Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast. I'm Kosti Hinn, president of For the Gospel Ministries, and I'm joined today by our incredible team led by Executive Director Brett Skinner, Digital Platforms Director Reagan Rose, and the creative director himself, Bond, Justin Bond. We are a ministry that focuses on providing sound doctrine for everyday people for loads of articles, podcast episodes, or to ask us anything and learn more. Go to www.forthegospel.org and be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Share it with your friends, your family, your church so we can serve you all faithfully. And if you have social media, we're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at further gospel min on all of those. So we're jumping into the second episode of our podcast. And this episode is what is the gospel? If our ministry is for the gospel, we obviously want to make a big uh point there. Um, you know, Brett, let's start with you. Uh really, what has the gospel meant to you or uh in your life, how were you transformed by the gospel?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, what has it meant to me? I mean, it's meant everything. It's it's it's it's redeemed me, it's bought me, it's paid for me, it's allowed me to know a Heavenly Father in in such a beautiful and rich way. But uh but yeah, I mean, uh I still remember um over a decade ago when when someone was um loving enough to sit down and and just to ask me uh some questions. And you know, I was I thought I was a fairly decent person at the time and was somewhat moral. And um, you know, they were able to help compare uh what my standard was against what God's standard was. And slowly but surely that that presentation broke down my heart um and drew me um into repentance of of my sins and belief in in Christ as um as my savior. And and since then it's been just a sprint of constant repentance and and and holding on to the cross. And um, it's pure life transformation. And I think that's you know, one of the things we'll get into as we we talk about the gospel today is is uh you know, so much of uh what people say as as they professed Christianity doesn't come with repentance of sin. It doesn't come with a proclamation of Christ as Lord and Savior. And so um that's been the thing in my life. It's it's transformed my relationships, it's transformed, it's allowed me to meet a wonderful woman who loves the Lord and to have kids and to raise them and to know the Lord and to give my life to doing ministry and to sharing the gospel and to loving others. And um, it's taken it from a self-centeredness and it said, I'm gonna do everything I can for Christ. And that means reaching people with the gospel. So it's a, you know, how's it changed my life? It's a it's a head-to-toe complete uh makeover. If if there were a um a TV show and it was called like Makeovers for Christ or something like that, um, like it would be as as drastic as those homes that are remodeled, right? Like it's this was the old and this is the new. This was the darkness, and now this is the light. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's been it's been just a radical ride, and and I'm so blessed to uh to know a wonderful father, and I'm so blessed to know uh a rich redeemer and and the price that was paid on the cross for my sins. And um and yeah, it propels me forward each and every day into ministry, into being a better husband, into being a better friend, into being a better neighbor, um, into being a better um citizen of my country, um, and submitting to my government and um in in every way. I'm I am uh a person who is is constantly being transformed into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_01So good. Yeah, when you're as you're talking, I'm hearing the theme come out of that that emphasis on repentance and the transformative work of the gospel, and struck with the thought of uh the importance of mentioning that and understanding it as an essential element in the gospel. It's not just, hey, God loves you, uh, believe in him, and you're good. It you know, Mark chapter one, verse 15, Jesus is preaching repent and believe. Repent is what you're turning from or away from, one theologian once said. Um, believing is what you're turning to. You're you're being drawn to Christ. Your whole life is wrapped up in him now. So I think you nail a huge element of that. Um, Reagan, I want to hear your background and and what the gospel has done for you, but also if you'd be willing to expand on um why you think that uh some will shy away from repentance or why some of the elements that Brett even shared, like it will transform your life, it will make you different, you will be like 2 Corinthians 5.17, a new creation, the ultimate episode of Fixer Upper, like he said. That why do you know why do people kind of run from the idea of repent or you've got to change? And they maybe opt for like, well, God loves me just the way I am. Who are you to judge? What's so important about transformation when it comes to the gospel?