Week 1 || The Exhaustive Gospel Once and For All

What does the word gospel mean?

"This word euangelion [Greek], which means 'good message' or 'good news,' has a rich background in the Old Testament. There, the basic meaning of the term gospel was simply an announcement of a good message. In ancient days when soldiers went out to battle, people waited breathlessly for a report from the battlefield about the outcome. Once the result was known, marathon runners dashed back to share the latest update. That is why Isaiah wrote, 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news' (Is. 52:7). The watchman in the watchtower would look as far as the eye could see into the distance. Finally, he would see the dust moving as the runner sped back to the city to give the report of the battle. That is the concept of gospel in its most rudimentary sense." - R.C. Sproul.

Book Recommendations

Recommended Videos

Articles

The Resurrection: Can it be defended historically? – Jimmy Wallace
The Theology of Sacrifice – Fred Zaspel
How was Jesus’ Sacrifice Better than the Levitical Sacrifices? – Got Questions?
Two Hidden Science Facts In The Passion Week – J. Warner Wallace
Jesus’ Crucifixion Described in Graphic Detail by Physician in Lee Strobel’s Book. The Case for Christ – The Christian Post

God:

The Attributes of God:

Article on the communicable (attributes humans can also have to a certain degree) and incommunicable attributes of God. For more on these two types of attributes, click here.

We identify God’s attributes so we can know who He is and what his character is like. The chart below has the attributes and definitions provided by Tim Challies.

Aseity: God is self-existent and self-sufficient and has no need of human beings or the rest of creation.
Beauty: God is the possessor and the sum of all desirable qualities,
Blessedness: God delights fully in Himself and in all that reflects His character
Eternity: God has always existed, having no beginning and no end, and experiencing no succession or moments.
Freedom: Does whatever He pleases.
Glory: The created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of Himself.
Goodness: God is the final standard of all good, and all He is and does is worthy of approval.
Holiness: God is separated from sin and He is committed to seeking His own honor.
Immutability: God cannot change in His being, perfections, purposes, and promises.
Invisibility: God’s total essence, all of His being, will never be visible to us.
Jealousy: God always seeks to protect His own honor.
Knowledge: God fully knows Himself and all actual and possible things. (this is also known as God’s omniscience).
Love: God eternally gives of Himself to others.
Mercy: God is good to those in misery and distress, and He is good to those who deserve punishment.
Omnipotence: God is able to do all His holy will. (This is also known as God’s sovereignty.)
Omnipresence: God has no size or shape and is present in all places with His entire being.
Peace: God, in His being and actions, is separate from all confusion and disorder.
Perfection: God fully possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no qualities that would be desirable for Him.
Righteousness: God is the final standard of what is right, and He always acts in accordance with what is right. (This is also known as God’s justice.)
Spirituality: God is a being who is not made up of matter and who cannot be perceived by our bodily senses.
Truthfulness: God is the true God whose knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.
Unity: God’s whole being includes all of His attributes at all times. These attributes are never in opposition.
Will: God approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of all that exists.
Wisdom: God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.
Wrath: God intensely hates all sin.

Let’s look at creation:

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning (Time), God (Plural - Elohim: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) created (force and literally, means to make out of nothing.) the heavens (Space) and the earth (Matter).

Man

What did our relationship with God look like prior to the fall?

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.

So God created human beings[c] in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

“Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” (Genesis 2:7, NLT)

Genesis 3 introduces us to the fall. This is where mankind is introduced to sin.

God created us with dignity, value, worth, and purpose to worship Him. Nonetheless, we chose to rebel against Him. In the garden, Adam and Eve committed the first sin when they went from wanting to be like God to want to be their own god. Eating fruit was not the sin; coveting God's character, having pride, and directly disobeying God was their sin, and it was unfortunately passed on to us. Humans are now aware of right and wrong and are given free will to choose one or the other, but we are born with our hearts bent toward sin.

Memorize Romans 3:23

As a result of sin, we are separated from God.

This is why there was a veil between the Holy Spirit and mankind in the Tabernacle. God cannot be in the presence of sin without destroying it. For thousands of years, we sacrificed animals for the atonement of sins. This was not enough because animals were simply spoken into existence. Humans were created in the image and likeness of God with His very breath. Therefore, we needed a sinless sacrifice, made in the image and likeness of God with his breath.

Christ

Romans 5:12, Hebrews 4:14, 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus willingly lived a perfect and sinless life to act as our sacrifice on the cross. At the time of His death, He was beaten and whipped. He died, was placed in a tomb, and then rose from the dead on the third day - conquering sin and death once and for all.

“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters. of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers[d] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Response

We are given the opportunity to accept Jesus as our Savior. This means that when God sees us, He does not see our sinfulness and mistakes, but rather Jesus' identity, which we take on when we become Christians. The only thing God sees when He looks at us is Christ's perfection.

Have you responded to this Gospel?

If so, what were you called to do?

Matthew 28:19-20

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

How do you respond?

You are pledging life-long loyalty to Christ.

Romans 10:9

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Then be baptized.

The Gospel can be summed up in four points: