This is the most important question that any person no matter the time in which we live can hope to ask. In an age of so much confusion and sinfulness, what we know of the gospel will
determine where we spend our eternity.
So let us take it a step at a time.
Gospel means ‘Good News’ taken from the old English word ‘godspel’ which means ‘god'(good) and ‘spel’ (story/message). This is analogous to the Greek ‘euaggelion‘, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.
Let us consider what the bible has to say concerning it:
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (emphasis mine)
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 NASB
http://bible.com/100/1co.15.1-4.nasb
For the good news to be appreciated, we first need to appreciate the bad news. The fact of the matter is that man is sinful and by this I mean all men, women and children. God clearly states in His word that “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). From the moment that Adam sinned, the entire race fell into sin and because of that sin, God cursed the entire race to die because He God is holy and just and will not abide sin. The death here was both physical and much more devastating spiritual which refers to eternal separation from God and a fearful expectation of judgment and hell once this physical existence is over.
Oh, men try to clean up their act and do many things thinking that God will have to forgive them because of their good deeds. Unfortunately, we do not realize just how holy God is and just how sinful our sin is. Isaiah 64:6 makes this abundantly clear when it states, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
So to summarize the situation, we are born into sin and as a result are dead spiritually and all attempts to remedy the situation through our own efforts will ultimately not satisfy God nor help us.
Now comes the good news!!!
God is holy and just and He is also love. Therefore God in His great mercy, looked at our helpless situation and provided a way out for us in order that we might not be condemned forever because of our sin. At the right time, He sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth in the form of man, lived a perfect life without sin and ultimately paid for our sins with His own life on the cross. With this act, God punished our sin on the sinless one and on the cross, Jesus drank the full cup of God’s wrath that you and I deserve. He is our substitute. Through that God satisfied his justice and wrath on Him and at the same time was able to express His love for sinful men.
Having said this, there is only one way to appropriate the death of Christ and that is through repentance and faith in Him. No matter who you are and what you have done, God promises forgiveness of sins if you will acknowledge that you are a sinner, being broken over your sin and confessing them and then trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross on your behalf.
Looking at the verse above, you will notice that Christ did not remain buried but was raised up and that resurrection is a powerful proclamation that His sacrifice on our behalf was accepted by God the Father and therefore we can have confidence that in Christ our sins have indeed been forgiven. (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)
Have you heard anything better than this? Good news truly. Indeed the very best! Have you responded to Christ Dear Reader?