The Apostles' Gospel Part 1

The Gospel that Jesus preached from the very beginning of His earthly ministry was profound, yet simple: repent from sin and believe the good news (Mark 1:14-15). After He died on the cross, rose from the dead, and returned to heaven, Jesus passed the torch to His disciples to go and teach people everything that He had taught them (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). And, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that's just what they did. They proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jewish people (Acts 2), to the Jewish leaders (Acts 4), and to the Gentiles (non-Jews) all over the world:

-Philip shared the Gospel with Samaritans and an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8).
-Peter shared the Gospel with a Roman centurion and his family (Acts 10).
-Paul shared the Gospel with Greeks (Acts 17).

The first part of the Gospel, "repent from sin," is difficult to swallow. We need to come to grips with the fact that we are sinners. This is no small matter. Just because sin is a common problem (everyone is a sinner) doesn't mean it's not a big deal. The Bible describes us as God's enemies (Colossians 1:21; Romans 5:10) and deserving of His wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Although God's grace is freely given to the objects of His mercy, the hardest part of realizing the truth of the Gospel is coming to grips with the vileness of our sin. Even our supposed "good works" are repulsive to God (Isaiah 64:6). We have rebelled against the Almighty Creator of the universe. We have taken the life that God gave us and used it to violate His perfect law. We have taken the very breath He's given us to curse and blaspheme His Name. We deserve the just penalty for our treason against our Maker: death (Romans 6:23).

The first thing God does when He saves someone is convict them of their sin (John 16:8). Once we realize how sinful we are compared to the righteous and holy God, we are broken and undone (Isaiah 6:1-7) This process is painful, but necessary. We won't repent of our sin until we are truly sorry for what we've done and desire to let God change us. Paul tells us that Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:8-10). Even though God breaks us down, He builds us back up again. The sorrow that He gives us leads to life and peace (Romans 8:6), but worldly sorrow leads to despair and death (2 Corinthians 7:10).

If God is convicting you of your sin against Him, do not despair. Repent! Turn away from the sin you once loved and look upon Christ who is our only hope of salvation. 1 John 1:9 tells us, "If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Next week we will focus more on the "good news" of Gospel: the grace, forgiveness, and hope we find in the work of Jesus Christ.