If you are anything like me, you want to be faithful to proclaiming the entire Gospel so that those we know and love, and those that we do not, will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And in order for that to happen, we need to be clear in what we are communicating when it comes to the Gospel.
Each scenario requires wisdom and discernment because each relationship history will play a big part in how you share Christ. There is no one size fits all approach since each person is unique and each relationship is unique.
But the Gospel doesn’t change from relationship to relationship, but how you handle it will. Example, if you are counseling someone who is broken and disturbed, you probably wouldn’t drill them with the judgment of God or if someone is obstinate, you probably wouldn’t emphasize God’s love but giving them the warning from Ezekiel 33.
But no matter what, there are 4 Key Components that must be shared in order to be faithful when sharing the Gospel.
God
If you are going to be faithful to preach a clear Gospel, we must start with who God is. If we start with anything else, such as the person that we are sharing with, then we run the risk of making God less than He is and making man more than he is.
God is the creator of everything, especially the soul of man. Therefore, all things are subject to Him and there is not one area in the created order outside of His authority.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains,
Psalm 24:1
The world, and those who dwell in it.
Man, by God’s own design and good pleasure, is owned by God. This is important because man thinks that they are inherently autonomous.
God is Holy. This means that God is very different than mankind. It means that sin cannot live in His presence. It means that He is distinct from all things common and profane.
and one called out another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of host, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
Isaiah 6:3
There is no one holy like the LORD, indeed, there is no one besides You
1 Samuel 2:2
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16
God demands perfect obedience to His law.
Therefore you are to be perfect, for your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
James 2:10
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
Galatians 3:10
Man
Everyone is a sinner. I want to make sure we understand what this statement means. We aren’t sinners simply because we sin, our sin is the proof that we are sinners. It is who we are since we have all inherited a sinful nature when Adam fell into sin.
just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned
Romans 5:12
This implies that there is nothing that is inherently good within man, therefore there is nothing that can be done to change that from man himself.
as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
Romans 3:10-12
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23
This applies to everyone, even the most impressive “good” person that we may know.
Penalty of sin. Every person will stand before God on judgment day and give an account for their life, in relation to their relationship to God. And since man is born into sin, he is already separated from God. There is a temporal effect of that found in sickness and death and brokenness in relationships. But there is an eternal effect of this as well.
There is a judicial sense to the penalty of sin.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment
Hebrews 9:27
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
Revelation 20:13
And there is a relational sense to the penalty of sin.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Isaiah 59:2
when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power
2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9
Good works don’t save, only God’s mercy.
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit
Titus 3:5
Jesus
It is important to get Jesus right, since if He is presented wrong then there is no opportunity for people to believe in Him for salvation. Some teach that He is less than God, birthed by God, or was just a good moral teacher. But that is not what the Scriptures teaches us about who Christ is.
He is Truly God. Jesus isn’t just a “son of God” but is God Himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
John 1:1-3
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
He was Truly Man. Jesus took on flesh and became one of us in order to satisfy the standard of God.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
He fulfilled the Law. The expectation for anyone trying to earn their way is that they would satisfy the Law of God, which is impossible for man to do so. But Jesus did.
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:17
For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
Hebrews 10:1, 14
He died on the cross for sin.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
1 Peter 2:24
His death brings us to God.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit
1 Peter 3:18
Jesus rose from the grave. This is probably the most important component and is probably the most neglected. If Jesus did not raise from the grave then Paul says that our faith is futile. But Jesus was raised from the dead conquering death.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, 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, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
It cannot be understated how important the resurrection is to the Gospel message. Since Christ was raised so will those who put their faith in him be raised.
Response
There is an interesting question that was posed by the Jewish listeners who had heard Peter preach on the day of Pentecost.
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:37
In response to the question, this is what Peter says.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
We call men to repent, which means to turn from chasing sin and to turn to Christ and enjoy Him. But we must be clear in what it will cost them to follow after Jesus.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
Luke 9:23-25
To follow Jesus means to lay down your arms against Him and to submit yourself to His rule and reign and seek to enjoy and treasure Him above all others. This means to lose your life and identity and gain His.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:8-10
So we preach Christ and Him crucified and resurrected according to the Scriptures in order to see men saved from the wrath of God through Jesus Christ.
What are some of your Gospel experiences? Share below.