The gospel is the fundamental truth about God and His plan of redemption for mankind.  On the one hand it is incredibly simple, but on the other hand it has tremendous depths that cannot be adequately plumbed in a mortal lifetime.

Understanding the Gospel of Christ must start with a basic understanding of our need for redemption.  We can get this from a simple self comparison with the character of God by seeing our own failure to live up to the perfect moral standard that He sets based on who He is. When we have adequately grasped who God is we will understand that He is infinitely great and worthy of all our affectionate attention and that we are wretched people who simply cannot do anything but sin.  Mankind continually goes his own way with no interest in knowing God or seeking Him out in our natural state.  Our sin blinds us to who He is and His infinite value and directs us to instead put ourselves or even something else in the place that He rightfully should occupy in our hearts and lives. 

The evil of this failure to honour God as God is justly condemnable, and indeed God does condemn it consigning all those who sin to eternal destruction forever experiencing the horrors of hell.

If it were simply a matter of God being just and righteous and holy, that is where the story would end.  However, God is also gracious, merciful and loving, and because of this He has worked out a way that individual people can be saved from the punishment that we all deserve.

To achieve this salvation, God sent His eternally begotten Son who came to live on earth - was born of a virgin and lived a perfect life (in accordance with prophesy) - and be the atonement or substitute for us.  As a substitute God poured out the full power of His wrath on Christ rather than on us (called propitiation).  Because of Christ, God now calls mankind to repent - turn from our sin - and give ourselves to bring Him glory and honour here and now while we have this life we have been given.

My prayer for you as you read this site is that you will turn from the sin in your life and give yourself wholly to serving and giving glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and God His eternal Father.