What is the Gospel?

1) Reasons for Study

Question for Consideration: Why must believers know the gospel message clearly?

1. We’re BIBLICALLY COMMANDED to be PREPARED to make a DEFENSE for the REASON of the HOPE that is in us.

a. In encouraging believers to persevere during persecution, the Apostle Peter writes in

1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

b. If God in His providence gives you the perfect OPPORTUNITY to SHARE the GOSPEL with someone, especially in instances where there’s only 1 OPPORTUNITY, you want to be sure you SHARED the TRUTH ACCURATELY && CLEARLY!

2. A second reason we should know the gospel clearly is for OUR OWN ASSURANCE...

a. All believers should have assurance of their personal salvation and that their future hope is secure.

b. 1 John 5:13 ESV “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

c. All CHRISTIANS should be able to give a BIBLICAL DEFENSE for their SALVATION and REASON for ASSURANCE.

BEFORE TESTIMONY

BEFORE FEELING/SENSATION...

SAVING FAITH REQUIRES SOME LEVEL of INTELLECTUAL RESPONSE:

Paul Washer , “True exposition of the gospel is not less than an intellectual endeavor, but it is so much more” (Preeminent Christ, p. 4).

3. A third reason for studying the gospel is that it should cause all of us to GROW in GRATITUDE over what God through Christ has done for us.

a. THANKSGIVING is FOUNDATIONAL and ESSENTIAL to the CHRISTIAN LIFE!!

i. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

See also: Luke 17:11-19; Rom. 1:21; Eph. 5:20; and Col. 3:15-17.

b. In the OT, countless times the PEOPLE of GOD are CALLED TO THANKSGIVING..... for the LORD = GOOD… && STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!

i. Psalm 106:1 ESV “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

***NO BETTER DISPLAY of GOD’S GOODNESS && COVENANT KEEPING FAITHFULNESS THAN FOUND in GOSPEL...

4. Lastly, BELIEVERS NEVER OUTGROW the NEED to HEAR & STUDY the GOSPEL...

a. Paul the Apostle was planning to preach the gospel to those who were already saved! We will never plumb the depths of the gospel message.

i. Rom. 1:15 ESV “So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

ADONIRAM JUDSON responding to his wife when the church people were upset:

“Why, what did they want?” he inquired; “I presented the most interesting subject in the world, to the best of my ability.”

“But they wanted something different–a story.”

“Well, I am sure I gave them a story–the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.”

“But they had heard it before. They wanted something new of a man who had just come from the antipodes.”

“Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love.”

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2) Defining the Term

Beginning question: What does the word “gospel” mean and where does it come from?

WORD STUDIES:

A. The ENGLISH word “GOSPEL” comes from the GREEK WORD, EUANGELION.

a. This word is found 76 TIMES in the Greek New Testament (GNT). According to BDAG, a leading scholarly Greek lexicon it is defined as follows,

i. “God’s good news to humans, good news as proclamation”

ii. “Details relating to the life and ministry of Jesus, good news of Jesus”

iii. “A book dealing with the life and teaching of Jesus, a gospel account”[1]

1. For example, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

B. Likewise, in the New Testament, we often see the language of “PREACHING the GOSPEL” or some similar equivalent. This comes from the Greek word EUANGELIZO.

a. This word is which is used 54 TIMES in the GNT and is defined as follows,

i. “bring good news, announce good news” or in most cases specifically, “to proclaim the divine message of salvation, proclaim the gospel”[2]

C. Clear Insights:

a. The GOSPEL is NEWS. It isn’t opinion or hypothesis, it’s the reporting of actual events that began with eyewitness accounts.

i. This is essential to the Christian. Paul makes it clear that the FACTUAL VALIDITY of the GOSPEL MESSAGE is essential to Christian hope:

ii. 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 ESV “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

1. The testimony of Jesus’ resurrection was VALIDATED by EYEWITNESSES, first the WOMEN at the TOMB (see Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 23:55-24:10; John 20:1-18) and then followed by numerous other witnesses.

a. Paul discloses this in 1 Cor. 15:5-8 ESV“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.”

b. The news of the gospel is GOOD NEWS!!

i. This is a crucial part to sharing the gospel, surely there is the bad news of depravity and coming judgment, but in light of this God has good news.

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3) The Gospel Message: What is the News?

Questions for Consideration: What is the news we proclaim and what are the most nonnegotiable parts of the message that must be included for it to be a true gospel presentation?

