The following fictitious conversation is contrived, but I hope it is helpful. If you can visualize having a conversation with a friend of yours, perhaps this can serve as a model of how to share the gospel with someone in a simple way. Obviously, you could use many other verses and teach the gospel—this is only an example. May it serve as a blessing.
FRIEND: I hear you obeyed the gospel. What exactly does that mean?
YOU: The gospel is the good news about Jesus.
FRIEND: Good news? How do you obey good news?
YOU: Good question.
FRIEND: And what is this good news about? I could use some good news right now.
YOU: It all starts with some bad news, really. You can look around anywhere in this world and see pain and suffering, right?
FRIEND: Of course. You know I’ve had my own struggles.
YOU: Do you know where pain and suffering come from? The Bible explains in the first three chapters of Genesis that it’s all because of sin. Much of our suffering comes from human beings hurting one another, making selfish and downright wicked choices, even hating and killing one another. But it happens in every family in every nation—we hurt one another.
We also suffer because of sickness, disease, and the elements around us. The Bible tells us that diseases are part of God’s curse on this earth, and the curse is a direct result of our sin.
So we see the consequences of sin everywhere; no one is exempt or immune. Some suffer more than others. We suffer in different ways. But we all suffer.
FRIEND: Okay, yes, I’ll give you that. I can certainly see all the suffering. So that’s the bad news?
YOU: Well, it’s part of the bad news. The REALLY bad news is that, besides the curse on the earth, sin also brings a separation between us and God. In other words, the whole human race stands condemned before God and waits for the judgment and wrath of God. And there is nothing we can do about it.
FRIEND: That’s what the Bible says?
YOU: Here are a few verses:
Isaiah 59.1-2: Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Romans 1.18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth
Romans 3.9-12: 9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Ephesians 2.1-3: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
The Bible clearly teaches that all are under sin, all are under the curse and the wrath of God, all are separated from God because of sin.
That is the bad news! And remember, no man can do anything about it.
FRIEND: But if your sins separate you from God, why can’t you just stop sinning? Doesn’t that fix the problem?
YOU: That sounds good in theory. However, there are a couple of problems. Number one, have you ever met anyone who does not sin? I’m not talking about not killing, not stealing, not lying. Sin runs far deeper into the human heart than that. Jesus taught not to hate your brother (not even to call him names), not to lust after someone of the opposite sex, not to divorce, to pray for your enemies, and to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (all found in Matthew 5). Can you claim to follow all those instructions? I can’t.
The second problem is that even if I can stop sinning right now and not sin again for the rest of my life, that doesn’t pay God back for the sins I have already committed! Once I have sinned against God, I am worthy of death. That’s just the way it is. Why? Because God said so in the beginning with Adam and Eve—on they day they sinned and ate of the fruit they would surely die.
FRIEND: I see. So there is nothing we can do about our situation before God. That is bad news indeed. How can there be a solution if there is not a solution?
YOU: I am so glad you asked! Two of the sweetest words in the Bible are “But God.”
FRIEND: “But God”? What does that mean?
YOU: It means that we are in a horrible situation that we can do nothing about…but God can and did already take care of the problem for us!
We already read Ephesians 2.1-3, but notice verses 4-9:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
What did God do? Notice the VERBS through that passage. (1) God made us alive together with Christ (we were dead). (2) God raised us up with Christ (to a new life). (3) God seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.
God gave us grace! He did something for us that we could not do and which we did not deserve. For the Christian, it is already done, accomplished, finished. It’s called salvation because God saves us from our sins, specifically from the consequences of our sins, from His own wrath and judgment! The point is made here that it is not a result of works, it is not your own doing. It cannot be your own doing. It is the gift of God!
Good news! Gospel.
Also see Romans 3.21-26:
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
When God justifies someone, He makes them right, as in a right relationship with Him. It doesn’t make them perfect or sinless, but God declares them righteous anyway based on the blood of Jesus.
FRIEND: I don’t think I understand what you are saying here. How can God treat someone as being right with Him if we are still sinning? What does the blood of Jesus have to do with anything?
YOU: I think 2 Corinthians 5 best answers this question. It talks about how God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Notice:
2 Corinthians 5.14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Do you see that Jesus died for everyone? In other words, Jesus died in our place; He took our punishment, even though He was perfectly sinless. Because He never did anything wrong (in fact, He did everything right!), He is the only Person who could ever take our place. Think about it, another sinful person could not make you right—it had to be a sinless and perfect person, one with no blemishes—and that is Jesus!
Look farther in 2 Corinthians 5:
2 Corinthians 5.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In that last verse you see what many call the great exchange. We already saw in verse 14 that Jesus took our sins upon Himself, but verse 21 shows that we also receive of His righteousness! Jesus takes something of ours and we, in turn, are given something of His. We truly have exchanged places, not literally, but in a legal sense in which God has declared Jesus guilty and us innocent.
FRIEND: That does not sound right. It doesn’t sound fair.
YOU: I know! It’s a terrible thought, isn’t it, that a perfect, holy, innocent one was killed in a horrible way on a Roman cross, just so that we who are guilty might walk free. It’s called GRACE, and it’s already freely given. There is nothing you can do to change it. You cannot stop God from making this great exchange—He has already accomplished it. The only question is whether you will partake in it.
FRIEND: How do I do that?
YOU: My friend, you have heard the Gospel given. You have heard of your sins. If you put your faith in Christ, repent of your sins, and recognize Jesus as your Lord and King, you will be saved!
FRIEND: I do believe! How do I recognize Jesus as my Lord and King?
YOU: The early Christians, both Jew and Gentile, were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls you to come to Him and be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
FRIEND: Is that what it means to obey the gospel, then?
YOU: Obeying the gospel is synonymous with believing in Jesus Christ unto salvation. One last passage from Romans 10.8-17:
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
This passage is all about believing in Jesus for salvation, and it puts faith side-by-side with the concept of obeying the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved! Are you willing to recognize He is your Lord and King?