The Good News of the Gospel of the Grace of God

I am endeavoring to lead my church in evangelism and outreach ministries. I have been hesitant to employ some of the popular evangelism models and programs that many of us are familiar with. I desire a simple, learnable, and duplicatable gospel presentation that can be easily understood by lay people as well as easily understood by the unchurched when they hear it.

I've taken a stab at it with the gospel message below. I would like some feedback and input from anyone who can provide assistance to me in polishing it up and making it better. It is not long now but still a little longer than I wanted. Is there any help out there?

Please, no one take this as an opportunity to critique the doctrines of grace or blast my theological convictions. This is a sincere attempt to articulate a simple gospel message that is accurate and represents the truth of scripture. I purposely wanted to deal explicitly with sin, the result of sin, and the centerpiece to be Christ crucified for sinners. Thank you in advance for your grace and assistance.

The Testimony of the Good News of the Grace of God – Acts 20:24

Evaluation:
Have you come to a place in your spiritual life where you know that you will go to heaven when you die?

If you were to die today and stand before God and God were to say, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” what would you say?

The Old Covenant: The Covenant of Works
The Bible is divided into two major sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is known as the “Old Covenant”. The old covenant was established by God in which He commanded man to keep His commandments. The reward for obedience was life and the penalty for disobedience was death and because man was created in God’s image, the death is eternal and the life is eternal.

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”

As we read through the text, we find that man has in fact broken God’s commandments and sinned. The result of that sin has left all of mankind in a fallen, sinful condition; a condition of spiritual death.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Even though man has sinned against God and fallen into a state of spiritual death, God has not abolished His original covenant with man. God still commands all men to obey His commandments perfectly and failure to do so is what the Bible calls sin. God’s commandments to man are summarized in the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:1-17 (Paraphrased) “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not worship idols. You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not lie. You shall not covet.”

God’s nature is such that if we break any commandment, we are no longer able to relate to God or have spiritual life until our sin has been satisfied. (The biblical word is atonement)

James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

There are two ways for our sins to be atoned for and satisfy the perfect obedience that God commands.

1) Personal Atonement – You can live perfectly from birth to death without ever making a mistake, ever thinking a sinful thought, uttering a sinful word, or disobeying God’s law at any point. Now, if you choose this path, you need to know that one mistake is all it takes to fall from your perfect state and after that one mistake has been made, there are no amount of good works that you can perform for the rest of your life to make up for that one sin. The result of even one sin requires atonement or satisfaction. If you have taken the personal atonement route, you will spend an eternity satisfying God’s wrath and judgment against your sin in a place called hell.

How do you feel about your chances?
What about your past sins?
Has anyone ever lived a perfect life from birth to death?

2) Substitutionary Atonement – This second option brings us to the subject of the…

New Covenant: the covenant of grace
Jesus Christ came into the world, not to abolish the old covenant but rather to fulfill the old covenant. In doing so, He gave His life to save sinners thus creating a new covenant with His blood. The New Testament reveals for us the New Covenant of grace.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Matthew 26:28 “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

No one in the history of the human race has ever kept God’s commandments, the old covenant, perfectly except one, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the only one who perfectly obeyed every commandment. He is the only begotten Son of God, Immanuel which means: God with us. Because He is God and came from God and took upon Himself flesh and blood and lived among us so that we would behold His glory, He was perfect.

In this perfect state, Jesus Christ offered up His life in substitution for sinners, to pay the penalty of sin, which is death, for all who believe on Him and confess Him as Lord and Savior. His perfection fulfilled the covenant of works perfectly and as a result, Jesus Christ has purchased the new covenant of grace with His own blood.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s Purpose of Grace
It is no longer about how good you are or how good we can become, the old covenant. It is now all about the new covenant of grace. So, regardless of how deep into the black pit of sin you are, God’s grace is deeper than your pit of sin! Your solution to sin is not personal atonement but rather substitutionary atonement provided by Christ when He died on the cross for sinners, was buried, and rose from the dead.

This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the power of God to save all who believe in Him. God’s grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, which is eternal life through faith in His Son.

Our Responsibility
We are commanded to respond to God’s message of salvation through His Son. We respond by repentance of sin and by placing our faith in Jesus Christ alone as the one who suffered God’s punishment in our place. Call upon the Lord in faith and He will save you. Listen to these scripture verses and obey them.

Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that you sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”