What is the Gospel - A Message About God (Part 1 of 2)
The Importance of the True Gospel
Your salvation does not depend on how strongly you believe something or how sincere your belief is. It depends entirely on the object of your faith—what you believe. What do we believe as Christians? What is the gospel?
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:6-9
If I were trying to please men, I would abandon the reality of the gospel. Even if I included similar elements but changed or diminished it in any way, I would have a completely different gospel. In our day, we live among people-pleasers seeking the approval of men rather than God. Those who seek to please men are not servants of Christ; they do not have the right gospel.
Paul goes so far as to say that even if he himself or an angel from heaven preached a different gospel, they should be accursed—damned to hell. The Judaizers in Galatia believed the gospel but added requirements like circumcision and dietary laws. They transposed something on top of the true gospel, distorting it entirely. There is no other gospel. Getting the gospel wrong in the slightest degree makes it no gospel at all.
The Series Outline: What is the Gospel?
This four-week series asks, "What is the gospel?" following an outline from J.I. Packer:
- The gospel is a message about God.
- The gospel is a message about sin.
- The gospel is a message about Jesus Christ.
- The gospel is a message about faith and repentance.
Tonight, we focus on the first: the gospel is a message about God. It starts with God, is concerned with God, and ends with God.
A God-Centered Gospel
The most important concept in any Scripture passage is what it teaches about God. John Calvin said you never truly understand who you are until you behold the face of God.
Many gospel presentations focus only on "Jesus loves you and died for your sins," but this is incomplete. The Bible begins in Genesis with God as Creator, not jumping straight to the cross. Paul determined to know nothing except Christ and him crucified, yet he taught expansively. Every doctrine hinges on Christ crucified, but it starts with God.
The gospel is about who God is and what He expects. He has the right to expect obedience because He created everything from nothing. Without Him, nothing would exist. We owe our existence to God—animals exist as animals, humans as humans, because He created us that way.
Paul's Gospel Presentation in Athens
Paul grasps this in Acts 17:22-34, preaching to religious but lost Athenians—essentially atheists for rejecting the one true God.
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Acts 17:22-31
Paul starts with God as Creator and Lord, not "Jesus loves you and died for your sins." The Creator cannot live in temples made by man or be served by human hands as if He needs anything. Idols like Zeus depend on humans—they must be carried, sustained by prayers, or even thoughts. False gods need humanity; the true God gives humanity life, breath, and everything—present tense, ongoing.
God made every nation from one man, determining their times and boundaries. This is God's absolute sovereignty—a general predestination of nations and people. Everything depends on God; we owe Him everything. Even our will operates under His sovereignty.
Understanding Our Purpose from the Creator
This is central to the gospel and all life. How do we understand relationships—parent-child, husband-wife, employer-employee—without starting from the presupposition that God is in charge and we owe Him our existence? This reveals our duty and purpose.
Consider code or a car: without the creator's documentation or owner's manual, we misuse it. We might flip a car upside down and spin it, thinking it's magnificent, but the manual says it's for four wheels on the ground, ignition on, driving forward.
God created us, the world, and the rules—like a board game with pieces that go certain ways. He has the right to command how we operate. Ignoring His statutes is rebellion. God is not served by human hands as though He needed anything.
