What is the Gospel?

1. Read: Romans 1:16-17

2. About the Text:

1) The word “gospel” means “good message.”

2) The English word is composed of the word “good” and “spell,” as in spelling it out.

3) It is a translation of the Greek word euangelion, which means good tidings.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. It is good news because the gospel speaks of God’s kingdom.

1) “And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23).

2) “Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

2. It is good news because the gospel promises salvation from sin.

1) The bad news is that men are lost in sin and wholly separated from God.

a. “for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

b. “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

2) The good news is that God has a plan to reconcile us to Him.

a. “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).

b. “But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18).

3. It is good news because God has come down to live with and among people.

1) “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

2) “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18).

1. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are the heart of the gospel.

1) “Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

2) “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8).

3) This is the work of God through Christ for man’s salvation.

2. The death of Jesus was the payment for man’s sins.

1) Jesus shed his blood in his death. “howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).

2) “knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

3. The burial of Jesus is the putting away of the man of flesh.

1) “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

2) “in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).

4. The resurrection of Jesus is the new life of the Christian.

1) “who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24).

2) “even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).

3) “If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

1. It is God’s gospel.

1) “For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12).

2) “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. . . . For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:16, 21).

2. The gospel is God’s power for salvation today.

1) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).

2) “in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).

3. The gospel is also God’s standard of judgment for mankind.

1) “in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16).

2) “For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6).

4. The gospel must be obeyed to have eternal life.

1) “rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

2) “For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

3) “but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).

1. What is the gospel?

1) It is the good news!

2) It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3) It is the power of God to salvation.

2. Invitation