The Gospel of Jesus Christ #1

Hello, my friend, and welcome to another episode of The Truth Pulpit.

We're so glad that you joined us. And I know that many of you have recently signed up for the podcast looking for the series that I told you about called Building a Christian Mind, and that series is going to start on February the 5th. February the 5th for Building a Christian Mind.

Until then, here's the next episode of our teaching as we look to God's Word and as we continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word on The Truth Pulpit. I want to give you the gospel of Jesus Christ in five brief points to give you an orientation and to just trust by the work of the Spirit of God that this might have an impact on those who are slumbering in darkness and shed abroad the light of Christ that you so desperately need. The gospel.

That's a term so many of us use on a daily basis. But if someone were to ask you to explain what it is, could you? Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm Bill Wright, and today Don begins a series called What Is The Gospel? with a look at what it is and how it has forever impacted mankind. And Don, when it comes to the importance of the gospel, the Bible is clear, isn't it?

Well, Bill, it certainly is. You know, my friend, the apostle Paul said that the gospel was of first importance when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, and elsewhere he said that he determined to know nothing among the churches except Jesus Christ and him crucified. We must understand who Christ is, why he came to earth, and why he went to the cross.

These are the most fundamental of matters. And so my friend, whether you are new to the scripture or you are a biblical veteran, this series will help you grasp the most important matter of all. Please stay with us here on The Truth Pulpit.

Thanks, Don. And friend, let's get started with today's study here on The Truth Pulpit. Back at the end of the 16th century, there was a godly pastor in Anwarth, Scotland named John Welsh. John Welsh was the son-in-law of the great John Knox. And it is said of John Welsh that he often left his bed in the middle of the night, wrapped himself in a warm blanket, and interceded for the people of his parish. When his wife would beg him to go back to sleep, he would say to her, I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them. And so he would continue praying on through the night for those souls that were under his charge in the geographic parish that was assigned to him by the Church of Scotland.

John Welsh was not willing to assume that all was well with everyone that was under his care. And in that attitude, he was indeed a most biblical pastor. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 say, Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long it is still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. What was true 400 years ago when John Welsh was pastoring in Scotland, what was true 2,000 years ago when the writer of Hebrews gave warning to his readers to take heed to the condition of their hearts, is the same spiritual reality that we find ourselves in as we come together here today. God's Word would encourage us, it would warn us, it would caution us, it would admonish us to take heed to the true condition of our heart. Because the sad reality of men is this, it is entirely possible, indeed it is quite common, to be acquainted with the gospel of Jesus Christ to one degree or another, but to have a heart that has never truly been changed, to have a heart that is still in the bonds of sin, to have a heart that was still under judgment.

The sad reality, my friends gathered together here in this room and over the live stream, the sad reality is that you're subject to self-deception, you're subject to thinking that things are well with your soul when they really are not. There's a great tendency to be satisfied with kind of a superficial familiarity with the gospel of Christ, never having really understood its deep and profound principles, and to be satisfied with an external display of religion before men without having come truly in humility before Christ in a vertical way that has submitted to Christ, that has called to Him for mercy and salvation from the deep and profound problem that you have with sin. And I, in a lesser way, a lesser degree of devotion, can certainly identify with the spirit of my fellow pastor John Welsh from 400 years ago. There's something encouraging about reading biographies of pastors from bygone ages and see that the things that were on their hearts are the same things that are on your heart in ministry later. It gives you a sense of encouragement and it also gives you a sense of direction about what you feel like you need to emphasize at particular times in the life of a church, and I want to emphasize something to you today. I want to emphasize to you the most basic and yet the most important thing that we could emphasize, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's easy to use words and assume that you know what they mean. That's why we took our time over the past couple of weeks to talk about what it means to be a slave of Christ Jesus, to be a saint in Christ Jesus.

We take our time because we just don't want to... we don't want to take anything for granted. We don't want to make assumptions. Well, to be a slave of Christ, to be a saint in Christ, are terms that are critical but they're based on a foundational reality of what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. What is the gospel and what does it mean? If someone were to ask you, what is the gospel? Would you know how to answer? Would you have something to say to them in response?

