Gospel Primacy in Apologetics
Three18 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Probably one of the biggest failures of the modern church is poor articulation of the gospel. To so many that question of what is the gospel is a difficult question. With our churches not conveying the gospel well to the people it leads to the people not knowing the gospel well themselves. Now the beauty of the gospel is that it does not take a depth of knowledge of it to be saved, but we need to quit splashing in puddles and learn to swim.
As it was said by Joel Beeke “While there are unsearchable riches in the gospel there is also a simplicity to it that a child can understand. It is a river at whose edge a lamb may safely drink and in whose middle an elephant may swim.”
Now you may be asking what does this have to do with apologetics? Truthfully it has everything to do with apologetics. At the heart of defending the faith is the faith itself. How can we ever do what it says in 1 Peter 3.15
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,
The hope that is within us is Christ and he has come within us through his gospel. How can we make a defense of this if we do not know it or even if we just can’t articulate it well? This is the first reason that the gospel is the first thing that we should master for apologetics.
The second reason that we should know and always remember is that the chief need of the person that we are defending the faith against is the gospel. Answering questions can point them towards it but there can come a point that you are doing what the proverb recommends against in Proverbs 26.4
Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
That persons chief need is the gospel and you should continually direct them towards that end. Without the work of God on their heart there is no hope for that person and he works through his gospel.
The heart of true apologetics should always be sharing the gospel with the hope of conversion.
I mean look at Romans 1.16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation. It should be our focus, when defending the faith we should always point back to it, it should be our center and we know that it will hold.
So many put themselves under the law of works, not understanding the true way to salvation.
To run and work the law commands
yet gives me neither feet nor hands
but better news the gospel brings:
It bids me fly, and gives me wings.
We all know the power of the gospel and now we know that it should be first in the realm of apologetics. But because of the shortcomings of so many churches we need to now turn to ask the question what is the gospel?
What is the Gospel?
What is the Gospel?
When defining the gospel we see that the word itself means good news. This good news can be broken down in many ways, the way I prefer and find best is from Greg Gilbert’s book “what is the gospel”. I would encourage you to learn and memorize these four points along with scriptures for each. This will be core knowledge for your Christian life, for your personal evangelism, and for your apologetics.
When you work to grow more in your depth of knowledge of the gospel these are the four areas to study in. They are; God, man, Christ, response.
God
God
The beginning of the Christian message and the beginning of the Bible rest in the fact that God created everything. It says in Genesis 1.1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
This goes so far as to include you as well, Genesis 1.27
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
At the beginning of it all we must know that God is the creator of everything. Throughout all of Genesis 1-2 we see this. This is huge because it shows us that we are not just a random event that happened in space, we were created and we have purpose that is given to us from God himself.
Another implication of the fact that everything including us was created by God is that because of this he has the right to tell us how to live. His instruction on how to live is grounded in who he is. We see in Exodus 34.6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Then in Psalm 11.7
For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.
And finally in Habakkuk 1.13
Habakkuk 1:13a
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
So God is the creator, sustainer, and ruler of all who is righteous and must uphold this righteousness over his creation.
Man
Man
The next point in the gospel is man. When God created the world his intention was for man to live under his righteous rule. They were to have perfect fellowship with him. This fellowship even gave them rule over the earth and they had just one command it says in Genesis 2.16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
This was the command. Obedience to it meant perfect fellowship with God without the stain of sin. Disobedience to it is more than a broken law, it is a broken relationship.
We then see in Genesis 3.6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
This introduces sin into the world. Man has broken the fellowship with God through willful rebellion to him. This sin does not stop with them though, it continues on to us here today. It says in Romans 3.23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We all are born into this fallen state. I think Tozer put it well when he said this about sin
In our time we have overemphasized the psychology of the sinner’s condition. We spend much time describing the woe of the sinner, the grief of the sinner and the great burden he carries. He does have all of these, but we have overemphasized them until we forget the principal fact—that the sinner is actually a rebel against properly constituted authority!
