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"What is your understanding of the gospel? How has it changed your life?"
The gospel is the good
news declaration of what God in Christ has done for undeserving sinners (2 Cor.5:18-21). According to Scripture, the
gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). As
such the free offer of grace should be extended to anyone who will listen (Rom.
1:17; 10:12-17).
When presenting the
gospel I sometimes use the familiar God/Sin/Christ/Our Response structure in order to
highlight the complete gospel message. A) God:
Who He is. B) Man: His universal problem (sin). C) Jesus Christ: God’s gracious solution. D) Our Response: repent and believe. Every gospel presentation needs to clearly
communicate that salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone (Eph. 2:1-10).
In Dr. Sinclair Ferguson’s
fine chapter in From Heaven He Came and
Sought Her, he explains the gospel in four statements. “In Christ,
believers are delivered from the guilt of
sin (which secures our justification). Romans 3:18-25; Psalm 32:1-5. In Christ, we are delivered from the wrath of God (which secures our reconciliation).
Rom. 5:6-11. In Christ, we are delivered from the dominion of sin
(which secures our freedom from sins reign but not yet its presence). Rom. 6:18-7:14. In Christ, we are delivered from the oppression of the powers of darkness. 1 John 3:8; Col. 2:13-15; Heb. 2:14-15.”
