“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush** your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gn 3:15)
Review We’ve been talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, we focused on the meaning of sin in the Bible along with its consequences. To know what sin is and what sin does is critical in understanding the essence of the gospel and experiencing its power because solving the problem of sin was the very purpose of Jesus coming into the world in human form and dying on the cross to give us the good news. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mk 2:17) Jesus said that He didn’t come for the healthy and the righteous but for the sick and sinners. Here, Jesus is not saying that He is not interested in the healthy or the righteous. In fact, there’s no one in the world whom He’s not interested in. What Jesus is implying by saying that He came for the sick and sinners is that everyone in the world is actually in a condition of spiritual sickness because of their sin. The Bible clearly reveals the sinful condition of human beings. The best definition of sin is to make oneself like God. That was how Satan first deceived human beings, which led to the first disobedience. The serpent came to Eve and told her, “You will not certainly die… when you eat from [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Gen 3:4-5) After listening to this lie, she looked at the tree again. It looked good, pleasing, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she ate from the tree with the desire to be like God. It was truly a rebellious act against God. By eating from the tree that God had forbidden, Eve rejected God as her king. And, because the essence of sin is rebellion against God, sin inevitably resulted in the severance of our relationship with Him. And this severance consequently brought death. Since only God has eternal life, being separated from His presence meant death. That’s the spiritual condition of all human beings that the Scriptures testify to. All human beings are under the power and authority of sin without exception. There’s no one righteous, not even one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s who we were before we met Jesus. However, eternal death wasn’t the only consequence of sin. Sin also makes us slaves of Satan, the deceiver. The Origin of Sin To understand this, we need to understand how sin first came to the world. When it comes to the existence of good and evil in the world, there are some people who think that God created evil things along with good things. So they often ask, “why did God make all these evil things happen?”, and blame Him for them. But God didn’t create evil things. There are no Bible passages that talk about God creating evil. He only created good things. During the creation of the world in Genesis 1, God repeatedly declared that “it was good.” Everything He created was good in His sight. And His creation includes heavenly beings. Even though the creation story doesn’t reveal when and how God created spiritual beings, in Ezekiel chapter 28, God commands Ezekiel to tell the king of Tyre, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you… You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you…” (Ezk 28:12-14) This passage isn’t talking about a human being, since the king of Tyre wasn’t in the garden of Eden and wasn’t a cherub, which is a type of angel. Cherubim, which is the plural form of cherub, were created as perfect beings full of wisdom and beauty, adorned with every precious stone. They were ordained as guardians in the garden of Eden. We also see from Genesis 3:24, “After [God] drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Gn 3:24) But, their perfection, wisdom, and beauty made them fall from God. As Ezekiel continues, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you… you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth…” (Ezk 28:15-17) The prophet Isaiah puts it this way. “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star [O Lucifer, KJV], son of the dawn!... You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God… I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” (Is 14:12-15) Here, we find the motivation the corrupt cherub had when he sinned against God. He became proud out of his perfection, beauty, wisdom, and splendor, and he ended up wanting to be higher than God. He was perfect and beautiful, but that perfection and beauty made him forget who he was, and he developed the desire to make his throne above God’s and make himself like God. And, as a result, he was expelled, thrown to the earth, and brought down to the realm of the dead, which refers to hell. Hell was originally the place God made to put the devil in, not human beings. Jude 1:6 says, “The angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.” (Jd 1:6) And Jesus also said, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mt 25:41) So, God does not ‘send’ sinners to hell as some people misunderstand. What God does regarding hell is quite the opposite. God wants to bring us back to Him because we were heading to eternal death and hell in our sins. In order to do so, God didn’t even spare His most precious One, and sacrificed Him. That’s the purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn 3:17) So, this is the origin of sin that the Bible describes. Sin existed even before the first human beings committed the first sin. The first human beings committed