The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Content of the Gospel — Steve Gregg

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The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

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The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Content of the GospelSteve Gregg

Steve Gregg presents a comprehensive exploration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, highlighting the importance of repentance and the biblical manner of presenting the good news. Drawing from Scripture, Gregg emphasizes the pivotal role of the Holy Spirit in salvation and contends that a genuine understanding of the gospel necessitates repentance and a submission to the lordship of Christ. He differentiates between the gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom, discussing their respective impacts on salvation. Throughout his teachings, Gregg emphasizes the transformative power of the gospel and the necessity of placing faith in Jesus for redemption and eternal life.

Transcript

Well, tonight we're going to begin a series. I don't know how long the series will be. The last time I taught this particular series was 1982.

It's not very many series that I haven't taught since 1982 that are worth teaching. And I'm not sure how I got away from teaching this again, except maybe that in 1982 I just did it so well, just never thought I'd have to improve on it. But a friend of mine who now lives in Illinois listened to the tapes from 1982 some years ago.

And he said he loved them. He thought they were great. He just was surprised there was no mention of repentance in them.

I thought, what? No mention of repentance? How could I ever teach about the gospel without talking about repentance as one of the first words of the gospel? And the fact of the matter is I haven't listened to the tapes since 1982. And I can't imagine I didn't talk about repentance, but we will. But it takes a few weeks, and certainly shouldn't take a few weeks to preach the gospel.

But if we want to understand the gospel very well, it will take looking at some scripture and comparing scripture to scripture so that we can do our best to understand what is meant. In many cases with some of the most well-known scriptures, I don't mean to be innovative, not at all. I hope nobody thinks that I'm here to present some new gospel.

I certainly don't desire to do that. If I present a new gospel to you, then it's a false gospel because there is no new gospel that's genuine. There's only the original gospel.

And whether our present understanding of the gospel is as the apostles and Jesus taught it, is what we really want to explore together. Now, I was raised in an evangelical church. In which, if you'd ask me what the gospel is on a half a dozen different occasions, I'd probably give half a dozen different answers.

When people apply to come to the Great Commission School, one of the questions on the application is, what do you understand the gospel to be? And we get a whole variety of answers. Although all of these people, I would say most of them, probably all of them, are really Christians. And yet when asked to enunciate what is the gospel, many of them don't really know how to say what the gospel is.

And I think, well, how, what position would these people be in if they were called upon to communicate the gospel to an unbeliever? And I have found out there was a few years ago a dramatic production, an evangelistic dramatic production that I attended, which was a very dramatic thing, very moving. I'm sure it had tremendous impact on some people. But there was an altar call given at the end.

Actually, it was not just an altar call. It was a presentation of the gospel by an evangelist. And then he gave an altar call and there were many people who came forward, but I was myself rather perturbed.

I won't say perturbed, I'll just say greatly disappointed, perturbed maybe, in that as I listened to the evangelist speak, at no point did he tell what the gospel was. I mean, he gave an invitation for people to respond to. And what was interesting, I didn't go down because I was already saved, but after he gave sort of a he gave this kind of a message, he says, you know, you want to go to heaven, don't you? Well, you need to ask Jesus into your heart.

If you go, if you ask Jesus in your heart, then you'll live with him forever in heaven. And that's that's the only gospel he preached. And then he said, I want to see a show of hands here.

How many of you would like I don't know for sure if you're going to go to heaven when you die? This is how he asked. He said, how many of you don't know for sure if you're going to have a whole bunch of hands went up because a lot of people brought their unsaved friends? And then he said, OK, all of you who raise your hands, I want you to come forward right now. Now, I don't know if you noticed he didn't ask them if they wanted to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

He didn't ask them even if they believed he just or if they wanted to believe. He just said, how many of you don't know if you're going to heaven? Well, a whole lot of people don't know if they're going to heaven, but are in no sense prepared to give their life to Jesus. But and once I noticed a man a few rows ahead of me had raised his hand, he snuck his hand down and there were trained counselors who came in.

One grabbed him and a lady was trying to pull him out and he was resisting and she kept trying. And the tug of war with his arm went on for quite a long time. And I think eventually he didn't go up and she just kind of found another victim.

But then when all the people came forward. Then the evangelist said, now there's counselors here who will explain to you what you've just committed yourself to. I thought this seems to be somewhat backward.

You get people to make a decision without them knowing what they're signing on to. You tell them they've made a commitment to something and you say, we'll explain to you what you've committed yourself to now. And that just doesn't resemble to me a biblical fashion of presenting the gospel or getting people to come to Christ.

And by the way, I say that without in any sense meaning to disparage the sincerity or the hard work. Or the good intentions of the people who put on the production, I personally believe some people really got saved. In spite of whatever deficiencies there might have been.

I believe the Holy Spirit can move through through very, through very scant presentations. And I frankly think that I got saved without fully understanding what the whole gospel was. But given the opportunity to preach to an unbeliever, I'd rather give them the gospel than something else.

Even if God can get through to them without them fully knowing. For example, I believe that repentance is one of the things that the Bible in every place requires of people to get saved. But I didn't hear that when I got saved.

No one told me to repent of my sins, but I think I did anyway. I mean, it's possible that God, by his Holy Spirit, can work repentance in a person who's willing and yielded to him. Even if they've never heard the word repentant, don't even know what it is.

They may have repented without knowing that that's what it's called, you know. And that's why I'm not trying to say that all presentations of the gospel that fall short of a perfect presentation of the gospel are to be dismissed as as waste of time. They are not.

Some people truly do get saved. And I would be one of them. I believe I got saved through, as I said, if I would call this an inadequate presentation of the gospel.

But at the same time, I believe the more a person really understands what the claims of the gospel are. And what the good news of the gospel is. The more they will be prepared to make an intelligent decision and a responsible decision.

Whether they will respond to Christ or not. Now, if we have any friends here who are Calvinist, I don't know whether you'll agree with what I just said or not. And I you're welcome here.

You're Calvinist. Some of my best friends are Calvinist. Some of my some of my favorite authors are Calvinist, but I will say this, a Calvinist might, especially a very good Calvinist, a very, a very consistent Calvinist would believe that what I just said is not quite quite accurate because because I suggested that a person has to make a decision.

And Calvinist, if they're good Calvinist, don't believe that making a decision is really much that needs to be presented. People people need to be presented the gospel only and the Holy Spirit, if they are elect, will make the decision for them, has already done so in eternity past and will simply create faith and repentance. And while I certainly believe the Holy Spirit can do all those things, and I believe that without such a powerful work in the Holy Spirit, no one ever is saved.

I do believe there is a decision to be made. And I think that people best make responsible decisions when they know what it is they're deciding for or what the choices they're given. Now, we'll only take a part of what I want to say in this evening's talk, because there's quite a few things I want to discuss.

And if you look at the notes I gave you, really all this is, is what the good news is now, really, when you present the gospel to somebody or when you consider your own response to the gospel. I think you need to not only know what the good news is, but what the demands are. I mean, what the response from you is expected to be, because obviously you can hear the good news.

You can understand it. You can understand all the words and sentences and know what they mean. You can even, in a sense, not disagree with it and yet not make a response to it at all and not become a Christian.

