The Gospel: From Death to Life

Today, on day two of our track, From Death to Life, we continue with Sadie Robertson Huff as she shares how, while man has always been striving to get back to God, God made the first move toward us. This is the truth we find woven throughout God's Word consistently across Old and New Testaments. What does this mean for you? Jesus has made a way for you to have unity with God again.

Maybe you’ve heard the word ‘Gospel’ before. You may have heard it at or around the church. Someone may have even asked you if you’d heard ‘the Gospel’ before. But what does ‘Gospel’ mean, and why is it important to your life?

The word ‘Gospel’ refers to the ‘good news.’ In fact, its Greek (the language of the New Testament) translation is euangelion, which is a compound word made up of Eu (meaning good) and angelion (meaning announcement.) Go even further back, and the word gospel translates into Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament) as both a noun (besorah) and a verb (bisser.)

Here’s what you need to know: this is no ordinary news. Most of the time, when we think about the news, we think about a flashy headline connected to someone else’s traumatic story, but the Gospel is Good News, and it is actually the greatest news ever shared.

Look back at the passage we read yesterday from the Gospel of John:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

The good news that John is writing about here is the euangelion! This is the story of salvation that Tim shared with us yesterday and that Sadie explained again today. Jesus laid down His perfect life for you so that you could have eternal life with God your Father. Where we all should have received condemnation for our sins, Jesus made a way for us to instead recieve grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Notice what the scripture is NOT saying to us today. You don’t have to get your life together in order to come to Jesus. You don’t have to be perfect in order to be loved by Him. You don’t have to earn your way to forgiveness; Jesus already did that.

We can see these truths plainly laid out in scripture in the story of the Apostle Paul. His name was originally Saul, and he was a persecutor of Christians. In fact, Saul would send Christians to be beaten, tortured, and executed. Then, one day, while Saul was traveling to a city called Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,”

As the account continues in the book of Acts, Saul, the murderer of Christians, has his life powerfully and irrevocably transformed by the Gospel. He came to believe in Jesus, was given a new name (Paul), and subsequently became a church planter and author of much of the New Testament.

The Gospel can transform your life no matter where it finds you. Take heart in that truth today! No matter what your life has been like leading up to this moment, it can be powerfully changed and made new today. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

There is hope today and good, good news.