What is the gospel?

Many people talk about preaching the gospel to the lost but how many of us have stopped to consider what the gospel really is? When you preach the gospel, what exactly are you preaching about? The Bible does not have one passage that outlines the gospel in its entirety yet when we study the Bible in its entirety, the entire gospel is found therein. What are the contents of the gospel? There are many ways in which the gospel can be preached but no matter how you preach it, there are certain elements that should always be present. I have heard many sermons in which the gospel is not preached yet at the end of the sermon, a call is made to those who want to “get right” with God. Some may preach about tithing and at the end you may hear them say, “Your tithing has no meaning if at first you do not have God living in you. First accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour…” This is misleading because whoever answers that call is attempting to make things right with God so that their tithing has meaning. That is not the gospel. Some Pastors may preach on a range of topics which may focus on one spiritual principle or the other and at the end of their sermons the make similar statements. That is not the purpose of the gospel and those “conversions” may most likely be false. Romans 1 v 16-17 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” What do we learn about the gospel from these verses?

It is the power of God for salvation to every one that believes
It reveals to us the righteousness of God; that the just live by faith

This means that God’s power to save those who believe is in the gospel. There is no other way people are going to be saved apart from the gospel. There is no other message you can preach that will make the power of salvation available to mankind apart from the gospel. Having learnt that, this means that we need to handle it with care because if we pervert it, that power is no longer available. We need to guard the gospel jealously and seek to preserve it by the power of God and faithfully preach it the way God wants us to preach it so that the power of God for salvation becomes available to them that believe. The consequence of perverting the gospel is apparent from the Bible; Galatians 1 v 8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Perverting the gospel is such a serious offence in the eyes of God that Paul had to repeat that warning in order to emphasize its severity. 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 states “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” From this verse we see that the gospel can also be called “the preaching of the cross”. The cross is central to any gospel message. I will be bold to go on and say if you do not preach the cross in your message, you have not preached the gospel. If you deliver a message, you cannot call it a gospel unless you have preached the cross. You are bordering on perversion, if not you are perverting the gospel if you call any message you preach the gospel if you have not preached the cross. The cross is the essence, the crux, the centre, the very gospel itself for if you do not preach the cross what good news have you preached to them that are lost. The cross is the source of that power of God unto salvation to every one that believes.

Not only is the gospel the power of God unto salvation to them that believe, but in its message, God’s righteousness is revealed. Before the cross makes sense to the sinner, before the preaching of the cross becomes good news to anyone and before the cross becomes the power of God to them that are saved, the sinner needs to understand that they are a sinner and cannot even save themselves. The message of the cross can only be effective if the recipients of the message are convicted of their unrighteousness. Enter the law. Many of the Israelites misunderstood what the law was about and thought righteousness was attained by obedience to the law. However we know that to live by the law, you need to perfectly obey the entire law and not miss one point otherwise you are guilty of sin and therefore unrighteous as James 2 v 10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point,] he is guilty of all.” The Bible declares that no one is righteous and therefore none of us can be declared righteous by obedience to the law since it has been demonstrated that is impossible for a person to perfectly obey the law. Romans 3 v 10 says, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” and Romans 3 v 20 says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.” As we can see, the purpose of the law is to teach us what sin is and since we know what sin is, Romans 3 v 21-22 says, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” therefore only through the gospel do we then understand that God’s righteousness is apart from the law and that the law and the prophets testified of that righteousness as it is written in Habakkuk 2 v 4, “…but the just shall live by his faith.” That righteousness is based on faith in God as Romans 3 v 28 explains, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” The power of converting the soul rests in the law as Psalm 19 v 7 says, “The law of the LORD [is] perfect, converting the soul…” The law convinces you that you are unrighteous and leads you to Jesus Christ as Galatians 3 v 24 explains, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

To recap what we have learnt, a full gospel message first convicts people of sin so that they can repent from it and second, it presents the cross of Jesus Christ as the good news so that the sinner readily believes and is justified freely by God’s grace. You cannot preach the cross before bringing a sinner to conviction. Conviction leads to Godly sorrow because as 2 Corinthians 7 v 10 says, “…godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of…” and that conviction can only be brought by the Holy Spirit. How then can He bring about conviction if we pervert the gospel? We have many messages that are being preached as the gospel yet they do not bring knowledge of sin to its hearers and sometimes they do not even present the cross of Jesus Christ. You cannot bring knowledge of sin without the law and a person can never be convinced of their unrighteousness unless they are shown by the law that they are unrighteous. Romans 3 v 19 says, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Why should every mouth be stopped? So that it can no longer profess its own righteousness and can be held guilty before God. That is the purpose of the law; to reveal our guilt before God. Therefore any gospel message that does not preach that man is a sinner and show its hearers their precarious condition, is not the gospel. If that message does not then present the cross of Jesus Christ and preach that by grace alone and through faith alone is a man justified by God, that message is not the gospel. We have messages that promote self-esteem, motivate people for success, tell people to be positive thinkers, say if you accept Jesus, without knowledge of sin and the cross, your life will be better, motivate people to pursue their “divine” right to financial prosperity and many other such messages. Though some of these messages may be of some value, they are not the gospel. For if any message preached, notwithstanding a person choosing to resist the Holy Spirit, does not bring a person to their knees with Godly remorse, after having understood that they are standing guilty before God and therefore are condemned if they do not repent and place their faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the atonement of their sin, that message is not the gospel.

So then what is the Gospel? The gospel is the message that brings a sinner to his knees at the foot of the cross after realizing his guilt before God cannot be wiped away apart from the blood of the Lamb of God. I will be bold to say it’s impossible for a person to be converted apart from the gospel. Feel good messages do not bring conviction, motivational messages do not bring conviction, self-help messages do not bring conviction, the prospect of life become more meaningful after “accepting” Jesus Christ does not bring conviction, messages that teach you that you can healthy, wealthy and prosperous if you follow certain Biblical “principles” do not bring conviction but only the gospel can bring conviction and lead a sinner to repentance and salvation. The gospel is a message that reveals man’s wickedness, hopelessness and guilt before God, a message that reveals God’s impartial judgement in that every one stands guilty before God and should be condemned into the lake of fire and a message that reveals God’s grace and mercy in that He brings a sinner, who believes, to repentance and forgives his sin. Without conviction there is no conversion of a soul, without repentance there is no regeneration of the soul and without surrender, a soul cannot be saved; for one must throw himself at the foot of the cross in faith for the salvation of his soul. If the gospel is not preached the way God wants it to be preached, how then can the lost be brought to repentance?

Conclusion
The elements of the gospel that should always be present whenever you preach it should be:

The law to show man his unrighteousness i.e. sin
The consequences of our sin i.e. eternal condemnation in the lake of fire
God’s impartial judgement i.e. God does not merit salvation based on our own “goodness”
The revelation of God’s righteousness that “the just shall live by faith”
The cross
Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit
The gift of the Holy Spirit
God bless you.