The Gospel - The Good News

"What is truth?" - Pilate to Jesus (John 18:38)

"Thy word is truth." - Jesus to God the Father (John 17:17)

"You shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free." - Jesus to us all (John 8:32)

First some bad news, then you realize why the Good News is so good!

God, the Creator, says that we are born innocent, without guilt, but at some stage we all sin. Certainly children may suffer the effects of the sins of previous generations, but they are not accountable for them (Ezekiel 18:20). Each person is accountable for his or her own sins (Romans 14:12).

What is sin? Sin is simply doing the things God said we mustn't do and failing to do the things He said we should do (I John 3:4; James 4:17). God keeps a record of our lives and notes whatever sins we do (Revelation 20:12). The really bad thing about sin is that once we have sins on our records, nothing we can do can clean off those sins. God said, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). The fact that we often mar our records through ignorance is sad but no excuse. God does not, cannot, tolerate sin. Part of His nature demands justice and judgment. However, He also wants to show mercy. So He has a plan.

The plan revolves around His Son, Jesus. Jesus became human. He lived a life of perfection. He never sinned - not even once. Then He gave up His life so that His death could satisfy the justice and judgment of God the Father. This in turn gave the Father opportunity to be merciful to us who should have paid the penalty - death, eternal death.

So is everyone now free of their sins? No. Jesus' statement, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," tells us that we, at least, have to come to know the truth - God's word.

Read the Bible, is that all it takes? Not quite.

The Bible is a collection of writings, or library, from forty different people over more than 1500 years. These writers were inspired of God to write what He wanted us to know. There are 66 "books" in all in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The printing press was invented only a few centuries ago. Prior to this, copies of God's word were handwritten. About the time of Christ, it was written on large scrolls. Only now do we have the technology to pack all these 66 books or writings into one volume called the Bible.

The New Testament applies to us who live in the time since Christ's death. It is literally the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. It spells out the conditions involved in gaining the mercy God offers.

So what else is required other than just getting to know the truth - the Bible?

The New Testament makes some distinct claims about the man Jesus, born to Mary in Bethlehem while she was still a virgin, raised in Nazareth. It states that He was God in a human body (Matthew 1:23). It states that He was, and is, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior (John 4:25, 26). And it states that He died, was raised from the dead (Acts 17:31) and now lives at the Father's right hand.

Some of that is definitely not natural. That's where faith comes in. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Just knowing God's word is not enough. Even believing it is not enough - the demons of hell believe what God has said and they shake in fear (James 2:19). The belief, or faith, that the Bible speaks about is a belief that directs your life to live the way God says. There are many warnings from God that tell us to follow what He says and not just what feels good to us, even if we mean well:

• "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."
  (Jeremiah 10:23)
• "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
  (Matthew 7:21-23)
• "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
  For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
  (Romans 10:1-3)

As you can see, God's definition of belief or faith involves a change in lifestyle that puts His believed word into action. For some reason, many have taken the action away from the belief.

Through Paul, God told the Ephesian church that NOTHING we do, NOTHING we could boast about will gain points for us before God (Ephesians 2:8, 9). That is intrinsic in the whole plan of God. If we could undo our sin ourselves then God's plan involving Jesus as Savior would have been unnecessary! The plan exists, the sacrifice was made all because WE CANNOT erase our own sin by what WE devise to do.

But our actions (things we do) show our faith.

Abraham is shown in the New Testament as the epitome of a person having faith in God. The Roman church was told that if Abraham could have worked to produce his own justification, then he, Abraham, would have had opportunity to glory in himself (Romans 4:2). It would then have been his reward for his own work. But such is not the case. Abraham's justification, his righteousness, was imputed, or given, to him because he believed God (Romans 4:3). Notice that it says, "he believed God", not that he believed in God. God justified Abraham because of Abraham 's faith in God.

