What is the Simplest Definition of the Gospel?

What is the best definition of the Gospel? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, so give us a call right now if you have a question. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us live on YouTube and message us that way. And you can email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to a question we received via voicemail. Yes, my question is, when Jesus argues with the Sadducees—I think it's Matthew 22 and Luke 20—how is it that his argument proves the resurrection? Great question, and I really want to just get the context here a little bit. Matthew 22, beginning in verse 23. I want to read the passage because I think that there is a principle of Bible interpretation here that is really important for you to grasp, for all of us to grasp. And it's just how we basically receive God's word and trust in what God has said. So Jesus is in this dispute.

We read in Matthew 22, verse 23, The same day Sadducees came to him, who say, There is no resurrection. They asked him a question, saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.

So to the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her. And the Sadducees here think, Gotcha, Jesus.

You're not going to be able to answer this one. And our Lord responds in verse 29, You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He's not the God of the dead, but of the living.

And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. So as the text tells us at the very beginning there, the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead, and they actually only received as authoritative the first five books of the Old Testament. So they treated that as their quote-unquote canon of holy scripture, God's revelation. And they felt like, hey, when you read the first five books of the Old Testament, you don't really hear anything about the resurrection of the dead. And so Jesus actually appealing to the book of Exodus, he goes to Exodus chapter 3, the burning bush passage, sort of, you know, their own playing field. Appealing to the text that they received as God's word, he appeals to that text, and he proves the resurrection of the dead from that passage.

And they're left astounded. And the way he proves it is God's words to Moses, where the Lord God said, speaking to Moses, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And so Jesus's point there is those patriarchs had long since died, and yet God, speaking to Moses, said, I am their God. In other words, they're still around.

They still exist. They're the living. And because they are the living, they will be raised from the dead. Our bodies aren't just like this accidental part of us.

Our bodies are who we are. And because they were living, they needed to be. There was going to be a resurrection of the dead. And so Jesus proves by what we call good and necessary consequence the resurrection of the dead.

And this was the point I wanted to make. It's not just those verses in scripture or those doctrines that are clearly set out in scripture, the sort of proof text type theology where, you know, give me a verse for that, but also those things in scripture which can be determined by good and necessary consequence. Jesus here, by good and necessary consequence, tells these Sadducees, you should believe in the resurrection of the dead because God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's the God of the living. And so Jesus is really informing here how we read the Bible even, how we understand and do theology. And that's why it's so important. He proves the resurrection from the book of Exodus. Thank you for that question. Just also goes to highlight how important this doctrine is, the doctrine of the resurrection.

Great response. Thank you so much for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, here's the number to call. It's 833-843-2673.

If you want to spell it out on your phone, it's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Matthew in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Matthew, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel. How are you doing? I'm actually a friend of yours on Facebook. I snuck in there somehow.

I accept everyone. But I just wanted to, so just to be honest, you know, my wife left me recently and it's been really hard because, you know, we were supposed to both be Christians and I don't understand. Where I went wrong, I don't understand where, you know, where, you know, we have two kids, they're now affected by it. It's like, what can I do as a Christian to still be a good father and then, I don't know, seem to be somewhat amiable to my ex since she's not doing this thing to me.

And I don't know, you can answer that question, but maybe you could take a stab at it. Well, certainly what I want to do for you, Matthew, is I want to pray for you, brother, with everything you have going on right now. We can't control what other people do and you're not responsible for the actions of another person.

I mean, I don't know the ins and outs of your marriage, of this situation. I can't speak to it specifically because of that, but I can say that you have to take responsibility for your own actions, for your family, to continue to draw near to the Lord in the midst of this very, very difficult time to receive the comfort that Jesus gives to broken people and with the ways in which we're hurt by people outside of us, the ways in which we contribute to those things through our own sin, to take all of that, Matthew, to Jesus and to look to him. There are circumstances in life that we experience that are beyond our ability, beyond our strength. Sometimes people will say, God is never going to give you more than you can handle, and that's just a lie.

That's not true. There's a time in life where we experience more than we can handle in our own strength, and it sounds like you're in one of those times right now, and so you have to rely on the Lord. I hope that you have some brothers, a Christian community around you that you can also go to and receive encouragement from. But I would say right now, focusing on what you can do as a father and as a Christian, if there are ways in which you have hurt your spouse or sinned against her, being honest and confessing those things before her and before the Lord, and just continuing to do the things that you know God calls you to do. He calls you to be a part of a Christian community. He calls you to draw near to him in prayer.

He calls you to love her and to love your children. And, brother, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he can be and will be with you when you look to him. And so let me pray for you right now. Father, we lift Matthew up to you right now. Lord, you know this situation.

