The Gospel is the message of how God reconciles fallen man to Himself, by taking the
verdict on us of sin’s penalty (He became our substitute.) and in turn giving us His righteousness through His death, burial and resurrection. This would be made available to all who would “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31).”
It begins in Genesis chapter
three. Prior to this chapter, man had fellowship with His Creator, the one and
only true God.
God had told the first man Adam
to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He and his wife Eve
could eat of any tree they liked, and there were many to choose from, but if
they ate of this one tree they would die. Satan tempted them through a serpent.
They listened to the serpent and ate from this one forbidden tree; thus dying
spiritually. Their bodies eventually followed suit in death.
They had sinned against God
by believing Satan instead. The fellowship they once had was now broken, and
they were driven from the beautiful garden of Eden they so loved (Genesis 3:14-24).
The Gospel is first mentioned
in verse 15, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between
your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike
his heel.” The hostility of Satan and his followers has never ceased against
those who are in Christ. Because of his hatred for God, he struck Jesus’ heel
at the cross, but Jesus will strike his head on Judgement Day.
The Gospel message is
continued in verse 21, “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for
Adam and his wife.” (Genesis 3:21)
Obviously, both Adam and Eve
repented and asked forgiveness. God covered them with the clothing of an
innocent animal. This clothing from animal skins represented the righteousness
of Jesus laid upon them, and the shed blood was a promise that one day Jesus would
shed His own blood for all who will come to Him to be saved. In other words,
through Jesus, the fellowship between God and man would be restored for those
who believed in Him.
We lost the fellowship and
inherited an old sin nature because originally we believed the serpent, but the
fellowship can be restored through Jesus. He will also remove that old sin
nature and restore our innocence and purity.
Also notice something else,
God did not go to His vegetable garden and wrap Adam and Eve in a salad. God
wrapped them with “garments of skin and clothed them.” Only the sacrifice of
shed blood can cover our sins, which of course points directly to the cross of
Christ. This explains why Cain got in trouble with God, and became so jealous
of his brother Abel he murdered him.
The Gospel in a nutshell is
our fall into sin and God’s lifeline to restore us to Him. That lifeline is His
only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Only through Him can we be saved.
“He
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” (Psalm 40:2)
In the Old Testament, those
who came to God through His Son, did so by looking ahead through the corridors
of time at a future sacrifice. The promised sacrifice of Genesis 3:15 eventually
happened when Jesus became that promised sacrifice upon the cross for all who
would come to Him by faith. Now, we look back through the corridors of time to
that same sacrifice of Jesus upon that Roman cross.
How can anyone say, “God
doesn’t care about me?”
“And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man
be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
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.
For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved.
He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God.
And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that
his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:14-21)
Doesn’t care!? We are the
ones hardened by sin! Don’t think so? Please read, slowly, Romans 3:10-18 if
you really want to know who doesn’t care. We are the cold and calloused ones,
but if we will just trust Jesus by faith, our eyes will be opened and we will
experience first hand His love for us.
The Lord Jesus explains very
clearly through Paul His apostle, all that was just stated. I have provided it
the New Living Translation (NLT) to make it easier for all to grasp what our
Lord is saying to us.
“When
Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread
to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Yes,
people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin
because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time
of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit
commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of
Christ, who was yet to come.
But
there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the
sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s
wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man,
Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the
result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s
free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of
many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for
all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one
man, Jesus Christ.
Yes,
Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness
brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one
person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed
God, many will be made righteous.
God’s
law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people
sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as
sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace
rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:12-21)
The Gospel is so simple. We
fell, but God is reaching out His hand to pick us up and give us eternal life with
Him, but this we must understand, God reaches out His hand in His Son. We must come
to Him through His Son. There is no other way, but through Jesus.
“Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
So many try to make the Gospel all about us … our works. We cannot do anything to be saved except believe in Jesus with the trust of a little child. If we don’t stop trying to work our way to Heaven instead of trusting Jesus to save us, we will leave this world still lost and in hell.
Yes, the Gospel is so simple.
It is the good news that Jesus died for us, was buried and rose again (1 Corinthians
15:3-4). All that we lost because of sin can be restored if we just realize and
admit that we are sinners and we need to be born again (John 3:3). When we die,
we will be with Him (2 Corinthians 5:8). And that’s not all. He is coming
again, first to remove His bride the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), then seven
years later returning with His bride the Church to judge the world (Revelation
19:11-16).
Grant Phillips
Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
