What is the Gospel? (Pt. 2)
How to Share the Gospel with both unbelievers and believers
Illustration: Did you know that many times when a baby is born it is not breathing? And the doctor or someone has to spank the baby to make it cry out and take its first breath. This first breath of life…is it the one and only breath the baby will ever need? Or is it the first of many?
The first of many, of course! Now, I think we can compare the believing of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a baby’s first breath, and subsequent breaths as well. When a person hears the gospel, and the Spirit of God regenerates that person, giving new birth, making them born again, the very first thing they do is believe and repent. Spiritually speaking, believing and repenting are like a baby’s first breath. But just as a baby doesn’t then stop breathing, but needs to continue to breath to live, so a new believer doesn’t stop needing the gospel upon being saved. They continue to live spiritually by the life-giving breath of the gospel every moment of their lives. It is gospel-truth that both saves and sustains a child of God. In other words, it is the gospel that both justifies a believer at the moment of salvation and progressively sanctifies that same believer as he/she matures in the faith.
Romans 1:16 tells us, “The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” So the gospel message saves when one repents and believes it. The gospel is for the unbeliever. It is for those who have not believed on Jesus Christ and confessed Him as Lord. I think we all know this.
But one verse prior in Romans 1:15, Paul writing in his introduction to the church in Rome, said, “I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” Paul was trying to make it to Rome to visit the church so he could preach the gospel to them, to the church, to those who were already believers.
Do we know that the gospel is for the believer as well? We naturally think of the gospel being for the unbeliever. We think of sharing the gospel as we evangelize the lost. But not many of us think of sharing the gospel with the church, with those who are already Christians. Paul, did though.
Need: Paul knew that the church (believers) still needs the gospel. They need it every day, every hour. Until they die or Christ returns. And we all know the unbeliever needs the gospel, or they will die in their sins and spend eternity in hell.
Now, if this is true, if unbelievers and believers alike both need the gospel, we need to know how to share it and speak gospel- truth into the unbeliever’s life and into the believer’s life. Sharing the gospel with unbelievers is the responsibility of every member in the church. Every child of God is called to share the gospel with unbelievers, and so we need to know how. Sharing gospel- truths to believers pertains to all of us as well. There will be times in each of our lives that a brother or a sister in the faith needs encouragement, counseling, admonishment. We need to know how to apply the gospel to their situations. But the pastors and teachers of a church especially need to know how to preach the gospel to the their church members, as Paul intended to do at Rome, because they have the given responsibility to teach the Word of God to the gathered church every Sunday and other meeting times. Pastor, how should you preach the gospel in your Sunday morning sermons (and other teaching times)?
Theme: Tonight we will talk about the gospel being for all, for the unbeliever as well as for the believer. And we will talk about how to share the gospel with an unbeliever, as well as how to share the gospel to believers in the church.
Outline: So, the two headings of our discussion: How to Share the Gospel with Unbelievers; and How to Share the Gospel with Believers
How to Share the Gospel with Unbelievers
So first, how to share the gospel with unbelievers. Let us turn to the Word of God for guidance. One of the reasons I love the book of Acts is because it shows us how the early church did church. How they planted churches, how the did missions, how they evangelized, how the local church operated, how they appointed deacons to help the elders and apostles, how they fellowshipped and interacted. It really is an instructive book.
Well, we are going to look at a particular occasion in Acts 17 where Paul shared the gospel to unbelievers in Athens, Greece, and learn from the apostle how to share the gospel to unbelievers. These men of Athens were in many ways like people we encounter. They were not Jews, who knew the OT. They had no prior knowledge of the God of the Bible. Whether you be in Venezuela, or Haiti, or the D.R. or the USA, we are mostly sharing the truths of Who Jesus is and What Jesus has done to those not having a lot of knowledge of the Bible. Some have superficial knowledge, but most have very little understanding, and so it is instructive to see how Paul did it when talking to people who were not Jews.
In his book, What is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert explains the gospel in four easy to remember steps. This book has been translated into Spanish so it would be worth reading. Here are the four steps: 1) God; 2) Man; 3) Jesus; 4) Response. I have found this very helpful over the years.
Now, I would contend with Gilbert that it would be more accurate to label his book: The Message of Salvation or something like that, rather than, “What is the Gospel?”
