What is the gospel? The gospel is a story of good news. But in order to understand the good news of the gospel, we must first understand the bad news. And in order to do that, we have to go back to the beginning of the story. 

The Bible tells us that God created man in His image as good and pure in heart. Because God made us, He is rightfully the Lord over us, and we were made to walk in fellowship with and love toward Him. Early on, Adam and Eve were in the garden doing just that, worshiping and enjoying God. But something happened that left the world terribly broken. Adam and Eve rebelled against God by eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the one thing that they were forbidden to do. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered the world and the consequences of their initial rebellion against God were passed on to every single person that has ever lived. Our sin demands God’s judgment because God is holy and pure and He cannot allow sin to enter into His presence. So, in short, the bad news is that we are sinners. We have rebelled against God and failed to love Him as we ought to and we rightfully deserve God’s wrath. 

But it doesn’t end there. God, in His grace and love for sinners like us, has woven together a beautiful tapestry of redemption across the storyline of Scripture. Soon after Adam and Eve fell in the garden, God promised that one day, He would crush the head of the serpent (Satan) through the seed of the woman. God would buy His people back out of their slavery to sin and Satan. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God graciously chose people to enter into relationship with him and He promised that they could be made righteous by their faith in Him and by resting in the promises that He made to them. This began with God entering into a covenant with Abraham and promising to him that his descendants would be as vast as the grains of sand and the stars in the sky. From Abraham, God created a people called Israel, with the rest of the Old Testament detailing God’s relationship to Israel. But the resounding theme is that Israel could not keep God’s word. They needed a redeemer. They needed the one that God promised in Genesis 3:15. They needed God’s Son. 

Matthew opens up the New Testament announcing the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Matthew’s Gospel, as well as the others, God explains that this Jesus is the one sent to save God’s people from their sin. However, the way in which He would save them is utterly unprecedented. He would die upon a cross—the most God-forsaken instrument of death known to man at the time. God so loved sinners that He came to accomplish our salvation by offering up His perfect life for us, exchanging His goodness for our sin. And to prove that God was pleased with His sacrifice, Jesus rose from the dead. That is the gospel. We can be forgiven by repenting of our sin and believing in Christ’s work on our behalf. But the gospel is not only a story, it is also a story that we are invited to enter into by faith. 

If you have more questions about this good news, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.