At the very core of the Christian faith

If you miss the gospel, you miss everything. The first reality of the gospel is that we are separated from God. Unfortunately, the most natural thing for us to do as humans is sin. This is why we have to teach children what’s right, but no one has to teach a kid how to lie or hit his brother. Sin is natural, instinctive—and the Bible reveals to us that, because God is perfect, everyone who sins has been disconnected from God, which is humanity’s greatest dilemma.

Our only hope against this curse

Check out what the Apostle Paul wrote about the Gospel: “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21.) In other words, on the cross, Christ who was perfect took on Himself all of the sins of everyone who would ever believe. This is a vital gospel concept called “substitution.” Literally, Christ died as our substitute, and in return we are righteous before God as Christ is. Simplified, when God looks at the cross He sees our sins, and when He looks at us He sees Jesus. Without Christ, we have no hope of ever being reconnected with our creator, God. But only through Christ we escape the penalty of our sin and are given a righteousness that we could have never earned on our own. That is good news.