Jesus is the Gospel

About this series: Obviously we are always focussed on Jesus, but in our first series - Just Jesus - we’re going to look, over 13 weeks, at some of the high points in the New Testament that show us who Jesus is, why he’s so wonderful, what he’s done for us and what it means to live in the light of all that. Sinclair Ferguson wrote, ‘We need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing and extolling Jesus Christ’ - that is precisely our aim in the Just Jesus series. The more we see of Jesus, the more we’ll have to be delighted in and the greater will be our motivation to live for him in our everyday lives.So, come with great expectation that the Holy Spirit will be powerfully at work leading us to know and love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. About this talk: In this passage in Romans 1 Paul tells us the following things about the gospel (Gk. ευαγγελιον, euangelion), an announcement of good news): - It is the gospel of God - It was promised in the Old Testament - It is about his Son, Jesus Christ - Who was a descendant of David - Who, in the power of the Spirit, was raised to life and thereby declared as God’s chosen Son for all to see - It was through him that Paul received grace and apostleship for his mission to the Gentiles - His mission was to call the Gentiles to faith that leads to obedience for the sake of Jesus’ name - The gospel calls us to belong to Jesus and to be God’s holy people - Such people are given grace and peace from God The gospel is essentially the announcement about what God has done for us in / through Jesus Christ. And it is not simply the way into the Christian life; it is the focal point for living the Christian life. Tim Keller says, ‘We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced.” The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s of Christianity, but it is the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we all make progress in the kingdom. We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col 1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier.’ It is in Jesus that we know we are loved by God and called to belong to him (v 6-7a) and through him that we receive “grace and peace” (v 7b). We look further into the questions: - In what ways do we tend to drift away from a reliance on the gospel? Eg. legalism, licence, pride, despair. - The gospel in contrast to ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ (you may have to search for that, but it’s helpful). - How, practically, can people ensure that the gospel remains their A to Z?