Three Circles: Gospel
(Put 3 circles in notes)
1. The gospel means that God made a way out of our brokenness. ? Genesis 3:14-15 1 Peter 3:18. John 3:16
The Heart of the Gospel: God sent His one and only Son to
shed His blood once and for all to cover us.
2. The gospel is simple. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
keryma, from kerusso: to proclaim or to herald. ? kerygma: the fundamental proclamation of the gospel.
3. The gospel is God’s promise to us—if we repent and believe.
Repent (metanoia): change of mind; i.e., change of direction
? Repentance: the realization your life is going the wrong direction and the willingness to turn and follow Jesus.
? Believe. Belief is not just considering something to be true; it is counting on it to be true for you!
4. The gospel continues in power to reorient us to experience God’s design?
2 Corinthians 5:17 Galatians 2:20
Opening about good news; someone rescued from certain death (car in river story)
Turn to Genesis 3. This morning we finish up this short 3 part series entitled 3 circles.
There are 3 spheres of reality that define our world, our country, our community, our church, our families; in fact, each and every one of us.? The first circle is God’s Design (draw). We saw in week 1 that God’s design for us is live a purposeful life in our relationships, our work life, marriage & family. Most of all, God’s design is for us to experience a glorious life, walking with Him and talking with Him in a warm, vibrant, loving relationship. (relationships, work, m & f, God)? The second circle is Brokenness (draw). Because we rejected and continue to reject God’s design, we experience brokenness. This rejection of God’s design is called sin. (draw arrow/sin) Sin simply means to miss the mark that God intended for us; to reject His design for us. ? Everyone is broken. We are a broken people. We see it in our world--and we feel it in our own lives: broken relationships, addiction, depression, discouragement, guilt and shame. We all want out of brokenness, so we try to fix it (squiggly lines out of brokenness). >We medicate it with drugs or numb it with alcohol. >We strive to be better people, hoping that somehow, someway, our good will overcome our bad. >We chase money. >We chase companionship. We look for ways to alleviate our pain. When we do that, we just get more and more broken.
But now comes the good news. Good news is captured in one word Good News=Gospel (write)?
1. The gospel means that God made a way out of our brokenness.
This is so incredible. God did not abandon us in our brokenness—He made a way for us out of our brokenness! ? You see this right after Adam and Eve rejected God’s design. Look at Genesis 3:14-15 (on screen). Satan is depicted here as a serpent. The rest of the Bible writer’s picked up on this and they add to this description that he is the deceiver, the adversary, the devil, the accuser, the tempter, the wicked one.? What was God’s promise? “He (a man) will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” Who’s the man? Jesus! This verse forecasts the battle between Jesus and Satan. Satan delivers a blow to Jesus on the cross, but Jesus deals the ultimate blow to Satan when He walks out of the grave conquering the penalty of sin and death.? v.21 “The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.” Sin always brings death. In this case, by God’s amazing grace, He sacrificed an animal—shed its blood—to make a covering for Adam and Eve. I want you to get these two words firmly fixed in your mind: blood & covering. The death of the animal, signified by its spilt blood, provides a covering for Adam and Eve. This is where God God institutes the sacrifice of animals in order to provide a covering. In this case, the covering was clothing. But in the rest of the Bible, the covering is the blood itself.
Now this is The Heart of the Gospel: God sent His one and only Son to shed His blood once and for all to cover us. But we need the proper covering to be acceptable to Him. Story about being invited to play golf but wasn’t dressed properly…? We need the proper covering to be acceptable to God. And that’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18 See! There is the way out of our brokenness; there is the pathway back to God’s design. That’s gospel.
Jesus was talking to a religious leader one day trying to explain to this guy that it wasn’t about religion, it was about relationship. That God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. So Jesus said to this guy, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Without the covering, we end up separated from God for eternity; but with the covering, we spend eternity with God! That’s gospel!
2. The gospel is simple
Don’t make this overcomplicated. I remember whenI was taking physics in college and the professor would begin working on a problem and for an hour he would fill up 3 black boards on the front and 3 on the back. I was lost half way thru the first blackboard. It was so complicated.? The gospel is NOT complicated. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now before we read this, I want to explain what it is. This is known as the keryma, from kerusso: to proclaim or to herald. The word kerygma is not in this text, but this text is known as the kerygma: the fundamental proclamation of the gospel.
It’s fundamental. It’s simple. So let’s read it together outloud (stand): Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, Jesus died for our sins, was buried and God raised Him from the dead.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Hand motions. Simple as that: Christ died for our sins, buried, rose again from the dead.
Died on the cross, shedding His blood to be the ultimate and final sacrifice. Buried in a tomb to dispel any notion of Him not being completely dead. Rising from the dead on the 3rd day proving He had conquered the penalty of sin and death. Simple.? Go back to v.2 “by which you are being saved.” Remember why God told Joseph to name the child he and Mary were going to have Jesus? Because He would save us from our sins. Our sins deserve God’s judgment, but Jesus saves us through the power of the gospel. Plain and simple.
3. The gospel is God’s promise to us—if we repent and believe.
Repent (metanoia): change of mind; i.e., change of direction? Sue and I were heading up to our 55th annual family reunion last month in Oklahoma. I got on I-20 and began heading west toward Ft. Worth. Problem was, I needed to be going East toward Dallas to take 161 up to 121 to get to McKinney and get on HWY 75 &69 that would get us to the family reunion. I was going the wrong direction. I had to repent. I had to change my mind and admit I was going the wrong direction. Not only did I have to admit I was going the wrong direction, I had to turn the car around to get going the right direction.? That’s the nature of repentance: the realization your life is going the wrong direction and the willingness to turn and follow Jesus.? Believe. Had a young lady come up after one of the services a few weeks ago and admit that she had the wrong concept of faith; of belief. Belief is not just considering something to be true; it is counting on it to be true for you! In 2012, Nic Wallenda crossed a cable high above Niagra Falls. Some below were asking if it was possible for a person to do so. Some believed yes, it could be done. But when asked if THEY would walk across the hiwire aboe the Falls, no one was willing to do it. Their belief was incomplete. Only Wallenda put his weight on the wire. Only Wallenda had the kind of faith that saves a person. Genuine faith/belief: not that it's true, but that it’s true for you!
The promise of a new heart and a new start, the simple Good News of the Gospel, is available to everyone, but only those who believe it, place their weight, their trust in it, are saved.
Invitation to accept the gospel; to repent and believe and turn to Christ…1-2-3 stand. See me after the service. Have some material for you want to get your information.? Invitation to be baptized next week…hand motions… right side of salvation. See me after the service, want to get your information about next week.
4. The gospel continues in power to reorient us to experience God’s design? The gospel is not just a point in time kind of thing. It catapults us into the Light, but it also continues to provide more light and more life change and more love and peace and joy in our lives.? We are new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” That word new is a word that means BRAND new. Not preowned and refurbished and new to you. No, this means brand spanking new; something that never existed before.? Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Leave it up there. A lot to unpack in this verse but I want you to focus on the phrase, “Christ lives in me.” ? When you surrender to Christ, turn to follow Him, and believe in Him, His Spirit comes to live in you. And He begins to change you from the inside out so that you are now inclined and empowered to pursue and experience God’s design.? Now you live for His glory; experience wholeness and health in your relationship, your marriage, your family; a renewed purpose in your job—so that you can be an ambassador for Jesus at the workplace and in this broking world. And of course, you begin to experience a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus. (point to... )
This is God’s design. Our sin has left us broken and missing God’s design. The gospel is God’s provision to deliver us out of our brokenness. Amazing, right? Hallelujah! What a Savior!!
Pray.
