The Light of the Gospel Last Week  When our identity is rooted in our own righteousness, we miss out on Jesus because we are functionally our own savior and lord.

The Light of the Gospel Today  The Gospel is REAL NEWS that inherently requires proclamation to all…

“Real” news in our world? News is what sells… must cater to consumer desires and perceived needs Yellow Journalism… Hyper-pragmatism… Have allowed the recipient to determine what is really “news-worthy” We are hungry for The Next Big Thing

“Real” news in our world? “If our criterion for news is whatever we find useful for our daily experience, then given the limitations of that experience, we will miss some of the most important events. News is important not because it sells but simply because it is news. It tells us what is going on outside of our own inner experience . . . It just does not finally matter what we think, feel, do, or want to be true. We need someone to give us the report. Yet this is just what we do not want: an authoritative source – even God – standing outside of us and above us, telling us how things actually are.” -Michael Horton in The Gospel-Driven Life News is what sells… must cater to consumer desires and perceived needs Yellow Journalism… Hyper-pragmatism… Have allowed the recipient to determine what is really “news-worthy” We are hungry for The Next Big Thing

The Gospel is Real News It does not depend upon us at all. Romans 5:6-8   6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Gospel is Real News It solves a problem we don’t even know that we have. 2 Timothy 4:2-4  2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

The Gospel is Real News It solves a problem we don’t even know that we have. Romans 3:19-20  19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

The Gospel is Real News It solves a problem we don’t even know that we have. Romans 3:23  all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 6:23  the wages of sin is death Romans 4:5  God justifies the wicked!!!

The Gospel is Real News It requires us to respond to it. “If we try to make the gospel ‘relevant’ and ‘accessible’ to people who are still judging stories, problems, and resolutions in terms of their own life story, it will never rise above moralistic therapy.” -Michael Horton in The Gospel-Driven Life God’s Word gives us the right questions, not just the right answers. 1 Corinthians 1:18  18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… It is the nature of the term (“Gospel”) “news of the divine ruler’s birth, coming of age, or enthronement, and also his speeches, decrees, and acts are glad tidings which bring long hoped-for fulfillment to the longings of the world for happiness and peace . . . ‘Providence which has ordered the whole world of our life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men, and by sending in him, as it were, a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war cease, to create order everywhere…’ “ -New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… It is unique, universally applicable, and historical Uniqueness: Only the Gospel provides opportunity for new and eternal life in the midst of this age that is under the dominion of sin, death, & the devil.

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… It is unique, universally applicable, and historical Universal Application: John 3:16-18 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Romans 10:9-15  9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” It is unique, universally applicable, and historical Universal Application: John 3:16-18 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose)

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events)

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal Public & Universal

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal Public & Universal Secondarily Beneficial

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal Public & Universal Secondarily Beneficial Primary & Indispensable

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal Public & Universal Secondarily Beneficial Primary & Indispensable Results in little persecution

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… Personal Religion Story The Gospel Subjective (peace, purpose) Objective (datable, historic events) Private & Personal Public & Universal Secondarily Beneficial Primary & Indispensable Results in little persecution Could get you killed

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… “As the apostles were brought before Roman authorities, they said nothing about how Jesus had helped them put their marriages back together or how they found the gospel helpful and useful in daily living. There may well have been stories like that to report. However, that was not their gospel. Rather, they testified to datable events, which they assumed to have been well-known to their judges. It was not a ‘religion story,’ but an international headline of immense world historical significance. (People aren’t persecuted for having an invisible friend who helps them through personal crises.) They referred the secular rulers to eyewitnesses who were still living to back up their claim. If the witnesses only offered good advice, spiritual and moral therapy, or defended their ‘product’ for its pragmatic usefulness, Rome would have had no trouble adding another cult to the soup of imperial religion. However, the claim was that Jesus alone is Lord of the cosmos and Savior of the world (both titles that Caesar claimed for himself).” -Michael Horton in The Gospel-Driven Life The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all…

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… It counters deceptive propaganda from the world’s current ruling regime 2 Corinthians 10:3-5  3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

The Gospel inherently requires proclamation to all… It has truly changed our lives We must do something because of this news!!! Our identities have been forever changed “new creation…born again…” We have been freed to truly love others 1 John 4:19  We love because he first loved us.

Big Idea… Gospel is REAL NEWS that inherently requires proclamation to all…