What we repeatedly find in this secular age in which we live is that many people reject the Gospel message without knowing what it is, in the same way as they reject God without knowing who He is or what He’s like.
The word ‘gospel’ simply means ‘good news’ and indeed, whilst it is a message of how much God loves us all, it also tells us of the incredible lengths God went to in order to show us the full extent of His love.
In a nutshell, the gospel message shows us how we can come to know God personally, enjoy a personal relationship with Him, and receive the free gift of eternal life in heaven once our lives on earth come to an end. Let's go through this in some simple stages.
1 Man’s Problem
The gospel message actually starts with some bad news which we all need to understand and accept, and that is that every one of us has done things wrong in our lives to one degree or another. The Bible calls our wrongdoings ‘sin’ and, because God is absolutely pure and holy, our sin actually separates us from God and (at some point) men and women will acknowledge this by admitting that they are 'empty inside', or that there is 'something missing' in their lives. Sadly, rather than turning to the only one who can satisfy that longing, people turn instead to alcohol, drugs and promiscuity, and find that these things lead to a trap and a worse state than ever.
2 What God Did
Rather than leave us in this lost and terrible state, God took it upon Himself to rescue us and set us free. We could never pay off the debt that is owed to God through our sin. If anyone was going to pay the debt for mankind, that person would have to be absolutely perfect and without any trace of sin whatsoever. That requirement rules out every human being who has ever lived because ‘all have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory (standards)’ Romans 3:23.
The only one who could pay the incalculable debt of mankind’s sin was God Himself. So, God came to earth in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, in order to pay the debt that you or I could never pay.
3 What Jesus Did
Now, Jesus Christ was pure, spotless and without sin, and yet He came to earth in order to pay the price and take the punishment for every human being, including you and me.
He came with the express purpose of dying on the cross for all of mankind - and that is exactly what He did. He loves you so much that on the cross, He suffered and died in your place, and took your punishment in full, so that you don’t have to do so. ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’. (2 Corinthians 5:21). But the gospel account doesn’t finish there. Because He paid the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin, God’s ‘righteous anger’ over that sin was satisfied in full and so He raised Jesus from the dead, and that is what the resurrection proves. Please understand, Jesus died for you and has fully paid the price for your sin, because He loves you.
4 So, What Must We Do?-
Does this mean then that every human being is automatically forgiven for sin and is, one day, going to Heaven when our earthly lives end? Please understand the answer is NO.
Whereas there is no ‘work’ you can do in order to come back into relationship with God and to receive eternal life in Heaven, (that work was fully done by Jesus), you must personally reach out to Him in faith, believing that He died in your place and paid your penalty on the cross. You must receive Him into your life as your Lord and Saviour. ‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’. John 1:12
If you are reading this and have never received Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of sin, then I urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity. The Bible says we must simply repent of our sin (This means ‘to have a change of mind’ and do a U-turn away from our own direction to God’s direction) and believe. That is to trust in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Saviour, and give our lives to follow Him from this time on. If you do this, God promises that your sins will be forgiven and blotted out (never to be remembered or recalled) and He will adopt you into his family. You can then enjoy a day by day relationship with Him, having the security of knowing you have a home in Heaven awaiting you when our lives come to an end.
5 Something Important You Must Understand
Yes, the gospel is good news of how you can know God, have your sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life. God is a God of love and He has proven His love to us in the most incredible way possible. But…He is also a God of Justice. We see this in the fact that Jesus had to die for our sins to pay the price God’s justice demanded. God didn’t just sweep our sin under the carpet and pretend He didn’t see it. And because Jesus paid that price, we can be forgiven and go free through faith in Him.
So, what happens if people refuse God’s love and His forgiveness and reject Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.? It means they will have to face God’s justice themselves. As we have already shown, God will not sweep anyone’s sin under any carpet. If we refuse to accept that Jesus has paid the price required in full for us, then we will have to pay that price ourselves.
Death is not annihilation: we are eternal beings made in God’s image, Therefore, every human being will live on somewhere, and the Bible speaks of only two places; Heaven and Hell. A lot of Churches refuse to speak of the fact of Hell in these days of political correctness and ‘not causing offence’ - but social trends will never alter God’s unchanging Word, and that Word warns us that Hell is just as real a place as Heaven. The truth is that every one of us deserves to go to Hell because of our sin and rebellion against God. But, He loves us so much that He gave His Son to take our punishment for us, so that we can go to eternity in Heaven rather than Hell. He has rescued us. Sin is the one barrier between human beings and God and, obviously, cannot allow sin into Heaven. So, if you refuse Jesus Christ, you hold on to your sin and this will bar you from Heaven.
The Bible makes it very clear that every human being will one day stand before God to give account for their lives. You and I will either stand before Him as our Saviour (and go to Heaven) or as our Judge (and sadly, despite God’s precious love, spend eternity in Hell). It hurts me even typing this and it will hurt God so much more. Please don’t refuse Him. Receive Him now. If you live locally, come and visit us and we will give you all the help we can. If you don’t live locally, get in touch with us, and find a Church local to you that preaches the true Gospel, the ‘good news' of Jesus Christ.