It’s the only news that humanity has ever received that has the power and authority to shift and redirect the course of a life from enslavement and despair to one that is full of hope and freedom. It’s the Gospel. Don’t know it? Keep reading.
The Gospel is the news that will change your life. There’s no doubt about that. The Gospel is the antidote to a disease that we ourselves brought into this world. See it only took one lie from the Snake to steal the focus of mankind back in that garden and because of that, the heart of every man, women and child became dead. Humanity was forever separated from their Creator and this deep valley grew between us. One where no matter how hard we tried we could never cross to the other side. So we sit there on the edge of that valley looking off into the distance as our legs dangle over the edge in utter despair. All the while the realization of our sin and the decisions we made become more and more real with every swing of our legs. The feeling of hopelessness sinks in and the awful truth of the situation starts to settle that there is nothing we can do to get to other side. But…
The good news of the Gospel is that while we were on the edge of that valley God was working. He was doing something that would change the course of humanity back to where it was intended to be all the while whispering that even though the valley is too big for you it’s not for Me. So God in His providence and His love that confounds reason did the only thing that could be done to get to us. He left the presence of His throne and went to the bottom of that valley to die on a hill. He came down to live the life we couldn’t so He could die the death we deserved. See the payment of sin is death, it requires death. It requires a sacrifice that is blameless. One that is pure and without sin. So Jesus knowing He is the only one that can fully pay that price did it for us. Jesus died on the cross for us, He shed His blood for us, He drank every single drop of wrath we deserved all just to give us life. Then as His life on this earth came to an end He looked to the heavens no doubt thinking of us and cried out “It is finished”. And with those final words He breathed His last and was placed in a tomb, but three days later conquered death itself by waking up and walking out.
See the Gospel gets sweeter when we start to realize that God did all the work. Jonathan Edwards once said that,
“You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”
The Gospel is God’s gift to mankind. It extends out of His unfathomable love that again confounds all reason. It’s the only thing that can stand between a man and Gods righteous judgement. It’s the only thing that can get you to the other side of that valley. It’s a free gift that has no strings attached. It’s extended to you for as long as you are here on earth.
So if you’re still on the other side of that valley looking out. If you’re trying to fill your days doing good deeds thinking the valley will let you slip by know that it’ll never work. Don’t think for a moment that a few measly good deeds can right your sin, It took nothing less than the blood of a holy God to do that.
See the Gospel is simple, it will cause a mans steps to matter for eternity but will have drastically different results for the man who lets it change him.