What is the gospel?

John Piper explains it this way:

1) A plan - "in accordance with the Scriptures" (v.3). All of the most important details of the last days of Jesus were written down hundreds of years before in the Old Testament. Jesus' sacrifice for our sins was not an afterthought. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)

2) An event in history (v.3-5) - If Christ did not physically come and die then there is no gospel. Anybody who tries to make the gospel simply an inspirational story is nullifying it. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)

3) An accomplishment through the event: Christ died for our sins. (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 8:3, Isaiah 53:6, Phil 2:8)

Jesus died to demonstrate God's righteousness because he had passed over former sins (Romans 3:25). But nobody in America has this problem. Nobody wakes up with an all-consummig problem with why God can be so good to them when they don't deserve it.

The most difficult problem in the universe is not the problem of evil but the problem of grace. Unless Christ died for sinners, there is no just way for God to treat them well for eternity. Christ's death is the only way for God to remain both just and loving.

4) A free offer received by faith, not works. If the gospel was a gift given to those who first obeyed God, it would be no gospel at all.

5) An applicaton of what he accomplished to my personal life. When we believe the gospel we get forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification, and God himself. God is the gospel.

But there's a problem. We can't believe. We're totally depraved, remember? That's why the new covenent, promised in the Old Testament and enacted through Jesus' blood, is so precious. Not only does it offer forgiveness of sins, it also gives us faith to belive it. It is not a conditional covenant. It creates what it commands. (Jeremiah 31:13, 32:40; Ezekiel 11:19, 36)

6) An eternal and infinitely happy future enjoying the glory of God.