Luke 15:2
This man receives (welcomes) sinners.
1Timothy 1:15
Christ Jesus came to save sinners.
I Corinthians 15:3-4
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (made right with God through Christ).
C.H. Spurgeon “If there be no resurrection…” on 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, February 20, 1890
https://spurgeongems.org/sermon/chs2287.pdf
Our religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. The great facts of the Gospel are that God was incarnate in Christ Jesus, that He lived here a life of holiness and love, that He died upon the cross for our sins, that He was buried in the tomb of Joseph, that the third day He rose again from the dead, that after a while He ascended to His Father’s throne where He now sits, and that He shall come by and by, to be our Judge, and in that day the dead in Christ shall rise by virtue of their union with Him.
"The Gospel's Power in the Christian Life"
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-gospels-power-in-a-christians-life/#flipbook/
The “good news,” put simply into a few words, is just this, “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them [not counting people’s sins against them. ]” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
The gospel of Christ is mercy, generosity, liberality. It receiveth the beggar and heareth his cry; it picketh up even the vile and undeserving, and scattereth lavish blessings upon them, and it filleth the bosom of the naked and of the hungry with good things.
“Disobedience to the Gospel”, 1877
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/disobedience-to-the-gospel/#flipbook/
Acts 16:31 “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
To believe, is to trust; it is the practical proof that we have rightly heard the gospel if we believe it. (John 5:24)
This is the gospel. Christ died for sinners. He stood as the Substitute for all who trust him. God has punished him instead of me. Christ has paid all my debts. Whosoever trusteth Christ is a believer, so his debts are paid, he is free from liability on account of them, and therefore he may well rejoice.
The essence of obedience to the gospel lies in giving up all self-confidence, and all attempts to save yourself by your own merit, and a simple reliance upon Jesus Christ to save you.
“Marvelous Things”
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/marvellous-things/#flipbook/
Psalm 98:1-2 “O sing unto the LORD a new song, for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.”
The gospel is a source of joy to all who hear it aright, and accept it, for its very name means “glad tidings of good things.”
This is the joyous news we bring to sinners - that sin, and death, and the devil have all been vanquished by the great Captain of our salvation. Christ has accomplished the salvation of his people.
Sinner, I have to say to you that God has sent the gospel to you to tell you that his Son, Jesus Christ, has conquered sin, and death, and the devil, and that, if you believe in Jesus, you shall be a partaker in his victory. There is nothing for you to do but to believe in him. Even the power to understand his truth is God’s gift to you; even the faith that receives it he works in you according to his Spirit.
Tikhon of Zadonsk Journey to Heaven, Part II: The Way of Salvation
The Gospel, from its very name, is the happiest of news. To all the world, it proclaims Christ the world’s Saviour, who came to seek out the lost and save them. Listen, then, all you lost sinners! The Gospel loudly declares to us all, ‘The Son of Man has come to seek and save what is lost.’ (Luke 19:10) It is a dreadful thing for us to be found in a state of sin in God’s sight. But the Gospel proclaims that our sins are forgiven on account of Christ’s name, and that Christ is our justification in God’s sight.
John Wycliffe On the Truth of Holy Scripture (written after publishing De Civili Dominio which resulted in being summoned to St Paul's in 1377 to answer charges of heresy.)
The New Testament is of full authority and open to understanding of simple men, as to the points that be most needful to salvation. It seemeth open heresy to say that the Gospel, with its truth and freedom, sufficeth not to salvation...
William Tyndale A Pathway Into the Holy Scripture (Tyndale’s first published book, c. 1531, originally the Prologue to his 1525 translation of the New Testament)
Evangelion (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word; and signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy…In like manner is the Evangelion of God (which we call gospel, and the New Testament) joyful tidings; and, as some say, a good hearing published by the apostles throughout all the world, of Christ the right David; how that he hath fought with sin, with death, and the devil, and overcome them: whereby all men that were in bondage to sin, wounded with death, overcome of the devil, are, without their own merits or deservings, loosed, justified, restored to life and saved, brought to liberty and reconciled unto the favour of God.