I mean, having heard and known and even in some sense not rejecting the good news of the gospel, it doesn't mean that you have been evangelized or that you have made a transition from death into life. There is a response to the gospel that is called for. The gospel is presented along with a response.

You know that Peter preached the gospel for the first time in Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost. He didn't say anything about what they needed to do. He just told them the story about what Jesus had done and the position Jesus now holds at the right hand of God as the Lord and Savior and Christ.

And the people came to him and said, well, what shall we do? Oh, forgot that part, didn't I? Actually, he probably didn't forget. He wanted he waited for them to ask. He wanted them to.

He didn't notice. He didn't talk them into anything. These people just came running for us and what must we do to be saved? Wouldn't that be neat if that happened more often? Well, tonight I'm not going to talk so much about the response that the gospel calls for, because I'll say that for another time.

I would like to talk about what the actual good news is. The question at the top of the notes, is this the gospel, quote, except Jesus into your heart and you'll live forever in heaven, unquote, actually is followed by some scriptures I've given. The reason I gave those scriptures is because if I would ask somebody, can you find in the scriptures for me this expression, except Jesus into your heart? These are the only two scriptures I would imagine anyone would ever come up with.

And just in case you're wondering about this, the scriptural status of that particular expression, except Jesus in your heart. I'd like you to look at the two scriptures because these are the only scriptures I've ever heard suggested as teaching this in John, chapter one. Beginning of verse 11, it says he Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in his name.

OK, now that believing part is pretty clear and pretty consistent with everything the Bible says about salvation. We have to believe in his name. Notice it doesn't.

If this is the gospel, it doesn't mention heaven right here, although I certainly believe in heaven. It's not what John mentioned is the privilege. The privilege of those who received him is that they become sons of God.

Now, receiving him, of course, is what most people think of the equivalent of accepting Jesus. We hear you accept Jesus in your heart, and perhaps one would think that this picture is Jesus standing at the door of a person's heart, knocking, hoping to come in. And it remains for you to open the door to let Jesus into your heart.

That's what it means to accept him into your heart. That's what I was taught. That verse that from which that image comes is Revelation three twenty, where Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. And so we have this picture of Jesus knocking on the door, saying, if anyone opens, here's my voice and opens the door, I will come in. And then we have this statement as man has received him.

This is the scriptural case for accepting Jesus into your heart. Now, the only problem with this is that these two verses really probably are not written by John. Did right this way.

He probably didn't think of it the way that we have been led to think about it. When Jesus said in Revelation three twenty, behold, I stand at the door and knock. It's not at all clear that he's referring to the door of a person's heart.

We've always preached it as if it is. But this is in a letter that he wrote to the Church of Laodicea, which was an apostate church, a lukewarm church. And he was threatening to vomit them out of his mouth.

And he was talking to the church saying, I'm knocking on the door. And the impression that I have, at least as I read it in the context, is he's knocking on the door of the church, that he is not even in the church. He's outside wishing to be readmitted.

I don't know if you saw back in the 70s. There's a famous popular painting of the United Nations building with a giant Jesus standing. I never see that painting.

It was very popular in the 70s. Sold all the Christian bookstores and had a picture of the big old United Nations building, a giant Jesus as tall as the building, knocking on the window, trying to get into the United Nations. I'm sure that was just a modification of the older picture, more famous of Jesus in a garden at a door, a wooden door knocking.

And and that's supposed to be the door of the unbeliever's heart, according to the painter who painted that picture. Well, this imagery of Jesus knocking at the door, I think, if taken back to its original occurrence in the Bible, is really a reference to Jesus feeling like he's been put out of his church, the Church of Laodicea in particular, and that he is desiring to be admitted again. Now, if anyone hears his voice and opens the door.

Jesus will come back into the church, if that is, if the if and if not into the church, if if the whole church doesn't accept him, at least Jesus will sup with that individual. Now, I will sup with him might even be a reference to the communion meal, since that's what happened in the early church when Christians got together, they supped together and took communion. And so he's outside the church and I'd like to come in and eat with you, like come in and sup with you.

And if anyone will let me in, I'll sup with that person anyway. In other words, even in an apostate church, if a worshiper there is receptive to Jesus, then then Jesus will commune with them, even if everyone else in the pew next to them is on another planet, spiritually speaking. Now, the statement in John one, as many as received him, maybe comes a little closer to the idea of receiving him into the heart.

But that's not necessarily the way we usually think of it. We usually think of Jesus standing over here, knocking on the door and we let him. He comes and lives inside our hearts.

In fact, we teach children to say that, don't we? We teach children to respond when we say, where's Jesus? They're supposed to point at the heart and say in here. Is there anything wrong with that? Not necessarily. Half you people probably wonder when what's he going to say there's something wrong with what he's not going to say there's something wrong.

I'm full of surprises, I know, but but actually I'm not going to say there's anything wrong with that. The Bible does say that Christ lives in our hearts by faith. Paul said that, and so there's nothing wrong with saying that Jesus is in my heart, although we have to realize that when we're saying that we're not speaking something exactly the way we might think of it, because Jesus, you know, Jesus, who died on the cross for us again, he's at the right hand of God, the father sitting there in his resurrection body, as near as I can tell from the scripture.

And he's going to come back until he does come back. He's there. Who is in us is his spirit.

The spirit of Christ is in me. And because of that, he and the spirit are one. And therefore he is in me in that form.

But John is actually talking about Jesus coming to the nation of Israel. When he says he came to his own and his own did not receive him, but as many as did receive him, he gave the power to become the sons of God. What he's saying, he came to the nation of Israel, his own people, and they did not receive him.

Now, it can't be that he was asking them to let him into their hearts, because, I mean, he was standing there in his physical body. He couldn't come into anyone's hearts in the sense that we sometimes think of that, at least that children are sometimes made to think of that. And we Christians sometimes grow up and never stop thinking that way.

Receiving him was simply, I believe, accepting his claims about himself. There were many who rejected his claims of his contemporaries to say his own did not receive him. What it means is they rejected his claim upon them.

They rejected his his messiahship. They did not accept the truth about him and who he was and embrace him for who he was. But as many as did embrace him, I would say receive him in this connection would be sort of like we would use the term to embrace him, to embrace his claims, to embrace his authority, to embrace him for who he was, his savior and so forth.

Those who embrace those things about him and embrace him. They are the sons of God. Now, you might think I've made a big deal about this, except Jesus into your heart thing, as if I really am opposed somehow to this imagery of Jesus coming out in the heart.

I'm not opposed to the imagery. What I'm concerned about is that I'm afraid too often it means nothing to people. Jesus come into my heart is what we teach people to say.

Well, what do they really think is happening there? What do they really what do they what do they conceive of transpiring there? What is there? What are they expecting? What are they believing in? As I understand it, a Christian is a person who becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. And a follower of Jesus Christ. You know, that's a different image to my mind that Jesus, every time he called people, said, come follow me.

He didn't say, ask me into your heart. He said, come and follow me. And they did.

And the apostles, when they preached, they didn't say, ask Jesus into your heart, though they did say to repent and believe the gospel. And as a result of doing that. You will receive the Holy Spirit.

And who is the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of Christ himself. You, in a sense, by receiving the Holy Spirit, you're receiving Jesus in your heart. So so again, it's it's the it's the inadequacy of the language I'm concerned about.

