Study 1 What Is The Gospel? On the first day of this discipleship journey, I want to make sure you fully understand the message of the gospel, which is why I am going to tell you five things that God does not know. That statement might surprise you. Maybe you re thinking, I thought God knew everything? That s true. God is omniscient, meaning He is allknowing. In fact, God already knows everything about you. He knows when you went to bed last night, how many hairs are on your head, and even the number of heartbeats you have left. But it may surprise you to learn that there are five things God does not know: by Brandon Park God does not know how to love you more than He already does. True love is always sacrificial. If you want to know whether somebody really loves you, find out what he or she is willing to sacrifice for you. A father and son were traveling down a country road one afternoon in the spring when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the look of horror on his child s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand, and the bee began to buzz around once again. The boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son and opened his hand showing him the stinger, which was now lodged in his palm. He said, Relax son, I took the sting for you. The bee can t hurt you anymore. Because of Jesus death and resurrection, He took the penalty of sin, death, and hell away from those who believe in Him. That s why Paul said, Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55). One man said, I asked Jesus how much He loved me. He answered this much. Then He stretched out His arms and died for me. Jesus stretched out His arms so that wicked people could nail Him to the cross that s how much He loves us. He stretched out His arms to take the sins of the entire world that s how much He loves us. He stretched out His arms to take away our penalty of death that s how much He loves us. The cross of Jesus Christ is the clearest, loudest, most powerful I love you! ever proclaimed. It doesn t matter what you may have done in this life or where you are today. It doesn t even matter if you believe in God or not!
Someone has to pay for your sin - either Jesus pays or you do. The God you say you don t believe in died on the cross for your sins. Romans 5:8 says, God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You are loved more than you will ever know by Someone who died to know you. God does not know how to ignore sin. A story goes that everyone sitting in the courtroom had their eyes on the judge. After hearing the case, he looked up and slowly pronounced his judgment upon a young woman who was found guilty. He said, I find you guilty and hereby fine you the maximum fine possible: $10,000. The courtroom gasped in astonishment. The judge then got up, took off his robe and walked to the front of the bench. Taking out his checkbook, he wrote a check for the full amount. Turning to the courtroom, the judge said, This is my daughter, and even though I love her, I cannot overlook what she has done. Her actions still have repercussions, but I m going to pay the penalty for those consequences. I want you to think of the most horrendous sin you have ever committed. Do you have it? Do you remember it? Now, I want you to understand that it was that sin that God the Father saw when He looked down from Heaven and saw Jesus take your sin upon Himself. It was all of the sins both large and small that you and I have committed that Jesus took into His perfect body when He was dying on the cross. Maybe you don t know what sin is. Sin is any thought, action, or attitude that goes against God and His standard of morality. Not only were we born with a sin nature (e.g. you never have to teach a toddler how to throw a temper tantrum), but also throughout our lives, we have all deliberately committed sinful acts. Scripture says, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All sins are serious and have serious consequences. It doesn t matter if you ve committed one sin or committed a million. God s judgment of us will not be based on how we compare to other people; rather, it will be based on how we compare to His standard. Even though God loves us, He cannot overlook the fact that we have sinned. The penalty for our sin must be paid in full. This is what happened when Jesus was on the cross. He took the full punishment for our sins. Someone has to pay for your sin either Jesus pays or you do. If we personally accept His offer of complete payment for our sins, we will not be required to pay the penalty ourselves. God does not know how to turn away anyone who comes to Him with repentance and faith. God couldn t love me. I m not good enough. Have you ever thought that? Well, God isn t in the business of saving good people just people who are truly repentant. God promised that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). It s important for us to understand that when Jesus died on the cross, He didn t die alone. He died in between two thieves who were being
crucified because of crimes they had committed. One of the criminals railed at Jesus, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us! The other thief watched how Jesus responded and put his faith and belief in Him, and to that man, Jesus said, Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43). On that day, one man died on the wrong side of Jesus and another man died on the right side of Jesus. The way he got right is the way that we must get right. That second thief saw something about himself in those last minutes of his life. He saw his own sinfulness, and he placed his faith in the One who was dying next to him. Those two men are a representation of the decision that every person in this world has to make: Will I choose to receive Jesus or will I choose to reject Him? To not make any decision is a decision to reject Him. We will be judged not for the sins that we have committed but for the Light we have rejected. Notice that the thief who believed had nothing to offer. There was nothing he could do to earn God s favour. This man didn t receive salvation because of his good works he didn t have any. He wasn t saved because of church membership he never joined one. He wasn t saved because he was baptized he didn t have time. All he had was his faith and God s grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. Salvation is not in the merit of man; it s in the mercy of God. It s not in the goodness of man; it s in the grace of God. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous; it s a gift for the guilty. God has given His word that if you will come to Him in faith with a repentant heart, He will save you so you can spend eternity with Him in Heaven. There is no person so good that they need not be saved, but there is no person so bad that he cannot be saved. God does not know another way to be saved but through Jesus. Jesus is our way to God and God s way to us. Christianity is not a code, a cause, or a creed, but Christ. Jesus put it this way: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). God has chosen to redeem mankind and save you through Jesus Christ. In 1 Timothy 2:5 we read, There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. How many mediators? Just one, and His name is Jesus. If you could get to Heaven by being a good person, why would Jesus have to die? You may be a moral person with wholesome values. You may be a good citizen who abides by the golden rule. But those things, while they are good, will not save you from your sins. Only Jesus can do that. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
God does not know a better time to make this decision than right now. In 2 Corinthians 6:2, Paul says, Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. If you sense God working in your heart today and drawing you to Him, you need to make this decision today. There is a danger that you may harden your heart to the point that you don t sense God drawing you to Him again. There is a danger that you may die before you get another opportunity to respond to Christ. You are living on borrowed time. Everyone faces death. Only a fool would go through life unprepared for something he knows is inevitable. In 1829, a man named George Wilson attacked and robbed a mail carrier. He was sentenced to die, but received a pardon from the President of the United States. But to the shock of the Oval Office, Wilson rejected the pardon. The President of the United States had set him free, but George Wilson said, No. The case went to the Supreme Court, and the issue was simply this: If the President gives you a pardon, aren t you pardoned? Can you reject a pardon given by a Sovereign? Chief Justice Marshall rendered the decision: A pardon rejected is no pardon at all. Unless the recipient of the pardon accepts the pardon, then the pardon cannot be applied. Because of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection, you have been offered a pardon. But in order for the pardon to be effective, you must choose to believe and receive. Are you certain of your salvation? John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. If you are not certain of your salvation and you would like to respond to the gospel in believing and receiving Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, I want to encourage you to pray and make that decision. Praying a prayer doesn t save you. Salvation is an act of your will to respond to what God is doing in your heart. Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I know I cannot save myself. I believe in who You are and what You came to this earth to do. I do not want to die in my sins. I want You to save me. Come into my life and make me a new person. I turn away from how I ve been living, and for the rest of my days, I want to live for You. Thank you for giving me salvation and eternal life. In Jesus name, AMEN! If you prayed that prayer, you just made the greatest decision you ll ever make in your life! This is the first step on an exciting new journey!
Did you pray that prayer today and invite Jesus into your heart? If you have already prayed that prayer, share briefly your experience of how you came to faith in Jesus Christ: Based on your understanding of the Gospel, if you were to stand before God and He were to ask you, Why should I let you into Heaven? What do you think you would say?