The best place to start is usually The Beginning. So in this section I will give an overview of the Gospel. ‘Gospel’ just means ‘Good News’. I will attempt to make this both full and concise. Before we can develop a relationship with Jesus it is important that we have at least a basic understanding of who He is, what He did, and why this is important.
Who is Jesus?
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We believe that God is one God, but that He exists eternally as three Persons: Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit. This concept is called the ‘Trinity’ and many men more intelligent than I have given far more detailed an account of this teaching. But it really is not much more complicated than that. C.S. Lewis gives the illustration of an egg. There is one egg, but three parts: the shell, the yolk and the white. The point for us just now is that Jesus is God.
Jesus became a man 2000 years ago. He wasn’t like in the artwork – with hair in perfect condition and a serene and aloof expression on His face. He was a real man – He felt real emotions, He got sweaty in the middle eastern sun and He even pooped. He wasn’t half God and half man like Hercules, He became fully man while also being fully God.
What did Jesus do?
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38).
Jesus was thirty years old when He began three years of ministry. We read in the eyewitness accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that He performed many miracles and spent His time with the rejects of society – the poor, the broken and the prostitutes and He healed the sick every time He found them.
Then He was betrayed, falsely accused and unfairly tried. He was whipped thirty-nine times – enough lashes to remove all of the flesh from His back. He was mocked and had a crown of thorns rammed into His scalp. He was so weak He could not carry His own cross up the hill, where they nailed Him to two planks of wood with large nails through His wrists and His ‘Achilles heels’. They pierced His side with a spear and left Him to suffocate.
If that were the end of the story we would not know about Him today. Many men were crucified by the Roman Empire – only one man ever came back. Death could not hold the Man-Christ! He appeared to over five hundred people and gave them the responsibility the tell the world. His disciples today have not changed the subject.
Why is all this important?
We have a problem. God created a perfect world and made mankind to reign over it, and to live in perfect communion and relationship with Him. Love is only real if it is given through choice. And with the freedom to choose a life with God comes the freedom to choose a life without Him. And we all know the story – Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Rejection of God is called ‘sin’ and it brought with it death – separation from God. And when we die, there is eternal condemnation. Sin cannot abide in the Presence of a holy God. Sin is the barrier that keeps us from an intimate relationship with the Lord. This is why sickness exists in the world today – it is a by-product of living in a ‘fallen’ world. God gave us His Law (we’ve all heard of the Ten Commandments). He did not give us the Law so that we might obey it. He gave us the Law primarily to demonstrate to us that we have failed to meet His standard. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever been jealous? The Old Testament demonstrates with brutal clarity that sin deserves punishment. Sin deserves judgement. So the Old Testament asks one extremely important question: what are we going to do about the problem of sin?
This is why Jesus died! He took the punishment and the judgement that we deserve so that we can get what He deserves! He lived a perfect, blameless life and took the wrath of God on Himself at the cross. He died a sinner’s death and then was raised to life, triumphantly declaring that death does not have the last word; those who believe in Him will live forever! We must personally accept and relate to His sacrifice as sufficient payment for our sins.
Eternal life is not just something for heaven. It starts now! The ‘hope of glory’ starts now! When we are in sin we are described as spiritually dead. So when we place our trust in Jesus we come alive – now! We can do nothing to save ourselves, or to earn salvation. It is a free gift that comes only through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. We must respond and believe in the Gospel – the Good News of Christ. Then we can begin a relationship with a God who,
“so loved us that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Next we will begin to examine what this looks like in practice.