I'm not I'm not trying to debunk the whole concept that Jesus comes into our heart. It's just I'm afraid that the imagery doesn't communicate fully to people what it is that Jesus really is asking of them. What it is Jesus requires of someone to be a disciple.

And and since the Bible never uses the terminology itself, I I prefer to find terminology that's more biblical. Now, before I go further, I'm not an entire I'm not entirely a purist in the sense of only being willing to use biblical terminology. I always prefer to if it's possible.

I can't think of a biblical term for the Trinity, so I'll use the extra biblical term for the Trinity. I believe the Trinity is a biblical concept and I accept the Trinity. And when I call it the Trinity, I realize I'm not using a biblical word.

I don't know of a biblical word for it, except maybe the Godhead. That's that's in there in Colossians two, nine. But if that means the same thing, I don't know.

But the word rapture, it's not in my English Bible, but I believe in the rapture. It's the concept is there. I mean, there are a number of words that we have to use or, you know, it makes it easier to talk about things, even if they're not biblical words.

But when it comes to salvation, I'd like to stick as closely to the biblical words as I can, just so that I don't end up changing the meaning of the statements. If you change the words, you take the risk of changing the meaning as well, which is why I prefer those Bibles that aim at a word for word translation, because those who aim at a thought for thought translation take the risk of changing the thought if they don't give me the actual words from the Greek. But they say, well, we scholars, we know what this phrase meant to Paul.

So we'll just rephrase it. Well, maybe they get it right. Maybe they get it wrong.

I don't much like to take that risk. I'd rather know what the biblical words are and then let the Holy Spirit teach me through my own meditation study upon it. And I hope that you have a similar approach that you're going to think for yourself, use the scripture, search it, search the scripture for yourself like the Brians did and make your own decisions.

And that does not mean that you'll necessarily agree with me when you're done doing that. But I hope you might, because I think I'm right. If I'm not right, then I hope you don't agree with me and that you can correct me.

And first of all, the word gospel, I think everyone who's been a Christian very long knows this, but some of them, some people may not. Some of the children may not. The word gospel actually is comes from the older English word, Godspell, which means good tidings or good news.

And so when we talk about the gospel, when the writers of the scripture use the word gospel, they use the Greek word, you are gaining, which means good, good tidings, good news. And so whatever the gospel is, it must be something in the nature of good news. It must be news of some kind and it must be good news.

Now, we read in the scriptures that the gospel saves us. Since being saved is the highest priority of the believer and of all wise people who want to be right with God, it's if it's the gospel that saves us and we had best understand what the gospel is in first Corinthians 15, verses one and two. Paul said, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

So he says, this is the gospel I preached to you, which you believe in, by which you are saved. Now, he goes on to tell what the content of the gospel is. We'll look at that in a few moments.

But I want to talk to you a moment about how many gospels there are in the Bible. And I I wouldn't normally expect anyone to disagree about this. I mean, any Christians, I mean, even cultists would usually believe that there's only one gospel.

I'm sure the Jehovah's Witnesses would say there's only one gospel, but they think that their version is the right one and everyone else's is wrong. Yet I think the Mormons, certainly the Mormons, think there's only one because Joseph Smith was told by those demons, I mean, those persons who appeared to him that all the churches were preaching abominable messages. So apparently there's no tolerance for more than one gospel in Mormonism.

So even the cults know there's only one gospel and Christianity teaches that there's only one gospel. The funny thing is that there are some Christians, believe it or not, who teach that there's more than one legitimate gospel. In fact, there's a brother who calls me from time to time on the radio.

He's not here and I won't name him. I thought he might be here because he knew the subject matter we've discussed. I should say we've debated this before, but he's a good example of one who thinks there's more than one gospel.

Dispensationalism, which is an extremely popular theological system, teaches that there are two gospels and maybe three, but two at least. There is the gospel of the kingdom. Which it is said Jesus preached.

And in the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus offered the Jewish people. The kingdom now in on this view, on the dispensational view, the kingdom of God was to be a political kingdom like that which David had reigned over. Israel was to become a theocracy under the Messiah and the Messiah would rule in Jerusalem, sitting on David's throne as David had done.

And that Jesus, according to the dispensational view, came and offered that he made a bona fide offer of this to the Jews. And that was the gospel of the kingdom, namely that this Davidic form of political kingdom was about to be set up in Israel if they would accept it. But they rejected it, according to dispensationalism, and that offer was withdrawn.

And when Jesus ascended to heaven, he took it with him. And then with the birth of the church came another gospel, the gospel of grace, which is best understood by the apostle Paul, according to this view, and that Paul's gospel is the gospel of grace. And it is different than the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Now, according to this view, after the church has been raptured, dispensationalists do not believe that it will be the end of history when the church is raptured. They believe there's more to come, including a tribulation and millennium. And they believe that during that time, when the church age is over, the gospel of the kingdom will be reintroduced and that the Jews will then respond to a gospel, not the gospel of grace, because on this view, the Jews are forever God's separate people.

And the Jews were saved on this view in the tribulation period will never be part of the church. They've missed the church age. They're now saved by another gospel.

So this view holds that there's two gospels, one both legitimate. One is the gospel of the kingdom and the other is the gospel of grace. Now, some dispensations go further than most and actually say that Peter and the twelve preached to the Jews one gospel and that Paul and his companions preached to the Gentiles another gospel.

Because the gospel that was preached to the Jews, this brother says, and those who follow his teaching, it's called Bollingerism. It's also called ultra dispensationalism. They teach that in the book of Acts, you'll find two gospels being preached by the apostles and both legitimately.

That Peter and the twelve were commissioned to go to the Jews and they had a gospel for the circumcision and that Paul and his companions were sent to the Gentiles and they had a different gospel for the Gentiles. I must confess, I won't try to represent this view tooth to carefully because I don't understand it very well, even though I've debated this man several times. I just don't understand how he comes to this.

But the scripture he prefers to use most of the time is Galatians two, seven, where Paul talks about one of his early meetings with the apostles after his conversion. And he says. But on the contrary, when they, that is, Peter, James and John, saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.

Now, that's not the end of Paul's sentence, it's a long sentence, but that's as far as you need to read. This this ultra dispensationalism teaches that Peter and his companions, the twelve had a gospel for the circumcision, the Jews, Paul and his companions had a gospel for the uncircumcision, and it was a different gospel. There was one that was the gospel of the circumcision and one that was the gospel of the uncircumcision.

And actually, on this view, when you read Peter's preaching in Acts chapter two, it's not really such preaching as Gentiles could be saved under. It's really preaching the Jewish gospel to the Jewish people and that Paul taught to another group. Now, I've never been able to understand how.

You know, whether Paul, if his conversion was considered a Jew or a Christian under this system, I mean, he was a Jew. So was Peter, for that matter. But I mean, all that all the early disciples were, it seems like they would be in some form of identity crisis because they would.

Are they supposed to be responding to the gospel of the Jews since they're Jews? Are they supposed to respond to the gospel to the Gentiles since that is the church gospel? And it's a very confusing thing, but we don't need to be confused. Dispensationalism and I'm not here to bash dispensationalism generally. It's just this is the only system I know that in Christendom that teaches that there are more than one legitimate gospel.

But dispensationalism is very complicated and has all kinds of charts and stuff needed to explain it and so forth. But as I understand, there's only one gospel. And Paul himself and Peter and all the apostles preached it.

