The Gospel

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Out of all the pages you could have visited on The Pastor’s Desk, this page is paramount for your attention today. Why? The message of the gospel is a message that has transformed the world over the past 2,000 years. Nations have been blessed through the obedience and acceptance of the gospel, and nations have been destroyed in their denial of it as it is the message of Jesus Christ, who is Lord and King.

The gospel is the good news. The reason it is good news is because there is bad news. The bad news is you are a sinner. Do not be offended by that statement because mankind sins because we’re sinners; we are sinners because we sin. All sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). What is sin? In short, sin is failing to conform to God’s moral law. You may say, “Well, I do not believe in God.” Regardless of whether one’s belief in God is the same as one’s belief in gravity, it exists. Also, one may claim they are ignorant of specific civil laws and therefore not accountable to them, only to be reminded that all laws apply to them as well. Same with God.

Now, you may have never heard the term moral law of God. What is it? Well, it is summed up in what is called the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are what has been given to all humans to understand what God commands of his creation; let’s look up that list now (For the complete list, visit this link and read Exodus 20)

Remembering God is the True God regardless of all others
No bowing down to other gods
No Blaspheming (Using God’s name in vain. Example: OMG, or JC as a swear word)
Resting and reflecting on God
Honouring your parents
Not committing murder (this goes for wishing someone was dead with intent)
No sex outside the confines of marriage (Not with your boyfriend, girlfriend, someone else’s spouse or wishing you could. This includes watching pornography).
No stealing
No lying
No, wishing others’ stuff was yours (property or spouse – in other words, being content)

Now, let us ask some questions.

Have you lied? Have you stolen anything? Have you used God’s name in vain? Have you committed adultery in your heart (think #6)?

If you say, “yes!” By your confession, you are a lying, thieving, blaspheming adulterer at heart! This means you are guilty, you are walking in shame, and there needs to be forgiveness and honour restored. Why? You broke God’s holy law.

When humanity lives in such a way, we have rebelled against God and his commands. One way to put it is we are filthy, unclean, and unable to approach God. Even if we muster up some religious system to appease our conscience, our self-righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6.. In our world today, many people don’t want to admit that they have sinned, but they do sin and attempt to deceive themselves they believe that their heart is relatively good and kind, but it is not. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it (Jeremiah 17:9)?

What this means is, if you are reading this and you are still in your sins, the wrath of God is being stored to come (Matt 3:7, Rom 2:5). One can deny it or suppress it, but this does not change the fact there is a day of judgment coming in which God will rightfully deal with you and all sinners outside of Jesus Christ’s salvation (Revelation 20:11-15)

Indeed, this is bad news. You may think that God will [simply] forgive you. Many individuals feel that God will merely forgive someone because they are sorry. Well, that doesn’t work with the holy God. In other words, good works do not weigh out bad works. It does not work here in a court of law and will not work in God’s court. Remember, God is most holy; God is perfect; he is high and righteous, and because of that, he cannot simply let sin go unpunished. If he were to let a wicked man go, he would be an abomination according to Proverbs 17:15. This is why every lie, every adulterous act, every form of blasphemy, all thievery and every violation of God’s holy law will bring judgment (Galatians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:5-8). At this point, you may be thinking, “What hope do I have?” “it’s hopeless!” “There’s nothing I can do!” If you feel this way – we are now in a good starting position in regard to the Gospel.

Why is this a good starting position? Because the weight of the bad news brings about the good news (Gospel). The good news is that though the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23). Furthermore, we learn from Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And expressed more in 1 John 4:10, in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. In other words, Jesus is the one who pays for our sins. God has not left us in a state of hopelessness. God has not left you to die in your sins as some kind of wrathful, angry type of deity – No, he is the one true God who is full of grace, mercy, longsuffering and patience. This means that when the fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law (Galatians 4:4-5). It is good news for all of us that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life of righteousness, a life that you and I could never live on our own and a life that God required for perfection. Jesus alone was perfectly obedient and Jesus did what no other person can do and that was to satisfy the righteousness of God that was required through his law. Scripture shows us this great truth time and again. In fact we learn from Philippians 2:6-8 that although [Jesus] he existed in the form of God and did not regard quality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking on the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men, being found in the appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on the cross.