That is what makes sin, sin. We are rebels. We are sons of disobedience. Sin is the breaking of the law and we are in rebellion and we are fugitives from the just laws of God while we are sinners.5
A. W. Tozer
Sin can be described as any action or inaction that brings displeasure to God. This is where the problem is, remember Exodus 34.7 from earlier
Exodus 34:7
but who will by no means clear the guilty,
God is a righteous God who must punish sin, we are sinners to our very core. There is a separation between us now and unless that separation is bridged we will be punished for our sin just like we deserve.
Christ
Christ
The way for the divide to be bridged and forgiveness for our sins comes through Jesus. It is in Genesis 3 that sin enters the world but it is also in that same chapter that we have the first prophecy concerning the messiah, Genesis 3.15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is the promise that God makes telling us that he will send one to make a way for forgiveness. This is not the only promise though as they continue through the Old Testament. Then we see in places like Mark 1.1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came and laid down his life for ours. His death was a substitutionary death, he took the punishment that we deserved on that cross. This is clearly seen in all 4 of the gospels. His death appeased the wrath that we deserve for our sins.
There could be endless things written on the sacrifice that Jesus made on that cross but know this, there can be no forgiveness apart from him and his sacrifice. It it through him and him alone that salvation was accomplished.
This all rest on one thing though, this leads us to the last point in the gospel.
Response
Response
In the beginning of Mark’s gospel we read in Mark 1.15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
This is the first words that Jesus uses to begin his ministry, repent and believe. There is a lot going on at the time of salvation, most of which is out of our hands. Faith and repentance is what we are called to do and it is what we are to call others to. Now our response and their response rest of the work of God so we cannot control that aspect.
We see that after Jesus ascended into heaven the apostles were proclaiming this same message. It says in the book of Acts
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Faith is a reliance upon Christ and Christ alone for salvation, it is a confident assurance in your forgiveness that has come through your trust in him.
Repentance is the flip side to the coin. Repentance is turning from your old sinful self and turning towards God. It is a complete 180.
With both of these we see that true faith is a repentant faith and true repentance is filled with faith.
It is through this that salvation can be accepted.
Summary
Summary
So that is each part of the gospel in detail but not in full depth.
God made everything and rules over everything, he is also a fully just and righteous God. He gave man one command and that was willingly broken, because of this we are all born sinful and are separated from God because he cannot be with sin. He sent Jesus to make a way for forgiveness through his substitutionary propitiatory sacrifice. To accept this salvation all we must do is put our faith in Jesus and repent of our sins.
This is the gospel; God, man, Christ, response. This is at the very core of what we have to know to defend the faith. All the little details are not necessary to be saved, I did not grasp what faith was when I was saved, but I had it. If we are to stand for the faith though we need to master this.
Practical Usage
Practical Usage
So now it will be helpful to think about some practical usage when it comes to using the gospel to defend the faith.
Which of the four points do you find most difficult to articulate and why?
What are some common objections to the gospel? How can we prepare to address these objections?
why would a loving God send people to Hell?
I’m a good person, why do I need salvation?
How can Jesus be the only way to God?
The Bible is outdated and unreliable
How can a good God allow so much suffering?
Morality is subjective, I don’t believe in sin
If God forgives, why can’t he just forgive everyone without Jesus?
How can a clear understanding of the gospel help us to answer tough questions about Christianity?
How can you redirect a conversation that has turned towards philosophy or secondary issues towards the gospel?
How can churches do a better job of teaching and equipping members to be able to articulate the gospel?
Conclusion
Conclusion
So as it is plain to see the gospel holds the greatest priority when it comes to apologetics. As I once heard in a sermon by Paul Washer, we must proclaim the gospel and then stand back and watch the beauty as the gospel defends itself.
Know these truths, dive deeply into them, share them, and use them to defend the faith.
