Jesus First Sermon

JESUS FIRST SERMON IS ALL THE GOSPEL WE NEED.

Today, the church has tried to water down the gospel so much that it is practically non-existent. Like diluted coffee, the convicting power of the “good news” has been replaced with weak, more bland messages that are designed to tickle the ear but do hardly anything to save the soul. Many a preacher prefers to attract large followings by offering cotton candy sermons, that taste sweet, but do nothing to lead sinners to repentance. Worried about the latest book deal, or how their social media standing is rather than whether lost souls are being added to the kingdom, they declare their weekly devotion. Most preaching today looks more like a glorified TED talk than it does a simple, straightforward presentation of the Gospel of God.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?   Sometimes it is the simplest of truths that can make the biggest impacts. Consider Jesus first sermon. When Jesus first walked this earth, his words contained the gospel of God. It was concise. Straightforward. Simple. Just as the gospel should be.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15).

JESUS FIRST SERMON IS ALL THE GOSPEL WE NEED.

God created humans for a relationship with Him. The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1:1). A few verses later, we read that “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7). Every person who has ever walked the face of the earth owes their existence to the handiwork of an Almighty God, the designer and maker of all creation.

As Creator, God has the authority to tell you and I how to live. This authority exists because of His creative work. If God had not fashioned us, if we had been formed from some primordial soup rather than from the very breath of a Living God, then we could make the argument that God had nothing to do with our lives. We could tell God to get lost without feeling the slightest bit sorry for it. But because God takes his breath (a part of who He is) and uses it to make man a living being. Because He breathed his lifeforce into us, He has every right to tell us how to live.

This is what Jesus means when he declares that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, there is a ruler for this thing called life and the ruler is not you or me. Jesus does not say the Kingdom of man is here, but the kingdom of God. It is not “Bob’s” kingdom, nor “Cheryl’s” kingdom. Your kingdom. My kingdom. We do not have the right to declare ownership of our life, even as much as we might try to. Jesus states simply, plainly and in a straightforward manner that the kingdom of God is at hand. The time to acknowledge who is the rightful ruler of your heart is now. Not tomorrow. Not next week or next year. Or even when I get around to it. But NOW. The Kingdom of God is at hand.

SECOND, THERE IS A PROBLEM AND IT IS WITH US.

The very next words from Jesus indicate that there is a problem. “Repent” – Jesus says. Repent from what? And exactly who is Jesus speaking to? If you check out the book of Mark, you discover that Jesus went to Galilee. He preached the message to all.

The word repent is significant because it indicates that someone needs to make a change. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23). The scriptures declare the problem even more plainly, a couple of chapters later, by stating that “The wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23).

In other words, because we have rebelled against the authority of God, we deserve to die. Death is the just penalty for sin. This is exactly what God told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve tells the serpent exactly what God has said, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” (Gen. 3:2).

The word “repent” means to turn away from something, to change direction. In other words, we are heading one way, and we make the conscious choice to “steer” ourselves in a new direction. We walk a different path than what we were walking before. Repentance involves the recognition of wrongness. This is an important part of the gospel. A human being must realize not just that God has authority over them, but that their rebellious and sinful heart runs counter to the desire of God.

Every human being has rebelled against God. You. Me. The guy sitting next to us in the pew at church. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, if all have sinned, if all have rebelled against God and deserve death, if all are in need of repenting, then is there any hope for anyone?

THIRD, YOU MUST BELIEVE BY FAITH.

“Believe in the gospel.” Those are the words of Jesus. What Jesus is saying is that there is a way to be reconciled with God, but it requires faith (belief) and that this belief must be in something (someone). The Gospel. In short, a person who believes in Jesus can be saved from death.

John 3:16 tells us that “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Rom. 5:8 declares, “God demonstrates his love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christians declare the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as good news. In other words, God cared so much about the eternal destiny of you and me, that He literally came to this earth in the form of Jesus and offered his life as a substitute. He took our place.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Is. 53:5).

This is the gospel of God as Jesus presented it. Straight. Simple. True. Maybe it is time to get back to the basics and quit worrying about how many people are responding to our tweets. I dare you to present the gospel to someone you love in simple, direct terms. Stop watering down the message or apologizing for offending someone. The truth is that Jesus first sermon is all the gospel we really need.