Four Reasons the Gospel is Great News

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Jesus told the disciples at the end of the Book of Mark…

Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15, ESV).

The word “gospel” in the Greek means simply “good news.” The world in the first century needed good news; the world since the time of the Apostles has needed good news, and today we could use some good news.  

How many of us would like to hear good news today? Why can we say that the Gospel is good news?

Power

Matthew 9:35 records…

Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

Jesus came proclaiming a new kingdom with healing of disease and affliction. 

The Gospel is never presented in the Bible as impotent, indecisive, or inconclusive (doubt causes all three), but for those of faith, Paul encourages, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

Say your prayers with confidence tonight.

Light

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Are we confused today with the events of this world making no sense?

In the ancient world, as one of my teachers in seminary concluded, “Everything that could be said about man’s wisdom was said between Plato and Aristotle, who both died about three hundred years before the birth of Jesus. By the time Jesus was born of a virgin, philosophy was an endless repetition of what had previously been said, but increasingly depraved, and increasingly hopeless.”

Humans turn to two things when they encounter hopelessness: either despair or distraction, stoicism or hedonism. We see this happening today. With the underpinnings of our culture challenged every day, some escape or ignore, while others decide to eat, drink, and be merry.

There is no better time in history to preach the Good News.

Peace

We have an obligation to preach the Gospel as it brings peace. Paul exhorts us to “shod our feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). Jesus warns in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”

The principal affliction of this age is anxiety (pressure or a weight of despondency), caused by trials and tribulations. It gets worse as the Day of the Lord approaches, but we have a message of peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).

If we don’t share this Gospel, who will?

Faith

With one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27b).

The Gospel begins and ends in faith, not proven like 2+2=4 but with enough evidence for rational belief — not certainly like starting your car on an extremely cold morning (okay, not a good example this year with Ohio weather) — but we walk by faith, not by sight. Whereas we can see our non-starting car, most of us won’t see Jesus until He returns.

However, Biblical faith confronts what unbelievers would call myth or lunacy with the reality of millions of Christian testimonies during the last 2000 years of changed lives and stupendous miracles — we can and should believe the evidence of the Good News.

Power, light, peace, and faith, the Great News of the Gospel!