The Gospel

The gospel of Jesus Christ is very important. In fact, I would argue that it is the most important news in the universe. I think many Christians don't see the gospel for the beauty of what it is. People just think "Jesus died for me and I believe in Him so I'm covered." That simple explanation of the gospel doesn't bring it the justice it deserves. The word gospel is defined as "good news." And it's more than just good news, it's the best news! In the first chapter of Romans, verse 16, the apostle Paul writes: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." That verse sets up the premise for the rest of the book. In the book of Romans, Paul essentially walks us through the gospel multiple times over.

First of all, God is the creator, and he created us to be with him. However, our sins separate us from God. "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:20-21). In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were constantly with God, literally, and it was beautiful. God created them perfectly and they lived a perfect life. That is, until they ate from the one tree God told them not to eat from. From then on, they were separated from God. They were ashamed of what they had done, and they hid. God banished them from the garden and from then on, their lives (and ours) were far from perfect. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "There is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden and the ultimate punishment was given for their sin: they were now going to die. "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds, or anything similar. We see this theme all throughout the Old Testament. People everywhere would try to do things to atone for their sins, but nothing could do it. Perfectness is God's standard. In order to be with God, we have to be perfect. Obviously, this is not an attainable goal. God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites to show them that they could not live up to his standards; they had to rely on faith in him. However, many of them thought they could do things on their own and tried to impress God with good deeds. But "our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) and there is nothing we can do to get rid of our sins.

BUT

"God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). While we were still sinners! No matter what we do, what we have done, what we will do, He loves us! He loves us so much that he sent his only son down to die so that we might have life in Him. (John 3:16). Continuing Romans 6:23 from above: "For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. He was the perfect sacrifice. In order to pay the price for sin (death), it had to be somebody perfect. This meant that Jesus was the only way it could happen. And the best part is, He defeated death! He rose from the grave on the third day! "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you" (Romans 8:11). We are no longer chained by sin, we belong to Him. "You also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God" (Romans 7:4). This verse is not saying that we don't have to follow the law anymore; It is saying that, from now on, we should not focus on what we shouldn't be doing, but what we should be doing, and that is bearing fruit for God. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22). (I won't go into more detail on this, it is a topic for another time, but one of my favorite Bible passages is John chapter 15, look it up.) Everyone who trusts in Him and Him alone has eternal life. "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). And this is the good news of the gospel. Someday we will live with Him in heaven and it will be perfect, just as it was meant to be. Going all the way back to the beginning, God created us to be with him and it will be so.

I will leave you with this one truth today: "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). There are no special religious rituals, no crazy practices. No matter who you are or what you've done, all you must do is call His name and confess that He is Lord and you will be saved.