The Essence of the Gospel

The essence of the gospel is easily remembered. It is about a person, something that person did, and how to receive something from that person. Who is the person? Jesus. He is the Savior, and He is both God and man. What does he do? Saves. Jesus saves from sin and gives eternal life through death and resurrection. How are salvation and eternal life received from him? Faith. They are received by grace through faith. The gospel is about who Jesus is, what Jesus did and does, and how to receive Jesus and the gifts that are found in Him.

(1.) The Person of Christ: Who is He?

(2.) The Work of Christ: What did He do? What does He do?

(3.) Receiving Christ: How can a sinner receive Him?

Who is Jesus? He is both God and man, the sinless Son of God and Savior of the world (4:42; 1 John 4:14; 1 Timothy 4:10; John 3:16-17). “Jesus” means “the Lord saves.” He is the Lord; and He saves (Matthew 1:21). What did Jesus do? What does He do now? He suffered and died on a cross for sin and rose again to imperishable glory. Reigning now from heaven, He reconciles sinners to God through the working of His Holy Spirit in their hearts (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6). He gives eternal life (Romans 6:23). He does so through the gospel message (Romans 1:16; 10:17). How can a sinner receive Him? Jesus is received by grace through faith accompanied by repentance (John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:1-10).

Who, what, and how? The three simple questions can help you remember the simple essence of the gospel message. The gospel is about Jesus the person, Jesus’ work, and how to receive Jesus. It is about how to take refuge in God through Jesus. “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8).

The Problem

Notice the personal relevance of the gospel: “though sinful man be separated from the Holy God and Creator of all things.” This is the problem. Your personal eternity is at stake. The fate of your soul is at stake. We will die; it is just around the corner. Our personal standing with God is at stake. How so? God is holy but we are unholy. He has shown us what holiness through His commandments. We have broken them all. He has given us the ten commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). He has clarified for us the two great commandments: love Him above all things with all that we are, and love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:35-40). He has summarized the one supreme commandment, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44).

I have violated every commandment. I have not loved God above all things with all that I am. I have not loved others as I have loved, cared for, and looked out for myself. I have not been holy. I am unholy in heart, mind, word, and deed. I need a to be purified and forgiven. I need a Savior more than anything. I need Jesus. He is, in fact, my greatest need and yours.

God is our Creator-King and has rights on all things and all people, but we have gladly rebelled.

God is Holy and worthy of imitation, but we have stubbornly rejected His ways and despised His commands.

God is of greatest value, truest love, and most radiant beauty, and yet we have loved other things above Him.

We have a problem. Alone and left to our own devices and resources, we live under a cloud of divine wrath that could burst upon us at any moment and plunge us into an unspeakable eternity of suffering and sadness apart from God and under His righteous judgment. Tragic. But there is an escape. There is good news. Jesus is Salvation. He is a sinner’s ready escape from God’s judgment. Come under the banner of His love and be saved. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Pride says you do not need it. The world says it is unfair or, shockingly, even unkind. The Devil says to not even think about it. Friend, it is good news, not bad news. The gospel is good news from God about God so that you can know God. It is the best thing in the world. Soften your heart to it, and God will show you.

Our natural response is to harden against such things. This is a symptom of the very thing we need to be delivered from. We need to be delivered from a state of spiritual death. When I was dead in sin, I was hostile to God, contrary to God’s holiness, indifferent to God’s holy law, deaf to His Word, and blind to His revelation in creation. Not only did I need to be made new, but I needed to guilt of my sin taken away and my standing with God made right. I thank God for the message of the gospel. It gives me rest. It comforts me.

Divine Justice

I am happy indeed if you have made it to this paragraph. Here I offer a small argument for the reality of divine justice, the problem facing sinners against God. Justice is apparent and applauded in every sector of human life. It is woven into the fabric of our existence. It includes a standard of right and wrong (morality, law), consequences for the wrong (penalties, judgment), and rewards for the right (prizes, praises). Our focus is the first two: morality, laws and penalties, judgment.