sin because they were deceived by the corrupted angel, which Genesis calls ‘the serpent’, who had already committed the sin of rebellion against God. And we see Satan using the same desire that motivated him to sin against God, which is to make his throne above God’s and make himself like God, to deceive the first human beings. And even now, he’s using the same strategy. Even though there are many kinds of sin, the root of all sin is the same. It is to deny God’s lordship, take Him down from His position as our Creator and King, and make ourselves the lords and kings of our lives instead. Three Consequences of Sin Sin has three consequences. First of all, it severs our relationship with God. Second, the severance of our relationship with Him resulted in eternal death since we’re departing from the One who alone is immortal and everlasting. We already covered these two subjects last Sunday. Most of us are familiar with them since we’ve heard a lot about it in church. But, there’s one more consequence that we should think about seriously. Sin not only severs our relationship with God and causes us to head to eternal death, but also makes us enslaved to Satan. Everything the serpent said to Eve was wrong. That’s who he is. He’s good at lying. And he’s also good at hiding the truth by not mentioning it. Satan lied to the woman when he said that she would be like God if she ate from the tree. But there was a truth that he intentionally hid by not mentioning it. Satan didn’t tell her that she would be enslaved to him if she ate from the tree. The biggest lie in the world is that it is possible for us to be the lords of our lives. We can’t be. We think we can choose between the two—to let God be the Lord of our lives or to be the lords of our lives ourselves. Strictly speaking, that’s wrong. We are not choosing whether or not we ourselves will be the lords of our lives or if we will acknowledge God as the Lord of our lives. Rather, biblically speaking, we choose between accepting God as our Lord or Satan as our master. Paul said in Romans 6, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?... When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (Romans 6:16, 20-22) According to this passage, there are only two masters we can choose between—God or Satan. If we obey God, we become slaves of God, which results in righteousness and eternal life. But, if we obey Satan, we become slaves to sin, which results in death. And, if our lord is Satan and we’re enslaved by sin, we’ll also end up being put in hell with him. That’s the spiritual reality the Bible talks about. There are only two ways in front of us. If we choose to obey God, we may need to give up pleasures in this world but we’ll have eternal life with Him in the end. On the other hand, if we choose to disobey God and obey Satan, we may live in the world, doing whatever we want to do and following the ways of the world, but we’ll end up reaping death. So, which way will you choose? We just talked about some of the consequences of sin. It severs our relationship with God, makes us slaves to Satan, and sets us on the path to eternal death. But the good news is that our Lord Jesus Christ came to the world to save us from these consequences of sin. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery” (Heb 2:14-15) In Jesus Christ, we find true forgiveness of sins. In Jesus Christ, we find true freedom from slavery to the devil who holds the power of death. In Jesus Christ, we’re reconciled with God again. As Paul said, “while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10) That’s why we proclaim the good news, the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Protoevangelium Now, let’s talk about one more thing. Genesis chapter 3 doesn’t only tell us about how sin first came to the world through the serpent’s deception and the first human beings’ disobedience, but also reveals how God responded to the sin and its consequence from the time it first entered the world. This is what God told the serpent right after He found Adam and Eve, who had hidden themselves from God. Let’s read it one more time together. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gn 3:15) This is known as the protoevangelium—the first gospel. This verse reveals God’s solution to the problem of sin and its severe consequences. The book of Genesis was written by Moses around 1,500 years before Jesus was born. But still, through God’s revelation, Moses predicted the coming of an offspring of a woman. It was unusual to use the expression “her offspring” because children were considered the seeds of their father, not mother. That’s why our last names are usually the same as our fathers’ last names. So, the expression ‘her offspring’ or ‘an offspring of a woman’ is somewhat unique since it implies the absence of a biological father. That’s why many biblical scholars think that the offspring mentioned in Genesis 3:15 refers to Jesus Christ, the only person born of a virgin woman all throughout human history. Then, if the offspring of a woman refers to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, what does it mean that God said to Satan, “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel?” Traditionally, it's interpreted in such a way that Satan tried to kill Jesus, but even though it seemed that he almost succeeded, he ended up failing because Jesus was raised from the dead. Satan only struck His heel. But Jesus, the offspring of a