28) The Gospel Is Not Of Works! Series

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

THE GOSPEL IS NOT BY WORKS – IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD

Salvation is by Grace, through Faith, being the Gift of God.

Text: Ephesians 2:8-9

BRIEF RECAP

Welcome again brethren to our weekly Bible Study,

Where as you know, every week we just look to open the Word of God...

In order to discover “...those things most surely believed among us” (Luke 1:1).

Now - what can we say about our beliefs as Christians?

Well for one thing – what we should be able to say is:

We believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Of this core truth - there can be no doubt.

You see, in order to be a Christian – you need to first come to know Christ,

And in order to be saved – you need to first accept Him as your personal Saviour.

This is what the whole Gospel message is about – salvation through Jesus Christ.

And Brethren – this is what we believe!

During our past two lessons we have looked somewhat broadly in the Bible...

At what the Gospel actually is.

And to begin with – we simply viewed the Gospel through John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Through this single verse – anyone can be introduced to the Gospel.

In fact, we saw how the entire basis of the Gospel message...

Is summed up really clearly through this one verse.

In just 25 words - we are shown how truly “Great” the Gospel is.

For God… - That’s the Greatest Person

So loved the world, - That’s the Greatest Love

That He gave His only begotten Son, - That’s the Greatest Gift

That whosoever believeth in Him – That’s the Greatest Invitation

Should not perish, but have everlasting life – That’s the Greatest Promise,

And we discovered – all of this leads mankind upto making the Greatest Choice

Of course, the choice we are talking about here...

Is the personal decision we must all come to make in this life,

As to whether we will believe in God’s Word...

And call upon Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.

That’s a choice we all have - God doesn’t make anyone get saved,

He simply declares the Gospel to all through His Word – and lets people choose.

Acts 16:31 says: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved

Romans 10:13 says: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Brethren it has only ever been our choice - as to whether we will choose to believe...

And call upon the Lord for His Salvation in Jesus Christ

Now last week, we actually added to this basic understanding

By also further Defining the Gospel...and learning of our need to Declare the Gospel to others.

Remember Mark 13:10 which states: And the gospel must first be published among all nations

The term Gospel in the Greek literally means: “Good News” or “Glad Tidings”,

And in a world full of bad – the Gospel is defined as what is good.

The Gospel is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ...

And it involves us sharing the “Glad Tidings” of His Salvation.

As we discovered, in the immediate context there...

Jesus was actually speaking in private with Peter, James, John and Andrew,

As He begun to reveal the things that would transpire during end time events.

And it was in the middle of that discourse with the disciples that Jesus said...

…The gospel must first be published [that means be openly preached and declared] among all nations.

In others words, Jesus taught – many things will happen in the end days,

But this one thing needs to happen first - “The Gospel must first be Declared”.

Jesus again reiterated this message to His disciples in the Great Commission.

Just prior to His final ascension into Heaven...

He instructed the Disciples in the work they should be doing until the day He returned.

Matthew 28:18 -19 says:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…

That term Teach used there in the Greek means:

“to instruct” and “to make disciples of others”.

Now Jesus spoke these words to His disciples back then,

And we now stand as Christ’s disciples today.

And their mission – has now become our mission,

We are to “teach all nations” – in order to make disciples of others…

And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always the first thing we want to teach.

Brethren, this is what we believe – because this is what the Bible teaches.

INTRODUCTION