What this means is Jesus was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace (Isaiah 53:5-6). The reason why the gospel is good news is because Jesus Christ experienced what you should have experienced. Jesus Christ alone experienced the cross, and when he was on the cross, we use the term substitution airy atonement. What that means is he was your substitute, and he was punished on your behalf. He paid for your sin by experiencing the full wrath of God that you deserve in hell for the sins that you have committed, and just before Jesus died on that cross, he cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). What that means is Jesus Christ has paid for all sins for all God’s people. Jesus suffered and died in your place. Yes, there is bad news, but there is good news. Though you are a Sinner deserving rightly to die (both here and eternal), Jesus paid your fine. The old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe; sin has left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”

The gospel is not just good news because Jesus paid for your fine. It is also good news that Jesus rose from the grave victorious and triumphant on the third day. He was resurrected from the dead, and he ascended back to heaven. Jesus’ visible demonstration confirms that the payment has been made for our sins – vindicated by God, so God can now justly forgive the Sinner of their sins, not because of the sinner himself but because of the finished work Jesus Christ paid upon the cross on the sinner’s behalf. In other words, Jesus suffered once for the sins of the unrighteous to bring you to God. Your failure to live to the moral standards of God has been dealt with through Jesus Christ.

Remember, while a person is still in their sins, they’re like a criminal with a rap sheet and every crime they’ve ever committed is listed on that long list; a sinner has a rap sheet of every sin they have ever committed. Since the gospel is good news, we have great comfort knowing that just as your record of sins was transferred to Jesus, meaning everything you’ve ever done, he paid for – Jesus’ righteousness was given over to you, and you now have his rap sheet, which is empty. Not a single offence! It is a big term, but we call it the great exchange: your sin was imputed over to Jesus, and Jesus’ righteousness was imputed over to those who are his.

The forgiven sinner, the pardoned sinner, can live a pleasing life to God because His spirit now resides in the redeemed man or woman. Friends Jesus is the one who achieved all for you, which is why salvation is such a beautiful free gift of God. Indeed, this is good news. We must never cheapen grace. We must never cheapen what God has done. Yes, salvation is free, but forgiveness is costly. It is costly because it involves Jesus Christ living a perfect life, going to the cross on our behalf, being buried, and rising on the third day to secure our justification. But we can rest knowing that we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith in what Jesus has already accomplished for us, not based upon the works that we ever do in of ourselves Ephesians 2:8-9.

The question now comes to you. You have heard that you are a sinner, you have seen that you have broken God’s law, it has been shown to you that God has made provisions so that you can be forgiven but do you acknowledge that you are a sinner and have you come to the place to now know you need to be reconciled to a holy God? iI you have answered yes, then take this time now to confess your sins directly to Jesus Christ and thank him for going upon that cross for you, taking that payment, and giving you life. As you pray, ask him to give you the strength that you need to break away from the habitual sins that you have been living in and to give you the grace to walk and grow and strengthen your spiritual walk. God does promise that he will transform your heart and mind, and he promises that he will put his spirit within you and give you the wisdom in the words and the desires that you need to live out the Christian life (Ezekiel 36:26- 27). He promised that he would never leave you nor forsake you or abandon you, so let this be the day that you abandon the world and go hard after God.

Perhaps you have read all of this and feel that you do not need to reconcile with God and that you are OK. Maybe you’re waiting to put it off until your deathbed or a time in your life when you’re willing to put away the youthful things; well, remember what scripture says, “today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart to what you have read like those who provoked his wrath”( Hebrews 3:15). Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near and abandon all your unrighteous ways. Remember, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2); run to Christ while there’s still time.