The Gospel

The Gospel

Rice Brooks sums up the gospel like this: Jesus came into this world, truly man and truly God. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died, in our place. On the third day He rose again, offering the forgiveness of sins to whoever believes in Him (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Acts 10:43).

That's the whole message in a few sentences. But if you've never heard it before, it probably raises more questions than it answers. So let me walk through it.

Only God can judge me

You've probably heard the slogan, "Only God can judge me." It's true, and Scripture agrees that God is the final Judge (Hebrews 9:27). So here's a question: if God came right now to judge you, would you be found guilty or innocent?

The honest answer is that every one of us would be guilty to some extent. Most people respond, "But I've never killed anyone, so I'm a good person." That's the problem. We judge ourselves by our own standard, and we usually pick a standard we already meet (2 Corinthians 10:12).

God's standard is not the person next to you. God's standard is Himself (Matthew 5:48). On Judgement Day we won't be measured by how much better we were than a murderer. We'll be measured against God's own perfect goodness. You aren't guilty because you did more evil than someone else. You're guilty because you fell short of God's standard. The Bible puts it plainly: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

"But I'm a good person"

The next thing people say is, "God just wants me to do good." So they lean on the good they do. "I love people. I'm kind. I give to the poor. I feed the hungry." In a world like ours, that is genuinely commendable.

But here's what most people miss: good and evil aren't a balance scale, where enough good deeds eventually outweigh the bad. Many of us quietly believe that one bad deed plus one good deed means we're even, and therefore right with God. That's simply not true. Scripture says no one is made right with God by their works (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:20). In fact, compared with God's holiness, even our best deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

That doesn't mean good works are pointless. They matter a great deal, but they are the fruit of being made right with God, not the root of it (Ephesians 2:10).

The benefactor who murders

Let me give an example. Imagine you are the wealthiest person in your community. You single-handedly lifted the whole community out of poverty. You built hospitals, schools and houses, and you paid the tuition of every student. Then one day you murder someone in that community.

Do you think the people will overlook the murder because of everything you've built for them? Certainly not. A judge who let you off because of your donations wouldn't be a good judge. He'd be a corrupt one (Proverbs 17:15; Deuteronomy 16:19).

We know exactly how to exercise justice when it comes to other people. We only become subjective when it comes to judging ourselves.

"Surely lying isn't as bad as murder"

People then fall back on this: "If God is good, He knows lying isn't the same as murder."

It's true that not all sins are the same size. Jesus Himself spoke of a "greater sin" (John 19:11). But every sin, big or small, is real rebellion against a holy God, and even one is enough to separate us from Him (Isaiah 59:2). James says that whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at one point is guilty of all of it (James 2:10–11). Jesus went even further and said that anger in the heart is murder, and lust in the heart is adultery (Matthew 5:21–22; Matthew 5:27–28).

Here's a slightly disgusting illustration. Picture two bottles of still water. Into the first I drop a tiny pinch of sewage and shake it until the water looks clear again. Into the second I pour a lot of sewage and shake it, and the water turns visibly brown. Now I ask you to drink from either bottle.

Nobody would. Even though the first bottle looks clean from the outside, you saw what went into it. That's how God sees us. Some things look less evil to our eyes, but God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and He understands the true nature of evil. His eyes are too pure to look on it with approval (Habakkuk 1:13). He won't accept either bottle unless it is completely pure.

So is everyone doomed?

If everyone has sinned, and no amount of good can erase it, are we all doomed?

The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23). Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to everyone, because everyone has sinned (Romans 5:12). There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10–12).

And this death is more than physical death. It is separation from God and eternal judgement, what the Bible calls "the second death" (Revelation 20:14).

We know God is perfectly just, and He is the ultimate Judge. A just judge must give sin its wages. His justice is provoked by sin, and His wrath is revealed against all ungodliness (Romans 1:18). If that were the end of the story, everything we do in this world would be futile (Ecclesiastes 1:2). We'd be heading toward death with no way out of our own mess.

It's bad. But it isn't the end of the story.

But God is love

Almost everyone describes God as loving, and the Bible agrees: God is love, and all true love comes from Him (1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16).

This is where the good news begins. Because God is love, His mercy is evoked even while the whole world is in the wrong (Ephesians 2:4–5). And only God can fix this. The world cannot save itself in any way. It's impossible, because the world has wronged the very God who made it. No one can pay God a ransom for their own life or for anyone else's (Psalm 49:7–8). Only God can pardon the world. Only God can make a way out.

God's plan

So God made a way for His just wrath against sin to be satisfied. This wasn't a last-minute Plan B. It was His plan before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20; Ephesians 1:4).

The plan was this: someone sinless and pure, someone who had never done wrong in any way, would die for the world and take the punishment the whole world deserved (Isaiah 53:5–6). And that someone would have to give up their sinless life willingly.

But we've already said that every human being is in the wrong, so no ordinary person was fit for the job. And honestly, who would willingly lay down their life for people they've never met? The Bible makes this same point: scarcely would anyone die even for a righteous person. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6–8).

This is how God can be both completely just and the One who forgives. The penalty is fully paid, not ignored (Romans 3:25–26; Hebrews 9:22).

God the Son became flesh

The only one who could meet every one of those requirements was God Himself. So God the Son became flesh and lived among us (John 1:1; John 1:14). He came into this world as Jesus Christ: fully man, so He could stand in our place (Hebrews 2:14–17), and fully God (Colossians 2:9).

He lived the life we should have lived, a pure and sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22). Then He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6–8). Nobody took His life from Him. He laid it down of His own accord (John 10:17–18). There He paid "the wages of sin is death" in full.

He died, He was buried, and on the third day He rose again from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). The resurrection is God's proof that the payment was accepted and that death has been defeated (Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:17).

And it goes beyond forgiveness. Jesus took our sin, and those who trust in Him receive His righteousness: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

So is everyone automatically forgiven?

No! Jesus taking the punishment for sin doesn't mean everyone in the world is automatically forgiven. The Bible says this forgiveness is available to those who repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone (Mark 1:15; John 3:18; John 3:36).

Not by how often you attend church, how much you pray, or how well you behave, but by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

This is the gospel

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

To "not perish" doesn't mean believers never die physically. It means they will never face eternal judgement. Jesus said that whoever believes in Him will live, even though they die (John 11:25–26).

Remember the verse we left unfinished? Here it is in full:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

What now?

If this is the first time you're really hearing this, the invitation is simple: "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9–10).

Turn from your sin, put your trust in Jesus alone, and receive the gift.