Rich & Diane's Place

What is The Gospel of Jesus Christ, exactly?  In the last two weeks I have run into three people who have never heard of this very important message. I can confidently say that this post is the most important thing on this website. Understanding and responding to the gospel makes an eternal difference of peace and joy, it restores a right relationship with our Creator and gives hope, purpose, and meaning to our lives. This article is a source of information for people to read, and read again, allowing them to consider this very important message.

Gospel means good news; thus the gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of Jesus Christ. However, before we can understand the good news, we need to start with the bad news. The bad news is the current state of our world, and the current state of ourselves. Things are not right in the world. Life as we know it has the potential for great pain and tragedy! Many people are dealing with severe pain in their lives. Are you one such person? Have you ever experienced a tragedy so severe and overwhelming that you could hardly cope with it? Of course we have, (and if you have not, brace yourself – it’s coming!) We see this in many situations in our lives. For example, I recently came back from a vacation at an exotic resort, … and while I was enjoying all the pleasures that place had to offer, children were right down the road without the most basic necessities of life, struggling to live. There are lots of other examples that something is not right in the world. In the United States we need only pick up a paper to read horrific crimes too hard to imagine – things like: mothers drowning their children in bath tubs, people shooting each other over silly arguments, fathers killing their wives in fits of rage. You may say that these things are exceptional circumstances in the lives of a few; but this same order of bad news comes closer to home as well. Many of us have had to cope with the death of a family member – whether that family member has lived a long life, or tragically has succumbed to a premature death – perhaps due to a rare medical situation, or accident. One day we ourselves will face death, and our loved ones will have to cope with our death.

Today, many have come to accept these things as a natural part of life, but these things are a far cry from the way life was in the beginning. The Bible explains the beginning or our history.  In fact, the Bible says these tragedies of today are the results of a broken creation, from choices that we as mankind made in the past. Furthermore, the Bible explains that these kinds of tragedies are warnings that every human needs to deal with a much bigger root problem – our disobedience to God. Luke 13:1-5. Let’s look at our history and understand where things went wrong.

The Way Things Were in the Beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It took just six days for God to make everything that was made … the details are given in the first chapter of the Bible.  On the sixth day, God created the height of His creation -  the first man and woman – Adam and Eve.  I said this was the “height of His creation” because the Bible explains that we were the only thing created in God’s image – we were a special creation to Him. God placed Adam and Eve in a paradise where everything they needed was provided for them – the Garden of Eden. God gave them every kind of fruit and herb for food and enjoyed wonderful fellowship with Adam and Eve.  He gave the man and woman one simple commandment – do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was located in the center of the garden.  By not eating of this tree, Adam and Eve remained obedient towards their maker, and this wonderful perfect state continued. God surveyed His creation as a master critique, and saw “that it was very good”. Imagine a life without pain and sorrow – no divorce, no murder, no pride, no arrogance, no needs, no struggles, no sadness, no pain or death, – nothing was wrong. There was only happiness and joy, fellowship, and love, beauty and pleasure. But, certainly, this is not our current situation today! So, what happened?

Our History – The Fall of Mankind
Gen 3:1-19

The Bible says that one day Satan, God’s enemy, disguised himself by entered into a serpent.  He started a conversation with Eve; he started by casting doubt about God’s commandment to not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The conversation went like this:

Satan:

Has God really said you should not eat from the fruits of the trees in the garden?

Eve:

God has said that we may freely eat the fruits of all trees in the garden – except for the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; we may not eat the fruit of that tree – neither shall we touch it, or God has said that we will surely die.

Satan:

You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of that tree, then your eyes shall be opened and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.

So, the woman considered what the serpent said, and considered the fruit.  The Bible says: when she saw that it was pleasing to the sight, and considered that it was good for food, and that it was desired to make one wise – she took the fruit and ate.   She also gave the fruit to her husband, Adam, and he took it and ate it as well.

That single act of disobedience had more impact than one can possibly imagine! Although no verbal words were spoken by man, that action was like saying the following to God:

God, thanks for creating me and giving me life and everything, but I believe I’ll take it from here.  Thanks for creating me, so that I can become greater than You.  God, I don’t believe I need you anymore … I think I’ll just bypass whatever plans you had for me, and I’ll start providing for myself from now on … I think I can do better … I’ll listen to the first thing that comes along and cast doubts on your intentions … and I’ve figured out that You’ve been holding out on us, you don’t want the best for us – I’ve figured out that’s why You did not want us to eat of the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I’m choosing to go off on my own and do my own thing.

