The Plain Gospel and Acts

We will be starting in the book of Luke in the first chapter. So you can be opening up to that as we start looking at the plain gospel in Acts. And we'll not just be in Acts, we'll be in Luke.

Luke wrote the gospel of Luke. He also wrote the book of Acts. And so those two books go well together and fit.

A. The Patterns for Preaching the Gospel

By what pattern or how are we supposed to be preaching the gospel? We have several examples in the Bible that we're going to be looking at.

1. Angels had the good news and they announced it to men.

¹⁸Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." ¹⁹The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
- Luke 1:18-19

The good news that he was receiving was about the son that was gonna be born to him, who would become John the baptizer. So we've backed up a little bit in time from where we were in our last class, but we want to see how angels brought good news. When they had good news to announce, they came and they presented that message, and their responsibility was to present that message exactly the way that God had told that to him. And that is exactly the same way we're supposed to present the gospel or the good news, just the way that it was told to or taught to us from scripture.

2. Christ our Savior coming to earth to bring salvation to everyone is indeed gospel or good news.

⁸In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰But 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; ¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
- Luke 2:10-11

Here's another angel. And we see a pattern again, where he has good news, (of gospel – same word) to announce to people. And he announced that message exactly the way that God had told him to announce that message. He announced the plain gospel.

3. This plain gospel is what brings souls into the kingdom.

Let's move forward in time in our chronology of events to before the sermon on the mount, which we talked about in our last lesson. This was a sermon that is a gospel sermon that never mentions the death, burial, and the resurrection, and yet is indeed a gospel sermon.

¹⁹And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. ²³Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
- Luke 4:19-23

Here Jesus is preaching the gospel. We have the example of the angels. Now we have the example of Jesus Himself, and He is going about and preaching the gospel. I was going to share with you one of the things that I've done to prepare for this class is I printed off every time in the Bible, the word gospel or good news is mentioned. And I read these usually at night. I read them before I go to bed. It's about 6 pages of scriptures, and that's helped me to get the overall picture of the gospel.

And also I want you to understand that I know that this doesn't tell the whole gospel because just because a passage doesn't mention good news or gospel doesn't mean it's not about the gospel. In fact, the entire gospel of John never once mentions the word gospel, and yet that's what the whole book is about. And so you can see how far reaching this study is and how much there is to knowing the gospel of God.

B. Benefits of the Gospel

1. The gospel has an element to it which is a benefit to the poor (Matthew 11:4-5).

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed,"
- Luke 4:18

So both Matthew and Luke mentioned this preaching of the gospel to the poor.

And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
- Luke 7:22

Of all the gospels, Luke brings out this idea of ministering to the poor more than the others. Not really sure why, but that was something that was very important to him. The way the Sermon on the Mount starts off in Matthew 5:3, it talks about blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, if you look at Luke's account starting in Luke 6:20, he starts off "blessed are the poor," not poor in spirit but "blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

There's something about the poor in a society. They don't receive the privileges that other members of society receive because they're not able to afford them. But when it comes to the gospel, the gospel is just as available to them as it is to anyone because the gospel is free of charge. And so there's a benefit. Of course, that gospel is a benefit to everybody, but it is a benefit that is available to the poor.

2. This gospel also connects us to good people we would normally miss out on.

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.
- Acts 8:5

Now the significance of this is Samaria was a place that was generally off limits to Jews because they were very prejudiced against the Samaritans. But here, because of the gospel, Philip is overcoming his prejudice.

He's going to a city he wouldn't normally go to and preach to a people he wouldn't normally have anything to do with, to be quite honest, but he preaches the gospel to them.

⁹Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; ¹⁰and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God." ¹¹And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. ¹²But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. ¹³ Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.
- Acts 8:9-13

When we are preaching the gospel, sometimes that gospel leads us to people that normally we might have a prejudice against. To be prejudiced is to prejudge. And when you prejudge, you assume something about a people and that prevents you from meeting some pretty good people.

The gospel can break down that barrier. It can break down the racism and the prejudice between people and connect good people together. That's one of the benefits of the gospel.

3. After the plain gospel is preached to people, they tend to get baptized, the benefit of salvation through Jesus.

But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
- Acts 8:12

The people heard the good news and they were baptized, men and women alike. In the next verse, even the Simon the sorcerer was baptized as well. Baptism is a response to the gospel. It's not the gospel itself. Baptism is the result of the gospel.