John Calvin’s 1543 revision of his preface to the 1535 French translation of the Bible by Pierre Robert (Olivétan) was entitled “An Epistle Showing How Our Lord Jesus Christ is the End of the Law and the Sum of All that Must be Sought in Scripture. To All Who Love Jesus Christ and His Holy Gospel.”
The English translation of Calvin’s Preface to the Geneva Bible of 1550 by Thomas Weedon was published in 1848
https://dev.wts.edu/stayinformed/view.html?id=495
Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man in under the condemnation of God.
Through knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow-citizens with the saints, citizens of the kingdom of heaven and heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the foolish wise, sinners justified, the despairing comforted, doubters made certain and slaves set free. The gospel is the word of life and truth. It is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Romans 1:16), and the key to the knowledge of God, which for the faithful opens the door of the kingdom of heaven, releasing them from their sins...
Thomas Goodwin Justifying Faith
What is the gospel? Truly nothing else but that doctrine which holds forth the grace of God justifying, pardoning, and saving sinners, and Jesus Christ made our righteousness... (1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
Stephen Charnock Discourses on Christ Crucified
http://books.google.com/books?id=PNo8AAAAcAAJ&dq
Christ crucified is the sum of the Gospel, and contains all the riches of it. If our faith stop in Christ’s life, and do not fasten upon His blood, it will not be justifying faith. His miracles, which prepared the world for His doctrines; His holiness, which fitted Himself for His sufferings, had been insufficient for us without the addition of the cross.
James Guthrie, Minister of Sterling, Scottish Presbyterian and Covenanter before his execution, June 1, 1661
I do believe that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) of whom I am the chief, through faith in his righteousness and blood, have I obtained mercy, and in him and through him alone have I the hope of a blessed conquest and victory over sin and Satan, and hell and death, and that I shall attain unto the Resurrection of the just and be made a partaker of eternal life; I know whom I have believed, and he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God
The revelation of God asks not for a faith that will merely endorse its divine credentials; it asks not merely that skepticism will lay aside its doubts, and receive it as a divine verity; it asks, yes, it demands, more than this- it demands a faith that will fully, implicitly, practically receive the momentous and tremendous facts it announces- a faith that brings them home with a realizing power to the soul, and identifies it with them- a faith that believes there is a hell, and seeks to escape it- a faith that believes there is a heaven, and strives to enter it- a faith that credits the doctrine of man's ruin by nature, and that welcomes the doctrine of man's recovery by grace- in a word, a faith that rejects all human dependence, and accepts as its only ground of refuge "the righteousness of Christ, which is unto all, and upon all those who believe." (Romans 3:22) Oh, this is the true faith of the gospel!
G. Campbell Morgan, Evangelism, “The Evangel”
The evangelist proclaims God’s evangel when he announces the fact that Christ is able to save from sin, and consequently from its penalty.
The evangel is good news to such as need it. Joy is in it, the note of hope, of optimism. It comes to the man in darkness, and brings him light. It comes to a man in bondage, and announces the way of escape. It comes to a man under sentence of death, and tells him the sentence has been remitted.
David Platt Follow Me
The Gospel is the Good News that the just and gracious God of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin (and death) in the Resurrection, so that everyone who turns from sin, trusts in Him will be reconciled to God forever.
WARNING from Sinclair Ferguson
If the gospel that is proclaimed does not produce the fruit of that gospel that is visible in the New Testament,
the gospel that is proclaimed cannot be the New Testament gospel.
THE GOOD NEWS
(Matthew 4:23, 9:35; Mark 1:14-15, 16:15; Luke 4:18,43, 8:1, 9:6, 16:16; Acts 5:42, 8:12, 10:36, 11:20, 14:7,15, 20:24; Romans 10:15)
Luke 2:10-11
The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Romans 3:23
We are ALL sinners (1 Kings 8:46, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:8)
Romans 6:23
Sin leads to death (Ezekiel 18:20), but God offers us the free gift of salvation in Jesus
G. Campbell Morgan The Crises of the Christ "Man Unlike God in Sin"
As material death is separation of the spirit from the body, so spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God.