Would you have to stammer for things that are not clear in your own mind? If someone came to you and said, I know that I need eternal life, can you please tell me what is the gospel? Well, we don't want to be in that position before others in a setting of evangelism, but here today we don't want to be in that position before God as we're gathered together as a local church. The reality that motivates a man to get up in the middle of the night and pray for people because he does not know the true condition of their hearts is something that is informing the things that we are going to see from God's Word here today. It's not my desire at all to bring doubt to people who are genuine Christians, and I trust that the Spirit of God will give His aid and bring affirmation and encouragement to those who are truly in Christ, but I will confess to a glad willingness and a glad eagerness even if somehow the Spirit of God would take what is said today and, as it were, grab those people who are slumbering in self-deception and shake them to wake them up and to bring them to a saving reality of what the gospel of Christ is. Because you see, some I know here have started well, but it seems like maybe you're losing interest in the things of Christ. How am I to know as a pastor that it's well with you when you're losing interest in the things of the gospel?

How am I supposed to know that? Some of you are legitimately young people that have grown up in Christian homes or under the influence of the gospel, and you're kind of a little bit in a transition period spiritually. Are you living off a faith that belongs only to your parents, or have you personally repented of sin and put your faith in Christ? Have you personally been born again?

There's no way for me to know that, and so it makes it important for me to emphasize the gospel of Jesus Christ. For others of you, you're visiting. We're so glad that you're with us.

Welcome. We would love to have you back. We trust your time with us. We'll minister to your hearts today. Others coming along, just starting to find their way in Truth Community Church, you're new here. Haven't had the opportunity to sit down and get to know you. Our relationship is too brief for me to know how it really is with your soul. You see, there's just a time where you just stop and say, we need to plant on the gospel for the sake of everybody, because the time will come soon enough when our earthly breath no longer fills our lungs, and we are suddenly finding ourselves in the presence of Christ.

And as I've said to you many times in the past, I'll say to you again, I want that day to go well for you. But some of you just seem so indifferent to the gospel that I just worry about you, and I pray for you, and I say, Lord, I don't know what to think about this person. I don't know what to think about them, Lord, only you know, but I do know this, that the only thing that will help you is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The only thing that will awaken your slumbering soul is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so today I want to give you the gospel of Jesus Christ in five brief points to give you an orientation and to just trust by the work of the Spirit of God that this might have an impact on those who are slumbering in darkness, that God might awaken your darkened soul and shed abroad the light of Christ that you so desperately need, and so that's what we want to talk about here today. The word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion, which in the New Testament means this. It means God's good news to man. The gospel is a declaration of good news from God to man. That is the overarching meaning of the word, and so to preach the gospel is to preach good news to lost men, to men who are in danger of judgment, to men who are enslaved to sin, the gospel comes and says there is a means of deliverance for you. To men, to women, to boys and girls, the gospel comes and declares good news to their soul. Let's look at a classic text for the meaning of the gospel in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

We'll just use this by way of introduction. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 in the first four verses. The gospel is good news.

It's not news that that you must try harder, it's not that you must find the rules and obey the rules, it is something different than that. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 beginning in verse 1 says, now I make known to you brethren the gospel. Ah, there's our word. I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved. And so this gospel is good news by which men may be saved, by which they might be delivered from sin, by which they may stand spiritually. It was the gospel that Paul had in mind as he was writing these verses. He says by which you are saved if you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. And then he gives content to the term in verse 3. He says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The gospel is a declaration of what happened in history in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, according to the gospel, did a work for sinners. He did something to help them.

He did something to aid those who were helpless and unable to save themselves. The gospel tells us that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day. There are historical facts to the gospel. And look at verse 3 with me there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3. As it explains the meaning of those historical facts, three words in your English text should leap off of the page to you when it says that Paul delivered to you as of first importance.

This was the priority. Elsewhere he said, I desired to do nothing among you but to preach Christ and him crucified. First importance, first priority of any man of God, of any true church of God, is to proclaim these things again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

Because we're so spiritually dull, so slow to learn, so so dead and lethargic that we say these things again and again. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3, notice what it says, Christ died for our sins. There was a theological reason, there was a spiritual reason that Christ died, and he died for our sins. His crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection was for the sins of men. And in the meaning of that death, burial, and resurrection is the only hope that you have of avoiding eternal judgment. How are those historical facts from 2,000 years ago good news today?