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you know, the the gospel absolutely has transformed my life. Um, you know, the in the biggest way is it's transformed my destiny, it transforms the destiny of anyone who puts their faith in Christ, and that without Christ, you are on um a road that will end in an eternity apart from God, an eternity in hell. Um, and so that's the biggest thing. As I think about it, you know, the the there are so many ways practically where it's changed my life. But the main thing is that it has reconciled me to God so that he's not my enemy, he is my friend, he's my savior, and I will spend eternity with him. But there are, you know, second and third order effects of the gospel that are so practical and tangible. I mean, I just think personally, you know, I lost my father when I was just a little kid, when I was five years old. And one of the verses somebody shared with me, um, really right after that happened was Psalm 68.5. He's the father of the fatherless and the defender of the widow. And I have a heavenly father. And there are so many ways that daily that transforms the way that I approach the living life. Um, it it transforms uh the peace that I would have. Um, any any anxiety I might have, I can cast my cares on him for he cares for me. Um it it transforms what I do with my life because I have meaning, I have a purpose that is divine. I know who I am. Think about how many people walk around this world and they have no idea what they should be doing or who they are. We if you're a Christian, if you know the Lord, you know exactly who you are and you know exactly what what uh you're here for. Um, so yeah, I mean I love the gospel and it it absolutely is transformative. And I think to your to your question, Costi, um, why do people run from it? You know, the gospel means good news, but yeah, usually good when people hear good news, they're like, oh great, I want to hear that. But some people get angry or uh defensive or they just don't want to hear it. Why would somebody run from the good news that they can be reconciled to God, have eternity in heaven? And I think the the simple answer is that we love our sin. We when when you when you repent of your sin, you turn from your sin, you're turning away from something that is near and dear to you. We all love our sin. And when you turn towards Christ, what you're being asked to do is not just lay those things aside, but bow the knee and say, You're my Lord. You're saying, No longer am I in control of my life, I'm gonna be calling the shots. He is. That is while the gospel is free, it's grace, that is a high calling. That's that is a big thing that um that Christ calls us to do, to come and die to ourselves. So I think that of course, with our love for sin, there's an allergy to anything that would say, Well, how can I give up my personal freedom? I I I love this. But man, the it's it's absolute folly to think that way because it's the difference between life and death. And and and like Brett said, it's the difference between darkness and light. And uh to repent, to come out of that and to come into the light of Christ is the most important decision you'll ever make in your entire life.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Man, you guys are preachers, every one of you. When you talk about the gospel, you just come alive. Uh all incredible points. I know those are gonna be blessing and edifying so many people listening, and they're clarifying. I love the word allergy. I've never heard that used before. We have this allergy to it. Uh, it really is. There's an allergic reaction, and it is based in our sin and our love for sin in our flesh. Um, Justin, you uh were saved and transformed by the gospel. What did that look like in your life, and why are you so crazy about the gospel now?
SPEAKER_02So I didn't grow up as a Christian. Um I lived my life how I wanted to live it, you know, typical jock lifestyle in high school. Football, partying, you know, doing things with with girls I shouldn't be doing, just the typical high school jock life. And um ended up moving out of my house at 16, dropped out of high school after football season, worked full-time and continued to live that lifestyle. And as time went on, you know, God was drawing myself to him, and and I didn't know what that was. And long story short, I end up meeting this guy because I wanted to be baptized, started going to this church here in the valley, and um everyone was getting baptized, and I thought I should do it. No idea why, but people were doing it and I wanted to do it. So um, this guy ends up having me come out uh for lunch with him, who ended up being a really good friend of mine now, and asked me why do I want to get baptized? And I said, I have no idea. It's just what you do. So we stopped talking about baptism pretty quickly, and he went into the gospel. Wow, and I always thought I was a good person, right? I knew I thought I knew Jesus, right? I said I believed in him, but it stopped at that. And he started going into the gospel and and started um showing me my sin and how short I came to the glory of God. And he essentially said what Ezekiel says in Ezekiel 36, like you need a new heart, you have a heart of stone, it needs to be replaced with the heart of flesh, and only God can do that. Um, he he showed me the bad news of my sin, right? So I have a sickness that's my sin. My sin's gonna kill me and send me to hell. So I need a cure, and that cures the gospel. It's the lovingness of Christ coming and living here on the earth, being perfect, paying for my sin, dying on the cross, an innocent person dying on the cross for me. Um God loving us so much that He would just destroy His Son for us. So hearing that, and hearing that I needed a savior, and apart from Christ, I'm hopeless. Tore me apart. I think it was the first time I ever broke down in front of a complete stranger. My sin was so heavy. It was like it was an experience for sure. Like it was God, God was really working on me, and it was so clear. And you know, during that time, you know, I I repented and I I wanted to turn away from all of my sin and put my faith and hope in Christ, in Christ alone, devote my whole life for him. And it was a black and white situation. Like I knew I was in sin and I knew I was going to hell, and then I felt the peace of God and the and the salvation that he has granted me. It was like you know what we see in Pilgrim's Progress, like that burden was completely lifted, like the weight was just completely gone, and and God saved me, and God saved me through the gospel.
