What is the Gospel
Evangelism: Sharing Christ to a Lost World • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewWhat is the Gospel? Are we able to articulate the Gospel? The Gospel is simple and yet profound. The Gospel is presented throughout the Gospels from distinct views: from the ground and from the air. In the end, the Gospel is a message about God, about people, and about Christ. It is a message that demands a response.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Opening Passage:
20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Outline
As believers, we go through a cycle of guilt and grace and gratitude; therefore we need to constantly be reminded of the Gospel message (Beougher, 102). We not only find this cycle, but we also find that as one continues in their Christian faith, they just assume that everyone else around them knows the Gospel and the Gospel becomes assumed and eventually forgotten. Yet, another reason why we need to keep the Gospel message fresh in our hearts and minds. When one approaches the Gospel of Christ, as Matt Chandler states, they can see it from below or from above (Beougher, 102). This can be seen through the lenses of the four Gospels.
As one looks at the Four Gospels, the synoptic Gospels portray Jesus from below, as a man in the beginning. Matthew reveals Jesus as a King but introduces him as a baby. Mark portrays Jesus as a suffering servant throughout. Luke introduces Jesus as a baby and builds to the fact that He is the Savior of the world. However, John is different. John begins and continues a theme of Jesus from the air. He introduces Him as God.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
Neither view of Jesus is incorrect. He is the King. He is the suffering servant. He is the Message. He was God in the flesh. But to know about Jesus and knowing Jesus are two different things. This is what the Gospel is about. It is revealing who Jesus is and calling people to make a decision about whether to accept or deny Jesus as Lord. As stated in our last lesson, we live in an Acts 17 culture. We live in one of the most religious times in history. However, we cannot assume that people know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They may know a gospel, but do they know the right gospel. Which Gospel people hear and believe will make all the difference. As Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia:
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
This, once again, leads us to the question, What is the gospel?
The Gospel in a nutshell is message about God, about humanity, and about Christ. When the Gospel is presented, it demands a decision.
The Gospel is a message about God
The Gospel tells us...
Who God is
As one looks at Acts 17, and Paul’s address in the Areopagus to the men of Athens, we see a great picture of the Gospel being presented. Paul begins with declaring who God is.
God is the God of creation
24 The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands;
God is Love
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God is Holy
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
What God is like and
God is graceful and merciful
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate; Slow to anger and great in mercy.
God is judge, jury, and executioner
7 But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah
12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
God is just in His judgment
31 because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”
Let us not think that we will escape the judgment seat of Christ just because God is loving, caring, and merciful. If God allowed His Son to die for your sins, do you not think He will judge you for those same sins if you deny His son. God will be and is just in His judgment.
and What God expects from His creation, man
God expects His creation to repent
30 So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent,
God expects His creation to accept Jesus’ payment for their sin
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
13 for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God expects His creation to be holy as He is holy
16 because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Not only the Gospel about God. It is a message about humanity.
The Gospel is a message about humanity
Man was created in God’s image
27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Man chose his own way and disobeyed God
10 as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one; 11 There is no one who understands, There is no one who seeks out God; 12 they have All turned aside, together they have become Corrupt; There is no one who does good, There is not even one.”
Due to the result of man’s sin and rebellion, we no longer search after God. We no longer see the sin for what it is. A quote from Beougher’s book sums it up quite nicely:
Sinful people throw out expressions such as, “If God grades on the curve, I’ll be okay,” or “I know I’m not perfect, but I’ll take my chances.” They don’t really see themselves as truly sinful before a holy God. They feel the effects and results of sin, but people in our culture tend to view their problems as horizontal, or sociological, instead of as vertical, or theological (Beougher, 105).
Man now owes a debt payment for their disobedience (sin)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Gospel is a message about Christ
The person of Christ
Jesus is both 100% man and 100% God. He is the God-man.
21 She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus was sinless
46 Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.
The work of Jesus
Jesus’ death was according to God’s sovereignty
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Jesus’s death payed our sin debt
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The resurrection of Christ
Jesus’ resurrection conquered sin and the grave
54 But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ resurrection gives us a blessed hope
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
The Gospel demands a response
The Gospel demands a response
The Biblical response is repentance and faith
We cannot come to God still clutching idols (Beougher, 109).
Repentance
3 No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
30 So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent,
Faith
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah in the wilderness,
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest law courts?
Conclusion
Let us not assume that everyone knows or understands what the Gospel is. Rather, let us assume that no one that we come in contact with has ever heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us be about winning souls for Christ. As we found written in the book of Proverbs:
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And one who is wise gains souls.
When sharing the Gospel, let us be reminded that the Gospel is a message:
A message about man
A message about God
A message about Christ
and a message that demands a response.