What is the gospel? We often hear this word today, but many don’t really know what it means. Gospel literally means good news. What is the good news it is talking about? It is talking about the good news that Jesus can save us.
Romans 1:16 says “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.” This verse tells us what the gospel is. It is the power of God to salvation.
The gospel is also good tidings. In Luke 2, the angels come and tell the shepherds that they have good tidings. These were the tidings of the birth of Jesus. In Mathew 28, the two Marys go to visit the tomb of Jesus, but when they arrive, they find the tomb empty and “they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples” (28:8).
The gospel is the good tidings. First, that Jesus was born. Second, that He rose again and did not remain in the grave after being crucified.
The gospel originates in God’s love; John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This verse is teaching us that God’s love is the reason He sent Jesus to this earth. It’s the only reason that Jesus died. Jesus died because God loved us, and He wanted us to live with Him in eternity. We must not let this sacrifice go to waste. We must take advantage of what Jesus did for us because if we don’t, Jesus died for nothing.
How do we take advantage of this sacrifice Jesus made for us? That’s the good news! If we will follow the plan of salvation found in the Bible, then we can be saved by the power of the gospel.
The gospel is the “power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). The gospel is the only thing that can save us from the power of Satan. If we are not on God’s side, we are on Satan’s side; there is no middle ground.
The gospel is what will lead us to heaven eternally. There is only one way to get to heaven, and that’s to do what God says, to obey him, and to keep his commandments. If we don’t do that, we are wasting the sacrifice of Jesus, and we are wasting the good news – the glad tidings – the gospel.
We must strive daily to obey God and to do what He says in His word, then we will be following the gospel. The gospel is the only way. If you are not obeying the gospel, then you are wasting the sacrifice of Jesus.