You know everything that's going on here. I pray that you would give him clarity, that you would help him to know what he needs to do, how he should live, how he should continue to care for his family and especially his children. I do pray for his children, Lord, that in the midst of the whirlwind that the family is experiencing right now, that the light of your countenance would shine upon them, that they would not be driven further away from you, but that they would draw near to you in this time, experiencing, Lord God, your presence, the comfort of your Holy Spirit, the wisdom, God, that we desperately need in situations like these.

Would you please give him and his family wisdom, Lord? Thank you that you promise to give wisdom to all those who ask in faith. And so we pray right now in faith for wisdom, for guidance, for healing, Lord God, where there needs to be healing. And I pray for my brother, Lord God, that he would have the strength to draw near to you, not to sink down into despair, but in this situation with brokenness, with sin, whatever is going on, Lord God, that he would lift his eyes to you and that he would experience, gracious God, the presence and the love of your son Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. And Matthew, we will continue to pray for you.

Obviously, this is such a difficult situation, and we know that God will be with you through this whole process. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. The number to call if you have a question for us, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Larry in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Hi, Larry. What's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yes, Pastor Adriel. Mike, thank you for taking my call. And my heart goes out to Brother Matthew. Just know this, brother. Stay involved. You're still a dad.

You're still a father. Stay involved. Hey, thanks, Larry.

It's a good word, brother. What's your question? My question is, thank you. My question is, and someone that I respect and record to watch, they came up with the Old Testament, eat that which chews the cut and is clove and footed. Well, guess what? That does not include pigs, right? That's right. And so I just finished frying up a bunch of bacon for BLTs today. I still got a whole bunch of ham left over.

Is that still a part of the Old Testament that is seeded by the New Covenant, or how should I address that? Yeah. Yeah, you know what? You shouldn't eat that bacon. You should package it and send it to me. And I will take it off your hands for you.

No. It is a good question, because people will read these laws in the Old Testament associated, I think, with the ceremonial rituals under the Old Covenant, and they'll say, hey, well, you're not supposed to eat shellfish or eat bacon, that kind of a thing. But that was for the people of God under the Old Covenant. You go to a place like the Book of Acts. In Acts chapter 10, there's this vision that Peter has.

Acts chapter 10, verse 9. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice from heaven to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unclean or common. And the voice came to him again a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common.

This happened three times, and the thing was taken up to heaven at once. So God gives Peter this vision, and he really has to emphasize it three times, right? And it really primarily referred to what we call the Gentile inclusion, that God was now welcoming the Gentile people into his covenant family under the New Covenant. But there are also other implications there, and I think one of the implications is that those old ceremonial laws that really made the people of God distinct from the nations of the world, you know, not eating certain things, those things are now abolished.

Now that the gates are open, the people, the nations of the world are flooding into the church, they're a part of the covenant family of God, and so we don't abide by those old dietary laws, those old covenant laws that you see in the Old Testament. Now there's freedom in Christ to enjoy a BLT, and I hope that you do enjoy a BLT later today, Larry. God bless.

Oh my goodness, and maybe a Dodger Dog once in a while. This is core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we have a wonderful new book that we would like to offer you. It's something that Adriel actually read recently, and it really does talk about God's heart for us through Jesus.

Yeah, we want to get this resource in your hands. It's Dane Ortlund's book, Gentle and Lowly. A lot of people have been really, really blessed by this book and comforted, I think, by the book. It helps you understand who Jesus is and his love for you. His love for you even though you're a sinner, even though you struggle, even though you suffer. And we need that. We all struggle. We all suffer in different ways.

The hope is not in us. It's in the fact that Jesus Christ is gentle and lowly, and he calls all of us to come to him to receive the rest that he offers us. You'll get to learn more about that in this book, Gentle and Lowly. So get a hold of the offer for today. What we'd like to do is offer you that book for a donation of any amount if you go to our website, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Just look for the book, Gentle and Lowly. You can also call us for that offer or any one of our offers at 833-843-2673.

That's 833, the core. Let's go to a voicemail that we received from one of our callers named Linda. Is there a quick and clear definition of the gospel? I feel like I get a different answer or emphasis depending on what church or Christian I ask. Thank you.

Hi, Linda. Thank you for that question. When I want to get to the heart of what someone believes, I'll ask them that question or what a group of people believe. I'll say, what is the gospel? Tell me what the gospel is. I think it's so important for us to be able to articulate the gospel in simple ways, in ways that are clear.

It really gets to the heart of the matter. The first thing I would say is the gospel is a message. Throughout the New Testament, you have people proclaiming the gospel, preaching the gospel over and over again in the gospels, in the book of Acts, in the epistles. That word gospel is often attached to the word preach, proclaim.

It's something that we share. It's a message. The word gospel means good news.

