The Gospel Is Good News

To be a Christian is to be forgiven. In this brief clip, R.C. Sproul proclaims the good news of the gospel.

This Reformation Month, watch a short video every day on the history and insights of the Protestant Reformation. And don't forget that for a donation of any amount this month only, you can also receive a copy of Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer, a documentary featuring interviews with R.C. Sproul and several Ligonier Teaching Fellows, on DVD. Offer ends 10/31/18.

Transcript

Right now as as I talk to you I'm in a television, a broadcast television studio. I think one of the most important things we do is to try it to deepen our understanding of the character of God. I think we will discover very soon through our study of Scripture that God is holy. He's righteous. He's just. And we're not. Only Christ has made an atonement, and that's what we need. The only way sinners can get past the gates of heaven is by wearing the robes of somebody else's righteousness. This powerful call of God that works what it intends to work goes back to the very act of creation. Anything that happens in this world cannot happen apart from divine sovereignty. If God is not sovereign, God is not God.

It matters profoundly what it is that you believe. The thing I want to get across to you is this: that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. I want to keep it simple; the gospel is so plain in Scripture that a child can understand it. To be a Christian is to be forgiven. The essence of the Christian faith is grace. The essence of the Christian ethic is not arrogance but gratitude. When I put my trust in Him, He imputes or counts to me His righteousness, and on the basis of that imputed righteousness, God declares me just right now. So if I die right now, I go to heaven right now because I have all the righteousness I will ever need to get there—namely the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's good news because it's the gospel.