What is the gospel?
The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.
It begins in the beginning
God created us to show display his image to all of creation, like a living picture or statue of himself. We were to be the benevolent rulers of the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)
Because we were made by God and for Him, we should live for Him, but without exception we all failed to do that.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23). None of us has lived for Him as we should, instead we have turned our back on God in various ways. “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to Him. . .” (Romans 1:21). “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things” (Romans 2:1).
Due to sin, we all deserve death
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23) When God comes to judge the earth, the righteous and unrighteous will be separated and the unrighteous will be cast into hell. (Matthew 13:47-50)

In His great mercy, God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to provide for sinners a way to eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Eternal life is a free gift to all who will trust in Christ as their savior and rightful master.
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Eternal life is not granted to people based on the whether or not they are good or bad, because we are all bad to some degree. Eternal life is granted to people based on whether or not they truly believe God will give it to them. (Romans 4, Ephesians 2:8-9)