The Gospel
by Bryan Carlson
We are called, as Christ followers, to make disciples, to be His witnesses, to be His ambassadors—to spread the Gospel—the good news! (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:17-21)
God loves you and created you for relationship with Him:
Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV): “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb; I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Life is short:
Psalm 39:4-7 (NIV): “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”
We’re all in need of healing—from a condition that we have called sin. Our sin separates us from a holy and pure God:
Leviticus 11:45 (NIV): “I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.”
Romans 3:23 (NIV): “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23 (NIV): “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Our sin leads us to Hell:
Descriptions of Hell: (Matt. 8:12; Matt. 13:24-30; Luke 16:19-31; 2 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 9:1-2) weeping and gnashing of teeth, burned, agony, In fire, gloomy dungeons, lake of burning sulfur, tormented day and night forever and ever, smoky, a gigantic furnace
2 Thess. 1:9 (NIV): “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.
It’s Jesus plus nothing. That’s hard for many Americans to grasp—as we are a self-sufficient, hard working group. But in this case, we can do nothing to work our way to Heaven. All we can do is trust Jesus and believe in Him.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
These verses make it very clear that we cannot leave Christ out of Christianity. He is the only way to have a relationship with the Father. If we leave Christ out of Christianity, we do not have Christianity—we only have false religion. Without a personal relationship with Christ, we are on the wrong path and do not have a saving faith.
John 14:6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me."
Mark 8:38 “I anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Our entire world on one of two paths—every single person—there are no exceptions.
Matt 7:13-14: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
We see true believers in Christ on a path that is extremely narrow—Christ plus nothing—and Jesus tells us that there are few people on this path. We see the rest of the world on the wide path. I would like to suggest that many of those on this wide path to destruction think they are on the right path—many who would say that they are Christians.
There are many religious people on the path to destruction:
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"
Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Titus 3:5-7: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
In a recent poll, George Barna, a Christian pollster, found that 84% of Americans think they are Christians. Most who live in America and are “religious” assume they are Christians. However, when they are asked questions that relate to the Gospel, of the 262 million people live in the United States; 187 million (over 70%) do not have a relationship with Christ. Even more disturbing is that Barna, in his research, has found that half of all adults who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christians! How does Barna determine who is and is not a Christian? He asks them questions about how they know they are Christians and compares their answers to how the Bible says a person is saved.
We must repent of our sin and turn to God to be saved:
Mark 1:15 The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
John 5:24 Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Acts 2:21 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 16:30-31 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Acts 17:30-31 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Rom. 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
1 John 5:11-12 And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."
Now what:
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Marks of a true Christian:
desire for the Word
desire for prayer
desire for fellowship
desire to do good works
desire for purity
desire to make disciples
love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength
love your neighbor as yourself
the Apostle Paul is a perfect example. Once he crossed over from death to life, his entire perspective changes—to live is Christ and to die is gain; take up your cross daily; I have been crucified with Christ; present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
An abundant life on earth and eternity with God is what we have to look forward to:
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
