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Preaching The Gospel
by Bernie Parsons
Preaching The Gospel
Bernie Parsons
Presented to the Westwood church of Christ on
08/18/02
Mark
16:15: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature.”
As I
have maintained throughout this series of meetings, the main thrust of the church—the
called-out body of Jesus Christ, is to preach the gospel to the world. I am of the mind
that if we will dedicate ourselves to this mission, we will find more peace within the
body of Christ, will feel better about our Christian lives, and will accomplish much good.
But I
want to ask you, “What exactly is the gospel of Christ?” As I grew up in the
church, may of the preachers and church members talked about preaching the gospel, and
“gospel meetings”. (We called them revivals in the earlier days, for they
signaled a reawakening to the message of God.) Yet most of those who mentioned the gospel
seemed to equate the gospel to a series of five steps that they often called the “Plan
of Salvation”. They said that we must preach the gospel, and proceeded to tick off
“Hear, believe, repent, confess, and be baptized.” I grew up thinking that those
five words were the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are not. If they are not, what, then, is
the gospel of Christ?
Mark
gives us the answer in the opening words of his treatment of the life of Christ.
Mark 1:1: “The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
2: As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which
shall prepare thy way before thee.
3: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight.
4: John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins.
5: And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6: And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins;
and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
7: And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8: I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9: And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was
baptized of John in Jordan.
10: And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit
like a dove descending upon him:
11: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.”
Mark
then launches into a rather complete account of the life of Christ upon this earth. I can
draw no other conclusion than that the entire life of Christ is the gospel message. In
fact that gospel story—the god spel, the good
story, or the god story—began in ancient days, not merely at the moment of our Lord’s
birth. Peter preached the gospel to the Jews at the Pentecost gathering, as we can read in
Acts chapter 2.
See how complete this message was? It summarized the plan of
God regarding Jesus, and included the message of the crucifixion. For another gospel
sermon, read Acts chapter 7, which I won’t do at this time lest we linger here longer
than some find comfortable.
1 Corinthians 2:1: “And I,
brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God.
2: For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3: And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4: And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
We can rest assured that Paul delivered a very similar message to that of Peter, and of Stephen. This message was carried out to the world of Paul’s day. Jesus had said:
Matthew
24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
Colossians 1:5: ”For the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel;
6: Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth
also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:”
Colossians 1:19: “For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21: And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled
22: In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight:
23: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is
under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
In Acts
8, we read that even before Paul’s conversion, the persecuted Christians who fled
Jerusalem carried the gospel far and wide into the world.
Acts 8:1: “And Saul was consenting
unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which
was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and
Samaria, except the apostles.
2: And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3: As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men
and women committed them to prison.
4: Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the
word.”
Jesus
told the early disciples to take the gospel to the entire world. Peter preached it to the
Jews, as did Stephen and others. Paul preached it to the Gentiles and Jews, as did the
scattered, persecuted Christians out of Jerusalem. I conclude, therefore, that we are
obligated in our time to get the message out to the world. Start in our own backyard, if
we see that as the place to begin our ministry. But let us not stop there. Let us take it,
not only to our own families, but also to our neighbors. Let us take it to our
acquaintances, and on to strangers.
Where is
it appropriate to preach the gospel? Jesus preached it on the seashore, on the
mountainside, and in the desert places.
2: And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and
sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3: And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to
sow;”
Matthew 5:1: “And seeing the
multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,”
Mark 6:32: “And they departed into
a desert place by ship privately.
33: And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all
cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.
34: And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward
them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many
things.”
He
taught it in the synagogues, and in the temple at Jerusalem. He taught it in the public
places, where the crowds gathered, and He preached it in private, in people’s houses.
Matthew
4:23: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease
among the people.”
John
7:14: “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.”
John
19:38: “And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly
for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and
Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.”
The
apostles and disciples taught it to their Jewish judges and tormentors, those leaders of
the Jewish religion. They also taught it to Jewish kings and to Roman governors.
Acts
4:5: “And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
6: And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were
of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
7: And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name,
have ye done this?
8: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and
elders of Israel,
9: If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he
is made whole;
10: Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth
this man stand here before you whole.”
Acts
25:23: “And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and
was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the
city, at Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth.”
They
taught the gospel in the Jewish synagogues, and the Gentile places of worship. They taught
in by the riverbank, and in a rolling chariot.
Acts
9:20: “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of
God.”
Acts 16:13: “And on the sabbath we
went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down,
and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14: And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul.”
Acts 8:29: “Then the Spirit said
unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
30: And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said,
Understandest thou what thou readest?
31: And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him.”
I could
go on, but you get the picture. Don’t ever say that you have no opportunities to
present the gospel. Don’t make the excuse that you are waiting for the opportune time
and place. The time is anytime; the place is wherever you find yourself.
It is
true that some of the apostles and early Christians were killed because of preaching the
gospel. John the Baptist, and Jesus, Himself, were killed for preaching the gospel. We may
be killed for preaching the gospel—and with the state of world as it is today, that
is not a far-fetching concept. Muslims and others are killing Christians around the world
as we speak.
If we
don’t preach it, it won’t get preached. Let’s all do our part in preaching
the gospel.
If you
are here, and not a Christian, you need to be. Count the cost—that you life may be on
the line, and never look back once you make the commitment. But also count the cost if you
stand before God, and He sentences you to eternal death and damnation. What would you give
in exchange for your soul?
