The Gospel In Five Words Series

The gospel is exceptionally most important communication of God to man. In Jesus, who is God the Son, The gospel of Jesus Christ is the summary explanation of who he is and what he accomplished for us. The word gospel literally means "good news". It's good news because it's an answer to our basic problem. Gospel is the revelation of God’s love and sacrifice that saves us from God's righteous judgment upon sinners.

In short, the Gospel is the life-altering news that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, lived a sinless life under the Law, died for sinners and rose again to reconcile them to himself, eternally victorious over every enemy that stood between God and man. Paul said “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…… By this gospel you are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

In this study we will explore the practical issues surrounding, Redemption, Repentance, Reconciliation, Restoration, and Resurrection. The Five major words that we use to summarize the Gospel on what happened when Jesus died will help us to understand how desperately poor we are by nature and how rich we can become by ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ'.

1. Redemption.

The Bible teaches that sin not only separates sinners from God but imprisons them. They are ‘slaves of sin' (Romans 6:17). What is more, sinners are not merely the captives of a sinful principle, but they are in ‘the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will' (2 Timothy 2:26). Most people reject this, but every sinful habit confirms its truth. Jesus said that he had come to ‘give his life as a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45). His death on the cross was the essential ransom price so that God's justice could be satisfied and the sinners in whose place Jesus died set free.

The Bible sees sin as a debt owed by the sinner to God, but those on whose behalf Jesus died receive not only ‘redemption through his blood' but also ‘the forgiveness of sins' (Ephesians 1:7). In the death of Jesus the believer is cut loose from the double burden of guilt and debt and is freely and fully forgiven — forever. When a ransom has been paid, the captives are set free, or redeemed, and this is what happens to those for whom Jesus gave his life. The apostle Paul says that Jesus ‘redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13). By nature we are under the ‘curse' of God's holy law, which pronounces us guilty in his sight. Jesus was under no such curse, yet in order to satisfy the demands of divine justice he bore the curse of the law in full. The ransom price to bring redemption to helpless sinners was nothing less than his death in their place, and he paid it in full, setting prisoners of sin free to live in a way that is pleasing to God.

The Bible Dictionary describes redemption as “the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ and our deliverance from sin”. The biblical concept translated as redemption refers to the practice of purchasing a slave in order to free him from slavery. In this sense, Christ has purchased us through His atoning blood and frees us from our bondage to sin (1 Peter 1:18–19). Another definition of redemption is “to repurchase something previously possessed and subsequently lost. Redemption is thus God’s way of reclaiming his children from the fall of man by sacrificing Christ’s redeeming blood as reparation for their repossession.”

Redemption simply is reestablishment of Christ’s ownership of our lives. Redemption is a past, present, and future activity. When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty owed for our sin, breaking its power to condemn us now and forever. Through humility and repentance, we must examine our attitudes, actions, and intentions, allowing Christ to redeem them (to own them), and make them new. This is a process we must undertake every day of our lives, until we are fully, perfectly redeemed in his eternal presence.

2. Reconciliation

Reconciliation means bringing together those who are separated for one reason or another. By nature and choice we are all separated from God because of our self-centred rebellion against his authority and our deter¬min¬ation to go our own way. As Jesus put it, ‘The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil' (John 3:19). The Bible also says that because of sin God has become man's enemy: ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men' (Romans 1:18).Yet God has taken the initiative and done something astonishing to enable man to be at peace with him by dealing with the root cause of the rift — human sin.