Marks of the Plain Gospel

In our first lesson we went through some basic introduction to the plain gospel and I explained why we're calling it the plain gospel. We don't want to make this fancy. We want to keep it very straightforward, very unfrilly. Just what does the Bible say about the gospel?

Let's talk about the marks of the plain gospel. This is kind of a play on words because we're going to be in the gospel of Mark.

A. The Beginning of the Gospel

1. Mark tells of the gospel from its very beginning; the gospel that belongs to Jesus the Son.

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: "Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way; ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.'" ⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
- Mark 1:1-4

Here we have Mark starting off his gospel and he says, this is the beginning. This is where it all starts off, with John the baptizer coming and preparing the way for the Lord. He's preaching the gospel. He's preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And we'll not get into a lot of the difference between John's baptism and baptism into Christ, but just realize there is a difference. John's baptism had nothing to do with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. But according to this verse, it was for the forgiveness of sins.

And so it was necessary to receive that during John's time, as he was preparing people for the coming Messiah. This is where the gospel begins.

2. To tell the whole story of the gospel, we have to go back to John's ministry.

Now you've probably been told, I know I was told, that the gospel is the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ. And that's true. That is the hub of the gospel.

But as we're going to see, the gospel is more far reaching than it goes all the way back to the start of John's ministry. And the way to to think about this is if you've taught people, and I have done this as well, that the gospel is the death, burial, and the resurrection, that's not a wrong answer. It's just you have to understand that when you're teaching somebody the basics, you start with the core of the teaching and you work out from there.

One time I was a soccer coach, which is hilarious because I've never played soccer before competitively, but my sons wanted to play soccer and they didn't have a coach, and so I taught them soccer. When you're teaching soccer, you start with the basics. Go out there and try to kick the ball in that goal and realize they're trying to kick it in that goal and you just start with the fundamentals. You don't start off explaining penalty kicks and the technicalities of all the offsides and the delay of game and how to do triangular attacks – you'll blow their little minds. You don't do that. You start with the basics.

Same thing is true with the gospel. We start with the basics. Here's the core of the gospel, but there's more to it. It's more far reaching than just the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. The gospel is about the kingdom.

3. The gospel of the kingdom has been preached since the time of John.

"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
- Luke 16:16

So we see here that the gospel is more far reaching than just later on when Jesus died on the cross and he was buried and he was raised. We have some who believe that any sermon, which doesn't have the death, burial, and the resurrection mentioned in it is not a gospel sermon. And yet when you think about it, what about the greatest sermon ever preached? The sermon on the mount. That sermon doesn't mention the death, burial, and the resurrection, and yet it is a gospel sermon.

If you back up in chapter 4 of Matthew and read right before the sermon on the mount, it says that Jesus was going about Samaria preaching the gospel. Well, he was preaching the story of the good news, which includes the death, burial, and the resurrection, no doubt, but it's more far reaching than that.

Back in Mark 1, we see that John prepared the way for the Messiah to come into the world, to bring us salvation. Now in verses 2-3 explain how John came in fulfillment of scripture. He was the voice of the one crying in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord, get ready, the Lord is coming. And so in that sense, He was preaching the good news.

B. Commitment to the Gospel

1. This plain gospel which Jesus preached also belongs to God the Father.

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
- Mark 1:14

Now earlier in chapter 1, verse 1, we read the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, here He's called the gospel of God.

and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
- Mark 1:15

So this gospel, is it the gospel of Jesus Christ or is it the gospel of God? Well, the answer is yes, it's both. We see this all throughout scripture.

It's really hard to confine something so broad and all encompassing as the gospel. It belongs to all of these scenarios. It is salvation, it is peace, it is the kingdom. All these are involved in our understanding of the gospel.

And so when we present the gospel, we don't dump the whole thing, but we need to know in the back of our minds that there is more to it than just the simplicity of this. It is a far reaching good news message that encompasses many things.

