Why is understanding the gospel so crucial?

THOMAS: Understanding the gospel is crucial because life and death are involved. Eternal life or eternal death in hell is in the balance here. It is vitally important to understand the gospel, that we are saved through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from the works of the law. If you get that wrong, everything goes wrong—you are not saved and will spend eternity in hell. If you want to be certain that you’ll spend eternity in the presence of Jesus forever and ever, you have to understand the rudiments of the gospel.

There are those with an understanding of the gospel and those with a better understanding of the gospel. All of your life, you will be thinking about the gospel. I now have a better understanding of the gospel than I did fifty years ago when I was saved. So, I continue to grow in my understanding of what the gospel means and how it works in my life on a daily basis.

This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with Derek Thomas and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.