The Gospel

FBMB

June 13, 2010

Sunday Evening

The Gospel

Romans 1:16-17: I Corinthians 15:1

Intro.: This week messengers from 44,000 SBC churches will be meeting in Orlando, Fl for the national southern Baptist convention. A major part of the conventions business is to hear a report from the Great Commission Task Force. A group of pastors, seminary presidents and lay people that were appointed at last year’s convention by the president convention in hopes of casting a new and revised vision for winning lost people in our world to Christ.

In May the Task Force released their preliminary report. I read that report with much interest for what they had concluded. Much of it was encouraging where other areas needed prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit for understanding. The report was filled with passion and sincerity from which the leaders of the Task Force wrote.

This week they will bring their full report and elected messengers will be voting on their recommendations. A vote that will change the structure of the convention, change the routing method in which money is received and allocated, and ultimately and I might even add hopefully, bring a higher awareness and need to evangelize our world.

It’s that last statement that I want to focus on tonight - - - The need to evangelize our world. The call before us today is not just as Southern Baptists but as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ to take seriously the Great Commission from our Lord.

Even though we have a great convention our convention is not going to win our world to Christ, even though we have great programs there not going to keep people out of hell, even all the money we send through the Cooperative Program, and pastors, ministers and lay people are not going to keep people from spending their eternity in hell.

Only the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ saves people from their sins, establishes a secure relationship with Jesus Christ and provides the promise of ones eternity with God in heaven.

As messengers meet in Orlando and hear the GCTF report and renew their labor to renew their vision and passion for winning lost people let us as believers tonight do likewise. (READ TEXT).

I. The PURPOSE of the Gospel

A. This answer may not be as obvious as some would think.

1. Depending on who is answering this question you could get many different and wrong answers.

2. Because unless you believe Jesus Christ Himself is the Gospel incarnate you can be lead astray.

3. Therefore some would say the gospel is only a good teaching by a good teacher.

4. Others may even add that the gospel is a set of commandments or laws that people are to follow in order to go to heaven.

5. More literally some would call the first four books in the New Testament the Gospel.

B. To find the purpose of the Gospel we need not look outside the very source that has the only and right answer for us.

1. The Bible provides us with the answer – Scripture is full of references for the purpose of the gospel.

2. Jesus said about the Gospel, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

3. He also said in context of the Gospel, “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

4. To redeem mankind from their sins.

5. Paul said, “the gospel is the power of God for salvation.”

6. Paul also said “this gospel which I preached to you and you received and also stand on is the gospel in which you were saved.”

C. Perhaps the most defining purpose of the Gospel is John 3:16.

1. “FOR God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son so that whoever believes in Him would not die but would have eternal life.”

2. The purpose of the gospel is to keep people like you and me from going to hell.

II. The GLORY of the Gospel

A. # 1 The glory of the gospel is found in the word grace.

1. God’s grace – Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

2. The glory of the gospel is found in the humble statement that I don’t deserve the gospel, none of us do.

3. The glory of the gospel is that I deserve hell, every one of us.

4. The glory of the gospel is that you and I have something that we didn’t deserve, we received something we couldn’t buy and that we would never be able to earn it.