2. God fully expects us to believe this plain gospel.

and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
- Mark 1:15

So if you're going to be a follower of Christ, He is commanding you, He is expecting you to be a believer of the gospel. And your belief needs to be such that it causes you to be willing to take great risk, even for the gospel.

3. Disciples are called to be willing to even lose their lives for the sake of the gospel.

³⁴And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. ³⁶For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Mark 8:36-37

To be a follower of Christ, Jesus himself says, if you want to come after me, you need to deny yourself. You need to take up your cross, and the cross was for dying on. You need to die to sin, you need to die to self, and you need to be ready to follow after me. It's a sacrifice. And we need to be willing, he says in verse 35, to be able to lose our life if necessary for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the gospel.

That makes this gospel that we're studying very important. There is a commitment involved in following the gospel.

4. What we gain from the gospel is worth giving up everything.

Again, in verse 35, "he who tries to save his life is going to lose it. But if you will lose your life," that means give everything up, give it all into his hands. Don't draw lines in the sand and say, I'll give you part of my life God, give it all up. Let him have it all and let him do what he would do with your life. Doing that, making that commitment, giving up everything, the gospel is worth that type of sacrifice. And it demands that of us as followers of Christ.

C. Salvation Through the Gospel

1. Jesus' disciples are expected to be willing to leave everything behind for the sake of the gospel.

In Mark chapter 10, we have the story of the rich young ruler, where this man comes to Jesus and he is excited. He wants to know what must I do to inherit eternal life. And Jesus said, well, go sell your possessions, give them to the poor, then come follow me. And the reaction was not what we would expect, but the man actually went away sad because he had great wealth. Now, right after the disciples witnessed this happening, here was a man who they thought was going to be a follower, turned away, and did not follow after Christ.

²⁸Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." ²⁹Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, ³⁰but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
- Mark 10:28-30

Peter says, Jesus, we've left everything to follow you. What's he looking for there? He's looking for some confirmation. Jesus, we did the right thing, didn't we? We've left everything to follow after you. Jesus gives them that confirmation. Peter, anybody who's willing to leave these things, these material things and these material relationships, for my sake and for the gospel sake, they're going to receive a 100 times as much.

Many of us, when we became Christians, some of us came from families that were not Christians. I came from a good family, but they're not members of the church and they don't fully understand the commitment that I've made and in a sense, I've have lost my family, at least spiritually speaking. But in doing so, did you know I have hundreds of moms? I have hundreds of brothers and sisters now because of the gospel. The gospel brings us together in a very unique way. It gives us life. It gives us a connection.

Those of us who may not have anything to do with each other normally, but because of the gospel, because you love the gospel, because I love it, it draws us together from different backgrounds and gives us unity. But it does so much more than that. It saves us.

2. When the gospel is preached, those who believe and are baptized will be saved.

¹⁵And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
- Mark 16:15-16

When we started this class in Mark 1, we started with John the baptizer, and he was baptizing people for the forgiveness of their sins. It was a baptism of repentance. Repentance is when you change your heart to the degree it changes your actions, a turning away from sin.

You see, you turn away from sin and you're immersed in the waters of baptism. Under John's baptism, that was a baptism of repentance, but as I already mentioned, it had nothing to do with receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus's baptism on the other hand is for believers, those who will believe in him and will surrender to being immersed in the waters of baptism. At that point in time, they receive salvation and they also receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

They receive the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit when they are baptized, and at that moment, they're saved. The gospel is salvation. It is the message about salvation through Jesus.

3. The gospel doesn't need any rendition.

It doesn't need our help for it to be wonderful and practical to people. It already is. We just present it the way it is.

4. We learn the gospel from Mark and other New Testament writers, and then we preach it just exactly the way he did.

This is the marks of the plain gospel. I hope you've enjoyed this study.

In our next study, we're going to get into Acts, Luke and Acts actually. Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and he also wrote the book of Acts. And so we're going to dovetail some of those scriptures together and talk some more about this plain gospel. Until then, hope you enjoy your Bible study. We'll see you at the next class.