What About . . .

The Gospel
reetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we receive this great salvation in our lives today?

G This pamphlet has been prepared to show you how

much we need the Gospel, why it is such good news,
how we receive it and how we respond to it.
How do we personally receive the forgiveness Christ won
for the entire world? How does what happened on the cross
nearly 2,000 years ago flow into our lives today?
Here too there is very good news.God,through His Gospel,
Why do we need the Gospel? offers us forgiveness and help against sin in more than one way.
We cannot really understand how good the message of the God is surpassingly rich in His grace.He gives His Gospel to us
Gospel is until we understand how bad our situation is without through His Word,through Baptism,through the Sacrament of
it.We are poor miserable sinners.We sin daily and deserve the Altar,and through confession and absolution.These are the
nothing but God’s wrath and punishment. ways God enters our lives today to apply to us personally the
Without Jesus Christ, our situation would be totally great salvation Christ won for the world.
hopeless. The Scriptures describe human beings as dead in The Holy Spirit works through the Word of the Gospel to
trespasses and sin.Without the mercy and cleansing of God create and sustain faith in our heart that Christ is the Savior of
through the blood of Jesus Christ, there awaits for us only the world,and thus our Savior too.The Bible is the Word of God,
everlasting punishment in hell.Thus,we need the Gospel— written down for our learning and edification.The Scriptures
desperately! are filled with the good news of Jesus Christ and all that He has
What is the Gospel? done for us.Through the almighty,Spirit-filled Word,God gath-
The word “gospel” is a translation of a Greek word that ers us into His church,which is truly the mother that begets and
means,“an announcement of good news.” The Gospel is the bears every Christian through the Word of God.The Holy Spirit
good news that God the Holy Trinity decided not to abandon is present,effective and active through the Word when it is pro-
humanity when Adam and Eve first fell into sin.God decided claimed,heard and meditated upon.
then and there that sin and death would not have the last word. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism is water included in God’s
He promised to send a Savior. command and combined with God’s Word; or as St.Paul says
When the time was right,God sent His Son into our world in Holy Scripture, “The washing of water with the word.”
to be born of the Virgin Mary. Our Lord Jesus Christ lived a Through Baptism,we are made partakers of Christ’s death and
perfect life for us. On the cross, He received the penalty and resurrection.Therefore,we know that Baptism works forgive-
punishment for the sins of the whole world,offering Himself as ness of sins,rescues from death and the devil,and gives eternal
the perfect sacrifice for sin.Jesus rose from the dead,victorious life to all who believe.Since Baptism is connected to the Word
over our ancient enemies: sin,death and the devil. and promise of God, it is truly a life-giving water, rich in
Therefore,each Christian is able with great joy and confi- grace—a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.
dence to declare before the whole world:“My Lord Jesus Christ Christ has provided a special application of the Gospel
has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased through confession and absolution.Confession is admitting
and won me from all sins,from death,and from the power of our sins to God and receiving His forgiveness from our pastor,
the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious as from God Himself,not doubting,but firmly believing that by
blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.Thus,by divine
What glorious good news! The one, true eternal and all- ordinance, Christ Himself has entrusted absolution to his
powerful God came into our world to live,suffer,die and rise Christian church and commanded us to absolve one another
again for us.We,who are unholy and unrighteous,receive the from sins.
forgiveness of all our sins and thus receive the perfect holiness The Lord’s Supper is the true body and blood of our Lord
and righteousness of Christ our Savior—as a free gift—purely Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ
because of His love for us. That is good news! That is the Himself, for us Christians to eat and to drink. In the Lord’s
Gospel! Supper,Christ’s body and blood are given to us as our treasure
 What About the Gospel?

and gift which sustains our faith and life in Him. If you are want to encourage a life of good works, and end up making
heavy-laden and feel your weakness, go joyfully to the Christians think that it is by their works that they are saved.
Sacrament and receive refreshment,comfort and strength. This is a great danger. Through His Word and Sacraments,
Those who want to be forgiven by God and who want to Jesus is constantly working in our lives to forgive our sins and
enjoy His presence in their lives,hunger and thirst for the Word strengthen our relationship with God.God always receives the
and Sacraments.With the Psalmist we say,“My soul thirsts for credit for our salvation.He is the one working in us.This is not
God, for the living God.When can I go and meet with God?” something we can do.Our good works are the result of God’s
God has provided the means to receive Him. So, Christians love in our hearts and lives. Our good works in this life do
hunger and thirst for God’s Word,absolution,the Sacrament, not save us, only Christ saves us. Works serve our neighbor
etc.We have the certainty that God meets us and gives us what and show to the world that we are grateful for God’s mercy in
we need in His means of grace. The forgiveness Christ won our lives.
for the world on the cross is applied to us personally by Another way the Gospel can be obscured is when too much
God through His Word and Sacraments.What a joy for us to emphasis is put on an emotional response to the Gospel.Some
know that where there is forgiveness of sins,there is also life Christians believe that unless they have some sort of ecstatic,
and salvation. charismatic experience, or feel some sort of “spiritual high,”
Thus, we believe that we cannot, by our own reason or they are not really Christians.It is truly sad that some people
strength,believe in Jesus Christ our Lord,or come to Him; but look into their own hearts for the security that they are children
the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His of God,instead of putting their hope and trust in the objective
gifts,sanctifies and keeps us in the true faith.In the same way, work of Christ for them,and in the means God uses to come to
He calls,gathers,enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian them—His Word and Sacraments.
church on earth,and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true If we find ourselves beginning to ask, “Am I doing
faith.In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all of enough?”or thinking,“It doesn’t matter what I do,for God will
our sins,and the sins of all believers. forgive me anyway,” then we are at risk of losing Christ and His
forgiveness.We look always to Jesus and put our hope and trust
How does God cause us to respond to His Gospel? in Him.He is our Savior.And,that’s good news!
We love God because He first loved us.Our Lord is at work All blessing, honor, thanks and praise to Father, Son and
in us both to will and to do what is pleasing to Him.Christians Spirit, the God who saved us by His grace. All glory to His
look to the Ten Commandments to know what is pleasing to merit! O triune God in heaven above,you have revealed your
God and wish to serve Him in gratitude for the great salvation saving love.Your blessed name we hallow.
that is theirs in Christ.
From the Word of God we learn that God wants us to put — Dr.A.L.Barry
Him first,above any other person or thing,to respect His name President
and not misuse it,to hear and obey His Word.Children are to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
honor and obey their parents and others in authority.We are to
look out for the welfare of others,doing nothing to hurt or harm
our neighbor.We are to live sexually pure and decent lives,with
husbands and wives loving and honoring each another.In look-
ing out for our neighbor’s welfare and helping him to improve
and protect his property and business,we are also to take care
not to lie about our neighbor,but to help,support and defend
him in every need,and,finally,we are to be content with what
we have been given,and not want what is not ours.
What a joyful privilege we have to serve God and others! He
gives us the opportunity to bear witness to our faith through
both our words and our deeds.

How is the Gospel obscured?

The Gospel is obscured by well-intentioned people who