The Gospel is not repentance. The Gospel is not faith. The Gospel is not advice that will help me live a victorious and overcoming life if only I follow certain steps. The Gospel is not intimacy. The Gospel is not prayer, or my personal obedience. The Gospel is not anything I do, will do, or can do.
The Gospel is a distinct category in scripture. It is not the totality of scripture but a jewel found within the collected history of the bible. The Gospel is historical Truth. It is something that happened. It is not something that will be done, but it is something that someone else has already accomplished. It is finished. The Gospel is Good News. News is information about an historical event which someone else proclaims. Whether or not I believe the information announced does not affect its validity. If the news man tells me that there was an earthquake in Haiti, whether I believe that information or not does not change the fact that there actually was an earthquake in Haiti. The Gospel is good news from heaven.
The Gospel is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.
Jesus Christ was born without the stain of Adam’s sin, and He demonstrated that fact by living a completely sinless life. His life is the only life with which God is pleased because He alone fully obeyed God, and He alone fully expresses the Glory of God. By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, He was delivered into the hands of wicked men and crucified. Because he was sinless, death had no legal hold on Him; thus, He rose from the dead, defeating death, hell and the grave. He was and is the Lamb of God. Given by God to a rebellious world in order to suffer and die, so that He might satisfy the Justice of God and turn away His wrath from all those who believe on Him. He is the Gospel. He is the Good News from heaven.
This Gospel is the only thing that will save men. We are justified by this Gospel. We are progressively sanctified by this Gospel, and we will be ultimately glorified because of this Gospel. We should tirelessly seek to unfold, unpack, and deliver the detail and elements of this Gospel week after week, day after day, minute after minute. Let us not speak in general terms when we speak of the Gospel like, the cross, and victory, and love….. What is the cross? What does “the cross” mean?” What is the Love of God, and where exactly was it revealed to the world? What is Justification? Sanctification? Redemption? Propitiation? Adoption? What precisely is the “Victory” that Christ won!
We can’t just tell people to repent, or believe, or trust, or have faith, or just hold on. Believe what? Trust in who or what? Hold on to what? Can you explain to me why God loves me and accepts me in spite of my daily sin? How can he? Why would He? Preach the Gospel to the church, and you will find them believing, and trusting, and holding on to Christ. Preach Christ and Him crucified. Unpack it. Unfold it. Get into the Book of Romans and Ephesians and Galatians, and Colossians, etc. and let it fill your soul with Glory in order to actually understand the Old Testament.
Yes, tell people to repent. Tell them to have faith. Give them practical advice that will help them to live a victorious and overcoming life. Tell them that God desires honesty and intimacy with them. Tell them to pray, and obey, and live a life for the Glory and purposes of God. But tell them all that, in light of the glorious Gospel that is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ!