What is the Gospel...John, Hillary and Barack?

This evening I listened to a program online sponsored by CNN called, "Faith and Politics." One theme that is constant from all of the Presidential candidates is the continual confusion over what the gospel is. Not that they have ever been asked what the gospel is, but the prevailing definition of the gospel among the candidates is that of a "social" gospel which is no gospel at all. The gospel is not taking care of the poor and eliminating social injustice although that is how it is defined among the candidates. While feeding the poor and calling for social justice is admirable and should be desired it is not the gospel, but a result of a life changed and transformed by real gospel. Good works are a result of saving faith, not a prerequisite for saving faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). So, what is that gospel? 1 Corinthians 15 makes it abundantly clear what the gospel is:

15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, [1] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

This clip from John Piper also helps us to understand what the real gospel is.