Page 46 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

Remember, II Peter 3:8 tells us that the Lord is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance.” He desires all men everywhere to hear the Gospel and believe in Him. But he has
chosen you and me to be the instruments of His message.

Romans 10:13-15 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of
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whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are
they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
good news!”

Just as Moses was sent to Israel in Egypt to deliver the people to the Promised Land, we have been sent
to the nations to deliver the message of salvation by grace through faith. It is our greatest duty and
calling!

Understanding the Gospel

In order to present the Gospel message to the nations, you must first clearly understand the scope of
the Gospel message.
The word gospel means “good news,” which is the message that a sinner can be forgiven of his sin
through the work of Jesus on the cross. It is the only rescue plan that can bring every man into a right
standing before God. It makes the difference between eternal heaven and eternal hell. It is the most
important message a person can hear and receive. The message is laid out clearly in Scripture:

I Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for
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our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures…

Paul lays out the three elements of the Gospel. The first one is that Jesus “died for our sins.” Romans
3:23 tells us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The first part of the Gospel informs
us the reason for Christ’s sacrifice…because of man’s sin. For the Gospel to become real, a person must
first acknowledge the hopelessness of guilt before God in order for forgiveness to take place. He must
understand that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). This is the foundational truth upon which the
Gospel is built and it is the starting point of sharing the Gospel with others.

Second, the person and work of Christ are the essential components of the gospel. Jesus Christ was the
Messiah, the “God-man” who became flesh. He lived a sinless life and kept the Law of God perfectly on
our behalf. Then he died as a law-breaker, but his death was a substitutionary death, meaning he died
in our place. Sin against the God of justice required an infinite blood sacrifice. Man, who is finite, could
never pay the infinite debt owed, so Christ, who is infinite, paid the penalty of infinite hell for every
man. Jesus paid the debt we owe so that we might have the forgiveness of sin offered to us by God.

The third aspect of the Gospel is the resurrection of Christ. Because Jesus was resurrected to life, we
now have proof in the power of God and in the Father’s acceptance of His Son’s death for us. Jesus
Christ transcended death and promises those who receive the Gospel by faith to do the same: to
transcend from earthly life to eternal life.

The Gospel is offered to every person as a free gift (Romans 5:15, 6:23) which cannot be earned by the
good works of the recipient. To work for a free gift negates the “free” and “gift” aspect of the Gospel. If

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