So when did God know that Abraham believed? To answer this we need to go and look at the Old Testament account of Abraham and his son Isaac (Genesis 17-22). Abraham and Sarah, his wife, couldn't have children. Sarah was barren. But God had planned that Jesus would have Abraham as an ancestor, so God gave Abraham and Sarah a son. Just to make sure that this was a miracle, God waited until Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. Then Sarah had Isaac.

When Isaac was an adolescent, God told Abraham out into Moriah to sacrifice Isaac on a stone altar. What would you do? Abraham went to do as God said. At the last possible moment, as the knife was poised to give Isaac's life up to God, God's angel told Abraham to stop and offer a nearby sheep instead.

Abraham believed God and put that belief, or faith, into action. The New Testament writer, James, points out that it was at this time that Abraham showed his faith (James 2:21-24) by his actions. In fact, James points out that doing what God says makes faith complete.

So what does this mean for you and I? It means that we must know and accept that Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary was and is the Son of God. We must believe God and follow His plan.

Jeremiah, a Jewish prophet whose writings are recorded in the Old Testament, was inspired by God to prophesy of a change in the covenant - the agreement between God and man (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The New Testament letter to the Hebrew Christians refers to this and states that the new covenant is now in effect (Hebrews 8:8-13). We are now subject to the new covenant - the New Testament. This is where we must look to see what we should do.

The first 4 books of the New Testament are the Gospels - accounts of the life of Christ. The 5th relates the Acts of the Apostles. It is a concise history written by Luke of the church in its infancy. The first chapter of Acts starts with the assent of the resurrected Jesus to heaven. The second shows the start of the church.

The Apostles were together when God caused a noise like gale-force wind. Then God caused the Apostles to praise Him in many varieties of languages. People in the crowd suggested that the Apostles were drunken babblers. So Peter stood up and told them the first gospel sermon. He explained Jesus, God's plan and related it to Jewish Old Testament history and prophecy. Then he told them they had just killed the Son of God.

So they asked the question, "What shall we do?"

At this point we can see that they believed. So Peter told them they needed to repent and be baptized. Repentance is a change of direction - specifically back to God. Baptism is full immersion in water. It is our burial and resurrection. We go down into the water as penitent sinners and are raised up as newborn children of God with our sins erased. That is our new start. Then we can lead a Christian life pleasing to God.

This was important to those Jews who listened to Peter's message. 3000 of those who heard him repented and were baptized that day.

The same message was told to other groups and individuals throughout the book of Acts.

In chapter 8 of Acts, an Ethiopian who was an official in Queen Candace's government heard the message about Jesus from Philip the evangelist. This man stopped his chariot when they came to a roadside pond or river and was baptized right there and then.

In chapter 16 of Acts, the Apostle Paul and his companion Silas had been thrown in prison for the night. They were singing about God when the prison was shaken by an earthquake. All the prison doors fell open. In those days, the prison guard was personally responsible for his prisoners to the extent that if he lost them he would be tortured to death. The guard was about to commit suicide when Paul told him they were all still there. He ran to Paul and Silas and asked what he should do (Acts 16:30).

This guard did not believe yet that Jesus is the Son of God, so Paul told him that is he believed, he would be saved (Acts 16:31). As we have seen above, belief is more that just mental acceptance. The guard took Paul and Silas to his home and washed and dressed the would of the whipping they had received. While this was happening, Paul continued to tell the guard and his household about Jesus and God's plan (Acts 16:32). The guard appreciate the need for a new start and was baptized that same hour of the night (Acts 16:33).

Those who did not yet believe were first told that they had to believe to be saved.

Those who believed were told that they had to repent and be baptized to be saved.

Those who clearly believed and were already repentant were simply told that it was time to be baptized to be saved (Acts 22:16).

God's plan is simple and straight forward:

1. Realize that you are condemned by your sins and there is nothing you can do about it. But God can! - a realization.
2. Believe that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Son of God. - a change in belief.
3. State this belief. - a confession.
4. Turn your life back to God, repent. - a change in attitude.
5. Be baptized, buried in water and raised to a new life. - a submission to God.
6. Live the Christian life.

Then, one day, God will welcome you with, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).