SPEAKER_01Wow, big time. I as soon as you just started talking about the way that you broke down, I think of of genuine conversion. And uh I know that a lot of people have different stories and different testimonies and different emotional uh levels and responses, but uh, I was struck with the reminder of what Paul says to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 7 uh in verse 10 and 11. He's talking about the godly sorrow that produces repentance. And remember in Corinth, if you're if you're new to kind of understanding certain contexts and books of the Bible, Corinth, this is the best way to break this down. I remember being told this early on by a mentor and a pastor. He said, Corinth was Vegas on steroids at the time. I'm like, okay, I totally got that. That's like 2020 language, I understand. Um, Corinth is Vegas on steroids. It's wild and crazy. The church is full of sexual immorality and doing what they want. So Paul reprimands them in 1 Corinthians, and it's it's like, hey, this is how it's gonna be. Um, that letter comes and the response comes back, and this is what he says. Uh, for sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. That's just like being sorry. Oh, I'm sorry I got busted. I'm sorry I went to prison because I got a DUI. I'm sorry I hurt that person because I wasn't doing the right thing. Now I have to pay the price. That there's just remorse there. But he's saying true uh sorrow, godly sorrow leads to repentance. And then this is what he says about the way they react. For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you. What vindication of yourselves, what indignation. They're literally like indignant over their sin. What fear he says, what longing, what zeal, zeal is passion, what avenging of wrong. It's like they wanted to make it right. They break down, and it's like those moments that Brett's talking about and Reagan and you and I've been through that, where you are just wanting to be right with God and the reality that Jesus died is real. And I think that's really the difference between a superficial understanding of the gospel and and superficial transformation, in quotes. And what happens when the real gospel, the power of it, explodes. I think you will come to grips with your sin because nobody comes into contact with uh a defensive back on a football field and gets nailed without experiencing a change, right? You get hit by a bus, you're gonna change. Well, picture Jesus as the greatest and most loving, nonviolent bus ever, or a defensive back. If you come into contact with him, let me tell you, you are gonna change direction. And it'll start by ending up flat on your face and your knees in repentance. Um, but he picks you up and and transforms you. Um would you say that that is that is important, that people should be, if they're truly saved, having an experience of brokenness over their sin, guys?
SPEAKER_02100%.
unknownAbsolutely.
SPEAKER_02100%. Absolutely. And I think what Reagan was saying too, like the gospel, the transformation of the gospel is going to change the trajectory of your life. Like you are now kingdom bound instead of hell-bound. You are now an heir of Christ, like you are a son or a daughter of the king, of the creator of the universe. There are so many amazing benefits of receiving the gospel and receiving this grace that God has on us, but it's not all pretty, right? So when I became a Christian, I gained all of these things. I also lost stuff. I lost all my friends. You know, I'm this Jesus freak all of a sudden. So now you're losing friends, which could be a good thing, right? You know, but at the same time, it's like you know, you lose a lot of stuff. You know, you get out of relationships that you wanted to be in because they're not God honoring. You make changes, yeah. And it's it's sometimes it's difficult, especially when you have a conversion that's so black and white. Yeah, you don't grow up in the church. So there's life changes that happen. Um ultimately it's for your good. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Reagan, you mentioned it. Salvation is free, but discipleship is costly. Um, it's a free gift, you are saved, but uh following Jesus is a cost. You look at the disciples, following him was a cost. They left everything and followed him. You look at Paul to live as Christ, to die as gain. Um, he's all about Jesus. He considers everything, all his status, all his education, all his high, high-ranking, um, if you will, position with Pharisees and his zeal. And being a Hebrew of Hebrews, he calls himself in the book of Philippians. He says, I count everything that I could gain as lost. It's all rubbish compared to knowing Christ. Christ is all. Um, I experienced that similar. I won't take a ton of time just to echo what you guys have said. Jesus transformed me. I came out of a false version of the gospel, and um he transformed my life, and it was a breaking moment. I balled my eyes out and I ran over and kicked in my pastor's door, and literally, and and was like, what this something just happened. Like, I everything makes sense now. And that's those are humbling moments because you realize when God wants to do something and he wants to change and he wants to turn the lights on, those lights are coming on. Uh, he is the author and the finisher of our faith. Um, before we we talk a little bit about the practical ways that we understand the gospel, what would you guys say to someone, maybe Brett, jump in on this, who they're not experiencing a brokenness over sin, but they're hearing us talk, they're like, I want that. I haven't really had that. Uh, maybe they grew up in church and so they're just used to it, and so they're they're they think they're a Christian, and maybe they are, but they've never really been broken over sin. Or someone who's like, Yeah, I I mean, I'm kind of sorry for doing some bad things, but I I'm not really broken over it. How would you encourage them?