WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
October 21, 2009
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?[i]
Romans 1:3 tells us that the gospel is God’s good news concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God’s assurance “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3-4). The Gospel is first and foremost about Christ. It is the message of the finished historical work of God in Christ. The Gospel is the work of the Godhead alone, Christ was “…smitten of God…” “it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief…” “…his soul an offering for sin…” (Is 53:4,10)
Many in the Church confuse the Gospel… God’s work FOR us in Christ, with God’s work IN us by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel is entirely objective… the Gospel is completely outside of ourselves. The Gospel is not about the change that needs to be made in sinners… and it does not take place within us. It was completed in Christ, quite apart from ourselves, 2000 years ago… it is not dependent on man in any way.
The Gospel is distorted when we turn people’s eyes to what is to be accomplished in them. We are not and cannot be involved in any part of Christ’s historical, finished, redemptive work. The sinner must be taught to look completely away from himself and trust only in Christ and his work of salvation on the cross. WE COMPLETELY DISTORT AND CONFUSE THE GOSPEL when we try to present the Gospel using terminology which turns people’s attention to what they must DO rather than outward to what God HAS DONE on their behalf in Christ!
Use only the terminology that cause repentant sinners to trust in what has been done FOR THEM through Christ rather than directing their attention to what must be done IN THEM. For example, these modern and commonly used phrases confuse people’s understanding of the Gospel: “Accept Jesus into your heart”. “Give your heart to Jesus”. “Give your life to Jesus”. “Open the door of your heart to the Lord”. “Ask Jesus to wash away your sins”. “Make your decision for Christ”. “Ask Jesus to give you eternal life”. “Ask God to save you”.
The biblical way
In our preparation of people for the Gospel, we must bring them to the point where they realize they can do nothing. However, even when folks do understand their inability to do anything… we must point them to Christ and not say such things as, “Now, you must give your heart to Jesus”. Having just taught them that they are unable to do anything we must not tell them what they must do… for the result will be confusion about the Gospel.
Our listener’s interest and concern must not be turned inward to their own experience… but to an outward trust… trusting only in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection from the dead—the true Gospel! If the sinner is to exercise true saving faith, there must be enlightenment by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.
A true believer’s saving faith is based on objective, historical, biblical facts.
- True faith rests on the sure Word of God.
- The Gospel must be understood if it is to be believed for the saving of the soul.
The salvation which God offers sinners rests on a simple understanding; and on faith in the Word of God concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. God in the person of Christ… stepped into history and acted on our behalf. He lived, died as our substitute, and rose again according to the Scriptures for the forgiveness of sins.
Divine building principles
God has stepped into the world’s history, not once, not twice, but repeatedly. God has acted… has spoken… and has not left man without a witness. He revealed himself to man as he has walked through history… not only as Jehovah of the Old Testament but also as Jesus Christ of the New Testament.
God uses this biblical, historical presentation of himself to convince folks of the truth of the Scriptures. This then should be our message… for this has been entrusted to us by God. Through teaching, we are to make all men, women, and children aware of God’s acts in history wherein he has revealed himself. These historical revelations are for all people and have been recorded and preserved by God as the basis for saving faith and true worship.
THE GOSPEL MESSAGE
God has given us the job of sharing his saving truth… we are responsible to deliver it clearly. The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to prepare hearts. When God has prepared a heart, the truth will take root… the new birth is from God, not us. The key issue is that the person needs to understand that he is a sinner, totally unable to save himself. He must trust only in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to save him from the penalty of sin, death, and Satan.
The core message[ii]
Our message has its irreducible minimums—the core message. Four irreducible minimums that must be communicated if the gospel is to be understood are:
- A Holy God: God exists in all his majesty, being the Creator/Owner of the universe.
- He is a loving, caring God but equally he is also a holy lawgiver.
- His holiness demands that his law be kept perfectly… he can have nothing to do with any lawbreaker.
- Only perfect people can live with a perfect God.
- A Helpless Sinner
- The Bible says that “all have sinned” and God’s holy law says that all sin demands the death penalty.
- Not only do sinners die physically but face something the Bible calls the second death—an eternity of suffering in the Lake of Fire.
- Since we all are sinners, there is no way we can avoid death… we are helpless!
- Jesus, A Sufficient Sacrifice
- Jesus, God himself, came to earth to live as a man… he was perfect—sinless.
- Because he had no sin of his own to die for, he could die for someone else’s sin.
- In his love, he died in every sinners place… taking the consequences for their sin on himself.
- As evidenced by Jesus’ resurrection,.. God accepted Christ’s death as an overwhelmingly sufficient payment for the sin of the world—a fulfillment of the requirement of his holy law.
- A Personal Faith
- Our hearers must believe that when Jesus died on the cross he died in their place.
- They must rest in the fact that Christ alone has saved them from the judgment for their sin.
- In him, their resurrected Savior, they now have a perfection that is not their own… but is counted as theirs because of their trust/faith in Christ.
- They will enjoy life with God both now and forever in Heaven.
These are the four irreducible minimums of the gospel message.
We want to clearly communicate nothing less. When it comes to the gospel, we definitely want them to know and remember these four essentials of a saving faith. When they have truly believed and have received Christ, the Holy Spirit, will enter them and convict them of God’s grace to sinners… giving them what they do not deserve—a way to escape the punishment for their sins.
A person exercises faith when he looks away from all his self-effort to the saving history of Christ… and depends only on him and his work of salvation on the sinner’s behalf… consider these verses:
Romans 5:6,8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.
Ephesians 2:4-7 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
[i] From New Tribes Mission’s “Firm Foundations—Creation to Christ” chronological Bible lessons
[ii] From “And Beginning with Moses” by John R. Cross, GoodSeed Ministry
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