As believers, our great commission is to go out into all the world and preach the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). This is one of our greatest privileges as Christians, to partner in the mission of Jesus Christ and win souls for His kingdom. Sometimes, we feel inadequate to take on such a task but make no mistake, the Lord has divinely equipped and stationed each of us to be a holy light in this dark world. While the commission remains active for all of our believing life, we must seriously consider how we win souls for the Lord. In a time where there are false gospels being preached and many methods being used, it has never been more important to clarify the true gospel to unbelievers. The following article will teach you just how to do that.

Taking the First Step:

You have likely heard that all of our evangelism typically begins with other people seeing the behaviour and godliness of our lives. This is a true statement! Jesus taught us to let our light shine before all people so that they might see us and glorify God (Matthew 5:16). The Lord wants to use unashamed lives as a testimony to draw others toward the message of the gospel (Romans 1:16). Therefore, our first step must always be in becoming bold about our love for Jesus and unembarrassed in our daily pursuit of Him. Think about the ways in which you are currently doing this at home, at work, with your extended family and beyond.

Preaching the Gospel:

Once the Lord has drawn a person or a group to you, it is time to share the gospel message. Contrary to what you may think, you do not need to develop some creative backdoor way in presenting the gospel. We never see the early disciples clouding their message with extra things to make the gospel more attractive or viable. You and I must hold to the belief that the simple gospel is powerful enough to save even the hardest of hearts. The strength does not rely in our abilities, but rather in our faithfulness to preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will do His best work through a faithful servant who delivers the message exactly as it is meant to be shared.

Now, in order for us to do this we must clearly emphasize TWO major themes. That is, the deep sinfulness of every human being and the great graciousness of our precious saviour. The primary pull of the gospel message lies in the fact that every sinner needs a saviour. The gospel is not merely for sad people looking to find temporary happiness. The gospel is for those who are lost and burdened by their own sin looking for an answer. Therefore, our task as ambassadors is to display the bad news in order to highlight the good news. See below for some things you should use in your gospel conversations.

What is the gospel?

In Christianity, the Gospel is considered to be the good news of Jesus Christ who is the Messiah and Son of God (Mark 1:1). The word “gospel” is literally translated to mean “good news” or “good story”. This gospel message is therefore centered on the person of Jesus Christ who becomes for us the good news that we desperately need.

Bad News of Sin:

In order to receive the good news, we should understand why it is so good. In the beginning, God created the whole world including humanity (Genesis 1-2). Jesus Christ who is Himself God, was there at the beginning of creation as well and was the divine creator (John 1:1-2; Colossians 1:15-16). Adam and Eve were the first two humans created by God and they possessed perfect fellowship with the triune Godhead. In this time of perfection, there was complete holiness between God and mankind. This was God’s original plan and requirement for His creation, and it was good. (Genesis 1:31). However, in Genesis 3 we read that both Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was the tree that God commanded Adam not to eat from.

It was at that moment that the curse of sin plagued all of humanity to come after. This defines the bad news of a sinful and rebellious creation who are now in constant separation from God. Now, every human being by default inherits this sin curse and can no longer be seen as righteous or holy in God’s eyes (Romans 3:10-12).

Despite this curse, God never stopped desiring to live in perfect fellowship with His creation. In order to righteously deal with sin in the heart of humanity, God created a standard. This standard is known as the Law or 10 Commandments which defines what actions are sinful behaviours (Exodus 20:2-17; Romans 7:12). He has also instituted a penalty or judgment for whenever sin occurs. If our sin is not recognized and dealt with according to God’s standards, we will be punished by both spiritual and physical death (Romans 6:23).

The Good News of Christ:

In light of this dark reality, God initiates a redemption plan from eternity’s past. In His sovereignty, God provides a saviour from this punishment in the Lord, Jesus Christ. The Bible states that God loved the world so much that He gave to us His only Son (John 3:16). Jesus Christ the son of God, comes to the world as a sinless man to die as a sin payment to God. In this sense, God treated Christ as though he possessed the sin curse and allowed Him to be crucified in place of humanity (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Not only did Christ die once and for all for the sins of the world, he also overcame the curse of death by resurrecting back to life. In defeating sin and death at the cross, Christ reconciles a world of lost sinners back to God the father. His righteous act simultaneously satisfies God’s wrath and saves humanity. The emphasis here is that there is simply no other way to have a relationship with God without first going to the cross of Calvary.

Salvation in Jesus Christ is offered as a free gift of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). This is the good news of the gospel. There is now no more striving to attain salvation to enter heaven. Every sinner has the opportunity to repent of their sins and receive this free gift because of the cross. Each person must however confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead in order to be saved (Romans 10:9).

Through the power of Christ, each newly regenerated Christian can learn to live a life that is pleasing and glorifying to God because of the good news of the Gospel. Lost sinners desire to leave their old lifestyle to live in the goodness of being a new creation. This is what makes us different and set apart. God had amazing grace for wretched sinners like us and turned our broken lives into testimonies of Christ’s love.

Making the Gospel Shine: 

As you can see, a full gospel presentation must include both the bad news and the good news. As believers, we never have to worry about “saving” people. This is something only God can do. We are simply the messengers and God remains the one who saves people from their sins. Therefore, let our hope be in the glorious light living within us.

The gospel best shines for those who are trying to live a “good” life, and for those who realize they are already living a “sinful” life. For those in all other false religions, they already cling to a system of good and evil. They are striving to erase their sinful deeds with more good works. They are working all their life to be good so that hopefully God would see them as righteous and perhaps let them into heaven. They are burdened with a weight they could never bare. They are deceived into thinking their good work will outweigh their sinfulness. They are in a sense trying to become their own saviour. The good news of the gospel can save this kind of person from a lifetime of mere human “work”. Let us cause the gospel to shine and point every sinner to the finished work of the cross and the triumph of His glorious resurrection.

Do not shy away from this message. Proclaim this message with your words and with your life. We know that everyday souls are being dragged away into eternal punishment. We are commanded to carry out the mission handed down to us by our Lord and go into all the earth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that God might use your faithfulness to reap a harvest far beyond what you can think or imagine.