The gospel is the good news of salvation, or the good news of our Savior Christ Jesus. It is about what God has done for us in Christ before the beginning of time which has now been revealed to us in the life of Christ. It is good news because God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. This is what grace means. It is an undeserved gift. God purposed to give us this gift of salvation before we were born, before history, before time, in eternity.

I felt out of sorts. I would put on different colored socks, roll the garbage cans to the curb on the wrong day, misplace the car keys, sometimes confuse the red and green lights of a traffic signal, be tempted to drink too much, sleep fitfully. People were patient with me. I would show up for work, do daily obligations participate in conversations as well as social engagements. Yet, frequently I looked off into space as if trying to figure out the words of a song on a radio in another room.

Jesus says to those who are forgiven, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" (Luke 7:50) and uses the same words to the healed leper (Luke 17:19). Ultimate salvation, God's salvation which Christ came to bring, is entered by faith alone. Salvation is of the Lord, and must be accepted in simple trusting faith, if it is to be enjoyed at all.

Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. In one important passage recorded in three of the Gospels, the kingdom of God, salvation and eternal life are all equated with each other, and related to following Jesus. In fact, the word for 'life' and 'salvation' are the same in Aramaic.