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, my first encouragement would be to continue listening to this episode because we're about to get in and start breaking down what is the gospel. Um, and at the end of the day, you know, what what Paul makes so clear is in Romans chapter one is he says, For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The gospel is an important message that we have to understand and internalize as Christians, not just so that we communicate can't communicate it, but because it's the means to salvation. And often so many times, and I see this all the time at our church. And as a matter of fact, um, as part of our membership series, we spend an entire session just addressing what is the gospel. Um, and that's because in in in our membership applications and in interviews with people, and we ask them, you know, what is the gospel? They were we've gotten responses that people have said, oh, the gospel. That's that's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Um, or the gospel. Oh, and they they spend 20, 30 minutes talking about their experiences in life, and they're talking about all the pain. And then in some type of prosperity level, they say, Well, well, you know, since I've started going to church, I have been more blessed in life, and thus I'm saved. Um, it's void of any mention of God, it's void of any mention of sin or Jesus, and and not to mention the reference to faith and repentance. And, you know, but I'm I'm actually amazed how many people get saved at our church who actually thought they were Christians prior to coming to Mission Bible. And the reality is, is too many churches are absent of the gospel. They're not preaching it, they're not, they're not teaching it, they're not sitting down and making sure, do you understand what this is? And so first and foremost, I'd say keep listening. We're gonna get there. We're gonna talk through the gospel. Second, I would say, you know, if you haven't mourned and and weeped and cried over your sin, um, begin crying out to God as we go through and talk about the gospel, and you begin to recognize that God is holy and perfect in every way, and that we have uh broken his laws. And the only way that there would be peace is by him sending his son to pay a price and to redeem us. Um, that we have to understand and we have to begin even imagining what it would be like to send our son to die in uh an innocent death to pay the price for sinful mankind. Um and if that doesn't bring us to tears, you know, I think a second question or uh maybe a third thing we we need to to begin thinking through is the regenerative work of of the spirit. I think of uh the story of Nicodemus and Um, let me flip to it real quick. Um, but in John chapter three, uh, you know, Jesus says to him, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus is confused by this. He asks, you know, how do I enter back into my mother's womb? And and Jesus responds and says, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of spirit and of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And he begins to go on and gives this really beautiful explanation of this idea of the spirit. And um it really at the end of the day, we can we can intellectually understand and intellectually be able to repeat some of the things that we will talk about related to the gospel. But apart from an interceding work of the spirit and an indwelling of the spirit, uh, we cannot truly understand it. And thus we cannot truly repent of those sins. And and so uh my encouragement would be to listen. My encouragement would be to uh to sit down and talk with your pastor after this episode and ask them, why is this not the case in my life? And then then begin crying out to God, asking him, save me, show me my sin, allow me to see this and to understand it and to know it. Um but yeah, I don't know. That's that may be uh that was a long response, too.
SPEAKER_01No, it's good. It's hardfelt. Dude, it's your your pastor's heart's coming out. Um absolutely, I completely agree. So on that note, let's jump in. Uh I want to I want to dig in sort of to a couple of approaches. People, the gospel message is always the same. We know that. We've established that. It's repent and believe in Christ. Repenting of sin, believing in Christ. It's the transformation, his power is gonna change you. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, the new is come. We already know that. So those truths are unchanging. But humans are different intellectually. We think different ways, we think in different logic and approaches. There's creative sort of right-brainers who um storytell, and there I I live there a lot and um have learned to live in other kind of schools of thought because you have to and have to grow and and and get sharpened. But and then other people, it's very there's a logic and there's a a clear path, and that's what it is, and it's not as abstract. And so, guys, in how people think and communicate, what are some helpful ways that you um you know, Reagan? Let's start with you, that you retain the gospel. You see, you understand what I'm saying? Like if someone goes, Okay, I get all you're saying, um, but sometimes you say, Okay, think of these three things or two things, or think of it this way, and someone's like, Got it, that totally makes sense to me. Reagan, what's one of the best ways that you've retained the gospel so that you can share it with other people after, of course, it's transformed