And Paul said this about that. In. Acts, Chapter 20.

Paul is in Miletus and he's called for the elders of the Ephesian church to join him there as he's on his way to Jerusalem. And he knows he's been he's known them for years and they've known his ministry, but he's he's reminding them as he's about to leave them and not see them anymore of some of the things they knew about his background, just kind of refreshing a memory about his ministry because he'd been away for a while. And in Acts 20, verses 24 and 25, Paul said after he'd mentioned that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city that the chains and tribulations await me, he said, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy.

And the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Now, so far, that works pretty well for the dispensations because they say Paul preached the gospel of grace and that's what Paul said he was preaching, is preaching the gospel of the grace of God. In fact, is the only place in the Bible that uses the expression gospel of grace, which doesn't mean it wouldn't be legitimate to use it elsewhere, but that just is just a fact.

Only once in the scripture is the gospel called the gospel of grace or the gospel of grace. God, and this is it. Paul said he preached it.

Well, look at the next verse, verse 25. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Now, he says that he has been preaching the kingdom of God, and yet the previous verses of the preacher, the gospel, the grace of God.

Now, Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom. John the Baptist preached the gospel of the kingdom. The apostles preached the gospel of the kingdom.

The other the Jewish apostles. But Paul also preached the gospel of the kingdom. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any grounds here for making a distinction between the gospel of grace and the message of the kingdom.

Seems to be the same thing. Paul said he preached. That's what he preached.

He used both of these expressions to summarize the things he preached in Revelation 14, six. We read that an angel was seen by John flying through the heavens. Through the midheaven.

And preaching and attention to what it says, he's preaching. In Revelation 14, in verse six. Says, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel.

To preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people. Notice this gospel, the angel preaches is called the everlasting gospel. The everlasting gospel, the eternal gospel.

It's the gospel for all time. It's not as if there's a gospel that was right at one time and another time, there's another gospel. Then later on, there's another gospel.

There's one gospel, one good news, one message. And that's the gospel for all time. It's the eternal gospel.

There are not more than one. And the apostle Paul was extremely intolerant of any suggestion that there might be more than one. If you look at Second Corinthians.

Chapter two. Paul was aware that there were some people who preached other gospels, and he was fearful that his readers might be somewhat tolerant of gospels other than the correct one. In Second Corinthians, chapter 11.

Verses three and four. Paul said, But I fear. Less somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted. You may well put up with it, that's what he's afraid of. They might they might be a little too tolerant of other gospels.

Well, how tolerant was Paul himself of other gospels? Look over just a couple of pages from their Galatians chapter one. Get a pretty clear picture of how tolerant Paul felt people should be about alternative gospels to the one that he preached. He said in verse.

Six of Galatians one, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. In other words, it's not entirely a different message and it's not really legitimately good news either.

It's not really another gospel. It can't legitimately be called that, but it's an alter. It's a perversion, he says, of the real gospel.

They want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But he says in verse eight and nine. But even if we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than that you have received, let him be accursed. The word accursed in both cases is the Greek word anathema means curse to the lowest hell. Paul is not.

Is not ready to coexist side by side happily and peaceably with various gospels in the church, only one is permitted now. Paul is a fairly gracious person, I think, in general, at least the way he preached. I mean, he's the one who wrote first Corinthians 13, isn't he? I mean, that's a pretty gracious chapter and there's a lot more like that in his writings.

But but he he was not gracious toward heresy when it came to the gospel, because a perversion of the gospel is a perversion of that which saves people. And if you don't have the right gospel, arguably you don't have salvation. And so we ought to search the scripture to find out what we can learn about the gospel.

Now, on your notes there. Under Roman number two, I've written down the nature of the gospel as revealed in its names. Several years ago, I decided to look up all the modifiers in the New Testament that modified the word gospel so that we'd know something about it.

For example, eight times in the New Testament, the gospel is called the gospel of God. Twelve times in the New Testament, it's called the gospel of Christ, which is the most frequent way it's spoken of the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God. It is four times referred to as the gospel of the kingdom.

Twice, it's called the gospel of peace. Once it's called the gospel of salvation. Once also, it's called the gospel of the grace of God.

We saw that in Acts, chapter 20. And then there's also one time that it's twice, actually, it's called the gospel of the glory of Christ in second Corinthians, four, four and Titus one eleven, where this is found. Your Bible might say the glorious gospel, but in the Greek, it says the gospel of the glory of Christ.

In those two places. And then it's also called once Christ's gospel. And Paul three times refers to it as my gospel, that is, my Paul Paul's gospel.

So these are the modifiers by which the word gospel is modified in the various usage is in its context in the New Testament. What can we learn from them? Well, I've kind of put it very briefly in the notes there. The gospel of God.

I believe the gospel of God means it originates from God. It is of God in the sense that it proceeds from him. It is his message.

He sent it to us. It is the message that he wants us to have. It is also the gospel of Christ, and I believe it's best to understand that to me, it's the gospel concerning Christ, that Christ is the subject matter of the gospel.

I derive that opinion from Paul's statement at the beginning of the book of Romans. In Romans chapter one and verse one, Paul says, Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God. There's one of the eight places it's called the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So the gospel of God is concerning Jesus. It's a gospel that proceeds from God. And its subject matter is Jesus.

He is the message. He is this. He is that which the gospel introduces and talks about.

OK, it is also called, as I mentioned, four times the gospel of the kingdom. The first time in the gospels that we read of the gospel, it is called the gospel of the kingdom. For example, in Mark, chapter 115, chronologically, the earliest.

Words of Jesus spoken in his adult life, of course, Luke has a few words spoken by him when he was 12 years old, but as far as his adult ministry is concerned, the chronologically earliest words of Jesus are recorded in Mark, chapter one. And in verses 14 and 15. It says now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel. Now, this is the gospel Jesus preached. It was called the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Now, what's it mean? A good news of the kingdom of God? Well, obviously, he said the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. That must be something that has that must have to do with what the good news is.

The good news is the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, of course, if we don't know what the kingdom of God is, then it greatly diminishes our ability to appreciate the message. And many people don't know what is meant by the term kingdom of God.

I've never done much study on it, I suppose. I remember when I was a child reading as often as I did of the kingdom in the gospels. I remember especially in Matthew, where in Matthew alone, the term is used the kingdom of heaven.

I always assume the kingdom must be another reference to heaven itself. After all, the kingdom of heaven sounds a little bit like the phrase the kingdom of Tonga or something like that, because the kingdom of Tonga means the kingdom that is called Tonga. And so kingdom of heaven, I thought, meant, well, the kingdom that is called heaven.

And of course, all of our hymnody, or at least much of it seems to support the notion that the kingdom is heaven. In fact, the idea that we're going to go off to the kingdom when we die is is what some people take for granted to be the case. But Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was at hand.

If if if entering the kingdom of God means you die and go to heaven, then Jesus would be saying you're all going to die soon because the kingdom is near and you're you're about to enter it or at least you have opportunity right now. But I don't think that that is how we're to understand it. Jesus said when he told us to pray to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, earth and heaven are different spheres. The the will of God is already done in heaven. We are to pray that the will of God will be done on earth as it already is done in heaven.

