1 Corinthians 15:3 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it;
1 Corinthians 15:4 that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says;
The new testament opens us to 4 books
They are all titled The Gospel
The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
Now, note that all of these books centered round one person: Christ.
But then, the gospel is also people centered
The Gospel is God's plan for creation.
John 3:16 is one of the most beautiful presentation of the gospel.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV
The Gospel of Christ is God's plan to save man and reconcile us to Himself.
But what exactly are we saving man from?
Why does man need to be saved?
This good news, was there a bad news before it?
This helps us to understand exactly what we believe
The bad news; Why man needs to be saved
You cannot preach a change of location to someone that doesn't know they are currently in a bad place, you end up sounding stupid.
When Adam fell, a lot of things changed for mankind. We inherited a nature whose end is death and eternal damnation. Every man did. We inherited sin. Now, this is bad news. But only to those who understand this inheritance and the doom it spells
The bad news is that All have sinned and come short of the glory of God
But this bad news is adequately countered by the good news which we call the gospel of Christ :
Because God loves man so so much, He found a way to ensure man is forgiven of their sins and do not stand condemned. He did this by sending His only son Jesus Christ to carry the sins of man on himself through death. And on rising, the son Himself who knew no sin came up without any blame
Now, man is blameless and without sin should they believe in this Christ
Paul broke it down in 1st Corinthians 15:3-4. The first part placed so emphatically, of utmost importance: Christ died for our sins
The problem of sin has been dealt with completely
The next thing Paul mention is His burial and then His resurrection.
The Gospel is such a simple and straightforward message. It can be explained to anyone, even children can understand it.
A lot of us were introduced to the message of the gospel as early as childhood: For God so loved the world...It's the basics we were all trained with. But a lot of things have happened over the years. We've tried to add to the gospel
It sounds too good to be true so there has to be more. There has to be an input from man.
There is only one version of the Gospel and it is that God loves mankind so much that He sent Christ to die for our sins and when we believe in Him, we do not die. We live forever
No addition, No subtraction.
Any plan for Salvation that reduces Christ is untrue
Any plan for salvation that doesn't reveal God's love so large and almost unreal is a lie
Any salvation plan that places a burden on man to be saved is also a lie.
I tell you this sincerely, as much as it breaks my heart to: There is no hope or salvation plan for those who do not believe in Christ
No matter how sincere and good they are, there is only one salvation plan the bible has made known and it is IN Christ. Salvation is offered to men on just one simple condition - a wholehearted faith in Christ Jesus.
This is the good news and we need to spread it. Do news houses keep their news to themselves? No! It is broadcast.
You need to broadcast this news.
This good news needs to be spread
No work can be good enough
No one can work hard enough
Niceness is not a Criteria
The Gospel is good news because all of the good of man can not save him so Christ (the goodness of God revealed in full) stepped in for us all. Christ, the only provision good enough to save
Another thing we make a mistake on is that we preach Christ as the good news, then have a little bit additions.
Another mistake we make: Doctrines do not save.
This part ehn
Social media is filled with so much heated arguments on church doctrines and some times we allow it to cause rifts amongst us. We look down on other believers with different church doctrines.
Sometimes, without knowing, we actually begin to question their salvation. We begin to question their belief based on doctrinal arguments
While some doctrinal inclinations actually reveal what people believe, we must be very careful to not mistake these things. We are not saved by doctrines or our knowledge of it. We are saved by our belief IN Christ Jesus!
This is our foundation. If we do not understand it, we will keep trying to do this to save.
This gospel is simply: Come as you are, I have made you clean. Just accept this and let's move from there.
Here's a truth I've found:
The minute man drops the burden of trying to be clean and make Heaven
He begins to see exactly how clean is has already been made in Christ Jesus
There's this hymn I love so much (I love hymns a lot actually as i grew up with them and the Spirit helped me see the depth to them).
To God be the glory, great things He hath done (We will go to the second verse)
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives
Perfect!
The Gospel is perfect!
Your salvation as purchased by the blood of Jesus is perfect!
No extra is needed.
Do we know what it means to be a vile offender? It really doesn't matter how bad people are. It doesn't matter how far they are gone. The most wicked person ever has a pardon in Christ Jesus. All they need to do is accept
There is only one way to be right with God and it is made known through the gospel.
How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? NIV Romans 10:14
How are people made right with God if they don't know the Gospel? How do they know the Gospel if they don't hear it? People are waiting for you to share this good news with them
A lot of people have heard the name Jesus and about Him but they do not really know the Gospel and what this Jesus has done for them.
Another thing I want us to know is that the gospel is offensive. You know why it is? People hate to know the truth of where they currently stand. People hate the gospel not because Jesus really did anything to them bit because they hate to accept their current state of eternal damnation. How dare you tell them that with how good/nice they are, their works are not enough
How can they be on the damnation part of eternity? How can they be wrong? People hate to be on the wrong. And it is why we also that preach the gospel must be able to explain how man got here to them.
It is why people are not offended with Jesus loves you, God loves you. But go on Twitter now and type: anyone that does not believe is bound for hell. Wait and see what your mentions will be like
As we go out to preach the gospel, please keep it in mind that the gospel is offensive.
People will react a certain way but we do not stop. We know exactly what is at stake.
So here's a breakdown again:
-Man had a need-God loved man so he brought a solution
- Christ is the solution. He died for man's sins and resurrected. He dealt with the problem of sin once and for all
-Man believes IN Christ and is saved.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8 NKJV
For us that already believe, one of the major issues we have is that We are looking for deeper truths aka Rhema.
There is no "deeper" or greater truth than this guys. Everything flows from here, EVERYTHING