woman, crushed the head of Satan by destroying the authority of death, which was Satan’s biggest weapon. By His resurrection, Jesus perfectly defeated Satan, who holds the power of death. As 1 John 3:8 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 Jn 3:8) And, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 also says, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Co 15:54-57) Now, death has no victory anymore. There’s no sting of death anymore. It was defeated when Jesus was resurrected from the grave. And, by doing so, Jesus freed us from our slavery to sin and death and gave us true victory. Moreover, Jesus gave us living hope by showing us eternal life in Him which was revealed in His resurrection. When Jesus was crucified, it seemed that He had failed and Satan had won, but His death was actually not a failure, but rather the biggest victory. The best news given to mankind is that Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected from the dead, defeating the power of death. So, the promise of an offspring of a woman, which was written around 1500 years before Jesus was born, was perfectly fulfilled in the empty grave when Jesus rose again from the dead. That’s the good news, the gospel, we must hold onto. I think that’s what Genesis 3:15 is about. And, what we also know from the protoevangelium is that God always had the plan of salvation in mind, and informed us of His plan as soon as sin entered the world. God’s plan to save all humanity through His only Son’s incarnation, death, and resurrection started right after sin first came to human beings by Satan’s deception. And He never stopped working for our salvation. God deliberately planned everything needed for our salvation, gradually revealed it in the Old Testament through important symbols and prophecies, and fully achieved His plan by having His Son be born of a woman and die on the cross. We can’t even imagine His unending wisdom, but one thing we know for sure is that He loves us and is always faithful to us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God, who didn’t even spare His only Son to save us, will give us everything we need. God, who loved us and decided to sacrifice His most precious One even when we were sinners and His enemies, will never give up on us but will always guide us and lead us with His unconditional and everlasting love. Knowing this serves as an anchor of our souls. God, who can’t lie and who never fails to fulfill His promises, not only promised us eternal life but also confirmed it with His oath to show the unchanging and never-failing nature of His salvation. The One who plans and promises our salvation is God almighty. He is so good and faithful. He is the only One that we must put our hope and trust in. So no matter what situation you’re in now, I want to encourage you to lift up your eyes to our heavenly Father, who always takes care of us and guides us with His everlasting love and unfailing promise. Then, we’ll find true comfort and peace that enables us to overcome everything that’s in front of us. Now, let’s read Psalm 42:5 and wrap up with prayer. “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Ps 42:5) [Closing Prayer] Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this opportunity to listen to Your word and know more about who You are. Oh Lord, we thank You for everything You’ve done to save us. We were sinners who were heading to eternal death in our rebellion against You, but You never gave up on us and instead faithfully worked for our salvation. We thank You for Your salvation that You planned even when we didn’t deserve it. And we thank You for faithfully working for our salvation even when we didn’t notice it. Now Lord, we want to put our hope in You. We want to lift up our eyes and see You working in our lives no matter what we face. Please continue to work in us and reveal who You are to us so that we can continue to put our trust in You no matter what. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What consequences of sin did you experience in your life before you believed in Jesus? How would you describe your spiritual situation at that time? 2. The protoevangelium reveals God’s plan of salvation that would be achieved through the virgin birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It also shows us God’s faithfulness to His promises. Have you experienced God taking care of you and guiding you in your life? “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rm 1:1-4)
Review Last Sunday, we started to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word ‘gospel’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term “god-spel” which basically means good news. This word was a rendering of the Greek word ‘euangelion’. But, even though the word ‘gospel’ is most widely used by Christians nowadays, the Greek word ‘euangelion’ wasn’t originally a religious word. I said this word was a political term that was used in relation to an empire or emperor. It was mostly used in three cases—when an emperor was born, was crowned as the ruler, or gained a victory in a war. That was what people thought of as ‘good news’ at that time. But, the apostle Paul used the word to refer to someone else. Paul said that he was set apart for the good news that God called him to preach and further explained what the good news really is in the first paragraph of Romans. Paul talked about some essential factors of the good news, but he concluded