And this is somehow related to the request that his kingdom would come. Well, we'll talk another time about exactly what the kingdom is. But we have to make it very clear that the gospel is called the gospel of the kingdom of God.

And therefore, the true gospel that Jesus preached and I shall show you that Paul preached also was a gospel that the main subject matter was the kingdom of God. And if we don't know what the kingdom of God is, then we will be much, as I say, diminished in our ability to appreciate or to to present the gospel in any sense that that will help people, I think, or at least help them to appreciate the fullness of the salvation that we are called to. It is called the gospel of peace because actually peace is one of the aspects of the kingdom.

If you are in the kingdom, you experience peace. So said Paul anyway, in Romans 14, 17, where he said the kingdom of God. Is not food and drink, but the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So peace is one of the components or one of the aspects of the kingdom of God. So to call it the gospel of peace simply focuses on one of the aspects of the gospel of the kingdom. It's good news about the kingdom.

It's good news about peace because peace is part of that message. It's the gospel of salvation because salvation is what happens when you enter the kingdom. Speaking about our being saved, Paul said in Colossians 1, 13, that God has translated us out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of his own dear son.

We have been translated into the kingdom, said Paul in Colossians 1, 13. That's our salvation. Salvation is an aspect of being in the kingdom.

Also, we'll have more to say about salvation. I'm going to give a whole separate lecture on what salvation is later in the series. But the grace of God is also an aspect of the kingdom.

And the glory of Christ, the gospel of the glory of Christ, is also an aspect of the kingdom. We can see that in, for example, First Thessalonians 2, 12. Where Paul said.

That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. So glory is an aspect of the call into the kingdom and God calls us into the kingdom and glory. Well, wouldn't it be nice to know what the kingdom is if we're called to the kingdom and what glory is? Do you know what glory is? What is glory? What does it mean to be called to glory? Is that just another way of saying called to go to heaven? I've got a home in glory land that I've seen way beyond the blue.

Is that is that what the Bible uses? There's a word glory in scripture mean heaven. I don't think so. I don't find it so.

But these are aspects of the kingdom of God that the Bible says a great deal about. But I'm amazed how long I was a Christian before I was ever challenged to study out what the Bible meant by these words. They're wonderful words.

Fantastic. It's good news. It's thrilling.

But my own understanding of the gospel for so many years was so narrow, it was just, you know, I believe Jesus is my savior. You know, Jesus saved me. I'm going to go to heaven.

I accepted Jesus into my heart. And what a narrow understanding of the gospel that is when you consider how broad the scripture suggests the content of the gospel really is. It's about the kingdom and these aspects of peace and salvation and the grace and the glory of Christ.

And then it is called Christ's gospel because it's that which Christ preached. We already read a moment ago, Mark one fourteen. Jesus went into all Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

So that's the gospel Christ preached. Did Paul preach another? Did Paul preach a different gospel than that? No, he taught the same gospel. Let me show you several samples.

Of Paul's preaching in the book of Acts, and we can easily decide whether Paul preached the kingdom of God or something different than that. In Acts, chapter 14. And verse 22, Paul and Barnabas were returning from their first missionary journey, they'd already finished their outward leg of the trip, they were now returning home, revisiting the same cities that they had evangelized on their way forward.

They're now going back to Antioch, their home church that had sent them out. And it says, as they visited these churches, this is what they did. They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

Now, my dispensational friends tell me that Paul didn't preach the gospel, the kingdom of God, he taught the gospel of grace, but he was sound like he's talking about entering the kingdom of God here. Isn't it good news if we can enter the kingdom of God? I think it is. What's the difference between that and what Jesus preached about the kingdom of God? We need to enter the kingdom of God.

And Paul said it's through much tribulation, we do so. Obviously, his his listeners knew what the kingdom of God was because they had heard him preach the gospel to them in chapter 19 of Acts. It says of Paul, and he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

This is his ministry in Corinth. He reasoned with them for three months about the things of the kingdom of God. Well, when's he going to get around to preach the gospel of grace with these people? Well, the kingdom of God is the gospel.

The kingdom of God is the same gospel as the gospel of grace. There's only one gospel. There's only one that's legitimate.

It is called the gospel of grace once. It's called the gospel of the kingdom four times. It's called a whole lot of other names, too, but it's only one gospel.

These different modifiers simply tell us more about what the gospel is. Certainly, Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. If you look over at Acts 28, 23, because we've already seen Acts 20, 25, Acts 20, 25 is where he had said that he preached the gospel of grace and he'd been preaching the kingdom of God, he said.

But in the very closing verses of the book of Acts and Acts, chapter 28. And verse 23, talking about how Paul occupied himself in the two years that he was in Rome. It says in verse 23, so when he had appointed him a day, many came to him to Paul at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God.

Persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening. So when people came to Paul, he explained to them the things about the kingdom of God, same as Jesus did. Whatever Jesus taught, he said, the kingdom of God is like and they tell a parable, the king of God is like a sower.

So I'd say the king of God is like a woman putting leaven into a lump of dough. A kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that grows into a great tree and so forth. The kingdom of God is what Jesus was always talking about.

Sounds like that's what Paul was talking about, too. These men were not teaching different gospels. It's the same message, same kingdom, same good news.

In fact, if you look down at the end of the book of Acts, verse 30 and 31 of the last chapter says when Paul then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God. I thought he preached the gospel. Of course he preached the gospel.

It's the kingdom of God is the gospel. He was preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. So we know that Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, according to the plain statements of scripture and also from just reading his teachings, always talking about the kingdom of God.

Then what Paul talk about? Well, he seems obsessed with the same subject. He's obsessed with the gospel. It's the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Sure, it's the gospel of grace. Grace is one aspect of that, and there's many other aspects, too, but it's the same gospel. There's only one gospel, and it clearly is legitimately called the gospel of the kingdom of God.

But more often than that, it's called the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will wait till another time to talk about what the gospel of the kingdom of God is, according to Jesus and Paul and scripture generally. But tonight I would like to say a few things about this expression, the most common expression for the gospel in the New Testament is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news concerning Jesus Christ.

It's interesting that Mark opens his gospel with these words, the beginning of the gospel. Of Jesus Christ. Then what follows everything, the whole life of Jesus follows.

And Mark refers to the opening of the what we call the gospel of Mark, he calls that the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obviously, when Mark presented the gospel, he wanted to present more than just a few lines. He wanted to preach a lot of information about Jesus.

He wanted to include information about Jesus life and his death and his resurrection. This that's when he began to write the gospel. It contains all this information.

He calls it the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In first Corinthians 15. Paul emphasizes a few things in the life of Jesus more than others as being central to the gospel that he preached in first Corinthians 15, one through five.

He says, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved. If you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain, for I delivered to you, first of all, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That which I also received what here's the gospel that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures and that he was seen by a whole bunch of people whom Paul lists now based on this verse, where Paul simply says the gospel I preached is that Jesus died, according to the scriptures for our sins, that he was buried and he rose again the third day and was seen by many, according to scriptures.

Some have concluded that the whole gospel is subsumed in those few acts of Jesus at the end of his life, his death and resurrection. Now, let me say this. It certainly is Paul's emphasis here, but it may be because he's going to go on to argue that it therefore makes no sense for the Corinthians to have people among them who said there's no resurrection from the dead.

