What Does The Gospel Mean To You?

One of the ladies Bible studies I attend recently started a new book to study, and one of the questions the leader wanted us to answer was: ‘What does the gospel mean to you?’ 

To dig deeper, I often turn to commentaries and was about to go online to dig deeper into some of the key gospel verses when I stopped. The questions wasn’t 'What does the gospel mean to others?' The question was 'What does the gospel mean to me?' and as I thought about it, I felt God challenging me to come up with an answer on my own.

The gospel is really the best news ever!

As a child, I remember feeling frustrated and even upset with Adam and Eve. Why did they have to go eat that fruit and mess it all up for the rest of us? But the more I thought about it the more I became frustrated and upset with myself too. Why did I often, even deliberately, choose to sin. If only I had maintained sinless perfection since birth, maybe then I wouldn’t have to eternally die.

But I was missing a big part of the story.

Even as a young child I knew the bad news, but I didn’t know the good news.

It was true that because of Adam’s sin death entered into the world and it was also true that I had sinned. Romans 5:12 says: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

But that wasn’t the end of the story. It could have been. God would have been perfectly just to condemn us all, but instead, amazingly enough, He provided a way that we could be saved.

Romans 5:18 says:

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

What great news!

Romans 6:23 says:  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

According to God’s Word there are only two responses to God’s unspeakable Gift. Either you receive Him or you reject Him. There is no neutral; no middle ground.

John 1:12

He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:

John 12:48

He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (Jesus)

Matthew 10:40

He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent me. (Jesus)

Mark 6:11

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Jesus)

So the question that comes to each of us is how will we respond to this unspeakable Gift? Will we receive Him or reject Him? The answer really is the difference between eternal life and eternal death.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:12

So what does the gospel mean to me?

Mere human words fail to express the wonder and amazement that wells up inside me as I consider the mercy and grace and love of God to save us from the eternal death we all deserve and instead, by giving us His Son, washes away all our sins and gives us everlasting life, forever with Him!

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15