The Gospel is God's Message to Sinners

The gospel is God’s message of hope and reconciliation to sinners, welcoming them back into relationship with Him even after they have wickedly and willfully turned their backs on Him.

The Gospel Includes Bad News & Good News

So there is bad news and there is good news. The bad news is that, because of sin, people have lost their way, have wandered far from God, and are now deserving of God’s judgment.

The gospel, which literally means “good news,” is that God has made a way to bring wayward people back to himself. The heart of the good news tells us how God did this through Jesus:

- Jesus was smitten, wounded, crushed, stricken because of our sin... all so that He could bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, heal our wounds, and bring us peace (Isa. 53:4-10).

- Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead three days later just as the Scriptures of old had promised (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

- Jesus suffered once for sins, the righteous person in the place unrighteous people like us, that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

- Jesus was treated like a sinner even though He Himself never sinned, so that in Jesus we sinners might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

Sin is the problem. Jesus is the solution.

The bad news is that our sin has separated us from the Father. The good news is that there is a way back! Jesus is “the way” back to the Father (John 14:6).

The Gospel and FBC

We at FBC desire to be a church filled with people who are diligent to internalize the gospel so that we can be energized by the gospel. By internalize, we mean to say that we want to so meditate on the biblical gospel, so preach it to ourselves and to one another, that it becomes clear in our minds and begins to shape the way that we think, feel, and live. When the gospel is internalized, it begins to have a healing, nourishing, strengthening and maturing effect on our hearts. This is what we mean by energized: the gospel meets our deepest needs and then motivates us to love God and love others.

The Gospel Summarized In Four Parts

1) God

God created man to know Him, love Him, and live in joyful relationship with Him forever.

2) Man

Man sinned and thus broke relationship with God.

3) Christ

Christ was sent to restore the relationship between God and man by dying on the cross in the place of sinners.

4) Response

Man must respond by turning from sin and trusting in Jesus alone for forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life.

The Gospel Celebrated

We praise God for good news—that God is willing to take proud, guilty, rebellious, selfish, hardhearted, stiff-necked, self-willed, shame-filled, sin-soaked, prodigal-people and, through trust in Jesus, transform them into humble, innocent, submissive, loving, tenderhearted, Spirit-led, Christ-centered, shame-free, blood-washed, hope-infused, sons and daughters of God. May the God of the gospel be honored as His people believe the gospel, internalize the gospel, and are energized to love by the gospel!

Resources for Further Study:

What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert

The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Jerry Bridges

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper

The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ by Ray Ortlund Jr.