You see, the reason he introduces this chapter this way is because he's addressing the fact that there's some heretics in the Church of Corinth who say there's no resurrection. He says, well, let's start at the beginning. What gospel did I preach to you? I mean, you all got saved when I preached to you.

What I preach. Jesus died. Right.

And what happened next? He rose from the dead. Now, how can anyone among you say there's no resurrection of the dead right from the day you accepted the gospel by which you were saved? And if you hold fast to it, you're saved by it. It's a gospel included the resurrection.

And then he goes on to point out from that springboard from that, that the resurrection is an essential doctrine to the gospel and to the into the Christian life. It may not be that Paul is saying that the only contents of the gospel that ever preached them was that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Now, some people think that Paul did deliberately restrict all his preaching to just those things.

In fact, some would think that Paul himself tells us this in first Corinthians, chapter two. Very well known verse. Or verses at the beginning of first Corinthians, two, he says that I, brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Et cetera, et cetera. Now, this business, I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified. This has led many to believe that the church should preach nothing but Jesus and him crucified.

Now, obviously, the crucifixion is very important. But what about the resurrection? He didn't mention that here. Obviously, Paul's not giving the whole summary of everything he taught them, because he also we know from chapter 15, he also talked about the resurrection.

But he doesn't mention that here. In fact, when he says, I determined no nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, that knowing Jesus Christ, there's a lot of content to that. I mean, that would include his resurrection, that would include his life, that would include whatever we know about Jesus Christ, knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and crucified doesn't mean that the crucifixion and death of Jesus is the only part that Paul preached.

And by the way, even if that were all he had preached to the Corinthians, we know it isn't. It would not mean that that's all the church ever talk about. Because he says in verse six of the same chapter, first Corinthians, two, six, however, we speak wisdom among those who are mature.

Now, notice the contrast. I determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus and crucified, but to those who are mature, we speak some other things. Now, how do I know that's his meaning? We'll look at chapter three of first Corinthians.

He says in the opening verses of chapter three, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as under spiritual people, but as under carnal, as babes in Christ, I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now, you were not able to receive it, nor even now are you able. So Paul is saying among the Corinthians, he kept it as simple as possible, kept it down to the basic milk of the gospel. He and he spent 18 months with those people and he never got beyond the basics with them because they were babes until the day he left.

And he said they still are, even as he writes back to them. So when he says, I determined to know nothing among you except this limited thing. But to those who are mature, first Corinthians, two, six, as we do speak some other things, we should not assume that because Paul only said certain things among the Corinthians, that's all the church should ever say.

But it is certainly the case that Paul did not neglect to preach the gospel to the Corinthians, as he points out in the opening verse of first Corinthians, 15. I preach this gospel to you. Now, the gospel then is about Christ.

It's about him crucified and him raised from the dead. Now, if we would look at the book of Acts, the various sermons there and say, what is the common denominator of these sermons? We could find what the gospel was, according to Peter and according to Philip, the evangelist, and according to Paul and his companions. It's interesting.

They all preach the same gospel. It's true. The different sermons in the book of Acts do have some different features in them.

Depends on the audience and, you know, how quickly had to bring them up to speed and so forth before he got to the meat of what he wanted to say. But let me just take you through a few of the sermons in the book of Acts. I'm not the whole sermons, but just an extract of each of them.

So you could see what is really part of the gospel presentation, according to the apostles in Acts, chapter two on the day of Pentecost. After Peter had explained the phenomenon of the day of Pentecost, because there was some confusion initially about that. He then got to the actual presentation of the gospel in verse 22.

Men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and have crucified and have put to death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by them.

Then he gives some scripture from Psalm 16 to show that this was according to the scriptures. And then he says in verse well, we'll stop there. Verse three, verse twenty eight.

He quotes Psalm 16. Remember, Christ died according to scriptures. He rose according to scriptures.

The apostles almost always quoted Old Testament scriptures to show that it was scriptural that the Messiah would die for our sins and would rise again. But notice, notice these components here in verse twenty two. A digest of the life of Jesus.

I mean, just a very short summary of the life of Jesus, this Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God by miracles, signs and wonders, et cetera, et cetera. But he says, as you yourselves know, he didn't have to say much because he had Jesus been right there in their midst. They knew who he was.

They had seen what he'd done, but then he skips immediately talk about Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead and then he makes his appeal to them. So the gospel presentation on this occasion was there was something about the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. In the next chapter, we have the second sermon Peter ever preached, as far as we know, in Acts chapter three.

And in that sermon, if you had not versus 13. And following. Through 15, he says to his audience, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.

But you denied the holy one in the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the prince of life whom God raised up from the dead. And we are his witnesses. Now, notice you've got God sent Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent Jesus.

You killed him and God raised him. That's, again, the core message of the gospel that was in both those sermons. If you go further on to chapter four, when Peter is standing before the Sanhedrin and they're asking to give an account of his activities, which they do not approve of.

He says them in verses 10 through 12 of chapter four, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him. This man stands before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which was become the chief cornerstone.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Notice whom you crucified, whom God raised up from the dead. This is the essential declaration of the apostles in the gospel in chapter five, he's standing before a similar crowd, same crowd, actually.

And he says this to them in chapter five, verse 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging him on a tree. OK, there's more, but you killed him. God raised him.

Now, that's Peter's sermons to the Jews. Now, somebody said, but that's it. That's to the Jews.

What about the message to the Gentiles? Well, Peter preached to them, too. And if you look at Peter's only recorded sermon to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10, you'll find basically the same components there. There's other introductory remarks and so forth, but when you get down to the actual core of the gospel, this is what you find.

In Acts 10, verses 37 and following, we don't have to read the whole thing, we might. Let's see. Peter says.

That word, you know. Which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism, which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all these things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.

Him, God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And it goes on to say how he commands to preach. But notice a digest of the life of Jesus.

Jesus was a man who went around doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil. And then he got killed by the Jews. And as Peter says, notice his first time, Peter says they killed him because this time he's talking to Gentiles.

He always told the Jews, you killed him. But anyway. That's the sermon that he gave to or the gospel he gave to the Gentiles.

What did Paul preach the Gentiles? His first recorded sermon is in Acts, chapter 13. And he actually preached this to Jews. But he obviously preached to Gentiles, too, because a lot of Gentiles came to the synagogue and they followed him, although the Jews rejected him after the sermon in Acts 13.

Beginning at verse 23. Paul has given quite a bit of the Jews history before this point, but now he gets to the story of Jesus from this man's seed that is Abraham's seed, according to the promise God raised up for Israel, a savior, Jesus. And after John had first preached.

Before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you think that I am? I'm not he. But behold, there comes one after me whose sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to lose men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham.

And to those of you who fear God, that would be Gentiles. God fears as well as the children of Abraham. To you, the word of this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know him, nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath.

They fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death. Now, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead. And then Paul gives some scriptures to indicate that. Right.

So what do you have? The life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus. Same gospel Peter preached. One other occasion of Paul's preaching is worthy of looking at here.

Acts, chapter twenty six, verses twenty two and twenty three. Paul says, therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand witnessing both to small and great saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come that Christ would suffer that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. So, again, mention that Jesus suffered and died as his blood and he would be the first to rise from the dead.

