We all like to receive good news, especially when we hear so much bad news. But the best news of all is that God has graciously provided a Savior to renew that which is broken in our lives.
The Gospel is the word that is used in the Bible, which simply means “Good News.” The gospel is central throughout the Old and New Testaments, and it includes every element of God’s revealed truth in restoring mankind to Himself.
In order to understand the “Good News” of the “Gospel,” we draw the following truths from the Bible:
God
The Bible is a book about God – the one true and living God who chose to reveal Himself to us on the pages of Scripture. The Bible begins with God as the Designer and Creator of all things. (Gen. 1) His nature is graciously displayed throughout the Bible, including His attributes of holiness and perfection. The Bible provides us with His moral standard, (Ex. 20) the principles we were to live by. And the Bible ends with God as the Sovereign Ruler of all. (Rev. 22) We are, therefore, accountable to Him to live according to His standard.
Man
The Bible is also a book about us – mankind – the pinnacle of His creation, who God made in His very own image. (Gen. 1) However, to appreciate the “Good News,” we must first acknowledge the “Bad News!” The “Bad News” is that we have broken God’s law or standard, thereby cutting ourselves off from Him. (Gen. 3, Rom. 3) The Bible calls this sin, which comes from our disobedience and is a direct offense against our holy God. To make matters worse, the Bible says that we’re dead in our sins, without any hope of fixing the problem ourselves. (Eph. 2) This means that without any divine intervention, we must bear God’s righteous wrath eternally.
Christ
But the “Good News” is that God has already arranged for our need. He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, Himself fully God, to live among us on earth. (John 1) Jesus Christ lived a perfect life (without sin) as a substitute, and He died the horrific death of Calvary’s cross as a sacrifice for all who would believe on Him. (Heb. 9) He bore God’s wrath upon Himself so that sinners like me wouldn’t have to. And then Jesus was raised back to life on the third day to reign forever over all mankind. (I Cor. 15) In His death He paid the price for our freedom from the curse of sin. In His new life He effectively restored all that was corrupted from the Fall of man.
Salvation
This “Good News” only becomes good for us when we embrace Him as our Lord and Savior. According to the Bible, we do this through (1) repentance of (or turning away from) our sin and self-centeredness (I John 1:9) and (2) by believing in faith that Christ is our Savior according to the Scriptures. (John 3) We must appropriate God’s gift of grace by trusting in Him as the only answer to our problem. It’s only when we see Jesus Christ as our greatest treasure that we can live for Him and with Him forever. We’re now able to apply and experience His renewal in all the areas of our brokenness. We find that the “Good News” of the “Gospel” has “great” reward!