Doctrine of the Day: The Gospel - Part 4

Okay. Let’s recap. In order for us to understand and communicate the gospel, I have suggested that we lay a foundation consisting of God’s purpose for creation and mankind’s part in it before we get to the specifics of the good news of Jesus Christ.

First, we must understand that God does everything for his own glory; that his purpose in creating this universe was to display and magnify his excellencies. Second, it makes sense then that man was created in the image of God in order to accomplish that same purpose. 1 Peter 2:9 states this purpose quite nicely. 

So, God deserves and desires to be magnified in his excellencies and we were created for that specific purpose. That leads us to our next major word…

• Sin

This is the part of the story that we are much more familiar with. Since we are all familiar with sin and its effects, I will just point out a few things which are necessary in order to prepare for sharing the gospel .

1. Sin came into the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Sin can be defined in many ways, but the essence of it is that sin is rebellion against God and his ways. There are many motivations for sin, desires that we seek to fill with things God has forbidden, but the bottom line is that sin “started” when Adam and Eve decided that God’s gracious provision was not enough for them and they sought to satisfy their desires in disobedience and rebellion. 

2. Sin has now infested every person. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Everyone of us seeks his own way and fulfills his desires with what this world offers. But it is important for people to know that we are all going to sin. In other words it is not possible for any person to live a sinless life. We are born into this nature to sin, and we will all rebel against God. There is no one righteous (Romans 3:10). Even the “good” things we do in this life are still sin because they do not come from hearts that honor God (Romans 14:23). So, we all sin, and there is no one who can’t sin.

3. Sin, even every “little” sin, is infinitely offensive to God. God is holy. He is so pure that even the slightest sin is offensive to Him, and He cannot, not will not, HE CANNOT allow sin in his presence. He is fire and our sinful lives are wood that are immediately consumed if placed in the fullness of his holiness. Sin automatically creates a separation between his creation and Himself. We were created to magnify his glory and instead we have rejected Him to go our own way. Our minds and hearts are now hostile to God (Romans 8:7-8). 

4. Sin brings death to every person. Since we all sin, we all die (Romans 5:12). Romans 6:23 is very helpful here in explaining that death is merely the “wage” that God pays us justly for our work of sin. People talk often about God being fair and just and say things like “My God would not do that.” But we need to remember that God IS just and we all deserve death because of our sin. So, we should encourage people not to plead for God’s fairness for that would only lead to death… that is what is “fair.”

5. Sin brings God’s wrath for eternity. Few people really understand what is at stake when we say that death is the result of our sin. An eternity of blissful sleep is what usually comes to mind. The Bible teaches that is not the case. When we die in our sin we experience all of God’s wrath. In fact, we are already under wrath because of our sin (Ephesians 2:1-3) and are storing up more wrath the more we sin (Romans 2:5). The eternal result will be hell (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). 

This is a LOT of bad news, but it is necessary. You cannot have the good news of Jesus Christ without first understanding how desperate our situation is in our sin. 

Next week we will start in the good news!