So the death and resurrection of Jesus are never absent in the presentations. Now, the way Paul put it in first Corinthians fifteen three, he said, I declare to you that Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture that he was buried and he rose the third day, according to the scriptures. Now, the scriptures mean the Old Testament scriptures.

But but the point here is it doesn't just say that he died, but he died for our sins. And this is something I have a feeling a lot of people in the gospel presented cannot fully appreciate because they don't know what sin is. Many people that we preach the gospel to don't even have a very acute sense of needing someone to die for their sins.

A lot of people don't even believe there is such a thing as sin, and if they do, they think it's just some foible that everybody has. No one's perfect. And, you know, why should I need to be forgiven of sins? And what does it mean that Jesus died for sins? What does his death have to do with my sins? You ever wonder that I mean, if you're raised like I was hearing the gospel of my life, I always accepted the fact Jesus died for my sins.

Wasn't until I got quite a bit older. I thought, why would his dying have something to do with my sins? I'm the one who sinned. He's the one who died.

I thought the soul that said that she'll die. And there is a fair bit more complexity to the theology behind this than then perhaps we need to explain to people, though it would help if we understood it ourselves. Especially after we've been saved to understand to appreciate what Jesus death has done for us.

Of course, what we usually tell people, and I think quite correctly, is that we were condemned because we're sinners. And instead of our suffering, the condemnation that we deserve, Jesus was crucified in our place. That is quite correct.

Or as it's put in Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse twenty one, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But that's a deep theological concept there. He died for my sins.

Now, how did Paul understand that? Well, when Paul gets around to explaining it in places like Ephesians and Colossians and Romans, but Paul actually explains that when Jesus died, I died in him and when he rose, I rose in him. Now, I don't expect an unbeliever to quite understand that concept when I'm just preaching the gospel to him. That may be something that only Christians can come to appreciate afterward.

But what a person needs to know is that Jesus died not not as most men die. He didn't die, first of all, a natural death. Second, he died a criminal death.

And most people who die criminal death die because they are criminals. But he wasn't a criminal. It says of him in Isaiah fifty three, all all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And that the good news is, well, we got to know what the bad news is. The bad news is we're sinners and that God cannot accept us in that condition. Though he would like to, he can't, and therefore he has provided a means by which the sin barrier between us and him can be resolved, and that is that Jesus took our sin upon himself.

If the church says, how can that happen? I'm going to say, I don't know. I've thought about it a lot over the past 30 years and I still don't know. I don't know how it is that my guilt can be transferred to another person, but I don't have to understand it.

One of the things that's one of my core beliefs is God can do anything he wants. And and if God says that's what he did, that I can accept that, I can accept that. I he maybe he'll even explain it to me when I get to heaven.

But I don't know that he will. I don't know that I'll require it of him. I'm not sure that I'll be interested in hearing it explained at that point.

But I'll tell you this, there is a clear declaration that I sinned and Jesus died. So that the barrier that my sins create between me and God can be eliminated as a barrier. Now, there's several things I'm not going to look at all the scriptures on these points, but in your notes, you can see them.

The components of the story of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins, that he's risen from the dead. And we know subsequently all the gospels record that he also ascended to the right hand of God. Now, there are ramifications to these things.

We won't explore them right now because we're running out of time tonight. And I want to close this up. But let me just summarize them and show you where the scriptures are so you can look them up on your own.

What does it mean? Jesus died for our sins. Well, among other things, the Bible says he redeemed us by his blood. Redeemed means bought back.

It's like we were taken slaves and the word redeemed means to buy back a slave out of slavery and we were slaves of sin. We're not free, but Jesus redeemed us and redeeming always redemption always requires the payment of a price. The Bible makes it clear that that price was the blood of Jesus in the book of Revelation.

The inhabitants of heaven are singing and celebrating this fact in Revelation five. It says you have redeemed us from every nation, kindred and tongue by your blood. Paul says in Ephesians one seven that through his blood, it says we have redemption through his blood means that his blood paid a price to purchase us out of the slavery that we have of sin.

And because we have been purchased out of that slavery, we are delivered from the bondage of sin. According to Romans, chapter six and verse six, it says that our old man was crucified with him. That.

The body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, no longer serve sin. So what people need to be told when we say Jesus died for your sins, they need to be told there's some ramifications about this. It's not just the feel good news that God's going to let me off the hook.

True, God lets me off the hook, but he lets me off the hook because I've been redeemed out of the bondage of sin, I'm expecting now to not serve sin anymore. I'm expected to serve God now, and it's not just, you know, go and take your salvation with you and forget about God. It's you've been redeemed to serve God or the way Paul put it.

Over in Titus, chapter. Two. I don't have this in your notes, but it'd be worth to put it worthwhile to write it in there if it's not there, of course, but here's what it says.

Jesus did in verse 14 of Titus to Titus to 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us. OK, when Jesus died for us and he redeemed us, OK, then he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. So when Jesus died for my sins, it was so he'd redeem me out of the bondage of sin.

So I'd be one of those special people that is zealous for good works and purified. I'm zealous for good because he's purified me. I wouldn't be zealous for good works if my heart hadn't changed, but that he might purify himself, the special people who are zealous for good works, his blood not only redeem me and canceled the sin debt and the condemnation problem there, but also purchased me.

So I'm owned. I'm redeemed out of the slavery to sin. But guess what? I'm bought into slavery to the person who bought me, owns me.

So that Paul says in Romans or First Corinthians six. No, you're not that you're not your own. You've been bought with a price.

You're not you're not your own. So when people are told Jesus died for your sins and they say, oh, that's wonderful. Now I can go to heaven.

Well, OK, that's part of it. But we're not there yet. There's a little while between now and then.

In the meantime, you need to know something else. When he paid that price to buy your pardon and to buy you out of slavery. Guess what? He bought you into slavery, his slavery.

You're owned by him. Now, if you take him up on this deal, you don't belong to yourself anymore. You belong to him.

And only if you understand that. Can you really benefit from his having died for your sin only, at least only if you respond to that with all its ramifications, because you can't just take part of it now and understand later and make the change later. The fact is that Jesus died for our sins so that we wouldn't sin so that we wouldn't serve sin, but we'd serve him instead.

And so that part of the gospel has got to be made, I think, clear one way or another. And I think that it was made clear by the apostles. I think we sometimes have a mere digest of their words in the book of Acts.

But but in their epistles, it's clear that they figured all these ramifications were there. When we say that Christ rose from the dead, the Bible indicates that this indicates that proves that we're justified. Now, I believe we're justified by his blood, which has more to do with his death.

But Paul said in Romans chapter four, something very interesting. He said that Christ and verse twenty five, Christ was delivered up, meaning to be crucified because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. What's that mean? He was raised because of our justification.

What what what is the significance when we tell people Jesus rose from the dead? What's that got to do with me? Well, one thing it has to do with me is this, that he rose from the dead because God considered that all of my guilt that he took with him on the cross and took down into wherever he went. That he that it all got canceled. It got taken care of.

God considers it a clean slate or else he wouldn't have let Jesus come out again because Jesus had all my guilt on him. That would have held him down like an anvil pulling to the bottom of the ocean. He couldn't have come back up if he hadn't been freed from that.

He he was the debt is canceled. And the fact that Jesus rose from the dead proves that his death was recognized by God as sufficient for my justification. He was raised because of our justification, Paul says.

