What the Gospel is, and what it isn't
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
So, what is the Gospel?
In effect, you can watch all the so-called Christian TV shows, listen to a lot of ‘biblical’ teachings, read many of the books in the local Christian bookstore, and you have to go a long way to find anyone who truly proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul says “For I delivered to you…which I also received”
To Paul, there was nothing greater to preach or defend than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He makes this statement to refute those who claimed that Paul was not a true apostle. He delivers to them what he has received. He received this directly from Jesus Christ. In proclaiming this, he is also proclaiming his authority to preach the gospel.
Paul says “first of all”, which means “of first importance”. He says he’s telling them the most important thing - not seven steps to financial freedom, not 13 ways to balance your check book, not 10 steps to self-esteem. But, the power of the Gospel.
Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day…”
Why did Paul say this? There were those is Paul’s day, as there are among liberal theologians today, who claim that Jesus didn’t die, he just passed out, and later on he wiggled out of those wrappings and pushed that 1000+ pound stone away and just disappeared into the wilderness.
Jesus Christ died, and he was buried and was bodily resurrected. That is fact, end of discussion.
It is a sign for us that everything death could do Jesus defeated for us.
He says this is not a new message I am bringing to you, but this is according to the Scriptures. What Scriptures? The Old Testament.
Paul is saying that this is the Gospel that has been proclaimed from the beginning, the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation. And when God promises something, He will perform it.
Christ died for our sins. What does that mean?
Rom 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
All have sinned. There are no exceptions among natural men. From Adam to the end of the age. All have sinned, and all are sinners.
Psalm 51:1-4
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
We have all sinned, and our sin is against God. The consequences of our sin may certainly affect those around us, but our sin is against an Holy, Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe.
This is different that breaking the rules when playing a game, or running a traffic light. This is a violation of God.
Sin today is all around us. The enticement for sin is all around us. Television shows and even commercials promote sin and a sinful lifestyle. Sin and rebellion against God is the “in” thing today.
God, in the beginning, told the planets just where to position themselves in the heavens, and they said “Yes Sir!”.
He told the mountains and the valleys where to be, and they said “Yes Sir!”.
He assigned the sea it’s limit and said you can’t go any further, and it said “Yes Sir!”
But, he tells us, His creation, to obey His voice and His command, and we look right in His face and say “NO! I won‘t”
I don’t think we can really understand the violence of sin. The insanity of sin. We sin against the God of the Universe, the one who holds our every breath in His hand.
Rom 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
The glory of God. What does that mean? It means that we have been made to glorify God. He made us for His glory, and we have fallen short of glorifying Him.
This is the only purpose we have been created. Yet, we keep doing that which is diametrically opposed to the things of God.
You go into any Christian bookstore today, and half or more of the books that are in the store are about how empty we are as Christians, and what to do about it.
Jeremiah 2:5
Thus says the LORD:
“What injustice have your fathers found in Me,
That they have gone far from Me,
Have walked after emptiness,
And have become empty?
What is emptiness? We know what to do when our stomachs are empty. What do we do about spiritual emptiness? What did Jesus say about this?
John 4:32, 34
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Ever feel spiritually empty? Jesus says for us to fill that void by doing the will of the Father.
Jesus was poor, Jesus didn’t have a place to lay his head, but He was never empty.
God doesn’t promise a long life, or an easy life. He does promise us trials, tribulations, persecutions.
But, I’ve searched the Scriptures over and over, and I can’t find anywhere that it says He’ll leave us empty.
We can pretty much count on the fact that if we feel empty inside, we’re walking after emptiness.
Are we falling short of the glory of God?
1 Cor 2:14
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Rom 8:7-8
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
“Natural”, “Carnal” - these are indicative of someone who is not born again.
While we, as Christians, are not under the Law by any means for salvation, we are still subject to the Law, to God’s Moral Law.
We are called to obey God and use the means revealed in the Scripture to spread His Gospel.
2 Tim 4:1-2
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
The Gospel includes the admonition “Convince, rebuke, exhort”. Why?
2 Tim 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The true Gospel of Jesus Christ obviously includes sound doctrine. You can’t listen to someone who says that doctrine is not important in one breath, and says he’s proclaiming the Gospel in the other.
John 16:8-11
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
1 Cor 1:21
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
The true Gospel offends. If we are preaching something to the unsaved, and they are not offended, we’re probably not preaching the true Gospel.
Rom 9:33
As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
What are some of the effects of not preaching the true Gospel, or preaching a ‘watered-down’ Gospel?
This may offend some here, but these terms are not Biblical, and are actually a result of these other ‘movements’ which have come along in the last 150 years:
- Accept Christ as your Personal Savior
The following is Biblical terminology:
- Repent, and believe in the gospel. Mark 1:15
- I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Luke 5:32
- repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations Luke 24:47
- Testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:21
Repentance is most obviously a part of the Gospel.
2 Tim 2:25-26
Correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
It’s more obvious that the natural man cannot know the truth without repentance.
Repentance is an integral part of the universal call of God.
Acts 17:30-31
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
There are some essential Gospel truths that we must proclaim each and every time:
- The unique Person of Jesus Christ
- The reason for His death on the cross
- The blood atonement for our sin
- His bodily resurrection
- The sure and soon coming judgment
If human ability is true, we should go about finding out what excites sinners into action and by whatever mean do that thing.
If the Bible is right, we should preach the Gospel in it’s offense and trust God to use it to save whoever will be saved.
Quote - Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Church, page 219
“It is my deep conviction that anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart… It may take some time to identify it. But the most likely place to start is with the person’s felt needs.”
Many have wanted to create the millennium and a golden age of Christianity in the world through motivating Christians to take action.
Rick Warren wants to institute his P.E.A.C.E. plan to solve the world’s biggest problems by motivating Christians to take action. (Plant churches, Equip leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, Educate the next generation)
John Macarthur - Hard to Believe, page 49
“If our Gospel is veiled to someone, it is veiled because that person, like all sinners, is unable to understand. Changing the message, manipulating the emotions or the will, is useless, since no one can believe unless God grants him understanding.”
Preach the Gospel according to the terms God has revealed and trust Him for the results.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Resist the Seeker Movement, the Church Growth Movement, the Emergent Church Movement and preach the Gospel.
Romans 3:11
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
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