you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, I'm kind of like a why guy. I'm always asking why are things a certain way, why this, why that. So I I think about I like the way you put it. There's different different ways to retain it. And kind of the the pegs, pegboard I kind of hang my thoughts on when I think about the gospel that that I like is kind of a philosophical approach, but it it that maybe makes it sound more complicated than it is. I'm I want to know the answer to the question, and everyone does, why am I here? What is this all about? You know, like that that's you know, all these great big bearded philosophers argue, what's the meaning of life? And so I like to think about the gospel from that perspective is well, why are you here? And I think that when we start to ask that question and ask it of the scriptures, you find that it leads directly to the gospel. And so, so for example, I mean, wh why am I here? Well, God created He made He made you, He made this whole world, He made you. And human beings are unique from the rest of creation in that it says in Genesis that we're created in God's image. So there was a purpose, there's a purpose for why you're here. Um, God made you to bring glory to himself. We're we were made uh to uh image forth God, as it were, so to to love like he loves, to to build like he builds, to be righteous and holy and good as he is holy. Um but so that's what we're here for. But then there's this problem, right? I'm not living up to that. And that's that's the issue of sin, is we have fallen short of God's standards, right? It says in Romans 3.23 uh that all have fallen short of the glory of God. And so we we've all sinned. We haven't been the image bearers that God has commanded and created us to be. And that introduces uh a problem for us in that it's not just oopsie, it's you you incur guilt for that failure. We we are guilty before God, our creator, who has a right over us as our creator and as our maker to to tell us what we ought to be and should be, and we're guilty before him because you know, we we've all lied, we've all stolen, we uh generally are not uh good image bearers of God. And so with that guilt, uh, as I mentioned when I was talking a little bit about my my testimony earlier, that guilt is is death. That that's the punishment. You know, it says in in Romans 6 23, it says that the the wages of sin is death. Well, what's a wage? Uh you know, if if I went over to your house costy and cleaned out your gutters and mowed your lawn, you'd give me 20 bucks. Here's your wages, this is what you've earned, here's what you deserved. Well, what I deserve, what each of us deserves for our sin, for our failure to um be adequate image bearers of God is damnation. It's death, um, it's eternity in hell. And so so there's this this major problem we have. And you know, we talk about the gospel being good news, you have to understand it in light of that bad news that uh you failed, you've incurred guilt, you're in you're in enmity with God. So in comes this wonderful message, um, this glad tidings, this good news of there's a solution. There's a solution. And the solution isn't um start being a better person starting today, or you know, uh do these these five steps. The solution to the problem doesn't come from us, it comes from God. And that that's what makes it grace. That's what makes it so uh just amazing uh to see God in the gospel is that he's the one who acted. He's the one who acted to take care of this um issue where we became enemies of God and he's the one who is reconciling us. And so I can't reform myself, I can't just become better, but God sent his son, Jesus Christ, uh, as a person. Why did he send him as a person? Well, what was asked of us? We were we were made to be image bearers of God. Well, we needed a representative, we needed a God man, we needed someone to to be that perfect person. And so what God does is he sends his son, Jesus Christ, who is God, lives the perfect life, fulfills God's uh God's commands, his law perfectly. He is the perfect image bearer. And then he the other problem we have is is that we have incurred this guilt. So what are we gonna do about that? We're we're guilty, we we deserve death. Well, he also stands in for us as uh a representative in that too. He takes that guilt, the punishment that we deserve is poured out on Jesus Christ. God's wrath, the hell that we were owed, was uh was given to Jesus on the cross. And then he he he he he's he's crucified, he he uh defeats death, he's resurrected, and he has he has beat death. And and what happens then is we can uh repent of our sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ. We can be united to Christ, we can have the the benefits of this representative, of this God man simply by putting our trust wholly in him. And that that not only, I mean, the the miracle of it is that then we are made right with God, we are forgiven for our sin, we are declared righteous before him, not just not just neutral, we're declared righteous, and we're adopted as his children. It's this amazing, amazing, amazing thing. And you you now are on this trajectory, like I said, towards um an eternity with him, but you also now can live here with purpose and and he's transforming your life each day through what we call sanctification, where he's making you more and more and more like him and more and more uh as an image bearer that you were created to be. And as you go through that process each day, it's it's painful, it's hard, but you feel and discover more and more fulfillment and joy as you become more and more like him. Uh so that that's kind of how I I think about it from kind of a high level is image bearers um who are uh who have failed.
