An Accurate Gospel Presentation

A significant aspect of the apologetic task is presenting the Gospel message to unsaved people with the goal that they would convert to Christ. We commonly call this evangelism. It is critical that we are able to make an accurate presentation of the Gospel. Today the Gospel message is often watered down, misunderstood and misspoken. In our evangelistic efforts we must make sure that we are communicating the true Gospel in an appropriate way. We must strive to present the message of the Gospel clearly and accurately. This lesson will examine what information you must include as you tell others of their need for salvation through Christ.

When you present the gospel, there are certain topics that your audience must understand. You should thoroughly understand each topic yourself and you should be able to discuss the content of each topic with any age group.

Note the progression that follows: God, man, Christ, response (repentance and faith)

1. Who is God? The Creator and sovereign Lord

It’s important that you start here because much error and confusion regarding the person of God abounds in our culture and around the world. People need to know who God is and where they stand in relation to Him.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

God exists. He is the Creator. Because He made us, we are totally dependent upon Him. He can do as He pleases. He is in charge of the universe.

1 Peter 1:15–16 “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

God is holy. He never sins. He always does what’s right.

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

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

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

God loves us. He wants to have a friendly relationship with us. He wants us to be saved and has provided a means of salvation.

Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

God is absolutely sovereign. He’s the King of kings.

Revelation 4:11 ““Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.””

As Creator, God is worthy of man’s worship.

2. What is man? Utterly sinful and unable to save himself.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Romans 3:10–23 “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.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For the…”

People are basically sinful. People do bad things because they are sinful. Each person has sinned against a holy God.

Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins”

Ephesians 4:17–19 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

Man is dead in trespasses and sin. He has no fellowship with God.

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Sinners are separated from and under the wrath of God. This is man’s primary problem, and he cannot solve it by himself.

Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Isaiah 59:1–2 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Sin deserves to be punished. That punishment is eternal separation from God and from everything good.

Revelation 20:14–15 “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Those who remain in their sin will spend eternity in hell.

It’s critical that your audience understands the nature and severity of their sin and alienation from God. Francis Schaeffer said that, given one hour, he would take 45-50 minutes to show how one has sinned against and offended a holy God, and then 10-15 minutes to preach the gospel. A person must acknowledge his disease before he’s ready to take the cure. So make sure your student understands the full meaning and ramifications of his or her sin.

3. Who is Christ? The sacrifice, Savior and Lord

Again, it’s critical to take the time to explain exactly what the Bible says about the person and work of Christ. There’s much false information floating around about Jesus—don’t assume that the student knows who He is and what He did.

Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

He is the Son of God, God in the flesh, and lived a perfect, sinless life. Jesus is the Savior. He came to save us from our sin.

1 Corinthians 15:3–5 “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 Cephas, then to the twelve.”

Christ died for our sins, was buried, and arose the third day.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Isaiah 53:4–7 “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

Christ took the punishment for our sins. He suffered instead of us. He was our substitute.

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.”

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

He is the only way of salvation. There is no other means.

Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Luke 6:46 ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Jesus is both Lord and Savior. We must recognize His Lordship.

4. How should I respond to the Gospel? Repent of my sins and trust in Christ.

The gospel message demands a response. Just knowing the facts of the gospel does not mean that one is saved. One must make a personal decision regarding the facts.

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

Acts 20:21 “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Salvation occurs when one repents of his sin and believes in the person and work of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”

Acts 20:21 “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Acts 26:20 “but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

Repentance is turning away from and rejecting sin and turning to God. It is being sorry for sin and wanting to be forgiven.

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

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

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

Faith is trusting in Christ to forgive you. It is a trust in and commitment to Him. It is trusting Christ alone to be saved. Belief consists of knowledge, assent, and whole-hearted trust.

Luke 14:33 “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Discipleship is costly. Following Christ may require a major change in your lifestyle.

Two frequently neglected but essential aspects of salvation are repentance and commitment. Clearly define and emphasize the need for repentance. Simply acknowledging one’s sin is not enough (e.g., Judas was sorry that he sinned). We must urge people to turn from their sin and seek forgiveness. And when one trusts Christ as Savior, he is also recognizing Him as Lord. We must present Christ as the NT presents him—both Lord and Savior. Make this clear to the student. Unfortunately, much of the material written for evangelism either leaves out or downplays both repentance and commitment. This fact results in many false professions of faith.

Note: People sometimes attempt to make the salvation decision as easy as possible by stripping down the gospel to its bear minimum, and in so doing they leave out important information. Being saved is more than just believing in Jesus. Millions of people who claim to believe in Jesus are not genuinely saved (cf. Mt 7:21-23). So we have to carefully define our terms and express precisely what we mean when we present the gospel to an unbeliever.

Conclusion: An accurate, clear presentation of the Gospel message is an important aspect of the apologetic task. Make sure you can tell others why they need to be saved and what they must do to be saved.

Discussion:

1. Shouldn’t we first convince people that God exists before launching into a Gospel presentation? No, the Bible teaches that everyone knows that God exists. They need to hear of their alienation from God, of God’s wrath against them, and of the means of salvation thru faith in Christ.

2. Shouldn’t we first convince our audience that the Bible is trustworthy before telling them what the Bible says? No, we believe the Word of God does the work of God, whether your audience believes it or not. It’s God’s job to convince unbelievers that the Bible is true. We simply proclaim its message.

3. What if the person you are talking to tells you that he doesn’t believe in God or the Bible? Still present the same message as long as he is willing to listen. Remember that faith comes by hearing the Word, not by being convinced intellectually.

4. Why do we need to stress the importance of accuracy and clarity in a Gospel presentation? Because it’s so common for people to leave out or add to the message of the Gospel. It’s very common today for people to make it as easy and painless as possible for people to accept Christ. Evangelists often say little or nothing about repentance, the Lordship of Christ or the costs of discipleship.