The Gospel

In the last video you may have been surprised to find out that there really is more to being a Christian than being nice and being British! The way Christians are portrayed in the media and in history will most likely have skewed your image of Christians from the reality. In this post we will have a look at what it means to be a Christian, in this post we have a look at what Christians call ‘the Gospel’.

 Firstly, God is real. Not only that but we are all accountable to him. It tells us this in Revelation 20:11-15:

 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

 There is a final judgment for all – no matter who you are or what you believe – and Jesus Christ is the judge at this final judgment. Everyone is judged by their deeds as recorded in the books. ‘There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed’ – Luke 8:17. This means that everything you’ve ever done, thought or said is recorded in the books, and everyone has sinned and fallen short of Gods perfect standard. Think about it, every judgment that God makes is entirely fair, and Jesus is absolutely and completely pure. His heaven is utterly sinless and pure as well. How could a being as pure as he is allow our wrongdoing into a place where there isn’t even the slightest hint of sin?

 It is clear that everyone deserves the punishment of death because everyone has sinned against God. But. Those whose names are found in the book of life will escape death. In fact, they go to heaven! Lets look at what the Bible says about this in Matthew 25:31-34:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

We can’t do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God but we can be acceptable if someone else takes the punishment we deserve. The good news is that somebody who was perfect volunteered to be punished in our place. He took our sin and we became perfect. We swapped! It sounds unfair, it sounds outrageous, but that is the beauty of what God has done!

You see Jesus Christ was unique. He never sinned. He was perfect. When he died, he took the punishment you should have got for everything you have ever done wrong. And he was punished for the sins of everyone else. Then three days later he was raised from the dead and ascended to his Fathers side, and his Father gave him the authority to judge. When he judges those who believe in him he knows that he took all their sin when he was crucified on the cross.

Let me explain it to you by telling you a story. Imagine you’re in Florida and you walk into a shopping mall and shoot someone dead. This sin, in Florida, leads to the punishment of death. You would get placed in the electric chair for murder.

So you shoot someone dead and immediately you’re arrested. You wait for your trial to come round. At the trial, a security camera videotape is produced on which you are clearly identifiable as the killer. The evidence is stacked against you, and the judge is just about to sentence you to death when a stranger bursts into the courtroom. He pushes past the security guards and makes his way towards you standing in the dock. And to the amazement of the press reporters and your family in the gallery, the judge allows the disturbance to continue. Then the stranger pushes you out of the dock and stands there in your place.

The judge does nothing to stop the stranger. Instead he looks straight at him and says, “I sentence you to death!” The whole courtroom gasps. The judge bangs his hammer on the desk. The trial is over and you’re left standing on the courtroom floor, free! The police handcuff the stranger and begin to lead him away to death row!

As the stranger passes, you ask him, “why did you do that?” And he replies: “because I love you.” Somehow that doesn’t seem enough of an explanation. You wander out into the foyer of the courthouse. Then you overhear the press talking. The stranger has been recognized after all. He is the judge’s only son! Now you are in awe of the judge. Then the judge pushes past the reporters. You ask him, “your honour, please, why have you done this for me?” and he answers, “because I love you!”

 Just like the stranger in the courtroom, Jesus gave up his own life for you. He died as a substitute for you. God, the judge, sacrificed his Son.

 The punishment for sin is death. But God loves his people so much, he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in their place. Anyone who truly follows Christ therefore avoids the punishment of death and receives forgiveness. In fact they are considered as blameless as Christ himself. These are the people whose names appear in the book of life. They go to heaven.

 A few weeks ago we looked at how a loving God could send people to hell, unfortunately hell is a real place, and real people go there. God is holy and just and he must punish sin. All sin is punished either on the cross of Christ or in hell. Hell is the punishment every sinner deserves, but because Christ was punished on the cross his followers escape hell.

 If you’re reading this and you believe it to be true then I’m sure you want to know what the next step is. The beauty of Christ’s sacrifice and his love for you is that it shows just how desperately Jesus wants to spend eternity with you and because of this it is easy to take that step from death to eternal life. I’m not saying being a Christian is easy, following Jesus is a big commitment and involves a real cost.

To become a Christian you need to do three things:

 Say ‘Sorry’ – Tell God you’re sorry for the wrong things you’ve done.

1. Say ‘Thank you’ – Thank God for punishing Jesus rather than you for those wrong things.
2. Say ‘Please’ – Ask God to come into your life as you follow Jesus Christ.

 If you are serious about living for God, then you could pray this prayer:

 Dear God,

 I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done wrong. I turn away from all those things, and I understand that by praying this prayer, I will never have to do any of those things again.

Thank you for sending Jesus into the world to take the punishment I should have got for what I’ve done wrong. Thank you that Jesus died as my substitute. Thank you that I can know that I’m totally forgiven, because all my sin has been completely taken by Jesus instead of me.

Please come into my life now as I commit myself to following Jesus, whatever it takes and whatever the cost. Amen.

 If you’ve prayed this prayer and meant it, you really need to tell someone who is a Christian today – or tomorrow at the latest – so that they can help you further.

 Also you can email me at: adrian_holloway@hotmail.com and ask any questions you have and get some advice about things like joining a Church and meeting other Christians.