A. The gospel message can be summarized with two facets: WHO CHRIST IS & WHAT HE’S DONE.

First, we will focus on who he is.

a. IF JESUS were just some GOOD MORAL TEACHER or a prophet, his life and DEATH COULDN’T HAVE had any SAVING EFFICACY for others. Perhaps he could be a good example as a martyr, but this doesn’t save us!

b. JESUS CHRIST was DIVINE.

i. Matt. 1:23 ESV “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

1. In Jesus Christ, THIS DESCRIPTION is LITERAL in the sense that God in the person of His Son had come to live amongst His creation.

ii. Jesus is also referenced as God in numerous places in the New Testament (John 20:28; Titus 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:1).

iii. JESUS CHRIST WAS PRE-EXISTENT with the Father, he was NOT A CREATED BEING All things were made by him, but as the eternal word he just was TURN(John 1:1-5,14,18).

iv. Jesus Christ was the Father’s agent in creation, not one of His creations (Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:1-4).

c. Jesus Christ was sinless.

i. Being born of a virgin (see Matt. 1:18-25), he didn’t inherit the sinful nature of mankind.

ii. The Scripture tells us that Jesus was without sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15).

iii. A common theme found throughout the Scriptures is that ANIMALS given for a sacrifice were to be SPOTLESS and WITHOUT BLEMISH. God had instructed Moses on numerous occasions that guilt and sin offerings were to be made with an animal that was without blemish (Lev. 4:3,23,28,32;5:15; 9:2-3; Num. 6:14).

1. Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, without spot, given for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:19).

B. The second essential component of the gospel message is what Christ has done!

a. CHRIST’S LIFE....WITHOUT HIS PERFECT LIFE for us would be of no benefit. If anything, his perfect life WOULD CONDEMN US ALL the MORE!!

i. Paul’s working definition of the gospel is found in

1 Cor. 15:1-4 ESV “Now I would remind you, brothers, 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,” (following this Paul goes on to testify to the witness of the resurrection).

a. Jesus died on a cross on behalf of our sins, as the perfect sacrifice that God required for the sins of mankind. This was followed by Jesus’ vindication where he was raised to life again on the third day!

C. The gospel is a message of grace, received by faith.

a. GRACE is the act of God GIVING US what WE DON’T DESERVE... namely salvation. MERCY is where HE SPARES US from WHAT WE DO DESERVE…JUDGMENT ETERNALLY....

b. Since NO ONE WAS RIGHTEOUS ENOUGH to earn salvation, God made a way for mankind to be saved by grace. This is the SCANDAL of the GOSPEL. Good people don’t go to heaven, because good people don’t exist. Forgiven people go to heaven.

i. PAUL’S CREDENTIALS = RUBBISH....

BOTH NATIONAL BACKGROUND & “WORKS” ---RUBBISH!

1. Philippians 3:4-9 ESV “though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

ii. Eph. 2:8-9 ESV “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

iii. Galatians 2:16 ESV “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

iv. See also: Acts 20:24; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-7; Titus 3:4-7

c. At the cross, JESUS SUFFERED the CONSEQUENCES of OUR DISOBEDIENCE... so that we could RECEIVE the CREDIT for his PERFECT OBEDIENCE THROUGH FAITH. This is ALL OF GRACE...

i. 2 Cor. 5:21 ESV For our sake he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

D. The gospel is the result of God’s love.

a. John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

b. Romans 5:8 ESV “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

i. See also: John 15:13; 1 Jn. 3:1, 16; 4:8-10, 19.

E. A Working Definition: The Gospel is the good news concerning forgiveness of sin and eternal life through Jesus Christ. It is his virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection from the dead that reveal the love and grace of God towards sinful mankind.

a. Martin Luther defined the gospel as, “nothing but the story of how Christ stepped into our sins, carried them on the cross in his flesh, and destroyed them, so that all who believe in him are set free from sin through him.”

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4) Main Takeaways

A. The GOSPEL IS IMPORTANT for STUDY. Believers should be confident of their own salvation and prepared to share the good news with others because the gospel is God’s method for building His church.

B. The GOSPEL is NEWS to be proclaimed based on ACTUAL EVENTS and we must always remember that the NEWS we have as Christians IS GOOD!!

C. The gospel is a message concerning WHO CHRIST IS and WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE for US.

D. The gospel is a MESSAGE of GRACE that DISPLAYS the LOVE of GOD FOR UNDESERVING HUMANITY that must be RECEIVED BY FAITH...

[1] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., pp. 402–403). University of Chicago Press. [2][2] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 402). University of Chicago Press.