Getting the Gospel right is critical for a number of reasons. It is of “first importance” (1 Cor. 15:1-3). Furthermore, only the Gospel is the power of God for salvation(Rom. 1:16) And anyone who teaches a different gospel is pronounced accursed (Gal. 1:8-9)
To get the Gospel right, especially in our culture with so many different “gospels”, you must first understand what the Gospel is NOT.
Not only is getting the Gospel right critical, but so is getting the right response to the Gospel. What do I mean by the right response to the Gospel? I simply mean, after presenting the true Gospel, what is the biblical response we should ask for?
The right response to the Gospel is NOT…
- …pray the sinner’s prayer.
- …ask Jesus into your heart.
- …receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
- …love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
- …do unto others as you would have them do unto you
- …discover the purpose driven life
- …find out God’s wonderful plan for your life
- …believe in yourself
- …have a healthy self-esteem
- …make Jesus Lord(God the Father has already done that SEE Acts 2:36)
- …let go and let God(Though I did see a recent sermon series entitled “Let It Go”. Must be the Gospel according to “Frozen”)
The right response to the Gospel is in 3 simple yet profound words,
- Forsake
- Faith
- Follow
Yes, I know, the 1st and third are verbs(responses) while the 2nd is a noun. OK.
- Forsake
- Believe
- Follow
You see. Now you’ve completely ruined my alliteration. How will I ever sleep tonight?
1) Forsake
In his own testimony, no less that 3 times Paul says that everything he counted as “loss” for the sake of Christ.
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ”
Phil. 3:7-8
From the context, what did Paul count as “loss”. His religious credentials.(v. 5-6)
- circumcised on the eighth day
- of the people of Israel
- of the tribe of Benjamin
- a Hebrew of Hebrews
- as to the law, a Pharisee
- as to zeal, a persecutor of the church
- as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
In other words, Christ was sufficient and therefore he did not need to add to Christ. Those things he counted as gain at some time were now a loss. He forsook them.
You see you cannot add Jesus to the mix. It is not Jesus plus…
- …your confirmation
- …your baptism
- …your religion
- …your morality
- …your good deeds
It is Jesus plus nothing!!!
So, the right response to the Gospel is to forsake and abandon all other means of salvation you may be clinging to other than Jesus Christ.
2) Faith. Oh Yeah, I forgot. Believe.
The right response to the Gospel is faith in Christ. We ask people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31)
3) Follow
This is what Jesus asked for. And no, this was not an invitation to a post-conversion commitment to discipleship. This was the sine qua non of salvation.
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Mark 8:34-36
So, forsake, believe(faith) and follow.
Whom do I gain when I forsake? Christ
Upon whom do I believe? Christ
Whom do I follow? Christ
The right, biblical response to the Gospel is all-inclusive and all-exclusive.
As A. W. Tozer wrote in That Incredible Christian,
“To accept Christ is to form an attachment to the Person of our Lord Jesus altogether unique in human experience. … This attachment is all-inclusive in that it joyfully accepts Christ for all that He is. There is no craven division of offices whereby we may acknowledge His Saviorhood today and withhold decision on His Lordship tomorrow. … Further, his attachment is all-exclusive. The Lord becomes to him not one of several rival interests, but the one exclusive attraction forever. He orbits around Christ as the earth orbits around the sun, held in thrall by the magnetism of His love, drawing all his life and light and warmth from Him.”
