No new is not the Good News

The Gospel

What is the Gospel

It’s that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and if we accept him we will be saved.

It is what we preach to people that don’t believe in Jesus.

It is what we must accept before we can become a Christian.

At one time I would have told you, I heard it, accepted it, so why are we need to keep talking about it?

I know, I get it. There are other parts of Christianity that just as important....

NO THERE’S NOT!!!!

Screaming Eagle:

A week or so ago I received an email from Bobby Austin. It was addressed to quite a few people and it was long.

Bobby is the network guy for Freedom Biker Church.

Bobby is not a biker, a motorcycle enthusiast, or has he ever ridden a motorcycle. He is small, wears glasses, talks with a little bit of a lisp in a high pitched almost squeaky voice, that just gets higher and more squeaky the more excited he gets and he gets excited a lot.

He wears blue jeans size 24/24 and leather sandals most of the time. If you walked into a room and were looking for threats or picking a sport team, he would be dead last.

But, he is a spiritual giant. He loves the Lord. He really loves the Lord.

So he sends out this email.

I have three email accounts. I get hundreds of hundreds of emails a day. Spam filters get rid of a lot, I don’t even read the advertisement that get through, some get little more than a glance, but when Bobby sends an email. E.F. Hutton.

When I saw who it was addressed to and how long it was, I immediately assumed it was going to end with him resigning.

It was him announcing a study he was doing about the gospel.

The Gospel is not something that I surrendered to 42 years ago and thats it.  It is the sustenance for everyday.  Well, thats what it needs to be. I'm on a journey my brothers to make sure that its not just what I teach others but that the gospel so permeates that Jesus is seen at all times.

This morning we are going to start, continue, but never finish talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL: good news. in the greek is is evangileon.

It is where we get the word Evangelism.

The Gospel is the most important thing

1 Corinthians 15:3 NASB95

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NASB95

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:

of first importance - Protos :

first, before, prominent, of high rank, foremost, best, superior to all compared to, most important.

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Jesus spoke of building a house a rock. A firm foundation.

Isaiah 28:16 NASB95

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

Isaiah

Yes, the foundation gets laid first, but once the house is built, you don’t remove the foundation, the house would fall. You rely on it every day you are in the house.

I the wise words of Pete from O’Brother where art thou.

“That don’t make no sense”

The gospel of Christ is so important Paul said this:

1 Corinthians 15:13–14 NASB95

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

1 Corinthians

The Gospel is powerful

1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB95

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 NASB95

5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

Romans 1:15-

Romans 1:16–17 NASB95

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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Thanos and the gauntlet. Infinity Stones.

God doesn’t need a gauntlet.

It’s easy to tear stuff up. remember the Knives. Build one.

The Gospel can be relied upon

If you wanted to disprove Christianity all you would have to do is disprove the resurrection of Christ.

Produce the Body.

So what happened to Christ’s physical body? The Apostles tell us that Christ’s physical body rose.

The Romans took it. They were on guard. If they could get the Jews to fight the Christians, then maybe they would focus less on their occupation. By all accounts the Christians were weak and would not serve as an ally, They could have crushed the Jews if that was their goal. What they wanted was peace so they could exploit the Jews and trouble with the Christians would just cause them turmoil. Which it did.

The Jews stole the body. More ridiculous. Because they would have produced the body as proof against the resurrection. They would have stopped it before it started.

The apostles took the body. That was what the Jews tried to claim. They were scared, hiding.

Then they became bold.

Even if they had learned all the magic tricks that Jesus taught them.

Look at their commitment!

John was the only survivor.

Judas hung himself.

Paul was beheaded

Peter was crucified (upside down)

Andrew was said to have been crucified

Thomas speared to death by four soldiers

Phillip arrested and tortured to death

Matthew stabbed to death

Bartholomew killed as a martyr for the gospel

James son of Alpheus Stoned and clubbed to death

Simon the Zealot killed in Persia after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.

Matthais Burned to death.

Even if they could have mustered up the courage, which is doubtful, to steal the body, and get past the guards, who would have surely killed them, could or would they have taken that secret to the grave? and for what?

The Muslims claim that it wasn’t actually Christ on the cross, but someone else. That theory is just a wild swing and would have required the same high level conspiracy on the part of more than a dozen people.

THE MOST LIKELY CONSPIRACY

Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdaline went to the tomb, seduced the guards to help them hide the body, came up with the whole resurrection story and didn’t tell anyone else it was a hoax.

1 Corinthians 15:5–8 NASB95

5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Jesus really did rise from the grave.

So if the Gospel of Christ is of first importance to Christianity, if is powerful, and if it can be absolutely relied upon, why do we treat it like a past event that we should accept and move on?

The Gospel humbles us

We don’t like to be humbled.

OOOOO Lord its hard to be humble, when your perfect in every way.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We want to boast. Nobody’s going to outman me!

When you accepted the Gospel of Christ you had to admit that you were an utter failure at life and that you couldn’t save yourself. You had to repent of the evil you had done and accept that Christ was the only person that could help you.

But when we are reminded of the Gospel, we are reminded that we are still failures.

Romans 7:15 NASB95

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Romans 7:24–25 NASB95

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:

Paul was living day by day in the gospel.

and it is humbling. Even humiliating at times.

The Gospel reminds us how much we are loved.

C.S. Lewis said this. “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made. He would have done no less.

Romans 5:8 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Gospel is not our starting point. It is our center.