Why do I say that? Well, because last time we met I explained what the gospel is. It is the person and works of Jesus Christ. So, the gospel is contained within Gilbert’s four steps, mostly the third and fourth, but speaking of God’s holiness, His wrath, man’s sin…things like this in Gilbert’s first two steps are actually bad news. They are not the gospel, which is good news, but they are still very important to explain the gospel. They set the stage. For their to be good news, there must first be bad news. So what Gilbert is really doing in my opinion in his four steps is explaining the plan of salvation and the gospel is within that plan but is not the whole of it.
Hopefully that was clear. So, first, we need to explain God. Consider His attributes. He is holy, He is loving. As He told Moses when He passed in front of Him and hid Moses in the rock in Exodus 33 and 34, He is merciful and gracious (34:6) but He is also a righteous judge (34:7).
That would naturally lead us into talking about man. Man was made in God’s image but has fallen. He has rebelled against God. Romans 1 teaches us we are God-haters (v30). Romans 3 teaches us none is righteous (v10), none seeks for God (v11). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (v23). Some people use the 10 commandments at this point to demonstrate man’s sinfulness.
So, as I’ve been saying. This is bad news. God is good. God is righteous. That’s good news right. Not for sinners! That is the most terrible news they could hear. He will pour out His wrath on them, judge them. Send them to hell. And there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. This is hopelessness. This is not good news.
But the gospel is good news! And this begins with the third step in Gilbert’s plan of salvation. Jesus. As I said last time. Here, we explain the person and the works of Jesus. Here is the essence of the gospel. There is hope because of Jesus.
And then fourth and finally, our response. We must believe the gospel of Jesus. We must also repent and submit to Jesus as Lord. Faith and Repentance are the conditions of salvation. They are the required responses to the gospel.
So, there is how I suggest explaining the gospel to an unbeliever. Now, I mentioned Acts 17. Let’s turn to Acts 17:22-31. Let’s read v22-25. Here we see Paul preach God. He informs these Pagans about the One True Living God. Then, in v26 Paul begins to speak about mankind. V27 says they were to seek God. The implication is that they did not. V29 says they developed wrong thoughts about God. They became idolaters instead of worshipping God. V30 returns to God, saying He was long-suffering, but He is now commanding men to repent or else He will judge the world in righteousness (v31). Paul mentions the response the people must have to the gospel (v30). What is that response? Repentance. He then quickly preaches the gospel in v31. God will judge the people through Jesus, but not if they repent and turn to Him who raised from the dead. Now, I’m sure Paul also preached the crucifixion of Jesus. This is a summary of Paul’s sermon, not every word of it. A resurrection of Jesus, which Paul clearly did preach would not make much sense without the prior death of Jesus being stated.
So, the order at the end is a bit off, but we clearly see the four steps of explaining the gospel to unbelievers that Gilbert stresses. God, man, Jesus, response. Do you have to explain the gospel this way to an unbeliever? I’d say there are other ways, but this is a helpful guide. And remember last time’s lesson. Remember to stress the person and the works of Jesus (Who He is and what he has done for sinners).
Transition: Well, let us turn our attention to sharing the gospel with the church, with believers. And as I said, this is not only for pastors, but pastors and teachers are my primary audience at this point. And the Sunday morning sermon is the primary setting I have in mind.
How to Share the Gospel with Believers
Here is what I grew up hearing on Sunday morning. A sermon. And then a “gospel presentation” at the end. It sounded the same every week. It was the plan of salvation. It was for the unbelievers in the room, not the believer. Furthermore, it was unrelated to the sermon. It had nothing to do with what the preacher just preached to the believers. And there is the problem. What that type of preaching does—when a preacher preaches a message to believers, then tacks on the gospel at the end for the unbelievers—is teaching the church that the gospel is not for them, that it is unrelated to the believer. It teaches them that the gospel is for initial salvation, but then the believer must move on to more deep and mature things.
If you are doing this, you are crippling your church. Listen to CJ Mahoney’s words,
“The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian – the gospel is the whole building that all the classes take place in! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel.”
We never move past the gospel! We believers need it every hour. It is our initial breath of new life, it is every breath thereafter.
But how then do we preach the gospel to those who have already believed it? Is it going through Gilbert’s God, man, Jesus, response method over and over with them, each Sunday? I don’t think so. I think two reminders will help us when preparing our teachings. First, Don’t forget Christ. Second, Don’t forget the text.
Don’t Forget Christ
So, first, don’t forget Christ. That may sound obvious but I am amazed at how many sermons I hear that are Christless! Not only in the OT, but in the NT as well. And this very big problem seems to be nothing new. Charles Spurgeon, almost 150 years ago noticed this problem. Listen to what he said, “A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.” Very stern words that should make us reflect upon our preaching.
