What Is the Gospel?

Introduction:

As we continue with our study of Evangelism, I want us to start this evening praying that God would give us a burden for those who are lost and do not know Christ.

Last week we discussed some really hard truths… but they are truths that we would do well to remember. When we are talking about the topic of Evangelism, this is a not a light matter. In fact, what we see is that this is part of the mission that Jesus has called us to partake in.

We know that those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, what is going to happen to them?

What is at stake if we don’t share the Gospel?

People Are Going to Die in Their Sins & Face the Wrath of God.

People Are Going to Die and Go to Hell.

That is the reality that we take into this study this evening, and we know that there is a massive need all around us here in this county. There is massive need just with the people that we personally know.

But here is the other part to this, we know that we are powerless to change anyone. We cannot change a heart. And it is for that reason that we are going to pray together for those who don’t know Christ and we are going to make it a habit to pray to the Lord for two things:

1. Give Us A Burden For The Lost.

2. Send Out Workers Into The Fields.

3. We Are Going To Ask God To Change Hearts.

Let’s pray together.

What is the mission of the Church?

To help people Follow Christ, to Grow in Christ, and Go on mission with Christ.

16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Mt 28:16–20).

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

In short, we are called to share the Gospel with people and to help them grow in Christlikness so that they too can go and share the Gospel with those who do not know Christ. That is one of the purposes that we have been given the Holy Sprit, it is so that we can be witnesses for Christ, or to put it another way, so that we can bear witness to what Christ has accomplished for us.

This brings us to the two foundational questions, one of which we are going to tackle this evening, and those questions are:

What is the Gospel?

How do we get it to people?

Tonight we are going to focus on that first question:

What is the Gospel?

This is so foundational for our faith and the topic of evangelism because if we are unsure on exactly what the Gospel is, then we may not be able to share the Gospel effectively as we ought to.

Now, I think that some of the confusion or maybe not confusion, but some of the vagueness, comes from the multiple different ways that we see the Word Gospel used in the New Testament.

Let me give you a few examples of this.

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mk 1:1).

This is one example of how the accounts off Jesus’ life are called what? The Gospels. We have the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They revolve around Jesus' whole life.

Now, go down just a few verses and look at verses 14-15 with me.

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

Here we have Jesus, proclaiming the Gospel of God and calling people to repent and to believe that Gospel. This has to be a little bit different than the previous example, right? They can’t be both talking about the same exact thing because when Jesus utters these words, he hasn’t went to the cross yet. He hasn’t died. He is just starting His ministry on earth at this point.

So, just from these two examples, we can see, there is a slight confusion over exactly what we might call the Gospel.

The question then becomes, how are we to define it? What do we tell someone if we are trying to tell them the Gospel? That is the question that we want to explore in our time together tonight.

Before we jump into what the Gospel is, lets start with what the Gospel is not.

What The Gospel Is Not.

The Gospel Is Not About Me Getting My Act Together.

The Gospel Is Not Me Doing More Good Works.

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 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. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Ro 3:9–20.

The Gospel Is Not Social Justice.

The Gospel Is Not That Jesus Died To Make You Wealth and Healthy.

The Gospel Is Not That Jesus Loves You & Has A Wonderful Plan For Your Life.

The Gospel Is Not That Jesus Came To Make Us Better.

What is wrong with all of those statements? Where does the focus tend to endup?

The problem with so many false Gospel narratives is this:

They contain an ounce of truth in them.

Their focus in on ME. Man is at the center of those statements.

But in the end, they are not the Gospel.

This brings us back to the question

What is the Gospel?

If a seeker asked you to explain the gospel briefly and concisely, would you be able to do it? What aspects of the message would you need help in understanding?

Let’s define our terms and understanding of the Gospel.

The greek word for Gospel found in the New Testament is the Word

εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion)

76×

glad tidings, good or joyful news

So, at first, we are going to have to start with this.

The Gospel Is News To Be Shared With Others.

The Gospel, is not something that we can hope other people can see in us. Now, is there a point in which we live a life so radically different that we pray people would ask us about the hope that is in us? Yes. That is true. But even then, we have to know what to share with people. What is the news.

There are 2 passage I want us to think about tonight that form the foundation of our understanding of the Gospel. Obvisoley, there are a lot more. We just don’t have time to go through all 76 references that contain the word Gospel in them, so we are going to have to do some confinement in our understanding.

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ ( Ro 1:1–6.)

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, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve ( 1 Co 15:1–5).

What do you notice here about these passages and their understanding of the Gospel?

Sam Chan, Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable

1. The gospel is the story about Jesus Christ: who he is and what he has done.

2. Our access to the gospel is through the Scriptures.

3. The gospel, which demands a response of faith and obedience, brings salvation.

4. The gospel is communicated to both believers and nonbelievers.

Some people would describe it this way.

1. God created us.

2. We have sinned against God.

3. Jesus saves us from our punishment.

4. We now have a decision to make.

Others would put this description on it:

God

Man

Christ

Response

The Gospel...

God Is Our Creator & We Rebelled Against Him.

We Sinned Against God & His Commandments.

Due To Our Sin, We Are Objects Of God’s Just Wrath.

God In His Love For Us, Sent His One And Only Son To Die For Our Sin & He Rose Again 3 days later Defeating Death For Us.

Jesus Then Asscended Into Heaven.

He Commands All Of Us To Repent & Trust In Jesus For Salvation.

Four Major Points In The Gospel:

God’s Creation & Our Rebellion

God’s Remedy To The Problem- Jesus Coming TO Earth.

Jesus Dying In Our Place & Raiseing From The Grave.

Repentance & Faith In Jesus Alone For Salvation.

What do you notice when you compare the false ideas of the Gospel to the true Gospel?

The Real Gospel Is Christ Centered.

He Is The Hero.

The Gospel is Not about What I Can Do; The Gospel is about What Christ Has Accomplised.

That is the story we are called to Share.

Weekly Challenge: Write out a Gospel presentation in 100 words or less.

Let’s Pray together.