Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures... (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
The gospel is the joyous declaration that God is redeeming the world and receiving into His kingdom all who turn from their sin and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. God has come, in the person and work of His Son, to save us by His grace, from His wrath, and for His glory, in a way that honors the holiness of His great name.
Each of us has sinned against the living God, defying our Creator and deifying the created, breaking His law and belittling His glory, and the penalty for our rebellion is eternal punishment in hell. Worthy of God’s wrath and curse, we stand condemned and corrupt, helpless and hopeless, and without defense or excuse before God.
But because of His love and magnanimous mercy, God sent His Son as a Savior and Substitute, to live the life we could not live and die the death we should have died. Jesus was crushed by God in our place to prove that, while God is love, God is just in forgiving and justifying the ungodly who have faith in Jesus.
Three days later, Jesus defeated death, rose bodily from the grave by the glory of His Father, and is now exalted in heaven where He reigns with all power and authority, offering forgiveness, righteousness, resurrection, and eternal blessedness in the all-satisfying presence of God to all who repent and call upon His merciful and mighty name.
The gospel announces the enthronement of Christ as King, the irresistible spread and coming consummation of His kingdom, when all things will be made new, and celebrates the plundering of Satan’s kingdom, as God rescues and restores those formerly enslaved to sin and Satan, for their full and lasting joy in Him, to the praise of His eternal glory and sovereign grace.