Now, by mentioning we must preach “Christ” in our sermons, what I’m really meaning is we must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in our sermons. Who Jesus is and what He has done. It is essential that the gospel is woven into each and every sermon, perhaps multiple times. Even if we are preaching through the genealogies in Genesis. We must do this because Jesus, Himself, said in Luke 24:25-27 that all the Scriptures are about Him, and more specifically about His death and resurrection. In this passage Jesus rebuked two disciples on the road to Emaus following His resurrection for not understanding that the Christ must die and rise again. Then he preached to them. V27 says, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Oh what a sermon that must have been!
Did you notice that word, “expounded”? That’s where we get out word “exposition” from. Jesus was an expository preacher! So,
the number one rule of proper exposition is that we must preach Christ. We must be gospel-centered.
In every sermon a preacher is exhorting, rebuking, challenging, calling for a response, calling for a person to be conformed into the image of Christ, to repent, to abound more in doing good, to look to Christ. He reveals to us from the text where we fall short due to our flesh and due to our fallen state. He beats us up a little, but he always ends on a high note.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! God forgives us in Christ, He redeems us. This is the gospel. Furthermore, Jesus is our strength, our faithful high priest who can relate to our weakness, and Who is able to help us. The preacher offers hope through Christ and the gospel to the weary believer as he sojourns this fallen world. He urges us to keep our eyes on Christ, to endure until the end. He reminds us of our inheritance waiting for us, and encourages us us not to grow weary in doing well, lest we faint before we reap.
This is the aim of the preacher. The aim of the preacher is not life lessons, not to give a “how-to manual” on prayer, marriage, whatever. There are times and places for that but they should not be the main diet for the church. Going through books of the Bible should be and pointing people to Christ and the gospel throughout the text.
Remember the Text
That brings us to our second reminder: Remember the text. Remember Christ and the gospel, remember the text! Our text is not a spring board. We don’t just read it, and jump off it into the gospel without the gospel being related to that text. This is very important.
The text at hand is inspired, it was written to a specific people for a specific purpose and it is the expositor’s task to take this text and then teach us how it relates to us. How does the main point of the text to its original audience relate to us 21st century believers?
And here is the point I’m trying to make. We must never leave the text behind when going to the gospel. If we do, even if we have good, God-honoring intentions to preach Christ, we are in fact watering the gospel down, because we are suggesting the text does not relate to the gospel. We must preach the gospel from the exegesis of the text. The gospel is in your text, brother. Because every text in some way is centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ—around Who He is and what He has done, and how we need Him. Remember, even from the OT, Jesus preached His person and works from Moses and from the prophets. See, He was text-centered, while being gospel- centered.
There’s a lot more to be said on this, but time does not permit. Maybe we can have future times together on this. The second part of this teaching was just an overview. In the meantime, I think it is helpful to have your sermons critiqued. You have to have thick skin, but it will help you learn to preach better. Hopefully this teaching will start some conversations on the matter.
Outline for “What is the Gospel? (Pt. 2) The Gospel for all “
How to Share the Gospel with both unbelievers and believers
Introduction
- The importance of the gospel:
- The gospel as the first spiritual breath.
- The gospel as daily nourishment for the believer.
- The need for the gospel for unbelievers and believers.
The purpose of the teaching:
- Explain how to share the gospel with both groups.
- Emphasize the importance of preaching Christ in all sermons.
Part 1: Sharing the Gospel with Unbelievers
Paul’s model in Athens (Acts 17):
- Present God as the one true living God.
- Talk about humanity and its sin.
- Announce Jesus as the hope.
- Call to repentance and faith.
Greg Gilbert’s four steps:
- God: His holiness, love, and justice.
- Man: The fall and sin.
- Jesus: The person and work of Christ.
- Response: Faith and repentance.
Practical application:
- Adapt these steps to different cultural contexts.
- Emphasize the importance of clarity and simplicity.
Part 2: Sharing the Gospel with Believers
The problem of decontextualized evangelism:
- Separating the gospel from the sermon.
- Teaching the church that the gospel is only for unbelievers.
The importance of preaching Christ in all sermons:
- Quotes from Spurgeon and Jesus.
- The gospel as the central theme of all Scripture.
How to integrate the gospel into preaching:
- Keep Christ in mind in every sermon.
- Relate the biblical text to the gospel.
- Offer hope and encouragement to believers.
The role of the pastor:
- Be a model of dependence on the gospel.
- Equip the church to share the gospel.