Romans 5:8
Because of God’s love for me, Jesus died for my sins (Luke 19:10, 1 Timothy 1:15)
John 3:16
Whoever believes/has faith in Jesus shall have eternal life (John 3:36, 6:40, John 20:31, Acts 13:39)
John 14:6
Jesus is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12)
Romans 10:9
We must surrender control of our life to Jesus, who proved His power over sin and death by His resurrection
Revelation 3:20
He will save whoever asks, but we must ask. (Romans 1:17, 10:13)
Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all..."
Isaiah 55:1, John 7:37-38, Revelation 22:17 "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely..."
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
Agree that I am a sinner and repent of my sins (consider my ways, confess, and turn). (Luke 13:3, 24:47; Acts 3:19)
Believe Jesus died for my sins and proved His power over sin and death by the resurrection. (Romans 10:9)
Confess that Jesus is Lord of my life and take up His yoke of obedience and submission. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Decide to give control of my life (heart, soul, mind and body) to Jesus and walk with Him.
The greatest act of grace and mercy in history (His story) was God's sacrifice of His Son for our salvation (John 3:16) purposed by God before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-10). God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to die for our sin (Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21). When, like Paul, Christ Jesus has taken hold of us (Psalm 18:16, Philippians 3:12), and by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5), we die (make a willing sacrifice) to sin and self (Galatians 2:20, 5:24); take up our cross of self-denial and suffering (Matthew 16:24-25, Luke 9:23); and put on His yoke of obedience and surrender (Matthew 11:28-30).
A BELIEVER’S PRAYER
Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me for I am a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and rose again. I have decided this day to give my life, my whole life, to you. Thank you for forgiving my sins, for making me a new person, for filling me with the Holy Spirit, and for your promise of eternal life with you in heaven. I pray that you will take my life, which is now your life, and use it for your purpose.
What Does The Bible Teach?
Authority of Scripture – Sola Scriptura: Psalm 12:6, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Matthew 28:19, Titus 3:4-7
Original sin: Romans 5:12
Substitutionary atonement – Jesus died for, and in the place of, sinners: 1 John 2:1-2, 1 Timothy 2:4-6, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21
Salvation by grace through faith: Ephesians 1:4-13, 2:8, Galatians 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Romans 8:29-30, 9:16
2 Timothy 1:9 "He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time..."
Titus 3:5 "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"
We must be born again: John 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 1:3
Bodily resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 14-20, 42-44
Second coming and judgment: Matthew 25:31-46, John 14:3, Acts 1:11, 17:31
Reality of Satan, hell and spiritual warfare: 1 John 5:19, Ephesians 6:12, 1 Peter 5:8
Evangelism and missions: Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Philemon 6
Virgin Birth: Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38
Jesus performed miracles: Matthew 13:54, Luke 19:37, John 10:38
Believer’s baptism: Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:41, 16:30-33, 18:8.
We are baptized NOT TO BE SAVED, BUT BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED/BORN AGAIN; as an act of obedience and a visible testimony that we have died to our old life of sin and self, and risen to walk as new creations in Christ Jesus.
C.H. Spurgeon “Preach, Preach, Preach Everywhere”, 1869
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/preach-preach-preach-everywhere/#flipbook/
He that wishes to have Christ as his Saviour should be prepared openly to acknowledge that he is on Christ’s side. Baptism thus becomes the badge of discipleship, the outward token of inward faith, by which a man says to all who look on, “I confess myself dead to the world; I confess myself buried with Christ; I declare myself risen to newness of life in him make what you will of it, and laugh at it as much as you like, yet in the faith of Jesus as my Lord, I have taken leave of all else to follow him.” It is a point of obedience.
I Timothy 1:15, 3:16
Christ Jesus came to save sinners...(not to make a way for men dead in sin to save ourselves Ephesians 2:4-9)
He (Jesus) was manifested in the flesh (incarnation John 1:14),
vindicated (raised from the dead) by the Spirit (Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 15:20),
seen (witnessed) by angels (and His disciples John 21:24, 2 Peter 1:16),
proclaimed among the nations (Acts 2:14-39),
believed on in the world (John 1:12),
taken up in glory (the ascension Acts 1:9)
(and in like manner will return again Acts 1:11, 1 Corinthians 15:23).
