Salvation and the Gospel
The salvation of man, and the gospel are recurring themes throughout the Bible. What is salvation and how is the gospel good news?
The Gospel Defined
What does the word gospel mean?
Although the first four books in the New Testament of the Bible are called gospels, the word does not only refer to a type of book.
The Merriam Webster dictionary states that the gospel is:
the message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation
Merriam Webster
In a broad sense, the gospel is the good news of the kingdom. We need look no further than the Gospel of Mark to discover this. In Mark 1:14,15 we read,
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:14,15 NIV
Jesus came to show us what His kingdom would be like. It is a kingdom where He rules. While Jesus was rejected by His own people, the Bible prophecies that Jesus will come back to establish His kingdom at some future time. In the present age, He rules in the hearts of those who choose to follow Him. Those who follow Jesus are often called Christians, which means “Christ’s ones.”
However, the gospel is usually used to refer to the good news that Jesus offers us salvation from condemnation for our sins through His death and resurrection.
There can be no better concise description of the gospel in the Bible than the famous John 3:16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
This verse shows us that God loves us dearly and has provided His Son, Jesus, as our way of salvation.
God Loves Us
God lovingly created each and everyone of us individually. We are His workmanship. Whatever the circumstances of our conception and birth, God hand-crafted each one of us while we were in our mother’s womb.
King David, the great Jewish hero who rose from a position of relative obscurity as a shepherd boy to the pre-eminent position of leadership in the state, knew this. David was a great composer and musician, long before he became king, and he wrote:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Psalm 139:13-14 NLT
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
God created us to have purpose and meaning in life. We are not a random collection of cells. When we come to experience God’s love, our lives are changed and we can know true joy, peace and a sense of acceptance and belonging that are otherwise missing from life.
Separation From God and Salvation
Nevertheless, in our natural state, from the moment of our birth, we are sinners separated from God even though we have no inkling of what that means. As we grow older, we become aware of our sin. In fact, we can be quite young when we begin to knowingly disobey our parents and ultimately, God.
Our sin or wrongdoing is not something that truly separates us from God, and eventually, eternal separation from God.
As the great early Christian leader, the Apostle Paul, wrote:
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 3:23 NLT
We may feel that we can live our lives however we want, but God has a standard which we all fall short of. We can read about God’s standard in the Old Testament, especially in the 10 Commandments that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. None of us can say that we have kept these commandments. We all fall short.
Our sin creates a huge barrier between us and God. Ultimately our sin will lead us to a sad end as Paul wrote:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 6:23 NIV
The Garden of Eden
Most of us have heard at least something about the story of Adam and Eve. In Genesis, we can read that Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. Their sin caused them to be cast out of the garden, but not before God had clothed them with the skin of the first animal sacrifice. This teaches us at that sin ultimately leads to death and separation from God. There is a gap between God and ourselves that we cannot cross.
We know that we all die at some point, this is a direct consequence of our sin. However, besides dying physically, we also die spiritually. Our hearts are turned away from God, we follow our own desires, and after we die, we will remain separated from God for all of eternity.
Eternal separation from Him is not what God wants for us. God did not create us for this, but to have eternal life with Him. God loves us and wants us to live life to the fullest as He intended.
We are Unable to Bridge the Gap
However, despite our best efforts, we are unable to bridge the gap that separates us from God. Throughout history people have tried countless ways to rebuild the relationship with God and regain wheat mankind lost in the Garden of Eden.
People explore all manner of religions and teachings from cultures all around the world. Some conclude that all religions lead to God. Others choose to follow a guru or teacher. Many simply try to live the best life that they can in the hope that the good they do outweighs the bad. But this is not what Paul says in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians which reads:
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
Clearly nothing we attempt can restore the relationship with God. Something much greater than we can do is needed. Someone. That someone is Jesus. He is the gift from God that we need.
Salvation is The Good News
Despite the fact that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from condemnation and eternal separation from God, there is hope. The hope springs from the heart of God who loves us deeply and demonstrates his love to us so clearly and dramatically through Jesus.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 NIV
The death of Jesus Christ is one of the most significant events in history. When Jesus was rejected by His people, he was put to death on the cross by the Jews and the Romans. His death paid the price for our sins. Although He was sinless and perfect in every way He suffered for our sins. God chose to count the death of Jesus as sufficient to pay for all our wrongdoings, both past and present.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
I Peter 3:18
When we chose to believe that Jesus died for our sins, we are saved. The death of Jesus satisfied God’s Law that calls for the punishment of sin. His death builds a bridge that crosses the gap to God, allowing us to spend eternity in heaven with Him. It also allows us to experience God’s presence in our lives here on earth.
Salvation Is Found in Jesus
The good news of the gospel then is that salvation from eternal condemnation is available to us in Jesus. As the Son of God, God become man, He loves us and is fully capable of bringing us safely into the loving presence of our Heavenly Father God when we leave this earth.
Furthermore, He is the only way. There is no other person, religion, philosophy, organization or lifestyle that can bring about our eternal salvation. Paul expressed it for us very clearly when he said,
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12
Jesus Himself believed that He was the only way to the Father. His teachings, His miracles, His sinless life all make it very clear that this was no ordinary man. Jesus is God in the flesh, and we would be wise to listen to Him when He says,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
Is There Anything We Need to Do?
Yes! God has given us the freedom of choice. We can choose to ignore and reject Jesus, or we can choose to accept Him into our lives as our Saviour. Our part in our salvation is to believe the good news that Jesus died for our sins, and receive Him as our Saviour and Lord – God’s loving gift to us.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
John 1:12
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10
What Will You Decide About Jesus?
We all have one life to live. During our lifetimes we make countless decisions but there is no decision more important than what to do about Jesus.
If Jesus is truly the only way to salvation and eternal life then choosing to follow Him seems to be an obvious choice. However, if we allow other things to influence us we may choose not to accept the good news of the gospel.
Sometimes we allow concerns about what family members might think, or how following Jesus could affect our job or lifestyle can prevent us from stepping out in faith. We may have been treated badly in our past and experienced pain and suffering, or even been hurt by those who call themselves Christians.
We need to refocus and take a look at Jesus. The records of His life found in the four gospels make it clear that He is deeply concerned for our wellbeing both in this life and in the life to come. We see that He made it clear that nothing in this life is as important as being in a right relationship with God.
He brings us love, joy and peace. We can experience fulfillment and a sense of belonging like never before. There is simply no greater gift than to know and follow Jesus. He changes our live for the better both here and now, and in eternity. A decision to receive Jesus as God’s greatest gift will never disappoint.
Have you decided to follow Jesus? If you are a new Christian, or if you have some questions about salvation, we would love to hear from you. Contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Images Courtesy of:
Man on Mountain – djedj
Woman at Canyon BKD
Woman in Field – Pexels
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