Matthew 4:17
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Gospel: Coming Under the Rule of the King
The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, God who came in human flesh, came to rescue us from our sin and bring us into a right relationship with God.
God is holy, righteous, and perfect. His righteous standard must be fulfilled, but every one of us has broken His moral law. None of us has lived a perfectly holy, righteous, and sinless life before Him. Because God is just, sin cannot simply be ignored. Left to ourselves, we stand guilty before God and under His judgment.
That is the problem.
The good news is that Jesus Christ is the solution.
Jesus came into the world as truly God and truly man. He lived the life we could not live. He perfectly fulfilled God’s righteous requirements, lived without sin, and fulfilled the Law and the Prophets.
Then Jesus went to the cross.
Although He had no sin of His own, He took upon Himself the judgment our sin deserved. He died in our place and paid the sin debt we could never pay.
But the gospel does not end at the cross.
Jesus was buried, rose from the dead on the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father in power, interceding for those who belong to Him.
God now calls us to respond to what He has revealed.
Jesus said:
“Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Repentance begins when God reveals the truth and opens our understanding to recognize that we have sinned against Him and cannot save ourselves. We turn from our old way of seeing, believing, and living, and we turn toward Jesus Christ.
Faith means that we place our trust completely in who Jesus is and in what He has accomplished through His perfect life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.
When we repent and put our trust in Christ, we are no longer depending upon our own righteousness. Christ took our unrighteousness upon Himself at the cross, and His righteousness is credited to us. Through Him, our sin debt is paid, we are forgiven, and we are brought into right standing with God.
And the first step of obedience in this new life is baptism.
Acts 2
Cut to the heart
In Acts 2, after Peter preached Christ, the people were “cut to the heart” and asked:
“What shall we do?”
Peter answered:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Baptism is not merely a religious ceremony added later. It is the believer’s obedient, public identification with Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:3–4 connects baptism with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. In baptism, the believer declares:
“The old life no longer defines me. I now belong to Jesus Christ. I have turned from the old kingdom, and I am now living under the rule of the King.”
So the gospel movement is clear
The gospel movement
1
Revelation
God reveals Christ.
2
Recognition
We recognize our sin.
3
Repentance
We repent.
4
Faith
We believe and put our trust in Jesus Christ.
5
Baptism
We are baptized in obedience to Him.
6
New life
And we begin a new life as His disciples.
That is the good news.
God is holy. We have sinned. Jesus fulfilled the righteous standard we could not fulfill. He died in our place, rose from the dead on the third day, and now reigns at the right hand of the Father. When we repent and put our trust in Jesus Christ, we no longer stand before God on the basis of our own righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ credited to us. Through Him we are forgiven, brought into right standing with God, and reconciled to Him. Having believed, we then identify with Christ through baptism—our first step of obedience—and begin living as His disciples under the rule of the King.
The King has come.
The gospel has been revealed.
Repent, believe, be baptized, and follow Jesus Christ.
Then the renewing begins
Baptism and obedience are where the eight movements of the gospel end — and where the renewing of the mind begins. A mind that has been handed a new King still has to learn to think like it. That is the subject of its own page.