SPEAKER_01Man, I like that. That's a really neat approach because yeah, you I get the why, I get the what, and then kind of the where, like where I'm going now as an image bearer. Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna jump in and share mine and then Brett, I want to talk about yours. Uh the the Romans Road in my mind, um because I think sometimes creatively or abstractly, I like things that that box me in. I like to quantify and keep things simple so that I can convey it. But um, the Romans Road for me, if you're new to the gospel or you're new to trying to convey the gospel or understand it, and you hear what Reagan says, you're like, that totally makes sense. But man, I could never repeat that. Like he that he just explained it all. That totally makes sense. Well, what Reagan just described is really under the umbrella of basic Bible truths, and he obviously brought up the image of God, but the Romans road is a way to walk through the gospel, the true tenets, and the basics of it. And the first uh stop, if you will, or exit as you're going along the road is Romans 3.23, and that's for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23 makes it clear. Um, if you were to read the whole chapter in Romans 3, uh Paul also quotes the Old Testament saying that no one is righteous, no one seeks after God. So you accept that you're a sinner and all have sinned. There's not a single person that can say, I haven't sinned. And then Reagan brought this one up, Romans 6.23, and that's easy to remember because 3.23, and then you just 6.23. Just add three and you're there. There's a lot of threes. Uh the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So all have sinned, uh-oh. The wages of that is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through who? Through good works, through social good, through uh giving people, giving food to the poor, making your your end of year tax donation to the rescue mission there, you know, tolerating your family during the holidays and not saying anything insulting. No. The gift of God is eternal life through not good works, through Christ Jesus, his good works. And so that's the second um stop on the Romans robe. And then um the third one would be Romans 5.8. So this is all just in the beginning of the book of Romans, and it says, But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And there's another element of not being really about your good works. While you are still a messed up, dirty, filthy, rotten, scoundrelly sinner. We all were. Christ died for you, which means you weren't extra special, you weren't so handsome or pretty. The Instagram, you know, photoshopping didn't convince them. The money in your bank account, the smarts, your education, your family heritage, who you think you are, that did nothing to impress God. You're not impressive, I'm not impressive. Jesus is. And so while you were not impressive and he sees you for who you really are, Jesus died for you, which I think is beautiful and echoes what Reagan was saying is God adopts you into his family, loves you, and wants to change you and grow you and make you into the beautiful image bearer that you were meant to be. And so now you're realizing, wow, you would do that for me, and there should be a humility that comes as we go down the road. And then another element in the final one, sort of the fourth stop, is Romans 5, 1. And that is that we now are justified. We have peace with God because of Christ, and so we're no longer enemies of God. His anger is not spurning and burning towards us. And what I would say is like this in order to have the peace from God that we all want, you need to be at peace with God. And that really is what the gospel comes down to is you you need to be at peace with God. If you want real peace in this kind of era of uh Black Lives Matter protests and violence and the insanity that we're witnessing everywhere, and political wars and fear and insecurity and doubt about the future, you want real lasting peace. It won't come from anywhere else except being at peace with God. And Romans 5, chapter 1 makes that clear that we have peace from God through Jesus Christ. And so you could say it this way: you could make a t-shirt. I mean, this would be something you can tattoo on your arm. You know, we all need Jesus. I mean, we need Jesus. That is in the essence of the Romans Road, and then Romans 8:1 sort of finishes all off. I love this passage. There's now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You're not condemned, you're not damned, as Reagan mentioned. God has a great purpose, a great future for you. So the Romans Road always helps me. You basically could read in one sitting from Romans 1 to Romans 8, get a beautiful picture of the gospel, and understand exactly what it is. And so that's one of the ways that has helped me always go back to the basics. Uh yo, Brett, what what do you use? You're a very logical guy, you're a strategic thinker, you're very smart. Um, how do you boil it all down um logically?
SPEAKER_03Sure, sure. Yeah, I mean, you know, as I listen to you guys, that you know, the the simple and beautiful thing is that the gospel is simple. It's the same message. Um, although we're approaching it in different in different ways of thinking, um the verses we go to are all the same. The uh the the points that we're discussing are all the same. The the map is is all the same. And so you have this this this beautiful, I would call it the the deep thinking um view that that Regan uh presented, those who who ask a lot of questions and are trying to figure out why, why, uh who, what, when, where is all that. Uh Cossi, yours is more, it is, it's that creative. I mean, it's the Roman's road. It's this idea of somebody on a journey, and and I just see this guy frolicking through a field um and going through the Roman's road. So I think creative people can really latch onto that. Um, but again, I'm a I'm a logical person. I think in in terms of bullet points. Um, so you have your main bullet points and then you have sub-bullet points, and everything that's a sub-bullet point backs up and points to the main bullet point. And so um, I've always taught and heard the gospel um presented by using kind of this four-pillar method. And, you know, at our church, we have uh uh one of our pastors, Pastor Jesse, he's one of the contributors on for the gospel as well. Uh he um he's he's uh uh pursuing like 5,000 degrees at TMS right now. He's got, I think, two masters on the line. I think he's he started his PhD potentially. Um, but you know, he buys these stacks of of these cards from uh Grace Community Church while he's up there and brings them back. And we use them in our evangelism classes and when we're equipping and teaching our people how to share the gospel. And it's it is it's this four-pillar model. And so it has to do with God, man, Christ, and response. Those are the four pillars. And so that helps me map out okay, this is the path I'm taking. I'm gonna talk about God, I'm gonna talk about man, I'm gonna talk about Christ, and then I'm gonna talk about a response. I think um, I think Greg Gilbert in his book, uh, What is the gospel uses something similar. Um, if you haven't read that book and you want to learn more about the gospel, I highly recommend it. Uh, we use it as a biblical counseling resource at our church. Um, but he uses something similar. I think he just elaborates on the pillars instead of single words. I think he used as like God, uh, the righteous creator, man, the sinner, Jesus Christ, the savior, um, and something related. And then his last one's like faith and repentance or something like that. Um, regardless, it's a simple way to commit it to memory. So, you know, I'll kind of walk through the four pillars. Pillar number one is God. Uh, first thing we need to understand about God is that God created