The Basics: What is the Gospel? Part 1 – The Problem
Posted on 24. Nov, 2009 by Les in Basics
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” -Romans 1:16
The gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel is how people get saved. The gospel is what anybody needs to clearly understand in order to go to heaven. The gospel is the bloodline of the Christian. So what is it?
The gospel means good news, and it is just that, the greatest news mankind has ever known. A problem has been solved. A terrible fate has been changed. A people have been sent a Savior.
I can assume that anybody who has internet access and can read this has also heard this much of the message and probably more. So is knowing this much information what it means to be a Christian? Does knowing that Jesus “died for our sins” get us to heaven? What does that mean?
The purpose of this series is to lay out the absolute basics of what we must believe to be saved. I believe we can summarize the gospel by explaining no less than 3 topics: What is the problem? How did Christ solve that problem? And how is that solution applied to us? I would argue that if anyone has not clearly understood these 3 issues, they have not heard the gospel, and no matter how many decision cards they’ve signed or aisles they’ve walked, they can not saved. In this post I’ll discuss:
What is the problem?
We have to start in the beginning to see the severity of the situation. And in the beginning was God. God is holy. This means that he is without imperfection. God’s mercy, wrath, love and justice are perfect. This is very good for us, His creation. We would have no source for absolute truth, if God compromised. Now let’s talk perfect justice.
When someone commits a crime against us, we want justice, and hopefully we receive it. Justice is good. It means that people get what they deserve. If a murderer didn’t get penalized because the judge was feeling merciful that day, we would throw the judge in prison. The popular concept of karma isn’t far off. We must get what we deserve, it’s only fair.
But here’s the problem. What do we deserve? God’s law demands perfection, or we are punished. Not only are we not perfect, but we are desperately wicked. We sin in thought and deed. We deny God in everything we do. We take credit for things He has done, and we suppress the obvious truth that He exists and rules over us.
The Bible teaches that the problem started in the garden. Adam had a “free will” to obey God or disobey with the consequence of death. When he ate of the fruit, he brought spiritual death upon himself, the world at large, and all of his descendants that were in him. Adam was our representative. Now we are not born with the same neutrality to sin that Adam had. We have a bent toward sin, indeed, we can’t do anything but sin. Everything we do, even “good” things in the eyes of other fallen people, is sin.
When an unbeliever volunteers at a soup kitchen, they can not give the glory to God for working through them. No, they receive the glory, they feel righteous in themselves. Their goal is not to serve the Creator, but to look good in the eyes of others and even to justify themselves. Everything we do is sin, and we can’t stop.
This perpetual sin will not go unpunished by a perfectly just God. We choose to sin and deny God, and the punishment is death. God is angry toward sin and his anger is ultimately poured out on us in Hell. This is called God’s wrath. God has wrath against everyone, because everyone sins.
Religions teach that we can undo the bad stuff with good stuff and make it to God. But our own concepts of justice demonstrate that this isn’t true. Does driving the speed limit make your speeding violation go away? Does not killing more people lead us to forgive the serial killer who stopped 6 years ago? Does obeying the law erase our illegal activity? No, and worse yet, as I’ve demonastrated, you can’t even do the bare minimum to keep the law.
“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” -Romans 3:23
Contrary to popular opinion, most people are not headed to Heaven, save the really bad few. The Biblical account is that every single person who has ever lived is in sin and is headed straight for Hell. No one is innocent, no one is going to Heaven.
This is a big problem. What on earth could possibly help this condition? We need a savior…
Manager
Dec 10th, 2009
You are just part of the God Delusion…
God doesn’t want us to be perfect, because he knows we can never be. If all of us here were perfect there would be no reason to live life on Earth. This life is just temporary, we BELONG with God. We are here to love and take care of each other, being that we are children of God. People have veered from that message and twisted it’s message. We all have our lesson here to learn for ourselves, but if you do not search you may not find it. Pick up some books besides the Bible and do your research. They all have connections.
Les
Dec 10th, 2009
You should read the rest of the series.
Manager
Dec 10th, 2009
No thanks, I already see where it is going. Everyone wants to think they are right without proper research into the subject. I have studied all the religious texts as well as others from that time for years. I draw my own conclusions just have you have drawn yours. And don’t try the “this is God’s word I speak of” racket…because no one can possibly know. But the redeeming for sins approach doesn’t work, doesn’t make sense. Jesus isn’t God… He wanted to tell us about how our relationship with God could be by explaining his own relationship with him. We have no choice but to take him as our Savior because he already acted as such. The ultimate sin is not treating others as you want to be treated.
Les
Dec 10th, 2009
You accuse me of assuming the rightness of Christianity, rightly. I presuppose that the Bible is true, and you have place to criticize that.
You completely ignore, however, your own presuppositions. You assume that “no one can possibly know”. You assume that “the redeeming for sins approach doesn’t work and doesn’t make sense”. You assume that “Jesus isn’t God”. You assume, contrary to all sources that tell us about Him, that “He wanted to tell us about how our relationship with God could be by explaining his own relationship with him”.
I have no problem with you saying I’m wrong, and pointing out a need for research and/or evidence. It’s a valid point. But you are acting contrary to your own standard with your slew of unsupported theories.
At least I have sources for my claims(scripture and History). You are making yours up as you go, and claiming to be right. What are the odds of the religion in your head being correct? 1 in at least 6 billion.
Manager
Dec 10th, 2009
I make nothing up as I go…I STUDY…ALL religious texts. NOWHERE in the Bible does Jesus say he is God…I also don’t claim to be right, I told you my view by what I have researched. I claimed that you assume you are right when you have not taken a chance to really observe any way but YOUR way and what you have been taught. Jesus wasn’t even a Christian and he warned of people starting a religion in his name. He also wanted us to search for ourselves instead of listening to everyone else. He never wanted any religion started in his name. I could search those verses for you if I had time but my intuition tells me you will just ignore some verses while you quote certain others, which is the typical response I get.
My belief is mine and yours is yours. You don’t have he authority to say anyone is right or wrong.
Les
Dec 10th, 2009
If your belief is yours and mine is mine, then everything you’re saying to me in inapplicable, and you’re wasting your time. Apparently, your truth is irrelevant to me.
Did Jesus claim divinity?
“I and the Father are one.” -John 10:30
“Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”" -John 8:58
Jesus also accepted worship and forgave sins, both of these things would be absolute blasphemy in Judaism, if He was not God.
“This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” -John 5:18
He claimed divinity, now if you believe His claims is another story.
Was Jesus beginning a religious following?
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”" -John 14:6
“And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”" -Matthew 4:19
“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” -Matthew 10:38
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”" -Matthew 19:21
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” -John 6:54
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” -John 15:4
I could go on and on….
Your claims are unfounded, and plain wrong.
You should just say you don’t believe the Bible, instead of trying to use it to disprove itself.
The Basics: How do I Know if I’m Saved? | He Regenerated Us
Jan 28th, 2010
[...] to think you might not be in Christ, you need to go back to the beginning. Make sure you understand the gospel. Ask a Christian friend or pastor to clarify any questions you might have, and compare their [...]