Remember, in I Corinthians 1:17 where Paul says, "I wasn't sent to baptize, I was sent to preach the gospel." But when the gospel is preached, people get baptized. That means in your presentation of the gospel, if that's not the response you're getting, if people are not getting baptized, something is wrong with your gospel message because that should be the response. People who believe, they repent of their sins, and they're baptized in Christ. And at that point, they receive salvation. That's the gospel. That's the result of the gospel.

4. The gospel helps us to turn away from vain worship.

In chapter 14 of the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas are on a mission and they have visited a couple of cities on their way up north. They're working their way into the region we know as Galatia. The Galatian letter was written to the churches that we're going to be reading about. He's been to Iconium in the first few verses there, and we'll start in verse 8 as he is at Lystra.

⁸At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. ⁹This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, ¹⁰said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk. ¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us." ¹²And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; ¹⁷and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." ¹⁸Even saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.
- Acts 14:8-18

So here's Paul and Barnabas presenting this gospel. They're trying to help people work their way out of these vain things. But as he heals this man who had never walked in his life, and he stands upright and he's walking, they say, "oh, the gods are among us." Paul and Barnabas had to go right down in the crowd and say, "look, we're men. We're flesh and blood just like you. We're not gods. Serve the one God, the one true living God." They're pleading with them to leave their vain ways.

This is a benefit even today where people worship God vainly. To do something vainly means to waste their time. God can rescue us. The gospel can rescue us from vain worship as it teaches us the truth about how to be saved.

5. Repenting, turning away from vain living, is part of the message of the gospel.

I noticed as I was reading in chapter 14:16 where it says, "in the generations gone by, he permitted all the nations to go their own ways." That reminded me of:

Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
- Acts 17:30

To repent is to do a 180 degree turn. If you're going towards sin, you turn and you go away from that. So repenting, turning away from vain living, that's part of the blessing, part of the benefit of the gospel message.

This and so many others we could look at, but there are great benefits of this gospel.

C. The Gospel of the Early Church

We really want to capture what is this gospel, and we're blessed with several examples.

1. Peter preached the message of the gospel to Cornelius.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
- Acts 15:7

What's Peter talking about? He's talking about Acts 10 when he preached the gospel to the household of Cornelius. He says, it's by my mouth that these Gentiles, Cornelius was a Gentile, he and his household, they heard the word by my mouth.

Let's compare when the gospel was preached and we're going to narrow this down to just the words that he preached that is called the gospel, and notice the way he presents it.

³⁴Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, ³⁵but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.
- Acts 10:34-35

And what Peter is saying, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or Gentile. That man who's willing to accept him, God's going to reward him.

³⁶The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)— ³⁷you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. ³⁸You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. ³⁹We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. ⁴⁰God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, ⁴¹not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. ⁴²And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
- Acts 10:36-43

That's the very words which in Acts 15:7, Peter says, those Gentiles heard the gospel by my lips. We just read the gospel message that was preached that day. This is the gospel of the early church.

2. The plain gospel needs to be heard so that people can believe.

⁶The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. ⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
- Acts 15:6-8

A person needs to hear the gospel so they can believe. You can't believe in something that you've never heard about. And so our responsibility as Christians is to proclaim this gospel, the plain gospel, just exactly the way they did in the 1st century. We don't need to change it. We don't need to alter it. We just present the gospel.

Now, what do we do?

3. The plain gospel is our door by which we receive the saving grace of God.

And by which we extend that to others as well.

²²And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
- Acts 20:22-24

You notice how Paul describes the gospel? This is the gospel of the grace of God. This is the good news of the grace of God. And so the gospel that was preached in the early church, the one that we're pattering ourselves after was a gospel about grace.

There again, if your presentation of the gospel does not include grace, if it doesn't talk about the grace of God, there's something missing in your gospel message. That's part of the message is God's grace. We need God's grace. There's no way we can ever be right with God just based on our own merits and trying to do perfectly all the time. We've got to have the grace of God. That has to be included in this message. And Paul is saying, this is the gospel of grace.

4. The plain gospel gives our lives purpose.

Paul, as he's talking about, and he knows this is the end of his life, he's going on to Jerusalem, he's going to stand trial there, he'll go from there to Rome. It's close to the end, and he knows that.

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course,
- Acts 20:24a

He says, my purpose, my sustenance for living is in the gospel. That's where I get my nourishment. That's where I get my purpose in life. It's not in the things of this world. It's in the gospel.

I'm telling you this gospel is powerful. It can change you. It can give you purpose. It can give you the grace of God that you need, but you have to believe it. And we as Christians, we want to make sure we're preaching this gospel exactly the way the Bible says it should be preached.