07.27.07

The Gospel and its Implications

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:07 pm by Perry

The Gospel:

I would like to take some time to discuss the most essential, most foundational, component of the entire Christian faith, the Gospel. The Gospel is the foundation of all Christianity; it is the focus of all history, both religious and secular. The Gospel is God’s purpose in creation. Every person and event in human history works around God’s supreme sovereign establishment of the Gospel. Every year Christians give over a billion dollars for the purpose of sharing the Gospel. Over the past four years approximately 350,000 have died for the sake of the Gospel (that’s forty people an hour) Most importantly for you who read this, the Gospel is the power by which we are saved by sin and re-united to God for all eternity.

Unfortunately, the numbers of people who either know of or truly understand the Gospel are far fewer then those who do. My purpose then is to define the Christian Gospel, break it down and then discuss its most essential elements in more detail. We will find our definition of the Gospel from the Bible. There are two places specifically in the Scriptures that give a clear definition of what the Gospel is, who it is about, and what it does. Let us first turn our attention to what is probably the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3:16.

John 3:14-18
The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Let’s draw some basic conclusion about the Gospel from these few verses:
1. The Gospel is about Jesus Christ. The truth of the Gospel is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world, He was an obedient servant, the fulfillment of all prophecy, and died on the cross to pay the debt of our sins.
2. The Gospel brings Salvation. By believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who lived a perfect sinless life to go to the cross of Calvary to bear the penalty of your sin, you are freed from your sin, forgiven by God, and enabled to be with God in Heaven for eternity.

Let us take just a little more time to look at one additional verse which gives a broader view of the Gospel from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:1-5
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to [Peter], then to the twelve.

Additional components of the Gospel include:
1. Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. The Gospel would cease to be the Gospel if we forget about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus died freeing us from our sins but was raised from the dead thereby defeating death for those who believe in Him.
2. We are Saved from Sin. Sin is our death penalty before God. We will see shortly that by sinning we are condemned to eternal death in Hell. If it were not for sin then there would be no need for Jesus to come and die on the cross because there would be no sins to atone for. Sin cannot be removed from the Gospel.
3. The Gospel Must be Responded to (Repentance). A person is not saved simply by hearing the Gospel; a person is saved based on their response to the Gospel. The Bible tells us that repentance is the only appropriate response that brings eternal life. A failure to repent of one’s sins and trust Jesus as LORD results in condemnation to hell. There is no other option.

We must now re-cap what we have learned so far and consolidate what we know to be true about the Gospel from the Scriptures.

• Sin - All people have sinned against God for which we are deserving of eternity in Hell.
• Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died to bear the burden of our sins and was raised to defeat death.
• Repentance and Faith - All people who repent and believe in Christ Jesus as their LORD and Savior will be saved from sin and Hell to an eternity in Heaven.

I would say that these are the most fundamental and essential components of the Gospel. With that being said, it can still be difficult to understand as to how it relates to anyone specifically without a moderate understanding of what these terms mean. I would like to take the remainder of this time to delineate the meaning and implications of the components of the Gospel.

Sin – A Just Death Sentence:

It is absolutely essential that you understand that the entirety of the Gospel centers on Jesus; it is about who Jesus is (God incarnate), what He did (died for our sins), what He will do (return to judge all men), and who we are in relation to Him (either His children or children of the devil). We cannot miss this. What that being said, unless we have a firm biblical understanding of sin in relation to us personally we have no need for a Savior and Jesus, and the Gospel, is irrelevant.

It is becoming increasingly popular both within the Church and in the world to not speak of sin. The common thought is that it is not nice, fair, or kind to tell someone that what they are doing is wrong or a sin. What the bible calls sin the world now calls a person’s lifestyle, their choice, or only wrong for someone else but not themselves. Our government passes legislation making legal what God says is detestable which results in complacency toward sin. It is no surprise then that the world sees any mention of sin, and by extension Hell, as abrasive and unnecessary.

I want to assert though that we cannot divorce sin from the Gospel. Understand this, the Bible teaches that every person without exception has sinned; there is no exception. The word “sin” is an archery term which means to miss the mark. In biblical terms, sin means to miss the mark of obedience to God. By sinning, we are disobeying the God who both created and daily sustains us. When we sin we are raising our fists against the Lord of the universe as children do against their parents.

Paul uses the letter to the Church in Rome to make painfully clear the issue of sin. Let me reiterate that ALL people have sinned against God:

Romans 3:22-24
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

It does not matter what you sin is either. Whether you sin in a seemingly innocent way by disobeying your parents or murder a man, both actions result in separation from God. I cannot devote the time here to the topic of the holiness of God but let me briefly say that God is holy. God is pictured as light in which there is no shadow of darkness with a face so pure that to look upon it in our sinful state would surely result in us dying. Jesus said that if we are to ever be with God in heaven we “must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48b). P

Paul says that when we sin, we effectively die in the eyes of God:

Romans 6:22-23
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When a person sins, which all people do, we become deserving of death. Be aware that Paul is not saying that when we sin our physical bodies die. No, the death that comes from sin is much worse then physical death; it is eternal separation from God in the fires of Hell. Jesus tells us in Matthew “do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (10:28). Every person who ever lived deserves the eternal, never-ending, torture in Hell. Hell is a place that is described as being filled with people who weep and constantly gnash their teeth in pain (Matthew 8:12); a place that you surely want to avoid.