that the gospel is Jesus Christ our Lord. We can say a lot of things about the gospel, but it cannot be the gospel if the name of Jesus Christ is missing because the real good news God wants to give all people is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is the name that God wants all people to know because only in His name do we find true salvation, forgiveness of our sins, and everlasting life. No good news we may possibly have on earth can even compare to the good news we have in Jesus. That’s what I want us to focus on as we explore the meaning of the gospel more deeply. The Purpose of Jesus’ Coming So, let’s continue to talk about the gospel. Paul said that the good news that God wants all people to know about is the name of Jesus Christ. Then, we may ask, why is the name Jesus good news to us? To answer this, we need to first think about the purpose of Jesus coming to the world. Jesus revealed this in Mark chapter 2. One of the characteristics that distinguished Jesus from other religious leaders at that time was that He chose to spend time with sinners and tax collectors. One day, when Jesus was having dinner, many tax collectors and sinners came to Him and ate with Him. Seeing this, some religious leaders such as the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked His disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mk 2:16) On hearing this, Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mk 2:17) In this short verse, we find the reason for Jesus’ coming to the world. He came to call sinners, not the righteous, and heal the sick, not the healthy. Jesus came to the world to solve the problem of sin and rescue us from its terrible and eternal consequence—death. But the problem is that there are so many people who don’t realize their spiritual sickness even though they are going to die because of it. If someone knows that they have a serious illness and that they are dying from it, they would naturally go to see a doctor for treatment. But those who think they are fine even though they are sick, don’t feel the need to go to a doctor. That’s what happened to me. In 2018, I went to Canada with my wife to join a mission-oriented program called Discipleship Training School. Before I left Korea, my mother strongly urged me to get a physical checkup, including a gastroscope. I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t feel any pain in my stomach. I thought my stomach was just fine. But I did it because she really wanted me to do so. I had an endoscopy, and after the procedure, the doctor called me to inform me of the results. I was really shocked when I saw the pictures of my stomach. I didn’t know how to interpret the pictures, but even at a glance, the condition of my stomach seemed serious. It looked like dry, cracked ground. The doctor said that I had a stomach ulcer and that I needed treatment right away. I was really surprised because I hadn’t felt any pain in my stomach and thought I was fine. And because I thought I was fine, I didn’t feel the need to go to see a doctor. If not for my mother’s advice to get a check-up, the situation would’ve become more serious. I felt thankful but at the same time I became really worried about it. And I think that’s how many people live spiritually. We have a great doctor here—Jesus Christ. He is so good and capable that there’s no illness He can’t cure. Furthermore, this doctor is so merciful that He doesn’t charge anything. Rather, He Himself pays the fee for His patients. But no matter how good, capable, powerful, and merciful He is, people don’t want to come to Him. That’s because they don’t realize that they’re sick. All people are sick spiritually because there’s no one in the world who’s not under the authority of sin. Paul said, “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Rm 3:10-12) But still, even though the spiritual sickness is serious because it leads to death, people still don’t come to the healer simply because they don’t know that they are sick. Because they think they’re fine, they don’t think they need a doctor. So, the first thing that must happen in order for us to truly understand the meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to realize our exact spiritual condition. But we can’t know whether or not we’re fine on our own. We need an expert who can precisely diagnose our spiritual status. The Bible says that all people on earth are spiritually sick because of their sin, whether they realize it or not. Furthermore, the Scriptures say that the consequence of sin is eternal death. That’s what God says through His word. And there is no expert who can diagnose our exact spiritual situation better than God. Then, this must be the starting point. We must all acknowledge and accept the fact that we’re all sinners and that we’re all heading to eternal death because of that. We’re not righteous. We’re not healthy. We truly need a doctor who can cure us. To face this is not easy, but it’s worth it, because only then can we truly seek Jesus Christ, who came to the world as our perfect Doctor who can cure all our diseases, both physically and spiritually. What Is Sin? Then, the question we may ask next is, ‘what is sin?’ The first thing we need to know about this is that the meaning of sin in the Bible is somewhat different from what the world thinks sin is. We often think of sin in relation to the law. If we do something against the law, it’s sin. That’s correct. But the difference is that the law of the world is only interested in people’s actions, not their thoughts, intentions, or motivations. But the Bible says that God is actually more interested in what’s happening in our hearts more than what we do outwardly. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord” (Pr 16:2) And 1 Samuel 16:7 also says, “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7) According to the law of the world, it’s not sin to hate someone from one’s heart until we actually act out of the hatred. But, according to God’s law, hating someone in our hearts is actually a serious sin and is considered equal to murder. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Mt 5:21-22) So, even though we have a tendency to only consider certain actions ‘sin,’ we need to know that the meaning of sin is much deeper than that. That’s because God’s more interested in the root of sin—our hearts—than its fruits—what we actually do. Then, how can we define sin? I think we can find some insight from the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 3 describes how sin entered the world along with its consequence. In Genesis chapter 1, God created the world for six days and on the 6th day he created mankind in his image. God said in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Gen 1:26) Here, we find one of God’s purposes in creating human beings in His image. It’s to let them rule over the whole world that He created. So, the first human, Adam, ruled over everything that God had made. In other words, he acted as if he was the king of the garden. But even though he acted like a king, he wasn’t a true king. God was the true king. Adam was only a representative God set to rule over His kingdom. That’s what Adam had to be reminded of in order to truly carry out the mission given to him. I think that’s why God commanded him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Gn 2:16-17) Here, we see both the command and the consequence that would happen when Adam failed to keep it. The command was really simple. It’s not to eat the fruit. It’s not hard at all. But the result of failing to obey the command was death. But, we shouldn’t think of death as God’s punishment of Adam’s disobedience. God didn’t say, “I will kill you if you eat from the tree.” Rather, God simply stated what would happen if he ate from it, which means that death is a consequence of sin, not a punishment from God. So, the consequence of sin is death. As Paul said, “the wages of sin is death” (Rm 6:23). Sin brings us to death not because sin itself has the power to kill us but because sin severed the most important relationship we need in order to live—our relationship with God. The Bible says that only God is eternal. Paul said, “[God] alone is immortal” (1 Tm 6:16). So, only God has eternity. Every other being is finite no matter how alive it looks now. Then, the only way to have life without death is to be attached to God, who has life. As Paul said, “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 16:28) We can’t have eternity apart from God. No matter how good a life we live on earth now, what’s waiting for us at the end is only eternal death if we’re not attached to God. It’s just like how branches that are cut off from their trees become dry and lose their vitality. So, even though it was a very simple command, it was important for him not to eat from the tree because its consequence would be terrible. Then the next question is, “Why did God put this dangerous tree in the middle of the garden?” I think God did this because He wanted to give Adam free will. God didn’t want Adam to just follow his rule without having any other options because what God really wanted was to have a personal relationship with human beings. God didn’t make Adam like a robot. God made human beings in His image who can freely think and choose for themselves. That’s what I think the tree meant to Adam. He was the king of the world God had created. He could do anything he wanted. But there was just one thing he wasn’t supposed to do. He needed to not eat from the tree. And, by not eating from the tree, Adam was reminded that God was the true King of what he was ruling over and of himself. However, Adam eventually ate from the tree. The action was simple. It was just one bite of a fruit. But this simple action resulted in a very serious consequence because of the motivation behind it. It was actually rebellion against God. We see this from how Satan deceived Eve. One day, the serpent came to her and said, “You will not certainly die… When you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God...” (Gen 3:4-5) Here, we find the motivation Eve and Adam had when they ate from the tree. They didn’t eat it just because it looked delicious. There were all kinds of trees that bore different kinds of fruit in the garden. But still, they ate from the forbidden tree out of a desire to make themselves like God. And I think that’s the best definition of sin. It’s to drive out God from His position as our King and Lord and place ourselves as the kings of our lives. So, sin is truly rebellion against God. Like 1 Samuel 8:7 says, “they have rejected me as their king”. And Paul puts it this way. “They did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (Rom 1:28) Because the nature of sin is to reject God as our King and Lord, sin naturally resulted in the severance in our relationship with God, which also leads to death. As the