The word “gospel” means “good news.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the communication of God’s goodwill toward us in the person of his Son. Jesus spoke the good news. Jesus displayed the good news in all he did. Jesus lived, died, took up his life again, went bodily into heaven, and sent forth his Spirit to accomplish the good news. Jesus is the good news.
The Gospel does not come to us in a vacuum; it presupposes the existence of bad news: bad news about our desires and actions and relationships, bad news about our destinies, bad news about the human condition apart from the grace of God. Nevertheless, the Gospel comes to us in spite of the bad news, overwhelms the bad news, and one day will entirely eradicate the very concept of “bad” from the universe forever.
The Gospel says that God is for us. He always has been, and he always will be. Even though we rebel against him and seek our fulfillment in anything but him, and even though his holy anger burns at the offense of our sins, he loves us and gave his Son Jesus for us. On the cross, Jesus died, suffering the full wrath of God that our sins deserve. By God’s grace, Jesus took our place, and if you put your faith in him, your sins are forgiven and his perfect righteousness is accounted to you. When God raised Jesus from the dead, it was the proclamation that God wholeheartedly received the work of Christ on our behalf. Since Jesus is alive forever, you can be assured that you have eternal life, enjoying communion with God who will never again be angry with you.
Much more could be said about the essence and effects of the Gospel. Thus the website.