In simple terms, I want to explain that to you here today. And if you're a Christian, this should bring you great joy to be refreshed on these matters. It should also help you to refresh your understanding so that you can share it more clearly with others in evangelism. But today I'm just particularly burdened by those who perhaps need to examine their hearts to see if they have truly been born again at all. It's not because I'm upset with anyone, it's because I'm concerned for you, it's because I don't know how it really is with you, and all I can do in my position is lay open the Word of God in the clearest way I know how, and let the Spirit of God minister to that to your heart, and that the Spirit of God would then apply it to your heart and mind and give you understanding, and ultimately lead you to faith in Christ. True saving faith in Christ that would lift you out of your realm of indifference on the margins of spiritual life and bring you into the heart of what is real, what is true to a vibrant, saving, living faith that animates everything that you do and the way that you live. That's the only kind of real faith that there is.

The real faith, the true faith, the one who's truly been born of the Spirit is a man whose life overflows with these things, is a woman whose life overflows with these things in one way or another. And so we answer this question today, why is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ good news for us here today? Let me start with point number one. Point number one, why is the gospel good news?

Well, we start here where you should start your thinking about everything. We start in a God-centered way. We start with point number one, the great holiness of God, the great holiness of God.

You must start here in order to understand the gospel. You see, my friends, the Bible tells us that the God of the Bible is the one true creator of heaven and earth, and that that one and the same God is also the giver of life to men. The God of the Bible is the one who has given life to every one of you. You live on earth today because God appointed that, God gave you life, God formed you, as Psalm 139 says, formed you even in your mother's womb, and He has given life to you because He is the giver of life. Acts chapter 17 verse 28 says, in Him we live and move and have our being. You have your being, you have your existence as a gift, as a product of the work of God. No man exists apart from the God of the Bible. Now, who is this God? What is this God like who has given us life? Well, it's good, but it's also scary.

There's a little element of fright that comes in. Scripture says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You see, the Bible tells us that this God is holy. He is morally perfect.

He is perfectly good. He is separate from sinners and exalted above the heavens. Isaiah chapter 6 Isaiah chapter 6 declares that holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of His glory. This God is great. He is transcendent.

He is majestic. He is holy and He dwells in absolute perfection. Now, why does the great holiness of God matter to you?

You seem to be getting along in life just fine without Him, you might say, and even if you wouldn't say that with your lips, you are more likely to think it in your heart. Who cares that God is holy, holy, holy? Get to something that's relevant, preacher.

Well, I got news for you. The holiness of God is the most relevant thing in your existence. Why does the holiness of God matter to men? What does the holiness of God have to do with you?

It's this. Just trying to make this as simple and plain as I know how to do. The God who is the giver of your life is the God who is going to hold is the God who is going to hold you accountable for how you lived your life in the end. Look at the book of Acts chapter 17 with me.

I alluded to it earlier. Now, I want you to turn to Acts 17 and see this text with your own eyes in your own Bible. If perhaps you don't have a Bible, there's a black Bible in the seat in front of you in the little rack there underneath. We would love for you to just take that Bible as our gift to you and turn to Acts chapter 17 beginning in verse 30. Acts chapter 17 beginning in verse 30. The Bible says this, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31. Beloved, notice the universal language with which the apostle spoke there. He said, God is declaring to all men everywhere, to all the world.

He's given proof to all men about the reality of what he has said and what he has appointed by raising Christ from the dead. This universal warning goes out to everyone, which means, beloved, you're... let's keep it simple here, you're each a part of everyone, right? If it goes out to everyone, then it goes out to you individually. Here in Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31, there's a sense in which you could stick your own name in to what is spoken. Let's say your name is Don like mine is. You know, God is now declaring to Don that he ought to repent because he's fixed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness, having furnished to Don by raising him from the dead.

All men everywhere is simply a way of saying that this applies to everyone. You can insert your own name there and say and realize and recognize with great force and power upon your heart that God is graciously giving you advance notice of the fact that there is a day of judgment coming where the one who has given you life will hold you accountable for the way that you have lived it. That's pretty sobering. That's really serious. I want to tell you that matters a whole lot more than presidential politics. Matters a whole lot more than your economic condition.

Matters a whole lot more than anything you're doing today. Here we're talking about the ultimate issue that matters to every man, woman, and child. And that brings our time for today to a close. Next time, Don Green continues in our series called What is the Gospel, with part two of the series. And if you missed anything this time around, you can go to thetruthpulpit.com to listen again, and also to get more great study materials by Don Green. Once again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, and we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit.