How to Share the Gospel

The Serious Responsibility of Presenting the Gospel

Hi, my name is Matt Slick and welcome to the Carmancer Desk. The presentation of the Christian gospel is a serious responsibility for Christians. Romans 1 .16 says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

But a lot of Christians just don't know how to properly present the gospel message, and this of course is a serious problem. So I'd like to help clarify what a proper presentation is of this vitally important revelation from God.

Once you understand it, you can adopt it to your style and situation. First of all, you don't present the gospel to people so that their lives will get better. You don't present it so that they can give Jesus a try or experiment with religion or just see what happens.

If you urge people to try Jesus to improve their lives and things don't get better, you've effectively inoculated them from becoming Christians later because it didn't work when they first tried it. This is why people need to know why Jesus died on the cross.

It was in order to have people escape the righteous judgment of God. This is what it means to be saved. It means to be saved from damnation, from God's judgment upon all who have sinned against Him. And the only way to be saved is through the sacrifice of Christ.

The Law as the Standard of Perfection

Second, a proper presentation of the gospel includes three main elements, law, gospel, and cost. Let me explain. Let's take a look at the law. The law of God is the standard of perfection. The law is a reflection of the character of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. God spoke the law to Moses out of the abundance of His own heart. God said, Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, don't commit adultery, don't covet.

If you break these commandments, you've sinned against God. You've offended His character. Now the law is interesting in that it shows us what we're guilty of. Romans 3 .20 says that through the law we become conscious of sin.

Romans 7 .7 says, Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law. One interesting aspect of the law is that it brings about the opposite of what it requires. It requires holiness. It shows us where we're not.

It says be perfect, but it shows us where we're not perfect. So through the law we become aware of our own sins. Now, God is holy and just, so He must punish the sinner, the lawbreaker. If He didn't, then He would be approving of that which is sinful, and God cannot do that.

This is why the law has become dangerous. This is why it has a penalty. In fact, no law is a law without a penalty. The penalty for breaking the law of God is eternal damnation. Ezekiel 18 .4 says, The soul who sins will die.

Isaiah 59 .2 says, But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Romans 6 .23 says, For the wages of sin is death. So the Bible tells us that the person who sins will die, that he will be separated from God and that it will bring him death.

It is spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. This is what the law does. So the Bible tells us that the person who sins will die, that he will be separated from God and that it brings spiritual death.

That is eternal separation from God. We call this damnation. This is what the law does. But interestingly, the law also leads us to Christ. Galatians 3 .24 says, The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

The reason the law leads us to Christ is because it shows us that we cannot keep it. It only takes one sin to be a sinner. If you've lied, that makes you a liar. If you've stolen, that makes you a thief.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 .9 that such people will not be saved or cannot be saved. See, they're not following the law. So the law reveals our sin to us, condemns us, and brings us to our only hope, the person of Jesus.

Christ's Sacrifice and Resurrection

The gospel is God's provision for us to escape the righteous judgment of God. Remember, since the law is a perfect standard that requires perfection, we are not capable of keeping it. Therefore, we are lost and under judgment.

But God knows that we cannot keep the law, so He provided a way for us to escape that judgment. He became one of us in the person of Jesus. He kept the law perfectly, and He bore the penalty of our breaking that law, death.

1 Peter 2 .24 says that Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5 .21 says that He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This is important. The only reason Jesus is able to live the law perfectly and remove the judgment of God from us is because Jesus is God in flesh. The Bible tells us in John 1 .1 .14 that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Remember, Romans 6 .23 says that sin brings death. Jesus died in our place. He offered Himself as a sacrifice. Since Jesus is perfect, He is righteous. Since He is the Son of God, which means that He is God in flesh, then He can satisfy the wrath of God the Father.

So Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross and died with them, satisfying the wrath of God. This is called the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15 .3 -4 says that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

The resurrection of Christ is proof that what Christ did worked. It was good enough to God the Father to accept. Since we cannot be righteous before God by following the law, the only thing left for us is our faith.

Faith, Confession, and the Cost of Following Christ

In other words, for a person to be saved, he must, by faith, trust in Jesus and receive what He did on the cross. It's that simple. This is what the Bible tells us in Romans 4 .5,. "...but to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.".

It also says in Romans 10 .9 -10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Pretty simple, isn't it? But we aren't quite done. There is something else we need to consider. The cost. Jesus said in Luke 14 .28,. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to accomplish it?

The person who is seriously considering trusting in Christ for salvation should take this very seriously. He should count the cost of committing his life to Christ. This means that anyone who is trusting Jesus for salvation is also accepting what Jesus stands for, righteousness.

This means that the person who receives Christ is to turn from his sins, to stop lying, stop cheating, stop stealing, etc. It means to live for Jesus and not for himself. It means to trust Christ when circumstances get difficult.

It means to put Him above all things. This isn't always easy, but it is what we are called to do if we become Christians. So when telling someone about the gospel, don't forget to begin with the law. Let it convict the person.

Let it be a weight upon him. Then, when he is aware of that weight, show him how it is lifted only by trusting in Christ. And finally, the person who is to trust in Jesus must know what he is getting into.

He needs to take it seriously and he needs to count the cost. This way, you won't be inadvertently inoculating the person from Jesus by presenting a false gospel. We want people to consider Christ for the right reason, not the wrong ones.

Thank you.