Sacred Communication when Witnessing to the Gospel
Student Topic
Reflection on Self-Experience
The Gospel is the central message of the Christian Faith. In this blog, I will talk about the sacred communication of the Biblical Gospel and how it is commonly shared. The Gospel is a set of historical and religious events that took place, and they tell us how to have peace with God. Before the Gospel (which means good news) can be communicated with someone, bad news must first be given. The bad news is about our character, but the good news is about God’s character.
The Bad News
Love is inseparable from and is the center of the Christian Faith. Noting this, it is impossible to declare the message of God’s love and forgiveness without first proclaiming His divine justice and moral standard. The Bible begins with the story of how Mankind was created in perfect and good nature, but everything changes when we chose to sin. It corrupted our very being and dug an unpassable trench between Man and God. “The wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23)”, and “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)”. When we lie, hate someone, feel lust towards someone, or cheat, we commit a sin towards God. This breaks His divine law which has been in existence from eternity onward. This tainted nature in us causes us to crave sin and the momentary joys it can bring us.
Once we die, we go before God and give an account of our deeds on earth. It is commonly thought that if we do enough good things that God likes, it will weigh out the bad, and we will get to enter the joys of His presence forever. This is not how it works. It is like an earthly court: when we go before a judge, if he is being just, he does not take into consideration the good deeds we have done. He only determines if we are guilty of the bad, and if we are, then he sentences us to be punished for our crimes. Since God is just, he behaves the same way. Unfortunately, all of us are guilty before God, and we all deserve punishment for our crimes against him. This punishment is an eternity of God’s justice being given to us. Man’s fate does not have to be this way though. God has provided a way to reconcile his lost children to him, who are scattered around the world amidst the people of all nations.
The Good News
The Gospel (good news) is a demonstration of God’s love and forgiveness through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ was prophesied in Jewish Scriptures thousands of years before His birth. It was said that he would come and provide the forgiveness of sins for all of God’s people. Jesus Christ is God who was born on earth in the form of a human. He grew up and lived a life in complete obedience to God’s law and never sinned once (1 Peter 2:22). Because of His goodness and righteousness, God demands justice for the sins that have been committed. Jesus Christ, because he was perfect, was willing and able to be a fitting sacrifice on the behalf of fallen people.
Jesus lived for 33 years, and during that time, He displayed countless miracles and good works. In His final three years, Christ began a ministry and travelled Israel to teach about the coming of the Kingdom of God. He preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). He continuously preached love and mercy, and He stayed true to the will of the Father. Eventually, Christ allowed Himself to be given over to the Roman authorities (Who ruled Israel at that time) after he claimed to be God in front of the Jewish Leaders (Mark 14: 61-62). Jesus was then crucified. At that time, God the Father poured out all of His wrath and justice upon his Son, Jesus. Every sin, that we have committed, every law of God’s that we have broken was paid for on the cross. Jesus suffered every ounce of punishment that we deserve for our sins. After He died, Jesus was raised from the grave by God three days later. This proved that all of His claims about the forgiveness of sins were true! He, then, sent out all of His followers, filled with the Holy Spirit, to preach what had happened and how to find peace with God (Romans 5:1).
The Decision
God loves his people (Romans 5:8)! Still today, He sends his followers out all across the world, preaching the turn from sin and the forgiveness of sins. God knew every human before the foundations of the universe were constructed (Psalm 139:16). This offer to be forgiven of sins is given freely can be accepted freely. We are told to turn our minds from sin and to believe the good news of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15)! No one has committed too many sins to be forgiven and given the grace of God. God is more powerful, more loving, and more forgiving than any of us are wicked.
As soon as we believe, God sends his Holy Spirit to live inside of us for all the days of our lives. As we grow, we begin to conform more to the goodness of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. By faith in this Gospel, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. It is now up to you who read this. You can have the forgiveness of sins and a life full of God’s grace!
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