What is the Gospel?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
When I say the word “gospel,” what is the first word that comes to your mind?
Before we can “share the gospel,” we have to first know what it is that we’re sharing!
The word “gospel” means “good news.”
The word “gospel” means “good news.”
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible: Follow God’s Redemptive Plan as it Unfolds throughout Scripture Background of the Word “Gospel”
Neither Jesus nor the apostles coined the word “gospel.” It was commonly used as part of the Roman system of emperor worship, in which it referred to the announcement of the “good news” of a royal heir’s birth or coming of age or especially of a new emperor’s accession to the throne.
In the Roman Empire, the word “gospel” was often used to announce the birth or coronation of a king.
The Gospel is a “who” not a “what.”
The Gospel is a “who” not a “what.”
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
If you had never heard of Jesus and someone came to you and said, “Have you heard the good news of Jesus Christ?” What would be the first question you might ask them? “Who is Jesus?”
Before we can explain what the gospel means to people (forgiveness, etc.), we have to first explain who Jesus is.
Let’s use an example. Anyone in here brave enough to admit that you’ve never seen the Star Wars movies?
Let’s pretend that a friend comes to you and says, “Did you hear the good news? Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star! Everyone else was using the computer system in their X-Wing fighters, but Luke just used the force and dropped the photon torpedo right down the shaft! It was awesome, you’ve gotta see the movie!”
Now, what are some of the questions you might have for your friend? “Who is Luke Skywalker? What’s a Death Star? What’s ‘the force’? What’s an X-wing fighter and a photon torpedo?”
If you were going to explain why that moment in the movie was so awesome, what are some things you would you have to explain first? The Galactic Empire, evil emperor Palpatine, the Force, the Empire’s tyrannical rule over the galaxy, this whole thing takes place in place and age where technology was vastly more advanced than ours—“in a galaxy far, far away”—how Luke came to be, what the purpose of the Death Star was, etc.
Many gospel presentations start in the middle of the story.
Many gospel presentations start in the middle of the story.
The Roman Road
The Roman Road
The Roman Road starts off with this verse:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
If you’re sharing the gospel with someone who didn’t grow up in church, what are some of the questions they will have if you start here? “What is sin? Who is God? What is his ‘glory’? Why should I care?”
The second Scripture on the Romans Road to salvation, Romans 6:23a, teaches us about the consequences of sin: “For the wages of sin is death.” The punishment that we have earned for our sins is death. Not just physical death, but eternal death!
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Even if you explain that verse, your friend is still going to be confused. “I haven’t done anything that deserves death, let alone Hell!”
Many gospel presentations that we use nowadays were developed back in the mid-1900’s when most people went to church and grew up hearing the stories of the Bible. They had some idea who Abraham and Moses and David were and who Jesus was and why he came.
Even if you start with one of the gospels, that’s not going to help a whole lot either:
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This verse actually gets at the heart of what the gospel is, but it’s probably not going to be a helpful starting point for someone who doesn’t already have a church background.
Four Spiritual Laws
Four Spiritual Laws
“LAW 1—God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.”
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.
What questions might an unchurched person have about this law and this verse? “Who is God? Why should I care what his plan is for my life? Who is God’s Son, and how and why did he give him? What’s eternal life?”
So, if you’re talking to someone that has that background, it’s fine to start there in the middle of the story. But more and more, that’s not the case. Most people don’t know these stories, and they only have a vague idea of who Jesus is.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCf6Qy3j3Y4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCf6Qy3j3Y4
So, if you were going to share the good news about Jesus with someone who didn’t have a church background, where would you need to start?
The gospel begins “in the beginning.”
The gospel begins “in the beginning.”
(6 min) https://thestoryfilm.com/
Creation
Creation
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good...
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”
God, as King of Creation, made all things good and gave only one restriction to Adam and Eve.
As Creator and King, God created us for a purpose and has the right to make laws.
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.”
The Fall
The Fall
But Adam and Eve rejected God’s reign and wanted to make the rules themselves. When we disobey God and break his laws, this is called “sin.”
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Sin causes separation from God, a break in our relationship with him.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
2 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.
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...
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
This is why Jesus is good news! All of us are born on the road to Hell, but Jesus makes it possible for us to be forgiven and be a part of his Kingdom and his family.
The Rescue
The Rescue
God foretold in the Scriptures that he was making a way for people to be forgiven.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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.
Then, about 700 years later, Jesus’s birth was announced by an angel:
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
God was making a way for us to be in his presence again!
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus is God’s Son, and the King of the universe.
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.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
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.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved...
8 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.
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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Salvation and forgiveness are a gift from God that come through simply believing that Jesus is God and King and submitting your life to him.
New Life
New Life
15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Spend a few minutes going through the story of Scripture with a friend at the table. Pick 2-3 verses (not all of them!) from each section to use as you share. After you share, let your friend share with you. Below, write down the references for the verses you like best to use when you share.
Creation
Creation
The Fall
The Fall
The Rescue
The Rescue
New Life
New Life
