In Search of the Gospel

A few years ago, I heard about a survey that was done at a Christian Booksellers Convention where I believe one hundred attendees were randomly asked, "What is the gospel?"  These were not people on the street, mind you, but professing Christians.  If my memory is correct, only one of those surveyed could give an adequate explanation of the good news of Jesus Christ.  I remember being aghast at that report!  How could it be that professing Christians couldn't articulate how they came to be Christians?  

Well, I've been seeing that situation played out in real life the last few weeks, as I've conducted initial employment interviews.  Since we are a Christian ministry, the advertisements I send to the churches specifically state that we are looking for mature Christians to fill the open positions. When I've asked the applicants to share their testimony of saving faith in Christ, they have responded with such answers as:  "I was raised in a Christian family," "I've been in church all my life," "I like to hear different perspectives on the Bible and how they relate to me personally," or "I try to do live a good life." At the suggestion of a co-worker, I am now rephrasing the question:  "If someone asked you how to how they become a follower of Christ and receive forgiveness for their sins, what would you tell them?"  This is an important aspect of the ministry of the rescue mission, after all.  


So what is the good news of Jesus Christ? For a thorough explanation with scripture references, I took the following from the Together for the Gospel website:


The Gospel is the joyous declaration that God is redeeming the world through Christ (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:68; Eph 1:7; Col 1:20), and that he calls everyone everywhere to repent from sin and trust Jesus Christ for salvation (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; 17:30).

Each of us has sinned against God (Rom 3:23), breaking his law and rebelling against his rule, and the penalty for our sin is death and hell (Rom 6:23). But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus (John 3:16; Eph 2:4; 1 John 4:10) to live for his people’s sake the perfect, obedient life God requires (Rom 8:4; 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 4:15) and to die in their place for their sin (Isa 53:5; Mat 20:28; 26:28; Mark 10:45; 14:24; Luke 22:20; John 11:50-51; Rom 3:24-25; 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:14; 1 Pet 3:18). On the third day, He rose bodily from the grave (Mat 28:6) and now reigns in heaven (Luke 22:69; 24:51; Heb 8:1), offering forgiveness (Eph 1:7), righteousness (Rom 5:19), resurrection (Rom 8:11), and eternal blessedness in God’s presence (Rev 22:4) to everyone who repents of sin and trusts solely in Him for salvation.