The Simple Gospel

Introduction

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Excitement to Be at VBC

I cannot tell you how excited I am to open the Word of our Lord with you this morning. Erin and I have been waiting, praying, and expectant for this day.

We are thankful that the Lord has called us here, and we are excited about the days ahead at VBC.

God is good, and He is faithful. You have all been so wonderful to us during the process, during our first week here, and we are so blessed to be with you all.

Introduction

That leads us to this morning. I want to share a simple message of the gospel with you. We hear the word, “gospel,” often, but what does it mean and what specifically does it mean for me.

I have three purposes in this message.

That you may know the gospel.

That you may grow in the gospel

That you may be equipped to share it with others.

I want to make a bold statement. If I ever stop preaching the gospel, you don’t need me to be here.

Big Idea: God sent Jesus into the world to save sinners.

Explanation

GOD

Everything that we know only makes sense when we know who God is. The world only makes sense as God has made sense of it.

He is the creator, so we must know who He is and how He created the world to function.

To ask the created world what it was created to do instead of God is the equivalent to asking a lightbulb its purpose instead of Thomas Edison. Purpose is found in the Creator of a thing - not the thing itself.

God is holy.

To be holy means to be set apart and separate.

God’s holiness means that he is altogether different than us.

God is completely morally perfect. He has never done wrong. He is complete perfection.

From God’s holiness comes the rest of his attributes. God has man attributes, but two are particularly important as we discuss the gospel

God is just, and God is loving.

God is just.

God is the righteous judge.

He rewards those who do good, and He punishes then who do evil.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ““The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

For those who have sinned against Him, God’s wrath is poured out upon them for their sins.

Because God is infinite, God’s wrath is infinite.

Just as a righteous judge is one of great goodness.

We want God to be a just judge in the same way that we want the judges in our nation, state, and city to be just. A judge who allowed a serial killer or a violent burglar to go free is a bad judge - not a good one.

As such, God is the just and righteous judge of the universe.

God is loving.

1 John 4:16 “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

God loves his creation, and you, as part of his creation, are deeply loved.

God desires intimacy with His children. Adam and Eve had unhindered access to His presence. He loves humanity, who he created in His image.

This all sounds great, but we have a problem. A big problem. And that problem is us.

MAN

Man was created by God. Mankind was created to worship God and live in perfect communion with Him. However, man sinned against God. That sin broken mankind’s capacity for communion with God and actually set man against God, Himself.

As God is a righteous judge, He punishes the wicked. Only an unrighteous judge would allow one who has broken the law to go free.

God’s righteousness shows us that He upholds His law. He is gracious and true in his decrees and his judgements.

Therefore, God’s justice looks less like a lightning bolt and more like separation from Him.

God isn’t looking to strike you down with a lightning bolt for your sin.

God doesn’t, however, tolerate sinners in His presence.

That separation is not only now, on this earth, but rather, it is an eternal wrath in a place called hell.

Every man has sinned against God, and therefore, they are destined for an eternity in hell.

Why is the punishment so great?

You can physically assault three different people in the same way and the punishment be different. Why?

Because the punishment is partially given towards what has been done and partially given for who the crime has been committed against.

You assault a person on the street, a police officer, and a city official, and the crime is different each time.

When you sin against God, you sin against his infiniteness. His foreverness. Therefore, the punishment fits the crime.

Now here is the big question: How can a God who is just also be a God who is loving? It can only be demonstrated in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

CHRIST

1 John 4:9-10 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The answer to the problem of God’s wrath and love - Jesus.

Jesus came into the world, born of a virgin. He lived on the earth for approximately 33 years, never sinning in thought, word, or deed.

At the end of his life, He was hung upon a sinners cross. He went willingly, for he was able to call down legions of angels to save Him, but He stayed the course of the Father’s will.

As Christ died on the cross, the wrath of God was poured out upon Him. The wrath, the separation, and the pain that we deserve was placed upon Jesus.

RESPONSE

Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

To know God, repentance and faith are necessary. To repent literally means to turn. Faith is to trust in Jesus to save us from our sins by His work on the cross. A great way to explain faith and repentance is that faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin.

When you turn to something, you turn from something else.

If I am walking this direction, and I suddenly turn to the other direction, I have completely changed direction.

When I repent of my sins, I am turning instead to something, or Someone else, and that person is Christ.

We are running to God’s ultimate provision of Christ on the Cross. I love that Matthew led us earlier in “Jireh.”

Jehovah Jireh is a name used in the Old Testament that means, “The Lord Provides.”

But the song says, “Jireh - YOU are enough!” Why?

Because God has given us Himself in Jesus Christ. God’s greatest act of provision wasn’t your house, your car, your AC or Heat, or even your wife or children. The greatest act of God’s provision was the person of Jesus.

In Christ God provides.

He provides appeasement for the wrath of God.

He provides grace for the one who believes in Him.

He provides the foretelling of the death of death.

He provides the fatal blow to the schemes of the devil.

But most of all, the tearing of the veil shows us that God has provided, through the cross of Christ - His very own presence.

Invitation

When we trust in Jesus, God is faithful to forgive us our sins and grant us the righteousness of Jesus. If you have never made that decision, today is the day,

Maybe you have been nervous about sharing the gospel, because you just don’t know how to share it. It’s simple - God, Man, Christ, and Response,