What is the Gospel?
Man is sinful and separated from God
What is sin? Do I sin? Am I any worse than anyone else? The essence of sin is a commitment to independence, a willful rejection of God’s authority in our lives. It is willful disobedience of the law which God has made clear in His Word, the Bible. Even when we attempt to obey this law, we fall far short because of two things: 1. We cannot do it perfectly, as He requires. We all fail in many ways. And 2. When we do do things right, we tend to do them for the wrong reasons. We strive to earn a good standing before God and other people. However, the Bible says that God is opposed to the proud (James 4:6). He rejects those who would stand before Him in their own goodness. No one who has ever lived is without sin, except Jesus Christ (Romans 3:10-12). In fact, even the best things any person can do are impure, at best, due to our natural, rejection of Jesus Christ as our Lord and master.
So we have a dilemma. On the one hand God’s very nature requires perfect obedience to His law in order to have a hope of eternity in heaven with Him. But on the other hand, there is not a man who has ever lived, except Jesus Christ, the God-Man, who has ever, or ever will achieve this. So what can we do?