John 3: 16-18

what is the Gospel or Good News?

This is the primary issue facing churches today. When you ask the people of the church “What is the Gospel” you will get very different answers. It is important we get this right. We need to insure that first we understand what the good news is, and second that we have accepted the truth in our own lives.

My goal and my focus will be to write at the street level.  I will attempt to avoid diving deeply into the theological aspects to keep this at the level where people live.  I will be sharing the things I have heard and read.  None of this is new or original.  This is my attempt to refine it down take away all the things man has injected into the process and present the good news that I believe is found in the Bible.  What I write is a result of reading, listening, and praying about what the “Gospel” is.

Back in 1998 I was going through a training when a man, Larry Fowler, challenged me to outline the truths you find in the bible that support the Gospel but are not the Gospel and then to write a headline that describes the good news without the clutter of many words.  Following are the results of that.

Truths that support the Gospel:

1.      God created man

2.      Man sinned against God

3.      The wages of sin is death

4.      All have sinned

5.      Jesus is God

6.      Jesus was a man

7.      Jesus led a sinless and righteous life

8.      Jesus died on a cross

9.      Jesus paid the price for our sins

10.  Jesus arose from the dead

11.  Jesus ascended to heaven

These are a few of the truths found in the Bible that support the gospel, but they are not “the gospel” or “the good news”. This challenge left me frustrated because for years I thought by reciting these truths I was sharing the good news, but this exercise clearly illustrated that I was only sharing the truths that support it.  This began a new journey for me to find a good short statement that would outline the “Gospel or Good News”. 

During the Protestant Reformation (the year 1517) Martin Luther asserted that our Justification is by Faith Alone.  This is a clear statement of the good news.  The headline for the challenge is “Justification is by Faith Alone in Christ Alone”.  The words “Alone” are intentional.  We must always guard against those who would corrupt the Gospel by adding an element of human effort. 

Justification

The hard part is defining this statement in terms people use every day.  Justification is one of the most misunderstood terms used in the church today.  Some have tried to simplify this by saying justification means “just as if I’d never sinned”.  This is exactly what we need to fight against.  It is as if God were to simply cover his eyes and say repeatedly “I can’t see your sin; I can’t see your sin.”  Justification is not a result of God denying the truth that you have sinned.  God not only knows you have sinned He also knows you will continue to sin.  Justification is when God declares a sinner righteous while still in their sinning state.  The argument against this today is the same as it was during the reformation.  How can it be that a just and holy God would call a sinner righteous?  How can we be a sinner and a saint?

The sinner becomes a saint when God imputes our sin to Christ and imputes Christ righteousness to us.  The word “imputes” is another word that needs to be defined in common terms.  The word impute means to “place in your account or credited as yours”. An example would be if I went into a bank and deposited $1,000 dollars into your account and then the next day attempted to withdraw that money the bank would deny the withdraw.  Why because in the bank’s eyes and by law money in your account belongs to you not to me.  I could protest long and loud about how I deposited the money but the fact would remain it is in your account, so it belongs to you. 

There are at least 3 truths we find in the bible related to imputation that we need to understand.

1.    Adams sin was imputed to us: Romans 5: 12  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— [1]

a.    When Adam and Eve sinned, it created a new nature in them.  They were now sinners separated from God.  This changed the nature of all people.  From that point all would be born with a sin nature.  Sin was placed in our account.

b.    We are born with a sin nature.  Our sin nature makes us desire sin and being creatures of desire, we chose to sin.  You are not sinners because you sin, you sin because you are a sinner.

2.    Our sin was imputed to Christ (Christ sacrifice)

a.    2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2]

b.    Romans 4:25 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. [3]

c.       Remember in the truths that support the gospel we listed that Jesus lead a sinless life and that Jesus paid the price for our sin.  God imputed our sin to Jesus.  God placed our sin into Jesus’s account.  The wage due all sinners is death.  Jesus Christ died because of our sin that was placed in his account.

3.      Christ Righteousness was imputed to us.

a.    Romans 5:18  Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. [4]

b.      1 Corinthians 1: 29-31 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” l[5]

c.       Christ lead a sinless life.  The bible teaches us that Jesus was tempted in all ways yet remained sinless (Hebrews 4:15).  Remaining sinless means that Jesus is qualified to enter heaven.  He is the only one qualified to enter heaven. 

d.      God in a sovereign righteous act deposited the sinlessness of Jesus Christ into your account and deposited your sin into Christ account.

That is a lot to take in.  let me summarize all that.  When Adam and Eve sinned, human nature changed forever.  You have a man and woman with a sin nature producing children that have the same nature.  Because you were born with a sin nature you desired sin.  At some point in your life you chose to sin and thus earned spiritual death which will lead to physical death. 

God sent Jesus to earth the bible refers to Christ as the “second Adam”.  This is because Jesus was sent here without the sin nature.  Jesus like Adam would have to face temptation and make a choice to sin or not to sin.  The scriptures record that Jesus chose not to sin.  His righteous life qualified Him to live for eternity in heaven.  Let me stop to remind you that everyone is going to live forever.  The question is where will you spend eternity.  By leading a sinless, righteous life Jesus secured a place in heaven for eternity.