It's an announcement that we make. It's an announcement that focuses on Jesus and his redeeming life, his work for us. Central to that work is his cross. I think about what the apostle Paul said in places like 1 Corinthians 1 beginning in verse 17. Listen to what Paul said. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

There you have it. It's a message. Not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross, and the word of the cross there is parallel to the gospel, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. You see how Paul says, look, I was sent by God to preach the gospel, and central to the gospel is the cross of Jesus Christ. What he did there on the cross for our sins. It sort of sounds a lot like what Paul says elsewhere in the book of Romans.

In Romans chapter 1 verse 16, Paul said, 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. That is the powerful message of salvation found in what Jesus Christ has done. Central to that is the cross, but it also includes the whole life of Jesus, including his resurrection.

The resurrection is key. I'm going to just give you one more passage of scripture here. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This is the go-to text for a summary of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. So what is that gospel message that he preached? I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. The gospel is the powerful message or good news of what God has accomplished in his son Jesus Christ to save sinners and to bring them into fellowship with the triune God. I think that's a real simple definition. There's more that can be said because there are also other complexities that we could get into, but really, at the core, it's what Jesus did to forgive us, to redeem us from our sins so that we might have communion with him.

It's good news. You know, Adriel, we often talk about the importance of choosing a good church, and unfortunately, there are many churches in today's world that have moved away from the gospel, and they just find the gospel in a very different way. Yeah, and this is at the heart of core Christianity, and so if you're a part of a church that rejects the gospel or you say, what's the gospel, and they don't point you to the life, death, resurrection of Jesus, but maybe to something that you do or something else like that, I would say that's a really big issue. There are Christian churches where the gospel is faithfully proclaimed and where it's not defined as something that you do, but what God did for you in his son Jesus so that you might have eternal life.

Amen. By the way, we have a core question on that topic, how do I choose a church? If you go to corechristianity.com forward slash questions, just look for that one, how do I choose a church? Let's go to Mary in Nashville, Tennessee. Mary, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hey, I just absolutely love your show and appreciate the heart with which you answer the questions and stuff. And my question for you today is regarding, you kind of touched on it yesterday on the show about when a pastor fails morally, and protecting the flock or protecting from predators and what have you. And my question today is about when you have, say, like a big famous international person that preaches and teaches how to defend the faith and is really, in my estimation, spot on. But yet, after he's passed away, all of these really heinous accusations and whatnot come out, you know, and I mean, I guess my question is, do you throw the baby out with the bathwater? Yeah, because the immorality doesn't mean maybe they were making great arguments for the resurrection and giving, you know, wonderful proofs for the existence of God and whatnot.

And that's still true. You know, there was a debate in the ancient church about whether or not pastors, ministers who had lapsed, had fallen away under persecution if their baptisms were legitimate. You know, do the people who were baptized by this particular person, do they need to get baptized again? Because it seems like maybe they didn't really truly have faith.

They fell away. They turned away in persecution. And what the church, the ancient church said is, no, no, the efficacy, the power is in the word of God, not in the holiness of the individual. And so a person can make really good arguments and even have very clear Bible teaching and yet fall in a terrible way, or even not really be a believer.

Maybe they're an imposter. And so that's true. But I think that one of the reasons why so many times, you know, something like this happens and we just say, look, let's not even go to that anymore, is because there's this sense of the sort of well being poisoned and there's this great contradiction. Like how could a person believe these things and preach these things and yet have this double life? I think it's one of the reasons why Paul writing the Corinthians says, you know, I discipline my body less after having preached to others.

I myself should be disqualified. It really hurts the church. It gives the church a black eye and so many people are wounded by, in terrible ways, by what these prominent leaders have done because there was this trust that was built and then that trust was betrayed. And so I think because of that, you know, it's painful for people to continue to listen to and to promote those leaders, those pastors.

And I think it's unhelpful. I wouldn't promote that individual's teaching simply because in one sense it's this great contradiction. I think a lot of times it can bring more reproach on the church. There are other faithful teachers who are making just as good of arguments who are living in line with what it is that they preach and proclaim. And so I think those ones should be the ones who are being, you know, quote unquote, showcased. But as you say, you know, it's not that what they said was now all of a sudden false, but they lived in such a way that they opened the door for people to call the truth of God into question because it seems like they themselves maybe didn't even believe it.

And that's one of the challenging things that we struggle with and that we see around us today. And so pray, friends, for your leaders. Pray for your pastor, for God's protection.

Pray for yourself as well because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians again, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Adriel, what about the emotional impact that that has on believers who have, let's say, really followed someone for a long time? They have fully trusted them. They have, you know, purchased their books, listened to their radio programs, and then they have been that feeling of betrayal. Oftentimes that can cause a person to want to abandon the faith. I've seen it happen, Bill.

It's heartbreaking. I've seen whole groups of people just turn away from the church into the faith because of what some Christian leader did or how they act. Maybe it wasn't, you know, sexual sin or financial.

Sometimes it's even just the coercive, domineering behavior. I thank God that we have Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, who is perfect, holy, gentle, good, and who died to cover our sins. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-The-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together. .