Good news! That’s what the word “gospel” means. Jesus died for you and me. He took our place to pay the penalty for our sins so that He could offer us eternal salvation. The gospel contains facts to be believed. Paul, in explaining the gospel he had preached to the Corinthians “by which they were saved,” said that this gospel was “the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus” (1 Cor 15:1-3). The gospel contains commands to be obeyed. Facts are to be believed. You don’t obey facts; but commands are to be obeyed. (Acts 2:36-41; Mk 16:15-16) contain commandments to be obeyed in order to be saved. Both of these passages command baptism, and baptism symbolizes beautifully the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom 6:3-6). Therefore, you read the expression: “obey the gospel” (2 Thess 1:8; 1 Pet 4:17). This thought provoking warning is pronounced for those who refuse to obey the gospel: “And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess 1:7-9). Frightening!
The core and end of all religion, whether true or false, is the salvation of man’s soul. And there is always, in any religion, the efficacy of some divine power coupled with a method of appropriating that power into one’s life. Isn’t that what the gospel message is all about? Even a glance at the Bible leaves one impressed with the wonderful love of God and the lengths to which He has gone to bridge the gap between Himself and man that was caused by man’s sin. You may have read a lot of news today, some of it good, but it must pail into relative insignificance when compared to the good news about Christ and His message of salvation.
Surely, we are all interested in the eternal salvation of our souls, in immortality. Paul tells us that the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus “has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10). How Wonderful! How exciting! I ask you, is that not the greatest good news of all, the greatest news one could possibly hear? Have you obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ?