Sure, John 3:16 tells us all the believing ones will not perish and have everlasting life, but that is not the whole gospel, not even close. It says nothing of sin, nothing of repentance, nothing of the resurrection, nothing of imputation, nothing of Christ as a substitute for sinners, etc. That kind of mere Christianity approach will send people straight to Hell. We can say we believe in Jesus and believe all sorts of wrong things about who He was, why He came, and what He accomplished. And when we do that, we believe another Jesus and another gospel.
It’s dangerous to try to say any one verse is the gospel, but if I had to pick just one it would be this:
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
—2 Corinthians 5:21
Actually, you have to take God at His word and believe that he will bring about what He has promised. He’ll see you get through any necessary steps.
“Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It’s dangerous to try to say any one verse is the gospel, but if I had to pick just one it would be this:
In Revelation, Jesus tells the churches to “go back to your first love”, or go back to the basics in my words.
So with that in mind it leads one to the following question, assuming Jesus and his Apostles were preaching the “Good News” what was it? What is the core of the Good News?
What did John the Baptist preach?
What did Jesus preach?
What did the disciples preach?
What did the Apostles preach?
And what was the message of the OT prophets?
and now the big question. WHAT DO WE PREACH TODAY?
Hint: The message cost them a lot, it cannot be “soft pedaled” (a piano reference)