God's Gospel

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” (I Cor. 15:1-5)

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where do we start when we talk about the gospel and when we preach about the gospel? Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, lays out the gospel. He says human beings are sunk in sin; therefore, are in desperate need of a savior. So he lays it out: “Christ died for our sins . . . was buried . . . was raised.” Paul charged the Corinthians to “hold fast” to the truth. So, where do we start and what do we hold fast to? If we are going to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are going to have to go back to the beginning – with God. We must start with God, because God IS the Gospel!

The beginning of the Christian message is that God created “ex nihilo”, out of nothing. God created the heavens and the earth. God created the world, the universe and all that it contains. He simply spoke and it came to be. His crowning achievement in creation was man.

When God created human beings, his intention was that they would live under his righteous rule in perfect joy, worshipping him, obeying him, living in unbroken fellowship with him. Gen. 1:26-27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God created man and woman in his image, meaning we were to be like him, to be in relationship with him, and to declare his glory to the world.

Just think about the massive implications of creation – that God created the world and that God created you – and then thank God that you are the result of the planned actions of God. And because God has created us, He has the right to tell us how to live.

Adam and Eve were told to rule the earth under Him. They were to rule his world under him. The authority to rule was not theirs; it was given to them by God. Friends, God created us and has the right to command us.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil was a stark reminder of that fact. When Adam and Eve looked at that tree, it was a reminder that their authority was limited. Gen. 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

As we will examined in our “Does It Really Matter” series yesterday, when Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, they weren’t just violating some arbitrary command. They were doing something much more serious. They were rejecting God’s authority and declaring their independence from him. Adam and Eve wanted to be “like God” (Gen. 3) and they saw it as an opportunity to take the crown. There was only one thing God had not placed under Adam’s feet – God himself. That arrangement was not good enough, so Adam rebelled.

Now the Bible makes it clear that God is Holy and Righteous. When Moses asked God to tell him his name, God replied, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.” (Ex. 34:6-7) God makes it clear to Moses: a merciful and gracious God will not clear the guilty!

This is where we must start. The Creator has the right to rule over His creation. He has the right to rule over you and me. And we dare not miss this truth about Him: “Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13). God is holy and God is merciful. And God is just. The Psalmist declared, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne” (Psalm 89:14).

So God is absolutely righteous and just. Our question for today: Are we? Are we righteous? Are we just? Do we still possess unhindered fellowship with our Creator? What do our righteous acts look like to a holy God? We’ll look next week

Derek