The Importance of the Gospel

by Bruce Mills

Apart from the gospel, nothing else matters. 

Don’t read that statement and make the assumption that I am just using hyperbole.  I am not.  No human achievement of any kind will matter when you stand before God.  The only thing that will matter is who is going to pay for your sins.  It will either be you—by spending eternity in the everlasting torment of hell, away from the presence of God—or it will be paid by Jesus Christ, who alone is able to satisfy God’s holy demands and provide the righteousness you so desperately need.  Only He is able to bear both the responsibility of perfect obedience to the Law and the weight of God’s just wrath against you.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.  He didn’t come to save the self-righteous and those who don’t consider themselves in need of help.  He didn’t come to save those who believe they can satisfactorily obey His Law through their own ability.  No, He came to save sinners; those who recognize their sin and their own inadequacy to satisfy God’s holy and righteous standards, who place their faith and trust in Him and Him alone for forgiveness of their sins and for eternal life.

Make sure you communicate that truth clearly to your children, your family, your friends, and anyone who will listen to you.  That is the primary responsibility of Christians.  It is our job to boldly go into a dark, hostile, God-hating, Christ-rejecting world and share the good news that Jesus Christ is mankind’s only hope for eternal life. 

There won’t be very many who receive that message.  In fact, most will reject it and will persecute those who proclaim that message.  But that doesn’t change the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth and the only way by which anyone can have an eternal, personal relationship with God.

Apart from the gospel, nothing else matters.