What is the Gospel - A Message About Sin (Part 1 of 2)
Review: The Gospel is a Message About God
Last week, we introduced the subject, "What is the Gospel?" by looking at the fact that the gospel is ultimately a message about God. You will fail to understand the gospel correctly, you will miss the truth of the gospel, and you will most likely replace the gospel with something more tangible, something more palatable, if you don't start with the point that it's a message about God. It's a God-centered gospel. It is about God, his story, his message, who he is, what he does, and what he has the rights and abilities to expect from us in how we live our lives—in terms of what we think and how we act.
God is the creator of everything, the Lord of everything, the sustainer of everything. By virtue of that, God is well within his rights to say how we should or shouldn't live our lives because we are his creatures. Without him, we don't exist. Without him, we wouldn't continue to exist. God didn't start creation and set the ball in motion, then say, "Let's see what happens." God is the one giving us every single breath we draw in with each inhale and exhale. We owe him everything. He is well within his rights to tell us how we should live, what we should do, what we should think.
Because he is the creator and he is Lord, he has the right to determine what is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong, what is morally acceptable and what is morally unacceptable. God has spoken on these issues of life. He has decreed and put things into place. He has established a law that he requires all of his creatures to live by.
You might say this sounds like legalism or works-based salvation—God requires the performance of his law for somebody to be righteous. They have to perfectly abide by the law. This is the decree of God; this is the purpose of the law. When sin came into existence, it hindered man's ability to abide by every single portion of the law. Even in sinless humanity, man was susceptible and capable of rebelling against that law of God—and he did.
God requires righteousness with respect to the law. He never required us to be righteous in respect to the law on our own. He always required it to be centered and founded within Jesus Christ, so that his people are keeping a loving relationship with his Son who kept the list of do's and don'ts perfectly.
God spoke, decreed, said what is right and what is wrong. He described what righteousness is, what unrighteousness is, and left us this book called the Bible with instructions and insights into what is wrong. The last thing you should respond with is despair or hopelessness—there are 613 commands in the first five books of the Old Testament alone. How could any of us meet these standards? That's the point, but that's next week's message.
The gospel doesn't make sense without understanding who God is. Why would we understand what is wrong if we don't understand who God is as the centerpiece of our reality, our very existence as Lord and ruler of our lives? Then there's no basis to determine what is right and wrong. Some might think that's a good thing, but it's severely bad. Without a moral lawgiver, without a moral law, it's chaos, anarchy. There's no reason to say murder is wrong, abortion is wrong, or anything is wrong—unless God exists and has decreed it.
The Bad News: Sin
Since the gospel wouldn't make sense without starting with God, the gospel also wouldn't exist without the presence of the bad news. In a basic sense, sin is not doing what God has said to do and doing what God has said not to do. It is breaking God's commandments, disobedience to God's commandments. God says, "Here's how to be righteous," and sin says, "I'm not going to do that." God says, "Here's how you're sinful," and sin says, "I'm going to do that."
It is summarized in Genesis 3, when God established his law: you are free to eat of every tree except one. The issue is God saying this is wrong. Because God, as Lord and Creator, decreed that particular tree wrong, eating from it was sinful. If God decrees something wrong, it is sin.
Sin received the command of God—"don't eat of this tree"—and did the exact opposite. That's the basic principle of sin. This is the bad news necessary to understand the good news. Jesus Christ didn't just die on the cross as a positive example. He died retributively—there was punishment associated with his death. There was a negative aspect: he died punitively. He was punished. His death makes no sense unless sin exists.
Because sin exists, Christ died to forgive our sins and bring us into a right relationship with God, where these sins are no longer a consideration. Sin is a very evident, real problem in our world. There is a generic sense of established morality. Atheism says it has to do with survival of the fittest, but society is rejecting morals. Other religions try to establish morality, but the Bible is the greatest source, and Jesus the greatest example.
We understand specific issues in our generation needing clarity on right and wrong, good and bad behavior. Nobody can deny the reality of evil or wrongdoing.
God's Wrath Against Sin (Romans 1:18-25)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:18-25 (ESV)
God's wrath is revealed against ungodliness and unrighteousness. It's not just that God is love revealed in creation—it's his wrath revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. Technically, from a biblical perspective, there's no such thing as an atheist. It's impossible not to believe in God—it's a revealed fact in general revelation as a negative thing: his wrath. He is revealed as a wrathful, vengeful God against unrighteousness. Unbelievers don't respond thinking, "That's cool." He is wrathful against their sin.
He is revealed as powerful—capable of carrying out his wrath. He is divine, with every right to do so. He is revealed in every way against sin—this is known.
Categories of Sin Provoking God's Wrath
Ungodliness (Greek: asebeia) means carelessness or indifference toward God. "I don't care what God says." It's irreverence, mockery of God—like calling him an "invisible man in the sky" or "spaghetti monster." It's illogical: they presuppose God doesn't exist, then mock that assumption.
Unrighteousness is horizontal—a lack of concern for humanity and others. It includes injustice, unfairness, manipulation, illegal acts, violating standards of right conduct. Who determines fairness, equity, justice? God, the Creator. They exchange God's image for their own or creatures'—idolatry.
It starts with worthless thinking—pointless thoughts, futile arguments, useless opinions devoid of value. Their "logic" produces doubt, uncertainty, pointless solutions to life's issues.
God moves to judgment for ungodliness, unrighteousness, and idolatry.
The Works of the Flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)
The basic definition of sin is to miss the mark—shooting off target instead of the bull's-eye.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)
To continue participating in sin—getting good at it, unrestrained, unremorseful, loving it—bars you from heaven. It demonstrates you never had salvation. Paul lists these (not exhaustive) obvious sins: "works of the flesh" synonymous with sin. They're blatant, no need for deep research—they're evident.
These are how people suppress God's truth, as in Romans 1 (e.g., homosexuality). They're clear, not hidden or needing decoding.
Specific Sins Listed
Sexual immorality (Greek: porneia, root of "pornography") includes fornication, any sexual acts. It's not just "going all the way"—it's "going too far." Any act incorporating sexuality outside biblical marriage: eliciting arousal, using biology capable of sexuality (e.g., hands used sexually). Our society calls it "erotic freedom." Those who practice it will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In relationships, don't incorporate biology to elicit sexuality—keep it dormant. Be public, accountable.
Impurity includes sexual immorality but goes beyond to any moral corruption—lacking boundaries. If someone rejects absolute morals, they can't call anything wrong. It includes financial exploitation. It's dangerous, barring from heaven.
Sensuality is next...
