Passage: The Gospel & Salvation | Lesson 01-02
Danny Orh | September 21 & 28, 2014
As followers of Christ, it is important that we understand the foundation of our faith and where it comes from. We do not necessarily need to understand every little bit of detail, but I believe that there are four important questions that we, as Christians, should be readily able to answer:
1. What is the gospel?
Romans 1:16-17 reads: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
The word 'gospel' is mentioned many times in Scripture, and over 70 times in the New Testament alone. Translated from the Greek, the word simply means 'good news'. Scripture shares with us that everyone has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the cost of sin is death. This death is culmination of God's wrath upon us (John 3:36), but this "Gospel" reveals to us that there is hope in Jesus Christ in that God gave Him as the propitiation, the satisfaction of divine wrath, for our sin (Romans 3:21-26).
2. Where does it come from?
We are given this message of salvation from Scripture. We, as believers, need to know where to find this message of faith both for our own spiritual feeding as well as for sharing the good news with others. Though there are many, listed are a few passages about the gospel:
3. What does it do?
Romans 1:16-17 shares with us that in the message of the Gospel, the "righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith". When we are faced with the message of the Gospel, the perfect righteousness of God is revealed to us. When we compare our own righteousness to that of Gods, we see and understand that we are desperately in need of a Savior because we are completely unacceptable to God.
4. Why do I need it?
We need the gospel because we are desperately and radically depraved (Romans 3:9-20). When the righteousness of God is revealed to us, we see that need Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life to pay the penalty of our sin so that when we come before God, we receive Christ's righteousness on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Christ's death was necessary for our salvation (Matthew 29:39). If Jesus did not die on the cross, there would be no good news; there would be no gospel. God's unmitigated wrath would still be upon us. It was the only sacrifice that was worthy of paying our debt and satisfying the wrath of God.
Questions to think about:
As followers of Christ, it is important that we understand the foundation of our faith and where it comes from. We do not necessarily need to understand every little bit of detail, but I believe that there are four important questions that we, as Christians, should be readily able to answer:
1. What is the gospel?
Romans 1:16-17 reads: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
The word 'gospel' is mentioned many times in Scripture, and over 70 times in the New Testament alone. Translated from the Greek, the word simply means 'good news'. Scripture shares with us that everyone has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the cost of sin is death. This death is culmination of God's wrath upon us (John 3:36), but this "Gospel" reveals to us that there is hope in Jesus Christ in that God gave Him as the propitiation, the satisfaction of divine wrath, for our sin (Romans 3:21-26).
2. Where does it come from?
We are given this message of salvation from Scripture. We, as believers, need to know where to find this message of faith both for our own spiritual feeding as well as for sharing the good news with others. Though there are many, listed are a few passages about the gospel:
- John 3:16
- Romans 5:8
- Romans 10:9-10
- Colossians 1:13-14
- Titus 3:4-7
Romans 1:16-17 shares with us that in the message of the Gospel, the "righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith". When we are faced with the message of the Gospel, the perfect righteousness of God is revealed to us. When we compare our own righteousness to that of Gods, we see and understand that we are desperately in need of a Savior because we are completely unacceptable to God.
4. Why do I need it?
We need the gospel because we are desperately and radically depraved (Romans 3:9-20). When the righteousness of God is revealed to us, we see that need Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life to pay the penalty of our sin so that when we come before God, we receive Christ's righteousness on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Christ's death was necessary for our salvation (Matthew 29:39). If Jesus did not die on the cross, there would be no good news; there would be no gospel. God's unmitigated wrath would still be upon us. It was the only sacrifice that was worthy of paying our debt and satisfying the wrath of God.
Questions to think about:
- How would the gospel affect someone’s life? What would a “gospel-affected life” look like?
- What happens to those who reject the gospel message?
- What about those who received the wrong “gospel message”?
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