And so the justification, by the way, is one of those words a lot of people don't know what it means. Just means acquitted. The word to the word justify means to acquit as a judge acquits a person who's found innocent to be declared not guilty.

But his resurrection also procured eternal life, because when Jesus before Jesus died on the cross, it's quite clear he didn't have eternal life because he died. You can't if you have eternal life, you can't die while you possess eternal life. He had natural life and he came into being supernaturally by the virgin birth and so forth.

But he lived a natural life so that he got tired. He got hungry. He he felt pain.

I mean, he was a human being. He was God in the flesh, but as such, he'd become a human being. He had he had he was mortal.

He had mortal life and he gave up that mortal life for us. But when he came out of the grave, he came out with immortal life, with eternal life. He'll never die again.

But dying once he dies, no more. The Bible says and that eternal life is that which he imparts to us so that we when we're baptized, Paul says in Romans six, were baptized into his burial, buried with him in baptism. And we and as he was raised from the dead, we should walk in a new life.

This this life that Jesus acquired in his resurrection is the life that he gives to us. So that John says, this is the message that God has given to us eternal life in this life is in his son. This is the message of the gospel, certainly part of it, that when Jesus rose from the dead, he came forth with resurrection life, which is eternal life.

And that is what he imparts to those who are in him. I don't expect too many unbelievers to understand the Pauline concept of in Christ. I'm not sure I fully understand it.

It takes it takes quite a bit of meditation and study of the scripture to grasp what it means to be in Christ. But the point is, Jesus resurrection from the dead was the introduction of a new and eternal kind of life. And that life is what he gives to those who are his people.

That is what he has acquired for us is eternal life so that we never need to die. And we do have to physically die, maybe if we don't live, if we're not here when Jesus comes back, if we die first, but but we will live forever in resurrection life. Now, the ascension of Christ is another thing that is, of course, sort of a tag onto his resurrection, according to the scriptures, Christ resurrected for three purposes.

One was that from the right hand of God, he could reign as sovereign over all things. I've given you some scriptures there. And Ephesians and first Peter and Acts.

It is declared that since Jesus is risen from the dead, he's above all authorities and over all powers and so forth. Jesus himself said just before he ascended, all authority in heaven and earth is given to me. And this means that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus died for my sins and rose again means that he's my savior.

The fact that he's ascended and given a place at the right hand of God means he's my lord. In fact, Peter closed his first sermon with these words. Let the house of Israel surely know that God has made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

You can't have a gospel without the lordship of Jesus. In fact, Paul said in in Romans 10, I think it's verse nine. He says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised that you will be saved, he'll become your savior when you confess him as Lord and not before.

You cannot have a gospel that resembles the gospel of the Bible without the lordship of Jesus being the bottom line. Really, the bottom line is that after he saved us, he ascended heaven and he's now made Lord and Christ at the right hand of God. He's given all authority and we are to submit to that authority.

How could we be owned by him and him be our lord? And we don't submit to his authority and the implications in terms of obedience. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if he's your lord and he bought you and you're owned by him, that your job description for the rest of your life is to obey what he said. That's all that's left until you die and go to heaven.

So the gospel includes the lordship of Jesus, which, of course, includes the requirement of obedience. Jesus said in the gospel in Luke, chapter six, he said, why do you call me Lord? Lord, you don't do what I say. Doesn't make sense.

A lord is an owner. People who have lords are called slaves. OK, from the right hand of the father, he also intercedes for us, according to Romans 834.

He sits the right hand of God from whence he makes intercession for us. It says that also in Hebrews. That's the high priestly ministry of Christ.

That means he stands for us when you sin. Do you know that sometimes you sin after you get saved? But when you do, Jesus appeals to the father on your behalf. He intercedes for you and says, father, you know, I've covered that.

And so that's where he is. He's at the right hand of God interceding for us. And of course, from the right hand of God, the scripture makes it very clear he will return.

And when he does, he will vindicate his own name and he'll vindicate his people. There's a number of scriptures about that. It says in Philippians, chapter three and verse twenty one, that Christ is in heaven or it actually says our citizenship is in heaven from which we look for.

Christ to come, who will change our vile body and transform it into the likeness of his glorious body. Or as it says in Colossians three, four, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then we shall appear with him in glory. It says in Second Thessalonians, chapter one, second Thessalonians one, verse seven, I think it is or six.

Paul says, it's seen it's a righteous thing with God. To repay those who trouble you with tribulation and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall come from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's first Thessalonians, second Thessalonians one, I think it's around verses six through eight.

So so when Jesus comes back, he will vindicate his people. He will vindicate his own name, which is really what his people want more than anything. By the way, I hope you understand this.

When your heart is given to the Lord, you care more about his vindication than your own. Paul said, I could wish myself accursed from Christ if Christ would get the proper honor from his people, Israel. And it's the glory of God that the Christian then begins to live for.

But the good news is simply that Jesus came and he did the things he did. I think I think when we present the gospel, we need to acquaint people with some of the things Jesus did, like the apostles did. I mean, you know, these days you will meet people who don't even know who Jesus was.

It's hard to believe 30 years ago. You'd never think of meeting someone who never heard of Jesus in this country. But there are people they don't even know when they hear their name, Jesus.

They don't even know what it refers to. There's a whole generation of people who have not been acquainted with him, and we need to acquaint them with him. It's not just that he died, but he came and he was God's God's son.

He came and he did miracles. He healed the sick. He did good things for people.

And then they killed him. And when he died, his blood paid a purchase price for us. He redeemed us out of the power and the condemnation of sin, but he also redeemed us unto himself to be a special people, zealous for good works.

And he rose from the dead for our justification, but also to give us a new kind of life that he introduced at his resurrection, an eternal life that never ends. And he is now at the right hand of God, where he is Lord over all things, and he commands all men everywhere to repent and to submit to him. Now, I haven't yet really gotten tonight into the demands of the gospel.

I've hinted at them, read a few verses that have them in there. But this is really the good news, according to the New Testament, the news that the apostles preached that Jesus preached. We in later sessions in this series, I'm going to talk about what the kingdom of God is and what particularly is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Key subject in the in the New Testament. Amazing how many years I went without knowing what it meant and yet how how easily the meaning is found once someone decides to search it out and search the scriptures on it. But we'll also have a session where we talk about what salvation is, because too many people just don't understand.

Because when you talk about can you lose your salvation, cannot lose your salvation and so forth. It's very clear in these discussions. Many people don't really understand what salvation is.

They think it's some kind of a thing, you know, something that, you know, it's like a ticket or something. Salvation is much fuller. There's a great salvation that the Bible presents.

It's not just a thing that God gives you. It is him. But.

There's more and we will take a few sessions to talk about them, but I also need to, of course, make very clear in one of our sessions what the demands of the gospel are, what the responses that's required of us. But that'll come clear as we talk about the gospel of the kingdom is because the gospel of the kingdom is a message about a king. And if you're going to be in his kingdom, you have to be one of the subjects.

If you're if you're in a king's kingdom, you are there as a subject. And since we are already before we're converted subject to another evil king, it means we have to turn around and we need to reassign our loyalties. We call that repenting.

And we'll talk about that and what faith is and so forth. But at this point, we've gone long enough, I think, tonight. And so we'll stop there.