prophet Isaiah said, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you” (Is 59:2) That’s how death came to all people on earth through sin. Paul said in Romans, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned…” (Rm 5:12) That’s our situation according to the Bible. There’s no one in the world without sin. And thus, there’s no one who’s not heading to eternal death. But the good news is that God sent His one and only Son to the world to solve the problem of sin. Jesus came to the world as our perfect Doctor and Healer who could freely wash away all our sins out of His love and sacrifice. That’s the Jesus we must rely on. That’s the Jesus we must fix our eyes on. Jesus came to the world to seek sinners, not the righteous, and the sick, not the healthy. Even though He really wants to, He can’t cleanse us from our sins or heal our diseases if we don’t allow Him to. But, if we go to Him with our hearts wide open to Him, and with deep recognition of our sins, Jesus Christ, who is merciful and abounding in love, will welcome us, cleanse us from all our sins, and reconcile us with God. That’s what I really hope to see happen in all our lives today. Now, let’s read one more verse together and wrap up with prayer. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:8-9) Let’s pray. [Closing Prayer] Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this opportunity to think about who Jesus is and what He means to us through Your word. We were dead in our sins, following the ways of the world and our own evil, deceitful desires of the flesh without even knowing that we were sinners. Yet You came down from heaven to save us. We thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to the world as our perfect Doctor who’s more than able to heal us from all our physical and spiritual diseases even though we don’t deserve it. Now Lord, we want to know the meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ more deeply. And in order to do so, we need to know how sinful we are by nature. Open our minds and hearts and speak to us through Your word of truth so that we may know what we should know and so that we may return to You with all our hearts, confessing our sins and our deep desperation to be reconciled with You. I pray all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What do you think is the biblical meaning of sin? What do you think most prevents people from recognizing their sins? Have you ever gone to God with a desperate heart like a patient dying from a serious illness? 2. Have you experienced Jesus’ cleansing and healing power? When? How would you describe it? “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rm 1:1-4)
Introduction Starting today, I want to talk about the greatest and most important subject that we should all know about as Christians: the gospel of Jesus Christ. The importance of understanding what the gospel is as Christians can’t be emphasized enough because it’s the foundation of what we believe, and it affects us not only in the church but also in our daily lives. What I’ve found from my past experiences in churches is that there aren’t many Christians who really know what the gospel is and whose faith and lives are built upon it regardless of how long they’ve been going to church. It seems that they are more familiar with the culture of the church than the gospel. So they come to church, participate in religious activities, and have fellowship with other Christians, but they still haven’t met Jesus and so their lives haven’t changed. They might still get some benefits from going to church, but I would say, if they haven’t met Jesus personally, they are missing the greatest blessing they could have. Even though many people go to church on a regular basis for various reasons, there are not many Christians in the church who really accept Jesus, the head, foundation, and cornerstone of the church, as their Savior and Lord. That makes me sad. It makes God sad as well. So, what’s always much more important than how long you have been going to church is whether or not you’ve truly met Jesus. Coming to church without knowing Jesus means nothing because we’re not saved through church attendance but by believing in Jesus who built the church. In this sense, the gospel of Jesus Christ plays a significant role in Christian life because that’s what truly makes it possible for us to meet Jesus, believe in Him, and build ourselves upon His firm foundation. That’s what I want to see happening while we’re re-exploring the meaning of the gospel. I really want to see all of us here in this space, including myself, truly understand what the gospel is so that we know who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us to bring us the good news of salvation, so that our lives may be revived in the truth and re-aligned with God’s will for us based on the gospel. What Is the Gospel? Then, the first question that we need to find the answer to is ‘what is the gospel?’ I believe most of you are familiar with the word ‘gospel’ because it’s probably the word that you hear the most in the church. But over time, this word has lost its meaning and power by becoming too familiar. So, you know the word. What do you think is the gospel? How would you define it? If you had to summarize the contents of the gospel in one sentence, what would it be? These are the questions I hope all of us find answers to through this sermon series. But, first, let’s begin with the word ‘gospel’ itself. The English word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term “god-spel.” Here, god means good and spel means story, news, or tidings. So, godspel basically means good story, good news, or good tidings. This word was a rendering of the Greek word euangelion, which is also a compound word. Eu means good, and Angelion means announcement or news. So, the word euangelion can be translated as good news. That’s what the word literally means. But, what kind of good news? The first thing we need to know about the word euangelion is that it wasn’t invented by Christians. When Jesus and the apostles used the word, they were using a nonreligious word from their contemporary culture. In fact, it was an extremely political word at that time that was often used in relation to an empire or an emperor. It's said that it was mostly used in three cases—when an emperor was born, was crowned as the ruler, or gained a victory in a war. So, it was quite dangerous to use the word with regard to someone other than the emperor when the New Testament was written because Roman emperors were considered like gods at that time. History tells us that emperor worship was prevalent in Roman society. But in today’s passage, Paul applied the word euangelion to someone else. Let’s read it together one more time. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rm 1:1-4) Here, Paul introduces himself as an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. Then he begins to briefly explain the gospel that he was called for. Here we see some important factors that compose the gospel. First of all, Paul said that the gospel was promised beforehand through prophets in the Holy Scriptures, which refers to the Old Testament. Even though the word ‘gospel’ doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, it’s filled with the good news that God would ultimately bring to the world. The good news is mentioned directly in the passages called the messianic prophecies and revealed indirectly through signs and indications. Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed that there would come a day when He would perfectly achieve His plan to save the whole world through one person whom He would anoint for the salvation of all human beings. And the anointed One, the Messiah, would be no one but His Son. So, Paul said that the gospel that God revealed and promised both directly and indirectly is about His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s why we understand the Old Testament as promises of the Messiah who would come. And all the prophecies came true in Jesus’ life. He was born, lived, and suffered and died according to the promises written in the Old Testament. Jesus’ life on earth is written about in the New Testament. So we can understand the New Testament as testimonies about the Messiah, or Christ in Greek. But that’s not the end. We also find promises about the Son of God who will come back, which we’re waiting for as Christians. So, even though there are many stories and figures in the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament actually point to just one person, the Messiah and the Son of God, who would come, who came, and who will come back. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “…These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (Jn 5:39) Luke 24:27 also testifies that all of the Scriptures are centered on Jesus Christ. It says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk 24:27) That’s what we’ll explore starting next Sunday. We’ll look at the Old Testament to see how God revealed His Son and how He would achieve perfect salvation for the whole world. Back to today’s passage, after revealing that the gospel is about God’s Son promised in the Old Testament, Paul defines it further by introducing how the Son of God would bring the good news to the world. Paul goes on, “Who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:3-4) Here, we find some important truths about the Son of God. First, He had an earthly life, which referred to the incarnation of Jesus. Even though He was God in His very nature, He chose to come down to the world in human form and lived among us. We’ll talk about why He had to have a body like us to save us from our sins later. Second, Paul said that He was resurrected from the dead. Jesus’ death and resurrection are also very important factors in understanding the good news that He brought to the world. We’ll see how His death and resurrection played significant roles in salvation in more depth later. Now, while explaining the gospel, the good news that he was called and set apart for, Paul concludes the paragraph by referring to what the gospel is truly about: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 1:4) Even though there are lots of things to say about the gospel, it can be summarized in just one name. The gospel is about one person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The name of Jesus is enough to explain what the gospel is. I said earlier that the word euangelion was mostly used in Roman society at that time to refer to the emperor when he was born, enthroned, or gained a victory. But Paul used it with regard to Jesus Christ, not the emperor. It’s like he was saying that the good news was not that the emperor was born, but that Jesus Christ was born. The good news was not that the emperor had been crowned as the ruler, but that Jesus Christ was the King of kings. The