Presenting the Gospel
It is the whole duty of the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.
In doing personal work, there are three things we must keep in mind:
The man or woman who has not obeyed the gospel is lost.
The gospel is the POWER of God unto salvation.
Christians are vessels through which the gospel is carried to the lost.
I ask you:
Do you think much about spiritual things?
Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know that you have eternal life?
Suppose I were to ask you, "What must I do to be saved or What must I do to inherit eternal life?" What would tell me?
Let's take a few verses of Scripture and see what God's Word has to say about this? But first, answer these questions:
Are you saved?
Are you a member of any church?
If so, which one?
How long after you were saved was it before you joined that church?
How did you become a member of that church?
Have you ever been baptized in water so that you could be saved?
The Gospel Plan of Salvation.
I. Romans 1:16-17 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith." {Or The one who is righteous through faith will live} (NRSV) - Since salvation is found in The Gospel, and in it we find the righteousness of God, then we must believe that Gospel to be saved. Right?
A. Romans 3:23 - since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; (NRSV) - God says we are all sinners:
1. All have sinned. You and me - BOTH of us.
2. Romans 1:26-32, - Paul gives us a list of sins - - As you read these verses, I want you to underline in your mind any you may have committed. "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die -- yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them." (NRSV)
3. Sin business is serious business. As long as we compare ourselves with others, we feel pretty righteous, don't we? But God compares us to His Son, Jesus Christ.
a. But, you say, "How can He do that, no one is that righteous!"
b. The idea is becoming clearer isn't it!
c. If Jesus were here right now, could you look Him in the eye and say you are as good and righteous as He?
d. Why not?
B. Romans 6:23 - because we are sinners (by our own admission), we find that our sins have earned us something. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NRSV)
1. Sin pays "wages." Because God is just, we have something coming. Death is separation from God. We have all sinned, therefore, we have all earned "death." (see Ephesians 2:1&2)
2. Romans 3:24 - We are offered "Grace" as a "gift" through Jesus Christ! "they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," (NRSV)
a. Grace is undeserved kindness. We had done nothing to deserve to have God sacrifice His Son to forgive us of our sins.
b. John 3:16 - It was because He loved us so. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (NRSV)
c. Romans 5:8 - But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (NRSV)
d. 2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NRSV)
II. So you see that on the "cross" Jesus was paying our debt. Our debt was death and separation from God, and the sinless Son of God paid that debt!
A. Mark 15:34 - Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (NRSV)
B. Imagine dying and being separated for your own sins.
1. Now imagine that same dying and separation being multiplied in the body of Jesus for everyone who has ever or ever will live upon this earth!
2. That's what He suffered on the cross.
C. All you have to do to receive that atoning sacrifice is to reach out in faith and accept it.
III. Now, if you are like any other warm blooded earthling, you are saying, "I want that free gift!"
A. And you can have it, because God offers it.
B. The question now is, "How do you accept it?"
1. Romans 6:3-7 - Paul tells us. - verse 3 - Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (NRSV)
2. What are the wages of sin? (
Death
)
3. What did Jesus do on the Cross? (
He Died
)
4. We are "what" into His death? (
Baptized
)
C. Can you see how we accept and receive this "free gift?"
IV. Now, let's see what Jesus says about this.
A. Mark 16:15&16
1. verse 15 says, "Go . . . proclaim the Good News."
2. verse 16 says, "The one who believes and is baptized will be saved . . ." (NRSV)
3. Do you believe that? . . . but the one who does not believe will be condemned. (NRSV)
B. We see that Paul agrees with and is teaching what Jesus commanded.
C. We see that Jesus has given us the necessary combination to enter into God's Kingdom.
1. If you had a very expensive lock with the combination 1 + 2 + 3 and you used the combination 1 + 3 + 2, what would happen? It would not open would it. What about the combination 1 + 1.5 + 3?
2. This is what many have done with God's combination. Some say "Faith + Salvation + Baptism." Or "Faith + Sprinkling + Salvation." Or even farther off "No Faith + Sprinkling + Salvation."
V. The Apostle Peter teaches this also:
A. Acts 2:37-42 - After they had been convicted of their sinfulness, they asked, ". . . what should we do?"
1. To which Peter responded, "Nothing you legalist, it's already been done for you!"
2. If you searched the scriptures, you know that is NOT what he said.
3. But, he in fact said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven" AND IN ORDER TO "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (NRSV)
4. In verse 41 we see that, ". . . those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added." (NRSV).
VI. One last scripture .- This final one is about an individual like yourself.
A. Acts 8:35-39 - The Ethiopian Eunach. You know the story.
B. You too, have heard about Jesus; haven't you?
1. "Like the eunuch, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?"
2. "Do you believe He died on the Cross for your sins?"
3. "Let me ask you something personal. Do you believe that if you gave your heart to Jesus and obeyed the Gospel, that you could be saved?"
4. "That's exactly what the eunuch did, wasn't it?"
5. "After the Eunuch believed all this, what did he do?" (
he was baptized
)
6. "What does God want you to do?"
7. "Can you understand what to do to receive eternal life?"
8. "So, if you want it, you could have this wonderful gift from God." "Couldn't You?"
9. "Do you want it?"
10. "Will you accept it and be baptized RIGHT NOW!!!???"
Please let us hear from you if you have any response to this lesson.
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