The gospel is about the good news of Jesus: Jesus has come to save us. What does "salvation" mean? How does the Bible explain it? How do we explain it to others? The Lord Jesus spoke about the "secrets of the kingdom of God" (Luke 8:10). The Apostle Paul wrote about the mysteries of God revealed to us in Jesus (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 1:9; 3:6; Col. 1:26).
The secrets and mysteries are now revealed in the Scriptures. However, not all mysteries are revealed ( Deut. 29:29). God lifted the veil far enough to let us see: who God is, what he has done in history, Jesus' work of salvation, and our need for that salvation.
Illustration # 1:
Positive: Life-
- Abundant life: "“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself." (John 5:24-26)
- Bread of Life: "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)
- God wants us to be fruitful: "This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." (John 15:8)(also: Col. 1:10)
- Deserving death: "Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:32)
- Death through Adam: "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come." (Romans 5:12-14)
- Sin Causes lack of fruit: "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:2)(also: Gen. 3:16-19; Luke 3:9)
- Death is a human reality. But Jesus offers life, eternal life.
- As a metaphor, death represents the end of all possibilities and hope. People live as if they were dead, without hope and separated from God.
- Jesus offers abundant life. Jesus offers a new opportunity to live life like God intended it from the beginning.
- Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Besides being a miracle, it also illustrates what Jesus can and does for people: He gives new life.
- As we receive new life, God wants us to be fruitful and share this new life with the people around us.
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