The gospel is “an
announcement about certain historical events.”[1]
The necessary consequence of this is that, at its core, “Christianity is not a
resource for spirituality, religion, and morality, but a dramatic story at the
heart of which is the claim that during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Jesus was
crucified for our sins and, after three days, was raised bodily from the dead.”[2]
(A.
God) The gospel[3]
begins with the one true God who created the universe and everything in it
(Gen. 1-2). As Creator, He is our Ruler, and the One to whom all humanity, created
in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27), is ultimately responsible and
accountable (Rom. 9:21; Rev. 4:11). Under God’s direction and authority,
humanity was placed in charge of ruling over and caring for the world so that
we may enjoy all its beauty and goodness for His glory (Gen. 1:28-31).
(B.
Man) Although humanity had been wonderfully blessed by God and knew Him
in an intimate way, we did not honor Him or give thanks (Rom. 1:21). We
rejected Him as our ruler, rebelling against Him and His holy commandment,
breaking our covenant relationship with Him (Isa. 24:5-6; Jer. 33:20-21, 25-26;
Hos. 6:7)[4].
In our sin, we made ourselves God’s enemy and have, every one of us, fallen
under His righteous and perfect judgment (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 3:9-18; Heb.
9:27). His judgment against rebels is death and separation from Him for all
eternity (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; Jam. 1:15; Rev. 21:8).
(C.
Christ) But because of His great love and mercy, God did not leave us
to suffer the just consequences of our sin and rebellion. Instead, He sent His
own divine Son into the world to save us from our pitiful state and from the
punishment that we deserve (John 3:16-18). This Son was conceived by the Holy
Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and born Jesus of Nazareth (Matt.
1:18-23). Jesus Christ, both fully God and fully man, never rebelled against
God His Father, and lived the life that we failed to live. He was sinless and
perfect, living His entire life in complete and total obedience to the will of
the Father (Rom. 5:19; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5). Although He
did not deserve death or punishment for sin, Jesus allowed Himself to be
tortured and executed on the cross like a common criminal under Pontius Pilate
(Matt. 26-27). Jesus offered Himself up to death as our substitute (John
10:17-18), taking the full force of God’s justice for sin upon Himself. He paid
the sin debt that we owed to God by dying the death that we deserved to die, so
that we could receive the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God (Rom.
3:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Col. 1:20-22; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). On the
third day, Jesus rose bodily from the dead in resurrection life, showing that
God the Father accepted His death as payment in full for our sins (Matt.
28:1-10; John 20:25, 27). Forty days later, Christ ascended into heaven, where
He is now seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty (Acts 1:3-11;
2:30-36; Eph. 1:20-23). The risen Christ is now God’s rightful ruler of the
world. There is coming a day in which King
Jesus will return from heaven in unimaginable power and glory to judge the
living and the dead, calling all of us to account for our actions (Matt.
13:40-42; Acts 1:11; 10:42; Rom. 14:9-10; Gal. 1:4; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; 2 Pet.
2:4; Jude 6).
(D.
Response) There are only two ways to respond to this announcement of
the good news of reconciliation with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We can continue on in our sin and rebellion against God, refusing to
submit to Him as the one true Lord of our lives and choosing to live by our own
ways, or we can repent (a turning from our sin to God in faith), plead His
mercy, and trust fully in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior. There is absolutely
no way that we can earn favor or reconciliation with God by our own efforts (religious
or otherwise) because we are spiritually dead and under the sentence of death
for our trespasses and sins (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1-9; Col. 2:13; Titus
3:5). Further, there is no one else that can help us
and no one else that we can turn to, for there is salvation in no one else and
in no other name than that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (John 6:53; 8:24;
14:6; Acts 4:12). Either we repent and trust in the Lord Jesus or we remain
God’s enemies, under His wrath, hopeless and waiting for the just punishment
that we deserve (John 3:36). If
we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God
has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved; for everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:9-10, 13). When we truly believe this
gospel message and call upon the Lord for salvation, we receive the forgiveness
of our sins and are reconciled back into a covenant relationship with God. At that moment, God pours out His love
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5) and we are infused with
eternal life from above (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5). This new life will stretch
past our bodily death and on into all eternity as we experience the
beautifulness of God’s holiness and love in His presence as His very own son or
daughter through Christ in the bond of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 1:20-22; 1 Pet.
1:3-4; 1 John 3:1-3; Rev. 21:3-7).
[1] Michael Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World
(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009), 18.
[2] Horton, Gospel-Driven Life, 18-19.
[3]
Resources utilized: Matthias Media, “Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face,”
http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl (Accessed 7 October 2011); Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 2010).
[4] Cf. O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants
(Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1985), 17-25.
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