The Gospel (Part 2 of 5)

Last time I introduced a simple definition of the Christian gospel or good news. My hope is to give you a better understanding of the Gospel and the ability to share it clearly, concisely, and completely with others. To do that I'm taking 5 blog posts to provide an in-depth look at each part of the Gospel message.  The simple statement we are working from is this:

GOD chose to rescue
MAN out of our sinful rebellion though
JESUS and offers us the 
GRACE of forgiveness and new life.

Last time we looked at GOD rescuing us (see that post here).  In part 2 we will look at MAN and our sinful rebellion.

The Bible clearly says that no one is exempt, but that all have sinned (Rom 3:23). We all like sheep have gone astray, turning to our own ways (Is. 53:6). There is no one righteous and no one who seeks God. (Rom. 3:10-11) All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Is. 64:6-7).

But what does it really mean that MAN is sinful?

Pastor and theologian, R.C. Sproul, shares three ways in which scripture describes our sin against God.  First sin is a debt.  Not a financial debt, but a moral debt.  God as our Creator has the right to require certain obligations from His creation. When we fail to live up to our moral obligations we incur a debt.  But, we don't like this. We don't like having obligations imposed upon us... we are FREE!  We reject this notion of moral obligations and certainly reject the idea of being indebted. This just further shows our sinfulness. Now, you can become upset about this, but that will just lead to more indebtedness!

Secondly, scripture describes our sin as enmity.  Enmity means to position oneself against or to stand as an enemy.  This is a picture of our moral protest, our rebellion. Scripture clearly says that in our natural, sinful state we are enemies of God (Rom 5:10, Col 1:21).

Thirdly, sin is criminal.   Sin is transgressing, or violating, God's law.  God's law is simply an expression of His Chrarcter.  His love for all, His perfect justice, His honesty, His kindness, His holiness, etc.  We, being made in the image of God are to live like His Image.  When we don't we violate His Character in which He made us.  When we sin we violate, we transgress the Law (Character) of God.  Like any violation of the law it come with a penalty. 1

If you were to smack me across the face, what would the penalty be?

Scripture says the wages of sin, or what sin deserves, is death.  Now that might seem a bit harsh, but consider it this way....   If you were to smack me across the face, what would the penalty be? I would get a little upset, but not much more.  If you were to smack a police officer across the face, what would the penalty be? You would probably be arrested and be put in jail. If you were to smack the president across the face, what would the penalty be?  You would be lucky if you didn't get shot! 2

The offense was the same in all three scenarios--smacking someone across the face, but, you see, it is the one the offense is against that makes the difference.  And we have done far more than smack God across the face. We have committed treason against our Creator. We have each staged a personal coup.  We have taken the life God gave us, the image God has given us and said, "Thanks, I'll take it from here.  I don't want to go Your way, do things in Your Character, I want to be my own boss---I'm free!"  This kind of treason carries the penalty of death... and through death it was paid in full! We will look at that in part 3.


1 http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/cosmic-treason/
2 heard this illustration from my friend Luke Rosenberger

The Gospel (Part 1 of 5)

The Gospel is the good news. It is the foundation of our faith. It is our motivation for serving. It is our hope, our joy, and our peace.  But what is it?    I'm afraid that many Christians have difficulty clearly, correctly, and concisely articulating the Gospel.  For example some have said...

• The Gospel is that God loves everyone no matter what...
• The good news of God's establishing his kingdom on earth through love...
• God wants you to have your best life...
• God wants to have a relationship with you...
• Jesus died for you...

While some of these may contain truth, they do not fully capture and explain the Gospel. Throughout different preaching series I have given this concise, clear, and complete description of the Gospel, and it is simple to remember by the following outline.

GOD 

MAN

JESUS

GRACE

GOD chose to rescue 

MAN out of our sinful rebellion through

JESUS and offers us the

GRACE of forgiveness and new life

In this blog series I will be going through the different points of the gospel and providing further explanation of each.  My hope is to give you a better understand of the Gospel and the ability to share it clearly, concisely, and completely with others.

GOD 

The Gospel must start with God.  The Gospel doesn't start with us, or even the cross. It starts with God, for it is God that we answer to.  He is our creator and He made (designed) us in His image (Genesis 1:26). It is against Him that we have sinned.

Our first parents--though temptation by Satan and their own choice--sinned, marring that image and breaking their fellowship with God and each other. They have since passed down a nature and environment of sinfulness to all their descendants (Rom 3:23, 5:12). In this fallen sinful state humans are hopelessly separated from God. By our nature and behavior we stand condemned before Him and are objects of God’s Holy wrath against sin (Eph 2:1-5).

"But God..." are some of the greatest words in the Bible. The chariots were coming, but God parted the Red Sea...  The giant was strong, but God was with David... We were dead in our sins, but God who is rich in mercy made us alive... We were in a sinful, separated state, "but God" chose to rescue us.  My boys have a book entitled, "The Jesus Storybook Bible". (I would highly recommend to parents of young children. amazon link) Over and over again it refers to God's salvation as "God's rescue plan". God did not sit idly watching us flounder in our sinful state. God initiated contact. God reached out. God rescued.  It may seem like we found God, or we cried out to Him, but the reality is any finding, crying, or reaching is only a response to God first drawing us to Himself (John 6:44).

Picture a person out at sea in choppy waters--struggling to stay above water. Their boat has sunk, they are minutes from drowning. Suddenly from out of nowhere a Coast Guard helicopter flies over.  Hovering above the distressed swimmer, the chopper lowers down a rescue cable. A member of the crew jumps into the frigid waters and helps the victim into the harness, makes sure the cable is securely  attached, and gives the "thumbs up" to the crew above to lift the tired soul out of the dangerous waters.  Just as the cable tightens, the rescue diver shouts, "Hold on tight!"  Once safely on board the helicopter, the distressed swimmer says, "Whew, it's a good thing I was holding on tight!"

Seriously?  As if holding onto the cable on the way up is what rescued him!  Yet if we don't start with God and Him rescuing us, we can easily mislead ourselves into believing that we are responsible for our salvation, or rescue.  No, the only thing we are responsible for is our sinful condition, but that will be covered in part 2.