The Gospel Part 1
What is the Gospel?
The word Gospel means Good News.
One may ask; what is this good news about? Or who is this good news about? There is nowhere better to turn to than the word of God, to answer these pertinent questions.
The gospel according to Mark begins by announcing to us clearly that this Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus the Anointed One, who is the Son of God (Mark 1:1).
In the Gospel according to Luke the angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds
“…Don’t be afraid!”…“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” (Luke 2:10-11 NLT)
When the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, they were filled with fear. Why? This great light shined even into their souls to expose the sinful nature and the dark secrets of the heart; they found themselves falling short, unworthy to stand in the glorious presence of a Holy God.
All of us, having been born as descendants of Adam, have sinned. We are born under imputed sin and have gone on to sin because of that sinful nature. God judges and punishes sin, He doesn’t hear the prayer of a sinner and unless someone righteous pleads for us before God, we will suffer death (an eternal separation from God) as the punishment of our own sin.
Where then does this leave us, we who through the fear of death have been subject to bondage all our lives? Fear has enslaved us to all forms of idolatry in our search for solutions to deliver ourselves from the impending death.
We hear a reassuring voice from the herald angel “Don’t be afraid “. Why? Before ever he announced the birth of the saviour to the shepherds, this same angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and gave him these words concerning Mary; “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NLT)
Only Jesus can save us from our sin. He alone is perfect and righteous. He fully understands our struggles in the flesh and the temptation we face in this world. He went through it all and overcame sin, death and the grave. When he died on the cross, God raised him from the dead on the third day, received him into heaven, glorified him and gave him power over all things in heaven and on earth.
On hearing this good news, the Holy Spirit helps us to believe it in our heart, he also helps us to confess that “Jesus is Lord” and empowers us to live righteously to the glory of the Father. This happens only through the unmerited favour of God, not by our own attempts at righteousness. We are adopted into God’s holy family and are his children. And we are guaranteed that even if we die in this physical life, God shall raise us from the dead as he did Christ. We shall receive and enjoy his free gift of everlasting life, starting here in this life and continuing in Heaven.
Does this mean we will never sin again in our walk with Christ? Apostle John writes to us as we begin our walk with Christ saying “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” (1 John 2:1-2 NLT)
If we love Jesus, we will keep his word; we will not take God’s grace for granted and sin wilfully. Through Christ, we will have boldness to approach the throne of God that we may obtain his mercy, and grace to help us in time of need.
And this truly is the Good News