What and Why The Gospel?
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, "This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luk 24:45-48)
Do you know the exact titles of the first four books of the New Testament?
We know those four books of the New Testament are about Jesus’ life, teaching, ministry, and death.
Why then wouldn’t we call them the biography of Jesus rather than the gospel? Before I answer, let me ask you one more thing: If I ask you to summarize whole the Bible in one sentence or so, what would you say?
The answer is “Jesus died for our sins.” We call this short statement the gospel or the good news or the New Testament.
Actually, not only the first 4 books of the New Testament but also the book of Acts deals with how this gospel has spread all over the world. Furthermore, all the rest of the New Testament also deals with how the church, founded on this gospel, should apply it in their lives.
Thus, all the New Testament is revolved around the fact that Jesus died for our sins. But, it goes further beyond the New Testament books. When Jesus said to the Jews, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me.’, Jesus was referring to the Old Testament, which according to Jesus reveals the way of salvation by Him, that is, the gospel.
Paul also said to the same effect, “the sacred Scriptures are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (II Tim 3:15)
"How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken!
Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:25-26)
When Jesus said, “This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day”, Jesus again was referring to the Old Testament. (Luk 24:45-47)
Thus not only the New Testament books but also the books of the Old Testament mainly talk about why and how Jesus would come to suffer and die for our sins. So if I ask you to summarize whole the Bible, you can safely say, “Jesus died for our sins so that we may have Salvation or eternal life through Him.”
Why then is this statement that Jesus died for our sins so central? It is because it best and most precisely illustrates the nature of God in terms of His perfect righteousness and perfect love.
You may ask if God couldn’t forgive our sins without Jesus having to die since God is love. If you ask such a question, then you do because you are not aware of the fact that God is not only the loving God but also He is righteous God. Though we may not see how these two aspects relate to each other, Jesus' death on the cross clearly reveals that there is no true love without righteousness. Can you imagine a president who loves his people so much that he would destroy all justice systems and whole prisons, thus allowing all the criminals on the street?
On one hand, God demonstrated His perfect righteousness in the event of Jesus’ death on the cross.
His death satisfied God’s righteousness, which demands that sinners die.
But, on the other hand, “God proved His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) This magnificent love demonstrated in Jesus’ death on the cross illustrates why Jesus had to die on the cross to forgive our sins. Let me explain why.
We human beings tend to look at our sin trivially and lightly. As a result, even our repentance is done lightly in a way not acceptable in the eyes of God.
I was told a real story by Dr. John Kim, a professor at California State University, one of the best known Korean Christians in the States. He and all his family members were dining out in Los Angeles. But, the waitress wasn’t kindly treating them because of their casual clothing and appearance. Being offended by her, Mrs. Kim informed the matter to the owner, who happened to be her friend. The owner called the waitress questioning why she treated them such and also informed her who they were. So the waitress came back to their table meaning to ask their forgiveness. Can you imagine what this waitress said? She said, “ I am sorry I didn’t recognize you as a professor.”
She meant to recognize her fault and asked for forgiveness. That was as far as she could come up with concerning her fault. Probably she meant to be sincere, but she couldn’t and didn’t realize why they were offended. It had nothing to do with whether she recognized his profession as a professor. He was simply offended by her treating them in such a way regardless of their background. Though she tried to repent her own way, since not knowing Dr. Kim’s point, she did it to no avail.
Even among human beings, we have a hard time understanding others, let alone God. Though we may try to recognize and repent by making a list of what we consider sins, we might end up doing like the waitress. But, God demands our recognition of our sins according to His view, not our view and understanding I am saying you can’t depend on your conscience for repentance because your conscience won’t able to tell what’s in God’s heart. I am sure, there is nothing like Jesus' death on the Cross that reveals exactly who God is and His heart. Only in light of Jesus’ death, the gospel, we will understand the magnitude of His love.
Only in light of the fact that Jesus died for our sins, the gospel, we can recognize our own sins in a way acceptable by God. You may make a list of your own sins before God, but if you miss this great love, you are missing the whole point. But, the gospel reveals what God really cares about. He cares about our recognition of His love, not simply a list of what we think our sins are. When we acknowledge His love demonstrated in Jesus’ death, only then we can truly repent and confess our lack of loving Him as sin.
While we can’t repent comparing what we do and who we are with our own standard or that of others, we can if we do compare ourselves with the love and righteousness of God as revealed at the cross in Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. The gospel is God’s perfect standard in terms of His love and righteousness, which we need to believe in God and repent from our sins.
The gospel is the only way to know God in person (I Cor. 2: 21-23) so that we can repent correctly recognizing His love and righteousness.
Also, the gospel is the only way to worship Him as He is. The Gospel not only explains what Jesus has done to save us, but who He is. Only the Son of God can die for the sins of the multitude. The fact He died for all means He must be more than a righteous man. Yes, He is God Himself. Through this gospel, we earn not only the grace to approach God, but also learn who deserves our worship, our Lord Jesus Christ.
What makes you and I distinct from others? We believe Jesus died for our sins. For sure, our destiny was determined when we for the first time believed this gospel. You know what happens every time we gathered here. We are simply explaining what it means that Jesus died for our sins and how we should respond to that simple message. The gospel is such a significant message that it would take more than our lifetimes just to expound what it means and it would be worthwhile to spend our lives meditating on that meaning.
(I appreciate your reading. barnabaspark@gmail.com )