Resources
J.C. Ryle (An Inerrantist, Reform, Evangelical Anglican) Highly Recommended Starting Place
Practical Religion
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/ryle/Practical%20Religion%20-Ryle.pdf
Old Paths
Jeremiah 6:16 "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it."
http://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/old-paths-ryle.pdf
Faith is simply the grasp of a contrite heart on the outstretched hand of an Almighty Saviour (Matthew 14:31, Philippians 3:12b "Christ has taken hold of me"). It is the hand of the drowning man which lays hold on the rope thrown to him. Cast away all idea of work, or merit, or doing, or performing, or paying, or giving, or buying in the act of believing on Christ.
[Yes, we must reach up to that hand, but it is not the reaching, but the hand of the Savior, that saves us. And God in His sovereignty will let us drown in our sin (Romans 1 “give us over”, John 5:40, 2 Thessalonians 2:10) if that is what we choose; a choice of which He had foreknowledge. But if He has chosen us from eternity, He will not let us drown (Irresistible and Efficacious Grace).]
C.H. Spurgeon
Treasury of David on Psalm 25:5 "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me."
It (would be) well for many professors if instead of following their own devices and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, (if) they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits.
A Puritan Catechism
http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/puritan_catechism.htm
Many a minister has derived his first doctrinal knowledge from (The Westminster Assembly's Catechism); and, indeed it has in it the very life-blood of the gospel. Let our youths and maidens study the Scriptures daily, and let them use The Baptist Confession of Faith, which they will find to be a useful compendium of doctrinal knowledge.
"This We Believe" by Stewart Olyott - sermon series & study notes with reference to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
https://www.rbc.org.nz/library/olyott.html
1689 Confession
https://www.creeds.net/baptists/1689/kerkham/1689.htm
2000 Baptist Faith & Message
The Gospel as Center, Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices, The Gospel Coalition, Edited by D.A. Carson and Timothy Keller, 2012
Includes the Gospel Coalition Foundation Documents
https://media.thegospelcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/08230646/TheGospelAsCenter.pdf
C.H. Spurgeon in the forward to his 1855 edition of the "Baptist Confession of 1689"
Be not ashamed of your faith; remember it is the ancient gospel of martyrs, confessors, reformers and saints. Above all, it is the truth of God, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.
A.W. Tozer
The Knowledge of the Holy
(Only) the gospel can lift this destroying burden (of sin) from the mind, give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. (Isaiah 61:3)
The Divine Conquest
1 Thessalonians 1:5 “Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit…”
The Christian message rightly understood means this: God, who by the word of the Gospel proclaims men free, by the power of the Gospel actually makes men free. They to whom the Word comes in power know deliverance...
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
The gospel of Jesus Christ demands a decision and a committal. It calls upon me to say, "Recognizing this as God's truth and as the call of Christ, I am going to give myself to it, come what may. I believe it, I will act upon it."
Truth Unchanged, Unchanging "The Test of a Christian"
The gospel has but one test...How do we stand with God?
WARNING
Jonathan Edwards’ preface to Joseph Bellamy’s True Religion Delineated, or, Experimental Religion, As Distinguished from Formality on one Hand, and Enthusiasm on the other, set in a Scriptural and Rational Light
…the nature of that religion which God requires of us, and must be found in us, in order to our enjoying the benefits of God’s favor…is a point of infinite consequence to every single person; each one having to do with God as his supreme judge, who will fix his eternal state, according as he finds him to be with or without true religion.
A.W. Tozer
Renewed Day by Day
These are things about which we cannot afford to be wrong; to be wrong is still to be lost and far from God.
That Incredible Christian
To the question "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30) we must learn the correct answer. To fail here is not to gamble with our souls: it is to guarantee eternal banishment from the face of God. Here we must be right or be finally lost.
WARNING II
A person is never the same after hearing the Gospel
Either his heart is hardened (Isaiah 6:9-10, John 12:37-41, Acts 28:25-27)
Or his heart is softened and he is drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14, 12:3)
Or his heart is broken and he is given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10)
1 John 4:14, 5:11-12; Hebrews 2:3a
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?