to change hearts and preserve them (Romans 8). But, one day Jesus will return to judge the world in light of His righteousness and holiness. He will remove all sin from this world and restore it to a state of peace, and all those who have received Him as their Lord and Savior will participate in his Kingdom and enjoy Him forever (Revelation 22:5).
For more about the Gospel, we recommend learning from ministries like Ligonier Ministries and Desiring God,
