Sermon Tone Analysis

The Gospel: What We Believe

The Gospel

What I want to do over the next few weeks is make sure we have a crystal clear picture of the Gospel and know beyond a shadow of a doubt what it means to be in Christ.

So, that’s the road that we’re on, and we’re going to unpack this in different ways over the next few weeks.

The goal is not to give the pocket version of the gospel.

This is where we have so minimized the gospel down to these couple of things, that if I, almost, check these boxes off, then I will be okay before God.

It’s not what we need to do.

We need to see the gospel for what it is, which is what we are going to do today.

We are going to look at the objective content of the gospel.

Then, over the next three weeks, we are going to look at how that objective content of the gospel is appropriated in our lives; how that gospel becomes real in our lives.

The just and gracious God of the universe looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that all who have faith in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

So, what I want to do today is I want us to look at a deep passage of Scripture: .

Martin Luther called this chapter, “The chief point of the whole Bible.”

It is one of the most important texts in all the Bible, if not the most important text.

I want to encourage you, if you do not have committed to memory, to hide these words in your heart over the coming days.

This is a picture of the gospel.

What I want us to do is I want us to see the objective content of the gospel in these words.

Listen to what Paul writes, :

David Platt, “The Gospel: What We Believe,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2008), 1272.

What you see at the top of your notes is what I believe to be a full and complete definition of the Gospel.

You might be thinking, “That seems to overcomplicate the Gospel.”

Well, I’m not saying it’s the only one sentence explanation of the Gospel, but I’m convinced that if you take out one of these phrases from that sentence, you undercut the gospel of its power completely.

David Platt, “The Gospel: What We Believe,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2008), 1272.

The Gospel is not complicated, but it’s so rich with meaning.

Let’s take a look at the the Gospel explanation...

The just and gracious God of the universe looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that all who have faith in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

The just and gracious God of the universe looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that all who have faith in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

The just and gracious God of the universe…

So, what I want us to do is I want us to unpack that one sentence in light of , and I want you to see, really at the core, five main elements involved in the gospel.

We will start with this first phrase, “The just and gracious God of the universe …” When we read , you see the first word is, “But … But now a righteousness from God …” What is happening is Paul is here making a transition in verse 21 from an argument he started way back in .

In all the way to , he is giving us a portrait of God and of man in relation to each other.

Let’s take the first phrase...

David Platt, “The Gospel: What We Believe,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2008), 1273.

The just and gracious God of the universe…

In Paul talks about the gospel being the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes.

Then he gets to verse 18, and he begins to describe the character of God.

Oddly enough, he starts with the wrath of God.

verse 18...

God is Creator.

God is Creator.

“Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen...” We belong to Him, He owns us.

This is key.

God is creator.

God is just.

God is just.

This is where he comes in .

He starts to talk about the judgment of God.

Romans 2:16

Then you get down to verse 16...

What he is saying here is very clear.

Everyone will be judged by God on the merits of the gospel.

“But now” are the two greatest words in all the Bible.

Verse 23 is well-known, “All have sinned...” But verse 24, “are justified freely by His… what?” Grace

God is gracious.

Here’s the third attribute of God.

He gives unmerited favor.

As we continue we will see it’s a big deal that God is Creator, He is Just, and He is gracious...

…looked upon hopelessly sinful people…

All three of these attributes of God are coming together in the gospel.

All of us have sinned.

Listen to what he says, “As it is written...”

He starts quoting from the OT in verse 10...

We have rebelled against God.

We were hopelessly sinful.

We are separated from God.

All have sinned and fall short of His glory.

After the fall in the garden of Eden, we are cut off from the presence of God.

This is the problem that sin poses.

Sometimes when we are explaining the gospel we say, “Have you ever lied?

Well you have sinned.

Have you ever done wrong things?

Well that’s what sin is.”

That’s not what sin is fundamentally.

It is the effect of sin that we do wrong things.

Remember, it’s not individual sins that are our problem.

It’s that we are sinners.

Our problem is that we are cut off from God.

We are separated from God because we have rebelled against Him.

Sin has separated from God.

We are dead without God.

This is what Paul says in verses 19-20.

So how can God, a God who loves justice, and hates sin be so gracious toward sinners?

…and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection…

This is the dilemma posed by the gospel.

How can God be just and gracious?

The answer is: Read the Gospel Explanation… Jesus is the only answer to this tension.

Jesus’ life displayed the righteousness of God.

The problem in is that we have all broken the law.

It’s important we understand that Jesus was fully human so He could fully relate to us and He was fully God so He could take our eternal punishment upon Himself and satisfy the wrath of God.

The doctrine of the humanity and deity of Christ separates Christianity from false and cultic gospels.

Jesus’ death satisfied the wrath of God.

So how does Jesus solve this tension?

Paul says in verse 25...

Romans 3:25

Jesus’ death on the cross satisfied God’s wrath and took care of our death penalty.

The reality of what happened on the cross was not as much about the nails being thrust through His hands and feet, but it was about our sin being thrust on the son of God.

All the wrath we deserved because of our sin was redirected toward Jesus.

Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath or hatred of sin for us so we could be saved.

Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated the power of God.

One preacher described it this way: It is as if you are standing in front of a dam of water 10,000 miles high and 10,000 miles wide, and it is filled to the brim.