God wanted us to live with him in heaven, but our sin disqualified us from entry.  The plan of salvation required an exchange to take place.  The night Jesus prayed in the garden God took your sin and placed it in Jesus account.  For the first time in Jesus life he knew what sin and guilt felt like.  Allow me just a moment of drama.  When God placed your sin on Jesus, He felt all the guilt and remorse you have felt over your entire lifetime.  Remember every sleepless night you have had knowing you had done something wrong and wishing you could take it back or saying something harsh knowing you would hurt someone then as soon as you said it wishing you could have the words back, or taking something that didn’t belong to you and feeling guilty about it, well all of those feelings you have had over your life were dumped onto Jesus that night.  Jesus prayed in the garden “not my will but your will be done.”  He didn’t want to face the punishment for your sin but he chose to take what you deserved so you could have what was in his account and get what Christ deserved. 

When Jesus took your sin into his account, he made available to you the righteousness that was in his account.  If you accept that trade and trust that and that alone as your only way to gain access into heaven, then the bible says you are saved from eternal life in hell.  This trade is how justification happens.  When you accept the trade, Christ offered where he takes your sin and gives you His righteousness God sees only righteousness in your account because your sin was placed in Christ account. 

What causes this trade?

Faith Alone. 

Some people would change “Faith Alone” to say “By Grace Alone through Faith Alone”.  This would also be a correct statement.  The reason some people want this extra clarification is to clearly state that by Grace (which is a free gift you don’t deserve) you have been saved through Faith.  It does need to be stated clearly that Faith or “believing” in Christ is not a work that you do to earn your way into heaven.  I will address this later so I can stay focused on what the gospel is.

Saving faith is comprised of three things.

1.      Knowledge: This means you have read or heard the facts and could pass a quiz on them, but you don’t really know or understand how to put the knowledge into practice.

2.      Understanding of the knowledge: This second step means you understand the information you read and have a working knowledge of that information.  For example, when I was a child my parents told me the stove was hot.  I knew hot was a bad thing, but it was not until I touched the stove one day that I understood what hot was and why it was a bad thing. 

3.      Personal trust: This is the crucial element that is missing today.  If you understand what Christ did and you chose to trust that alone as your only way to get to heaven, then the bible says you will be saved. 

A good illustration of faith was given by Dr. Kennedy.  I am going to attempt to paraphrase it here.  The illustration involved a chair.  We all know that chairs are made to sit in.  We understand that for them to sustain our weight certain things need to be present, solid legs, supports, and a seat.  While you have the knowledge that the chair is meant to sit on and you have assessed that the chair is stable and should be able to support your weight, until you sit in the chair and rest all your weight on the seat you have not demonstrated any personal trust in your knowledge and belief. 

In Christ Alone. 

As Christians we ask why is this necessary to state?  Of course, our faith must be in Christ alone.  The world outside of the church is teaching there are many ways to God and so long as you are sincere in your belief then you will get to heaven.  Please don’t agree with this.  In the past I have believed things to be true and acted on them only to find out that my belief was wrong.  I was sincere in my belief, but I was sincerely wrong.  Christ is our only way to get to heaven.  If you sincerely believe that any, thing, any act or any person will get you into heaven, then you are sincerely wrong.  The only way you can be justified is by faith alone in Christ alone.

Wow that is a lot to take in and more importantly it is to much to attempt to share with someone you meet.  You need an “elevator witness”.  You should be able to condense all this to a simple easy to understand message that could be shared in the time it takes to ride in an elevator.

I will share with you the elevator witness I have used in the past. 

Everyone has attended an event that required a ticket to enter.  We were all born with a ticket to eternity.  The problem is our ticket was already written on at birth.  Our ticket said “Sin = Death admit one person into Hell”.  Our ticket would only admit us into Hell for all eternity.  God knew that everyone would be born with this ticket so he sent Jesus to earth with a blank ticket that only Jesus could write on.  Jesus led a sinless, righteous life so his ticket said “Righteous = Life admit one person into Heaven”.  Jesus had the ticket that would allow him to enter Heaven for all eternity.  Jesus offered to trade tickets with you.  He took your ticket that would force him to die on a cross and gave you his ticket.  If you accept this trade when you die, and God ask to see your ticket into eternity you will present the one that says “Righteous admit this person into Heaven”.  John 3:16 says “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.” Do you want to trade Jesus tickets?  It is as simple as trusting this trade as your only way to get into heaven. 

There is no special prayer to pray or magic words to say.  You do not have to do anything to complete the work Christ did.  Your justification is by faith alone in Christ alone. 

[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 5:12). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] The New International Version. (2011). (2 Co 5:21). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 4:25). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[4] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 5:18–19). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[5] The New International Version. (2011). (1 Co 1:29–31). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.