What Is The Good News?

What is the Good News?

1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Introduction: The word gospel appears 93 times in the NT literally means “good news.” In Greek, it is the word euaggelion, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel, and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation. The key to understanding the gospel is to know why it’s good news. To do that, we must start with the bad news. The Old Testament Law was given to Israel during the time of Moses (Deuteronomy 5:1). The Law can be thought of as a measuring stick, and sin is anything that falls short of “perfect” according to that standard. The righteous requirement of the Law is so stringent that no human being could possibly follow it perfectly, in letter or in spirit. Despite our “goodness” or “badness” relative to each other, we are all in the same spiritual boat—we have sinned, and the punishment for sin is death, i.e. separation from God, the source of life (Romans 3:23). In order for us to go to heaven, God’s dwelling place and the realm of life and light, sin must be somehow removed or paid for. The Law established the fact that cleansing from sin can only happen through the bloody sacrifice of an innocent life (Hebrews 9:22). This morning of Christmas Eve I think it would be good to remind us of just what the Gospel is.

I. The Gospel is about a Cradle

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

What are the good tidings of great joy? Let’s look at the events of that night so long ago.

The shepherds were surrounded by bleating, smelly sheep and the dust that arose when they and their herds moved about. They had no idea what was about to happen — the pronouncement of the ages! The Bible tells us God sent an angel and he appeared before them, “and the glory of the Lord shone round them, and they were greatly afraid” (Luke 2:9). Not only did the angel reflect the Lord’s glorious light, but it was so extensive it surrounded the shepherds, too. The angel had to tell them not to be afraid, so great was the glory of the Lord that surrounded them (see also Exodus 34:29-30).

The angel proclaimed his tidings of great joy and then said, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Once the angel gave the shepherds the directions to find the baby, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’” (Luke 2:13-14).

Surely the shepherds were overcome, but they quickly gathered their wits about them and headed into Bethlehem to see what happened. After they saw Mary, Joseph, and the baby, they “made known” what the angel said to them. In verse twenty, we are told the shepherds went back to their flocks, “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.” We can rightly call these shepherds some of the first evangelists, for they shared the good news about Jesus with people.

What does the Cradle say to us? It speaks of his humanity

John declares that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” and the name Emanuel means God with us.” He came to us physically but he also came to us to unite with us in our humanity.

II. The Gospel is about a Cross

Notice that Paul declares that “…how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;” The Hymn says “…on a hill far away stood and old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.”