( Please understand, that the above statement is simply my way of explaining the atrocity of the decision to directly rebel against God’s commandment. The Bible does not directly say these exact words. )

This first rebellious act caused death – just like God said it would. Adam and Eve immediately died spiritually! And they started to die physically – physical death was only a matter of time now – it was a sure thing waiting to happen. They now had a new nature – a nature to rebel against God. And guess what? Because they began the human race, we have inherited this same rebellious nature (Rom 3:23).  We have all re-lived this same rebellion of disobedience to God – we shun God, we ignore God, and we choose to lives without God. The penalty of human disobedience is spiritual death and separation from this perfect and holy God that created us (Rom 6:23).

God dealt with Adam and Eve for their rebellion, and many things changed in the world:

• man now had to work the ground for food; we are under a curse that we must work for a living
• the ground became cursed with thorns and thistles
• child birth (however it would have been) would now be a painful event for the woman
• finally, a spiritual warfare was declared – it would be between the serpent and the seed of the woman. Symbolically we are told who would win in the end and the cost of winning. We are told that the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. But the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent.

So, What’s the Good News?

The Bible is the story of elaborating more fully, the full meaning of the warfare that was declared between the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman. This same warfare is stated over and over in different ways … in example after example … in book after book of the Bible … the Bible gives many object lessons of this warfare. As we continue reading the Bible, the message becomes clearer and clearer … this “Seed of the Woman” was a promised Messiah from God … The Messiah was “God with us” – Jesus Christ, the Son of God.   He would be born “of the woman” with a great sign of a Virgin Birth.  Since he was “born of the woman” he would be “one of us” – a kinsman redeemer for the human race. Since it was a virgin birth, it was clear that he was in nature God, without an inherited rebellious nature to sin. He lived a perfect life in perfect harmony with God. In the New Testament, we learn that He was truly “God with Us”, as we are given details that He does only what God does – Creating the world, forgiving sin, and other signs of miracles to prove these things. And he came from heaven on a mission to earth – to bruise the head of the serpent. He would undergo much physical agony in the process, thus His heal would be bruised. But when the battle was over, with His voluntary death on the cross and resurrection from the dead on the third day, then the eternal destruction of the Serpent was as good as secured. This spiritual battle was accomplished when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross on Calvary. This truth of this single event was marked by more than 33 specific prophecies by men recording what God told them to write years before Jesus was born.

What Does the Death of Jesus Have to do With the Gospel?

This voluntary act of Jesus – allowing Himself to be crucified for our sins – is the gospel – it is the good news (1 Cor 15:3-4). It accomplished much! I can not possibly explain it all!

First, it demonstrated the just how much God loved us. God sent His own Son to the world, in the form of a human, in order to provide a way for anyone to escape eternal punishment.

Secondly, it allowed for our sins to be taken care of properly (Heb 9:22) by a righteous and holy God who declared the penalty and payment of sin was death (Rom 6:23) … God, who is perfect, doesn’t just ignore sins or a sinful nature … He perfectly dealt with them … God’s full and justified wrath for each and every one of our individual sins … was fully released on His own Son – Jesus while He was dying for us and shedding His blood for us as payment on the cross (1 John 2:2). Jesus paid the penalty of our rebellion so that those who trust in that payment would not have to suffer eternal separation and judgment in hell. This is the good news – this is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Q. Who gets to escape that punishment?
A. Those who accept the gift of Jesus’ death in our place!

Q. How do we accept this gift?
A. If we belief and hope in the fact that Jesus died for us, that he died for us in our place, that His death was a gift providing payment for our disobedient nature towards God – something that we could never have done on our own … If this is something we truly believe in our hearts, then we can respond to this understanding of the truth with praise and love towards God; we can change from living on our own, living for ourselves, and, instead, turn our lives over to God by living a thankful life style that would please Him. If this is done from the heart, then this is want the Bible calls repentance. It is an appropriate and natural response when we understanding the gospel, believe it, trust Him, and want to please God with our life.

Q. How can I start this new life with Jesus, and be saved?

A. Seal this decision with God’s help in a simple prayer of calling out to Him. In your own words ( the words are not important … the real communication is in your faith of the truth of the gospel and your trust in Him to be with you ) give thanks to Him for this sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, dying on the cross in order to pay for your sin. Commit to leave a life style of sin from now on … and to walk with God as your father, teacher, personal guide in life, new boss, and Savior. Return back to total dependence on Him to provide everything for you – His creation, that He wants to have a wonderful relationship with you. Here’s the promise that we can call on Him for this salvation. Rom 10:9-13;

If this article touched you, to the point of committing your life to Jesus Christ … then your probably wanting to share this decision with someone. It’s hard for us to keep from sharing great, fantastic news! Imagine how excited a bride is the day before marrying the love of her life! In many ways, the Christian life is a new like like a marriage. Share your joy with … I’d love to hear from you.

May God Richly Bless You!