Conclusion
Summary of key points:
- The importance of sharing the gospel with everyone.
- The need to focus on Christ in all preaching.
- The practical application of these principles.
- Call to action:
- Exhort listeners to apply these principles in their own lives.
- Encourage pastors to preach the gospel comprehensively.
Note: This outline provides a comprehensive overview of the main points discussed in the text. It can be used as a starting point for further development or as a guide for creating a sermon or teaching on the subject.
Additional notes:
- The outline could be further developed by adding more specific examples from the text or by exploring additional biblical passages.
- The focus on the pastor is intentional, as the text is primarily addressed to pastors and teachers. However, the principles can be applied to all believers.
- Cultural adaptations may be necessary when applying these principles to different contexts.
Written by Jared Duncan
Edited by Antonio Salgado
Soli Deo Gloria
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church recently took to the streets of Yaguita de Pastor with a burning passion – to share the transformative power of the Gospel with their neighbors.language, and status, because Christ is the good news. He reached Saul of Tarsus, and He reached me. There is no place, no people that the Gospel cannot reach, from the richest to the most vulnerable. The Gospel has no borders.”
message of salvation and inviting them to experience the love of God firsthand.
fellowship and a desire to walk alongside these new connections. It’s a testament to the power of cultivating of authentic relationships when sharing the Gospel with the intention of discipleship.
de Pastor and to empower Pastor Francisco and his team as they continue to shine the light of Christ in their community.
Como muchos saben, estamos iniciando una misión en Maracay,Venezuela, después de una transición que pasamos al salir de nuestra iglesia local.
tema. Es un tiempo de enseñanza participativa, así le sacamos mucho provecho al tiempo de la enseñanza. 
Zoom sobre la doctrina del hombre. Son tiempos donde podemos además orar los unos por los otros y estudiar de forma participativa, donde la finalidad es hacernos más cercanos, así como responder preguntas doctrinales.
afirmación. El propósito es que cada uno de nosotros aprendamos a defender las enseñanzas desde las escrituras, pues muchas veces sabemos o creemos algo solo porque lo hemos leído de un libro o confesión de fe, pero no es algo que nosotros mismos hemos tomado el tiempo suficiente para verificar qué dice de ello las escrituras.
vidas y familias, planificar asuntos de la misión y tocar temas doctrinales para definir algunas posturas que creemos que se deben de tener desde sus inicios.
decidimos iniciar el pasado domingo 1 de diciembre una escuela dominical para los más pequeños. En este tiempo, mientras los adultos reciben la escuela dominical, también los pequeños aprenderán sobre el mismo tema que desarrollan los adultos, pero ajustado a su edad para mayor comprensión. La finalidad es que lo que se les enseñe pueda ser reforzado en casa por sus padres en el tiempo de devoción familiar que estamos promoviendo. Es nuestro ruego que en el futuro podamos contar con un lugar designado para esta finalidad y mejores recursos que incentiven su aprendizaje.
también por la crianza de nuestros hijos y que el Señor traiga salvación a nuestros pequeños.
evangelio y a impactar nuestra comunidad. Por eso desde ya pedimos oración por un local o lugar de reunión que sea más visible a la comunidad, ya que por los momentos nos reunimos en un apartamento. Que el Señor siga abriendo puertas para la predicación del evangelio.
doctrine of man. These are times when we can pray for each other and study together to grow closer and answer doctrinal questions.
goal is for each of us to develop the ability to defend the teachings found in the Scriptures. Often, we may know or believe something simply because we have read it in a book or confession of faith, but we may not have taken the time to fully understand and verify what the Scriptures have to say about it.
grace, also for Brother Irving. I have noticed his desire to teach, and he has a good testimony as well as coming from a godly family. I am eager to devote time to his study of doctrine, particularly of the New Covenant, as he lacks a clear position on this issue.
decided to start a Sunday school for the little ones last Sunday, December. During this time, while the adults attend Sunday school, the younger children will also learn about the same topics as the adults, with adjustments tailored to their age for deeper understanding. We aim for their parents to reinforce what they learn at home during our promoted family devotion time. We hope to establish a dedicated space and superior resources in the future to foster their learning.
So that the Lord allows my wife and me to fulfill our roles, also for the upbringing of our children, and that the Lord brings salvation to our little ones.
gospel, and to impact our community. That is why we are already asking for prayer for a venue or meeting place that is more visible to the community, since at the moment we meet in an apartment. May the Lord continue to provide opportunities for the preaching of the gospel.
