Tract: The Gospel that Jesus Proclaimed

There are so many people telling us what the Bible says, but they don’t all agree. Who can we trust?

Maybe we should listen to Jesus. This is the message that Jesus gave to people:

“…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mark 1:14-15)

What does Jesus mean?

While Jesus certainly taught people to live moral lives, His most important message was the Gospel. We just saw that it is called the Gospel of God. ‘Gospel’ means ‘good news,’ so this is ‘good news’ of God. It is a message about God – what God is doing. The Gospel starts with God, not man.

In other words, the Gospel isn’t a message about how we need to clean up our lives, or how we need to start living differently. It is a message about what God does.

A Unique Time

Jesus makes two statements about timeframe. He says that “the time is fulfilled,” and “the kingdom of God is at hand.”

The Time is Fulfilled

What time is Jesus talking about? The time to eat lunch? The time to go to work? No, Jesus is talking about a ‘time’ that many of his hearers knew about.

In the Bible, God promised a ‘time’ when important events would happen. The prophets Isaiah and Daniel – whom Jesus quoted many times – referred to a ‘time’ when evil would be destroyed, God’s people would be purified, and God would send a Savior who would rescue His people. This was a ‘time’ that the Jewish people eagerly anticipated.

Suddenly Jesus appears. It is as if He says – ‘that time that you are waiting for, guess what – it is right now! You are living in it! You are living in the middle of a new era, a very special time in the history of the world, when God begins to do special things!’

The Kingdom of God is at Hand

There is more. God’s kingdom is just around the corner!

While there are different ideas about what the kingdom refers to, there is no doubt that God is a king, and his kingdom brings many blessings. Those who are a part of the ‘kingdom’ experience forgiveness and acceptance by God. This kingdom – Jesus says – is at the doorstep.

You may have never thought of the Gospel in these terms. Some people think that the Gospel refers to obeying Jesus or keeping the Ten Commandments. No! The Gospel is about God and what He does, not about how we try to be good.

As Jesus said, we live in a very unique time. The Bible refers to this as the ‘last days’ – a special time at the end of the world in which God is working, ruining the power of evil, and building a kingdom. God does this by sending a Savior into the world. The apostle Paul even said that this special time requires a certain response: “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

Responding to the Gospel

After Jesus tells us the Gospel message, he tells us to do something: repent and believe the gospel. While the gospel is about God, we certainly have to respond to it.

Why should we repent and believe? Because we live in a unique time! The ‘last days’ are a very urgent time in the history of the world. Things are moving at a rapid rate. The kingdom of God is at the doorstep. Human history is hurtling forward. God already began to act, and there isn’t a moment to spare. This is a unique time that demands a specific response. You don’t have time to linger!

Repent

Jesus uses a word that we don’t use much today, but it was common in his time. Repentance doesn’t mean ‘feeling sorry’ or ‘saying sorry’ (though that is part of it). Repentance refers to a radical change of mindset. When you repent, you think differently about God and Jesus. This change of mind is so complete that you start living differently.

In the language that Jesus spoke, the word means ‘begin and continue.’ Jesus didn’t tell people to repent once – he told them to ‘begin and continue’ repenting. In other words, Jesus never called people to just pray a ‘sinners prayer’ or walk down an aisle. You don’t just change your mind once. You live with a different mindset. Jesus called people to a lifestyle of repentance.

Believe the Gospel

Jesus also calls us to ‘believe’ the Gospel – the message about God’s unique actions in the last days. He doesn’t simply tell us to ‘have faith’ or ‘believe.’ Many people ‘believe,’ but they don’t believe the right thing. What you believe is as important as your believing! Jesus says ‘believe the gospel.’ Believe that God really has intervened in history, we live in the last days, and God has sent the Savior into the world!

Belief isn’t just knowing that something is true. Belief is when you are so convinced that you respond through your actions. If you believe that a flood is coming, you build a boat. If you believe that you might lose your job, you start looking for another one. Similarly, if you believe the Gospel, you live a lifestyle of repentance and trust in God. You become a follower of Jesus. You act like you are living in the ‘last days’ of the world.

The Gospel of Jesus

There is more to the story. Jesus’ description of the Gospel comes from the book of Mark in the Bible. In that book He told people to give up their lives for His sake and the Gospel’s. He said that he came to serve others and to give his life “as a ransom for many.” He explained what it means to be his follower.

There isn’t time to go into all of this, but you can read it for yourself. The book of Mark is a short book – just the size of a pamphlet. It is well worth your time. It explains more about repentance, belief, and what it means to follow Jesus.