No parents would say to their children, “Do whatever you want in our home. There is no accountability and no consequences for anything.” No parent would send their children to a school that said, “Students can do whatever they want in our school. There is no accountability and no consequences for anything.” No family wants to live in a town with no judges and no laws, or corrupt judges with oppressive laws. We do not want criminals to go free. Imagine a nation where everyone agreed, “We will all do whatever we want in this nation. We will have no accountability toward each other and there will never be any consequences for anything.” Absurd. Madness. Chaos.

Accountability based on a standard of right and wrong (morality, law) is apparent and applauded in life. Fair consequences to protect others, curb evil, and encourage goodness (penalties, judgment) is apparent and applauded in life. This is true at every level. You cannot drive however you want on the road. You cannot go into whatever house you choose just because you decide to live there. You cannot steal. You cannot murder. You cannot do a lot of things. Law and penalties are meant to keep you in line; and this is for your good and the good of those around you.

Then we come to God and lose our collective minds, or at least pretend to because we do not want to face to obvious. We are accountable to God and rightly face divine judgment. We have violated his standard of morality and transgressed his law in heart, mind, word, and deed. We deserve our due. We have the penalty of heaven bearing down upon us. Why is justice so clearly woven into our life on earth? It is a reflection and lesson of the bigger picture. God is just and we are guilty. Hence the problem of sinful man’s standing before a holy God. Hence the solution of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is hypocrisy to applaud justice in all the world only to scoff at justice in heaven.

All systems of secularism, atheism, agnosticism, religion, and philosophy promote a code of ethics. “People should do this, but they should not do that.” “Society should be this way, not that way.” “These things are right, but those things are wrong.” I am sure that you have a code of ethics too. We all believe in morals and consequences. This is not unique to Christianity. It is an inescapable part of human existence.

Demonstrating how the Bible’s code is the right one is another discussion for another time. I only write this here so that you do not reject the gospel based on the idea of a world with morals, accountability, and justice. You already believe and live according to these ideas. The question is, is your current version of these things based on opinion, feelings, and pop-culture, or is it based on a standard or authority that transcends the world? This is the question for all of us, not just me and you. Every worldview faces this question.

You and I, you see, are a part of the world. How could our little minds be the standard or authority of truth and morals? If there is such a standard, it would have to transcend the world and transcend our minds. Otherwise, we are all wrong and there would be no code of ethics; it would be every man, woman, and child for himself. It would be global, “Do whatever you want and there are no consequences for anything.” Absurd. It would be madness. No one wants to live in that world.

Conclusion

The shell of the sinner’s heart is tough and thick, and I know it well, but it is not impenetrable. God can get through. The gospel can get through. Listen to it. Hear it. Contemplate who Jesus is, what He did, what He does, and how to receive Him. This good news about how to come to God through Jesus is the way you can seek God by faith. Jesus is invisible. You can know and love Him, but it can only be by faith. It can only be by the heart’s trusting in Him alone for salvation. He died in the place of the guilty and He rose to newness of life. By faith in Him, sinners die to sin and rise to newness of life in relationship with God. Jesus reconciles sinners to the one true, living God.

Do not lose heart. The Holy Spirit is mighty to break the sin-hardened heart and turn the sin-stiffened neck.

I could say that Jesus makes a way, but that is not enough. Jesus is the way. (John 14:6).

He maintains justice while providing mercy. My lawbreaking was not ignored in the gospel, but it was dealt with on a Roman cross in the body of Jesus. He stepped in as my representative before God and bore my sin and penalty. I am spared of God’s judgment by the ineffable love of Christ.

Jesus’ death was first and foremost a public showcase of God’s glory. It shines forth God’s righteousness and His love. It shouts out divine justice and divine mercy. God is both “just and justifier” (Romans 3:26). God, you see, will not ignore your sin because that would be unjust. He does, however, provide a merciful escape from sin in Christ Jesus. That is the essence of the gospel message. Though sinful man be separated from the Holy God and Creator of all things, Jesus, by virtue of His suffering unto death and resurrection unto glory, reconciles sinners to God through the working of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.