What is the Gospel?

What does it mean to know God? This is the most important question you will ever be asked in life. It has eternal consequences. To understand who God is and what He has done tells us who we are and what we have done. We need to know the gospel if we are going to desire a relationship with God. And what exactly is it?

We read in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This causes us to realize God is the creator of all things and, thereby, He owns all things (Psalm 24:1). We also understand God to be perfect and holy. Isaiah 6:3 points this out when it is declared, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory”. It is because God is perfectly holy that He rightly requires perfect obedience to His law. James 2:10 reminds us of this, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” We realize, though, we have not kept the whole law. Ever since Genesis 3, we see we have broken God’s law, that none of us are righteous and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23). The problem with the world and in our lives is sin. We live in a fallen world because we have rebelled against God and His word. Therefore, we pay the price for our sin and that penalty is eternal. Romans 6:23 begins with, “For the wages of sin is death”. Moreover, there is no way we can save ourselves from this judgment. However, Jesus Christ has come. That is why Romans 6:23 continues, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Christ, fully God and fully man, came into the world. God incarnate lived the perfect and sinless life we could not live (Colossians 2:9). He died the death we deserved. He gave His life for us on the cross so that we might be forgiven and find reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we can have eternal fellowship with God. We can be saved from judgment and receive God’s grace in the gospel. How? If we repent of our sins, turn from them, and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. No amount of works will save you. No matter how good you are, you cannot have a personal relationship with God and truly know Him unless you repent and believe in the gospel. Will you do that today?