If the Gospel Is Good News, What Is the Bad News?
We love good news. A medical test comes back clear. A job offer arrives. A family crisis turns around. But good news only makes sense when we understand the bad news that came first.
That is true of the Gospel.
We often say, “Jesus saves,” “Jesus forgives,” and “Jesus died for our sins.” Those statements are true, but they can sound distant if a person does not understand what sin is, why God calls it evil, and what it has done to our relationship with Him.
The bad news is not simply that some people do worse things than others.
The bad news is that all of us have sinned against a holy God.
Romans 3:23 says:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
The standard is not our neighbor. It is not the worst person we can imagine. The standard is God Himself.
And when we compare ourselves to His holiness, every one of us falls short.
Sin Is Deeper Than Bad Behavior
The Bible uses several words to describe the problem of sin.
Sin means falling short of God’s standard.
Transgression means crossing a boundary God has established.
Iniquity points to the crookedness within us.
Wickedness describes a pattern of life shaped by sin.
Evil is what stands opposed to God’s good character.
Lawlessness is the attitude that says, “I will decide how I live.”
That last one takes us back to Genesis 3.
The first temptation was not really about fruit. It was about authority.
Who gets to decide what is good and evil?
God had spoken, but Adam and Eve chose autonomy. Humanity has been repeating that choice ever since.
God says forgive, but we justify bitterness.
God says tell the truth, but we make exceptions.
God defines sexual morality, but we redefine it.
God says do not covet, but we convince ourselves we deserve what someone else has.
At the heart of sin is the desire to say, “I will rule myself.”
God Has Always Been Consistent About Evil
When God dealt with Israel, He condemned idolatry, sexual immorality, murder, greed, dishonesty, pride, injustice, oppression, occult practices, hypocrisy, unbelief, and rebellion.
But He also judged Gentile nations for many of the same things.
Assyria was judged for brutality. Babylon for arrogance and violence. The Canaanites for idolatry, sexual immorality, and child sacrifice. Romans 1 describes humanity exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshiping created things rather than the Creator.
Then the New Testament speaks directly to Christians and warns against bitterness, unforgiveness, greed, lust, lying, jealousy, hatred, pride, drunkenness, slander, selfish ambition, and division.
The setting changes, but God’s character does not.
What God calls evil flows from who He is.
Jesus Takes It to the Heart
Most of us can avoid feeling guilty if we only compare outward behavior.
“I have never murdered anyone.”
“I have never committed adultery.”
“I am not a criminal.”
But Jesus goes deeper.
He addresses hatred, lust, pride, greed, envy, and the motives of the heart.
Mark 7:20 says:
“And He said, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.’”
That means our biggest problem is not merely what we have done.
The problem is also what is inside us.
David understood this after his sin with Bathsheba.
Psalm 51:10 says:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
David did not simply need better behavior.
He needed inner transformation.
So do we.
Sin Separates Us From God
This is where the bad news becomes serious.
Isaiah 59:2 says:
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.”
Sin is not merely unhealthy behavior.
It creates separation between sinful humanity and a holy God.
And because God is perfectly just, He cannot simply pretend sin does not matter.
Romans 6:23 says:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That verse contains both the bad news and the Good News.
The wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is life.
That Is Why the Gospel Is Good News
The Gospel is not, “Try harder.”
It is not, “Become more religious.”
It is not, “Be a better person than your neighbor.”
The Gospel is that God did for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Our sin made us guilty.
Christ offers forgiveness.
Our rebellion separated us from God.
Christ brings reconciliation.
Our spiritual death left us helpless.
Christ gives life.
Our hearts were corrupted by sin.
God gives new birth.
The bad news is that we cannot save ourselves.
The Good News is that Jesus came to save us.
