Looking for a simpler way to explain the gospel to a younger audience, recently, I searched YouTube. I saw a couple of videos (entitled The Gospel) of Paul Washer speaking to students at the Masters University. Both videos were at least 45 minutes long and I thought (and ignorantly, I might add) to myself, “My goodness, does it really take 45 minutes to explain the gospel?” Then, I watched the videos. Wow! After watching the first one, I was immediately convicted of my thoughts, my attitude.
One of the important points Mr. Washer made was that in order to make it easier/more convenient/quicker to share the gospel with people with which we come in contact, we have condensed the gospel down to a gospel tract, in so many words. Gospel tracts certainly have their place, but the tendency is when we “reduce” the gospel to the “Four Spiritual Laws” for example, we tend to “reduce” who God is and “reduce” what Christ did for us.
I heard a radio show host say that we behave/make decisions based upon what we believe about God and ourselves. That is so true. So, if we view God as this far away, impersonal God who acts like us, view ourselves as inherently good, and Jesus Christ to Whom we say a quick transactional prayer in order to go to Heaven, then, we have missed the gospel.
Paul Washer said this…
“The greatest revelation of God (past, present, future) is the cross of Christ. After an eternity of eternities, you will have not even reached the foothills of understanding the cross. And what Christ did there is everything. The gospel is our life.”
Genesis 1:1 says God created the heavens and the earth. In a span of 6 days, God created everything simply by speaking, “Let there be…”. God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) made man in their image (Genesis 1:26). Intricately designed, on the 6th day, there was Adam and his wife, Eve, who was fashioned from Adam. Perhaps, you already know this story, but God placed Adam and Eve in the beyond amazing Garden of Eden. He told them they could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Well, as a result of Eve being deceived by the serpent and Adam’s failure to protect Eve (and standing on what he knew to be true), Eve and Adam disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. They sinned. The rest of mankind would be “infected” with sin and death came into the world as He promised it would if they ate from that tree. We have inherited sin from our parents, Adam and Eve (Romans 5:12). It is similar to the freckles on my face that I inherited from my parents. I cannot get rid of them. Please do not interpret this as me saying that freckles are evil or that I do not like my freckles. I’m just trying to show that I was born with whatever genes from both sides that gave me freckles and there is nothing I can do to get rid of them. I can cover them up with an excessive amount of makeup, but I cannot get rid of them. Likewise, we cannot get rid of our sin. Even on our best day, we sin.
In his book, Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines sin as “any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature”. Since God is perfect and He created everything, it is only fit for him to be in charge of everything and set the standard for how things are to go. So, have you sinned? Well, Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”. Two verses later (1 John 1:10), the Bible reads, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us”. Have you ever broken one of the Ten Commandments? Well, James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” So, I’m thinking it’s safe to say that we are all sinners. But there is a tendency to think that our sin is not that bad. But it is that bad. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes it this way, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-among who we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” That is pretty bad. Paul Washer further breaks down this passage by saying…
“You were like a dead and rotting corpse at the bottom of a cesspool and that cesspool was created by the corruption coming out of your own body and you were utterly dead to God, by you walked around in your own corruption animated by the devil himself”
I think that gives us a vivid illustration of how disgusting and offensive our sin is to a Holy God. We are not inherently good. Furthermore, Romans 6:23a says that the wages of sin is death. In this scripture passage “death” means eternal death in Hell which is a place originally created for Satan and his angels. The rest of Romans 6:23 says, “…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
God loves us so much that He sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sin in our place by suffering, dying on the cross and then, He rose from the grave on the third day, conquering death. You will need to read the Old Testament in the Bible to get all the details about how covenants were made and the various offerings that were made by the shedding of blood of unblemished bulls, goats, and other animals to atone for sin. Jesus’ once-and-for -all sacrifice on the cross was to take away the sins of everyone in the world. It was a gift-a free gift- birthed out His love and his mercy on us. This gift, remission of sin, is available for everyone, but it must be accepted by faith. One must confess and believe that they are a sinner-that they have offended our Holy God with their sin and then repent or turn away from their sin, by no longer living for themselves but now living for Christ Jesus who died and was raised (2 Corinthians 5:15). Those who believe that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God (there is no one who comes to God but by Him) who stood as their substitute on the cross for sins He did not commit, so that they may have forgiveness of their sins and eternal life in Heaven will be saved. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24, 25
Sources
Grudem, W. (1994). Systematic Theology. Zondervan Academic.
Ryrie, C. C. (2011). The Ryrie Study Bible English Standard Version. Moody Publishers.
Washer, P. (2021, September 20). The Gospel, pt. 1. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNhoKSn6Rtw .
Washer, P. (2021, September 22). The Gospel, pt. 2.YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuzL9NHVRw .
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