GOOD NEWS
What Is the Gospel?
We all face the same great questions:
How can we be right with God?
Can our sins be forgiven?
Can we have eternal life?
The gospel gives God’s answer through Jesus Christ.
“And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son.”
1 John 5:11
Good News About Jesus Christ
The word gospel means good news. At its heart, the gospel is the good news of what God has done through Jesus Christ to save sinful people and bring them into a right relationship with Himself.
The Bible tells us that eternal life is not found in religion, good works, church membership, or trying to become a better person. Eternal life is found in a Person — Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
To understand why that is such good news, we first need to understand who God is, what has gone wrong with us, and what Christ has done on our behalf.
01
GOD
God Is Our Creator
The Bible begins with the words:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
God is the Creator of all things, and He made mankind in His own image. We were created to know Him, honour Him, and live in fellowship with Him.
God is also perfectly holy and righteous. He is not simply better than we are; He is completely without sin. Because He is holy and just, He cannot overlook evil or treat sin as though it does not matter.
The problem is that mankind has not lived as God created us to live.
02
man
Our Problem: Sin and Death
When the first man, Adam, chose to disobey God, sin entered the world, and death came through sin. From that time onward, every one of us has been born into a fallen world and has personally chosen our own way rather than God's.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Sin is more than the worst things people do. At its heart, sin is our failure to live according to God's will and our choice to go our own way instead of His. The consequence of sin is separation from God and death.
“For the wages of sin is death...”
That includes physical death, but ultimately it means eternal separation from the God who gave us life.
This is a problem we cannot solve for ourselves.
03
OUR NEED
Our Good Works Cannot Save Us
Many people hope that being sincere, moral, religious, generous, or doing more good than bad will make them acceptable to God.
But the Bible teaches that salvation cannot be earned.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
No amount of good works can erase our sin or give us the perfect righteousness God requires. Salvation must therefore come from God as a gift, not as a reward for what we have done.
And that is exactly what God has provided.
04
CHRIST
Who Is Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is not merely a religious teacher or a good man. He is the eternal Son of God who became truly human.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...”
Jesus lived the life we have failed to live. He was completely without sin. Because He was both truly God and truly man, He alone could become the perfect substitute for sinners.
What Did Jesus Do for Us?
The heart of the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
Jesus willingly died on the cross in our place.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
He did not die for sins of His own, because He had none. He died as our substitute, bearing the judgment our sin deserved.
On the cross Jesus cried, “It is finished.” The price had been paid.
But the gospel does not end with the cross. Jesus was buried, and on the third day He rose again from the dead. His resurrection demonstrated His victory over sin and death and confirmed the sufficiency of what He accomplished for us.
05
RESPONSE
How Can I Receive Eternal Life?
The Bible's answer is wonderfully simple: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
To believe in Christ means more than simply believing that Jesus existed. It means placing your personal trust in Him — depending on who He is and what He has done rather than trusting in yourself, your goodness, your religion, or your works.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Salvation is received by grace through faith in Christ alone. Nothing we do before or after faith can add to the finished work of Christ as the basis of our salvation.
There is, of course, a real change of mind involved when someone comes to Christ. We come to see ourselves as God sees us, recognise that we cannot save ourselves, and recognise Jesus Christ as the One in whom we must place our trust. But it is Christ who saves, and salvation is received through faith in Him.
ASSURANCE
You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
God does not ask us to live our lives wondering whether we have done enough to be saved.
“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life...”
If your confidence is in Jesus Christ alone — in His death for your sins and His resurrection from the dead — you can rest in God's promise of eternal life.
06
YOUR RESPONSE
What Will You Do With Jesus Christ?
The question is not whether you can make yourself good enough for God. You cannot.
The question is whether you will trust the One who has already done everything necessary to save you.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
You can come to God just as you are, acknowledging your need and placing your trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Saviour.
Eternal life is God's gift.
“God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
1 John 5:11
Do you have questions about the gospel?
If you would like to understand more about salvation, faith in Christ, or anything you have read here, we would be glad to talk with you and help you from the Bible.