everything, God is the creator. We see that in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Um, Psalm 24.1 says, the earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. We have to understand this all starts with the creation of this world, with the creation of mankind. We also need to understand that God is holy. He is perfectly holy. Um, in 1 John 1 5, it says, This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. Um Matthew 5 48 says, Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And that both shows that our heavenly father is indeed perfect. It also begins to present the problem in that the requirement for us as man is to be perfect, right? Uh we also learn uh the kind of the third sub-bullet of God is that God requires perfect obedience to his law. In James 2.10, it says, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. And that moves us into the bad news. You can't have the good news without the bad news, otherwise, it's just news, and nobody wants to watch the news anymore. Um but the kind of the second uh pillar is is man. And we have to understand that that man has broken God's law. And you guys each touched on these verses in Romans chapter three. Really just read the whole thing. Um, but specifically verse 10 to 23, and I'll just kind of do the beginning and the end of it, says, There is none righteous, not even one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Man has broken God's laws, and this is an issue when we go back and look at God's holiness. Um, the second sub bullet point is that man will pay the eternal penalty for sin. And that leads us to Romans 6.23, which each of you mentioned. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That sets up a little bit of the good news as well. But the first part of that is damning, for the wages of sin is death. Um and that moves us into the kind of the third subpoint of man. Uh, man cannot save himself by good works. And we see that in Titus 3, 5. It says, 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. Man cannot save himself. Um it is it is the work of the Spirit that saves man. And that allows us to move to the third pillar, which is the good news, which is Christ. Um, and first and foremost, as kind of your sub-bullets to Christ, the first one being that Christ came to earth as both God and sinless man. We see that in Colossians 2 9. For him, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. That's your hypostatic union verse. Uh that's where we all go as theologians when somebody asks about that. Maybe they may not ask it using that term, but it's under it's important, it's Christian orthodoxy to understand that Christ was both God and sinless man. We also learn that Christ demonstrated God's love by dying on the cross to pay sin's penalty. We see in Romans 5.8. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We have to understand these truths about who Christ is. And that leads us to the third subbullet, which is that Christ rose from the grave and is alive today. And that I think is unfortunately that that's one that is that has been it's been attacked for 2,000 years, but um, unfortunately it's being significantly attacked with kind of this higher criticism view of scripture these days. But 1 Corinthians 15 4 says, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Not only according to the scriptures, and according to uh the prophecies, according to Christ coming and talking about himself as the temple, being raised up on third days, on the third day. This was all part of God's ultimate plan. But he did rise. He did rise from the grave, and that's an important theme because um, without the resurrection, there is no hope of eternal life for us as sinners. And that moves us into the fourth pillar of this, and that is the response. Um, and the first part of the response is that we as sinners must respond in repentance of all that dishonors God. Isaiah 55 7 says, Let the wicked forsake his way. And the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Now that's some good news right there. I love holding on to that one. And again, in Luke 9.23, to bring us into the New Testament. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And that's kind of a verse I constantly go to, especially as we talk about this idea of easy believism or people who accept Christ in thought, but then their lives continue to be lived dishonoring towards him. There's a laying down of self that is required. But we first must repent of all of these things. And the second is we as sinners must respond in belief in Christ as Lord and Savior. And that's Romans 10, 9. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. And there's this idea of this very shallow view of belief these days that breaks my heart. And one of the analogies I love so much is the analogy of this idea that you can believe in something, but actually not trust in it and and and and put all of your weight into it is a false view of faith and is a false view of belief. And one of the illustrations that I've heard in in many sermons from many guys is this idea of when you believe in a chair, you can say that you believe in a chair, but you don't really believe that the chair is going to hold you up until you sit in it, right? It's the same with with Christ. It's the same with God's word. Like you can't say that you believe in Christ and then not in the resurrection, the miracles, everything that he came and did, and everything that he has spoken to us through his word. You cannot say you believe in that and then not put all of your weight behind it and into it and lean on it and trust on it. Um and so at that point, I think that's where, you know, as you those are kind of the four pillars with the sub points. So all you logical people out there probably have spread, you know, you have your your Google Doc open and you're just drawing down the points. That's how my mind works. And so I've always gravitated towards that. Um, you know, I'm thankful for for people at, you know, there's obviously a lot of logical people over at our uh at Grace Community Church because they, you know, they did the same thing and they're and these little cards that we like to hand out. But yeah, that's the gospel. It's it's simple, it's the same thing, three different ways. Um it's all pointing to Christ, and it's all pointing to man's inability and the opportunity we have to have eternity with Christ and to not be an enemy of God any further because he sent his son.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's a message. I love that. I feel like every type of way of thinking was was hit in an episode like this where, you know, like you said, Brett, somebody's typing in their spreadsheet right now or their bullet points and Roman numeral ones and twos and a's and b's. Um, Reagan, that philosophical approach. Uh for me, yeah, I think in pictures, so it's like we're we're going down a road. I don't know if I'm frolicking through a field there, Brett, like you said. I think it's like maybe more manly. I'm like marching up a road or I'm on a motorcycle, but totally get the picture. We're going on a road, we're going on a journey. Um the the book you mentioned, I want to remind people, Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? Uh great book. And um, and also to encourage you guys uh that there's some articles coming out this week and in the weeks ahead that are on the site about the gospel. And so Reagan's gonna explain the philosophical approach. Brett's Four Pillars will be uh as well another resource we put out. I'm gonna publish something about the Romance Road, and we'll make sure that those resources are put in front of you and on social media so you can share. Uh Justin, as we close it out, is there a resource or is there an approach that has blessed your life and really uh been paramount that you can think of in your mind?