We must take Jesus’ words to heart, we must be deafly afraid of God. It is surely true that God loves and is the very definition of love: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). If we only know God as love though then we do not know God. Jesus says we should fear the terrible wrath of God because God will banish us to eternal Hell for sinning against Him. Do not think that God is simply throwing a temper tantrum as a small child who cannot control His anger. If this thought crosses our mind then we still neither understand God’s holiness or the nature of sin. God created all of space and the earth. He made all of creation for us to live in and enjoy. God, out of love, made us to enjoy pleasure and joy and live forever but what do we do, we revolt against this loving God in blatant disobedience. It should be no surprise that God’s wrath burns against us in our sin; he is a just King who will punish the crimes of His people and people, we have all committed crimes worth punishing.

I want to show one additional passage from the letters to the Romans that shows what it means in the eyes of God when we sin:

Romans 3:9b-18
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
“All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We should gasp and sink in guilt when reading this passage. Our sinning isn’t an innocent mistake in the eyes of God. Our sinning results in our words becoming venom to God, our tongues full of deceit, and all that we do becomes worthless. Friends, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are dead, nothing more then what Ezekiel describes a dry bones (Ezekiel 37). You are traveling on a highway at full speed with Hell as your destination. Turn around, Jesus is calling for you to simply turn around and join Him in Heaven with unending pleasure for eternity.

I chose to discuss sin in so much depth because it is such a severe subject. Unless we understand that we do sin and are dead to God on the fast-track to Hell then we will have no need for a Savior. But if we come to see ourselves as nothing more then dry bones then we quickly realize that we need someone to bring us back to life; let me now discuss the one Person who can bring life back to our dry bones.

Jesus Christ – Redeemer and Savior:

I have already said so many times but it warrants saying again that Jesus is the Gospel. The Gospel tells us who Jesus is, what He did and what He has yet to do. First off, the Gospel states that Jesus is truly God. Jesus is the Son of God whom Thomas proclaimed as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). As God, Jesus has eternally existed. Isaiah, seeing Jesus before His incarnation in Heaven, expressed Him as the King enthroned with glory surrounded by heavenly creatures which continually proclaim His majesty. All things that were created, including man, were made by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus (John 1). All of history revolved around Jesus the Christ as God and Jesus as man whom took on the flesh of man to be tempted and triumph over sin and death.

If I were to only tell you about who Jesus is I would be doing you a disservice by presenting an incomplete Gospel. Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords, King of kings, God almighty, left His glory in Heaven to take on the flesh of a man. Jesus became incarnate in the flesh to live as one of us. Jesus though was able to fulfill the command to be perfect where we failed because:

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

As one who was without sin, Christ was able to pay the sin penalty due to us sinners that we ourselves could never atone for. This will never make sense until we understand that our God is dearly concerned with Justice. If God were to simply forget and forgive our sins without them being paid for the He would be a poor judge; he would be like a judge who leaves a murdered out of his jail term without the criminal ever serving any time. God is truth and just and will execute justice in His creation.

As sinful creatures we are unable to atone for our own sins. As I said before, we are effectively no more then dry bones to god, dead and unable to do anything to pay the debt we own for sinning against God. God will execute His wrath and punishment on our sin by eternal banishment into hell and He will be just in doing so. By taking on the flesh of man and being tempted as we are tempted yet without sinning Jesus was able to suffer God’s wrath for sin to pay the debt of sin owed to others besides Himself. Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross by the hands of the religious leaders of His day. Jesus’ death though, unlike our own, was not necessary to pay for His own sins. When we die we pay for our sins but because Jesus was free from sin he died to pay for the sins of those who would believe in Him and proclaim Him as Lord.

There are a few points worth clarifying here. One, the fall of mankind into sin and death and the need for Jesus to die on the Cross to atone for our sins was not plan B for God.

1 Peter 1:18-21
Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

The bible says that God foreknew everything that would occur in His creation (Romans 2:29-31). It was not a surprise to God then when we raised our fists in disobedience against Him. He had already planned from before creation to send His Son Jesus Christ to come and atone for our sins and bring us back into the family of God.