good news wasn’t that the emperor had won the war, but that Jesus Christ had defeated the authority of sin, death, and Satan and was raised from the dead. That’s the good news that we must hold on to as Christians. It is the good news that Jesus Christ who, being in very nature God, came to this world as a baby just like us to save us from our sins. It is the good news that Jesus Christ became the Lord of all, the Lord of our lives, even though we were corrupted and dead in our sins. It is the good news that Jesus Christ defeated death and rose again and by doing so freed us from the chains of sin and death and gave us His righteousness and eternal life. This is the good news to which nothing can compare. The gospel is Jesus Christ our Lord Himself. That’s the good news that we must build ourselves upon. That must be the foundation of everything we think, say, and do. Again, the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. And what’s important here is the definite article, ‘the’. Even though the word ‘the’ is used a lot in English, one its uses is before nouns that are unique, such as the Earth, the sun, and the moon. So the fact that we call the news about Christ ‘the gospel’ gives us some important insights about it. While living on earth, we’re surrounded by a lot of news, both good and bad. There might be good news that we’d like to hear and that we hope for such as success, good health, getting a job, being promoted, meeting good people, and more. But, even though these things are good, none of them can be ‘the’ good news. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can be the eternally good news to which any other good news in the world can’t compare. The good news of Jesus Christ is fundamentally different from earthly good news in that the good news is about our eternal life that we can enjoy both now and forever, while earthly good news is about our temporary lives that are limited to here on earth. No matter how good and successful our lives are here on earth, they will disappear like morning mists. But the good news we see, hear, experience and enjoy in Jesus Christ will never fade away. It is the good news that exists forever. That’s the eternal value of the gospel of Jesus Christ that I want all of us to find today. People who belong to this world are tied to earthly things. They are interested in things that will decay soon. It makes me really sad when I see people who say, "I’m a Christian," but only follow things that belong to this world. Christians should live differently. We should profess that only Jesus Christ is the good news because in His name we find forgiveness of our sins, salvation, eternal life, and the power to make us new. He is the good news on which we must fix our eyes. I don’t know what you think of Jesus. I don’t know how you think of the gospel He brought to us through His suffering, death, and resurrection. So, I want us to look back on our faith now. What kind of faith do you have? Is Jesus Christ the only good news or is He just one piece of good news to you? Would you willingly give up everything else if that were the way you could get the truly good news? I want us to answer ‘yes’ to these questions today. That’s how we should treat the gospel, if we truly believe that it’s the best, incomparable, and everlasting good news given to us by the grace of God. So I really hope that God opens up our hearts and enlightens them with His truth so that we may truly understand who Jesus is and what He’s done for us so that we know the gospel in more depth and experience its power changing our perspectives, values, and entire lives. All right. Let’s wrap up with prayer. [Closing Prayer] Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this great opportunity to learn about the gospel, the good news that You brought to us through Jesus Christ, Your only Son. Oh Lord, we’ve heard about the gospel a lot, so we think we know it and are very familiar with it, but we confess that there have been many times that we’ve lived without regard to the gospel and failed to live out our faith in Christ. We’ve been going to church for a long time, but we see no changes and no growth in faith. We know something is wrong, but we haven’t really tried to fix it. Rather than following Your will, taking up our own crosses, we’ve been busy following the ways and values of the world while neglecting Your special plan for us. Oh Lord, please have mercy on us and open our minds and hearts to You and to Your word of truth so that we truly understand the gospel, the good news that You’ve given us by sacrificing Your only Son on the cross. Soften our stubborn hearts so that we may hear Your voice and find the true, eternal value of the gospel of Jesus Christ and so that we may return to You and experience our souls being revived in You. We ask that You guide our hearts and lives while we’re exploring the gospel of Jesus Christ in more depth. We thank You for everything You’ve done to save us. We love You, Lord. In the precious name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. [Reflection Questions] 1. What is some good news you hope for nowadays? 2. What do you think is the gospel of Jesus Christ? How would you define it? How do you think the good news is different from earthly good news? 3. Have you had a moment in your life when the gospel of Jesus Christ became real? Please share your experience if you have one. What changes did it bring to your life? |