SPEAKER_02I mean, there's so many different types of things that I found on, you know, something simple as YouTube, you know, men that we look up to that are so crucial on the gospel of just making the gospel so practical. Um I mean, just even going off of what we were kind of talking about today, like I've never heard of the Romans Road before. Dude, that's awesome. Like that was amazing to me. I'm sitting here writing and taking notes. Yeah. Because it was so new to me. And the four pillars. So, you know, I've been a Christian, didn't grow up in the church. That alone was so helpful to me. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01That's really awesome. Yeah, I I actually remember it was just some years back that somebody was mentioning the Romans Road as though I totally knew what it was. And I was like, I have no idea what you're what's the Romans Road? I mean, there's people that have been Christians for a long time.
SPEAKER_03It's a Baptist thing, my friends. I grew up Southern Baptist, so that was that was plowed into my head. I know you went to D I know you went to DBU, that's probably where you heard it. It is. I was like, Romans, what?
SPEAKER_01What's a Romans road? Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it just brought so much clarity, like, and it was, you know, kind of going down this road, but Paul does such a great job of explaining um what Christ has done. And, you know, in my Bible, I have like the next verse you go to, and then the next verse after that. And it's just this something, you know, we we talk about discipleship. This is something you could easily take somebody through. If you're in a coffee shop and start having a conversation with somebody and you start sharing the gospel, you could easily open up your Bible and take them through these five passages, or however many it was, five, six, and it's so clearly laid out and understandable it could make sense to them. God could totally use that. We have a tendency of being afraid of talking to people and you know, sharing the gospel is a whole nother topic, right? How do we share the gospel? How do we not fear man but fear God and and share his love and fulfill the great commission? And this is an an awesome resource, I think, to take somebody through, walk them through these verses, let God's words speak. Very cool.
SPEAKER_01Love that. So as we close out this episode, here's the for the gospel challenge to all of you who are listening. Um and you can submit these. We'd love to see them or post them online or share them, uh, and we'll we'll have a lot of fun with this. But uh a personal project, personal challenge, the for the gospel challenge. Uh, write out the gospel in 50 words, write out the gospel in 250 words, and write out the gospel in 500 words. Do that and share it with your small group at church or talk to somebody about it. And if you can do those things, then start reciting them and talking about them verbally, you'll retain them in your mind. And all of a sudden, that 50-word gospel explanation is something you can use in a quick conversation. If someone's like, Why are man, you're always so happy? What's the deal with you? Boom, I got 50 words for you on Jesus, the gospel on sin and what he did. 250, more of like an elevator. If you're going from like floor two to floor nine, you might have 250 words. Um, and then that 500 word is you're at a coffee shop, you're sitting with someone, and you're able to convey 500 words and these concepts. And so uh, big secret here, and it's not a secret at all. This is what preachers do. We prepare manuscripts, we review them and read them and talk about them out loud, and then you see us in the pulpit, you're like, Man, that guy, wow, I could never do that. Yes, you can. Hear me on this. Write it down, read it out loud, practice it over and over. You will be half asleep and you'll be reciting the gospel. You can be anywhere at any time, and God will use you. So that's the for the gospel challenge for you guys. Look for those resources this coming week and in the weeks ahead. Um, and this has been another episode. Thank you guys so much for the gospel talk uh here at Furthe Gospel Ministries. For more, go to www.forthegospel.org. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast, share it with your friends, your family, your church, your pastors. Be a blessing to people. We want to serve them, and be sure also to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We're looking forward to digging in and being all about the gospel with you who are listening. We love you. We'll talk to you next time.