Two, before we go any further, let’s do something with the image we have of Jesus. One of my favorite pastors is Mark Driscoll who commonly criticizes the world’s understanding of who Jesus is. If you have always pictured Jesus as a six foot tall Anglo-Saxon white boy with girly soft hair and bright blue eyes then cleanse your mind of this lie. Jesus is not to be thought of as a pretty boy who got beat up for his lunch money each day on the way to school. This image of the Lord castrates Him of who He truly is. Jesus is Lord of all creation. His power made the galaxies and from the palm of his hand He controls the whole of creation. Not a sparrow falls to the ground or a blade of grass sways in the wind outside of Jesus’ power and will. We are also guilty of thinking of Jesus as a distant figure far removed in time and space. This is a lie. We must re-define our minds to see Jesus both for His might, power and glory but also for His humanity which is tangible and real.

Third, Christ was resurrected from the dead. If Christ would have gone to the cross of Calvary and simply died then He would simply be dead. But that is surely not the case. It is a Gospel essential and fundamental truth of the faith that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Christ both died to pay the price of our sins but also raised from the grave defeating death and reigning over those who submit their lives to His will and authority.

Fourth and finally, understand that there is no other way to receive salvation from ones sins apart from Jesus Christ. Post-modern relativism has blinded us into beliving that all religions are equal and all lead to God equally. This is a lie and distortion of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the one and only way to inherit salvation and eternal life. All people, regarless of race, ethnicity, culture, skin color, or sex can only be redeemed of their sins through placing their faith in the one and only true Lord Jesus Christ:

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We have seen who Jesus is and what He has done. Jesus is God, the Lord of all creation who became man to free us from our sins and re-unite us to the presence of God. But do not think that now Jesus has done the work he was destined to do and is now chilling up in Heaven not do anything in particular. No, this could not be farther from the truth. The Bible says that Jesus sits on a throne at the right hand of the Father overseeing all of creation and controlling all events that occur:

1 Corinthians 15: 24-26
Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

Jesus is reigning in Heaven as Lord abolishing all enemies of God. See almost our final point; Jesus is going to return to judge both the living and those who have died. Jesus will return to judge favorably those who have repented of their sins and trusted and served Him as Lord and judge unfavorably those who have refused to submit to Him as Lord.

2 Timothy 4:1
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

Matthew 13:49-50
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Do not be mistaken friends. Jesus is returning and we will all be accountable for what we did; namely, whether we accepted Jesus as our Lord or we preferred to lust after our sin. Mark Driscoll says, God’s cosmic booth is coming at your head and Jesus will take the blow to save you. If you wait too long entrenched in your sin then you will be forced to come before Jesus only to hear Him say:

Luke 13:27-28
But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Repentance and Faith – Restoration to God:

This brings us nicely to our third and final major point. I hope I have shown you the state you are in as dead in your sins apart from God’s saving grace given to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But knowledge for the sake of knowledge can never save a single person’s eternal soul. The Gospel warrants a response and the Bible tells us that there are only two possible responses. One, we can ignore it and deny submitting our lives to Christ which results in eternal damnation. Secondly, we can, and should, repent of our sins and lays all parts of our lives at the feet of Jesus Christ and proclaim and live for Him as our Lord and Savior.

There is no in-between, there is no other option. We can either choose to come into life or we can choose death. Biblical repentance is more then simply saying, “Yes, you’re right, I am a sinner”. Repentance is turning away from your sinful ways. Going back to the highway analogy, repentance is turning the car around and driving back toward the direction in which Christ is point you toward. Repentance includes detesting what you once lusted after in sin by realizing that such actions required the Son of God to endure death to free you from you sins. See also that repentance is more then a single action of turning away from your sin. Repentance is a continuous effort of maturing from our childlike sinful ways that occurs every day we are alive as we strive to become more like Jesus in what we think and do:

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Repentance is such an important component to the Gospel that it is the first command Jesus gives at the beginning of His earthly ministry.

Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

This is what I asking of everyone who hears or reads these words, repent for the kingdom of Heaven is coming. Be prepared, you are going to be required to stand before the Lord of Heaven and give an account. Will the Lord look upon you in favor and bring you into eternal bliss in the glory of Heaven? Paul says that the gift awaiting those who repent is far greater then what even the most imaginative mind can begin to conjure in his mind:

1 Corinthians 2:9
as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”

Or, when that day comes will you not be able to say that you surrendered everything including your sin and very life to the Lord only to hear Him cast you into the eternal fires of Hell where you will forever endure unending pain and suffering.

If you wish to repent of your sins this very moment then do so. The Bible says that all of those who desire to repent of their sins and seek after the Lord will surely find Him and by no means will he cast out any who sincerely seek after Him:

Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I cannot promise you in any way that the life that comes after repentance will in any way be easy. Those people who tell you that faith in Christ Jesus in this life is easy and leads to a life of prosperity are liars and distorters of the Gospel truth. Instead, this life will be filled with persecutions against those who love the Lord but you can trust that the life to come is glorious and eternal in comparison to this current life which is little more then a speck of time in relation to eternity.

I can promise you though that if you repent of your sins and trust Jesus Christ as both your Lord and Savior in faith that on that Day of Judgment Jesus will say to you:

Matthew 25:21
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

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