“The Heart of the Gospel”
Isaiah 52:14-53:12
Sermon Series: “The Gospel, Volume 2”
Introduction: What is the heart of the gospel? I think it is found in an accurate answer to the question, “Why did Jesus have to die in order for us to be forgiven?” Here are some things that are not the heart of the gospel (although some of them are byproducts or benefits of the gospel while some are not the gospel at all):
1. Jesus did not die to give us health, wealth, and prosperity. 2. Jesus did not die to make our lives easy and to help us be successful in everything we do.
3. Jesus did not die to fix all of our problems.
4. Jesus did not die so we could make deals with God to get out of the messes we have gotten ourselves into.
5. Jesus did not die so we could prayer a pray/walk an aisle/fill out a decision card and then live however we desire.
6. Jesus did not die in order to give us a fire insurance policy. 7. Jesus did not die in order to make us religious.
Why did He die then? What is the heart of the gospel? Why couldn’t God just forgive us? Why did somebody have to die for our sins? The following two quotes share the heart of the gospel and explain why Jesus had to die for us to be forgiven. These quotes will lay a foundation that we will build on from this passage of Scripture. Charles Cranfield wrote, “God, because in his mercy he willed to forgive sinful men, and, being truly merciful, willed to forgive them righteously, that is, without in any way condoning their sin, purposed to direct against his own very self in the person of his Son the full weight of that righteous wrath which they deserved.” John Stott has written, “For in order to save us in such a way as to satisfy himself, God through Christ substituted himself for us. Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy.”
Jesus died for us because:
1. God is a God of wrath who must punish sin (v. 4-6, 10, Romans 1:18, Ephesians 2:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Each one of us has sinned, rebelled, and turned away from Him many times, and He is righteously angry, bound by His own holiness to uphold His Law, and will justly punish every sin. That is simply the nature of God, whether we like it or not.
2. We are sinful people who are deserving of wrath (v. 6).
3. God is a God of grace who substituted Himself for us through God the Son, Jesus Christ (v. 4-10). Of course, there are many verses that elaborate on this in the New Testament, but the gospel is fully present in this chapter in the Old Testament.
4. The death of Jesus satisfied the wrath of God and paid for our sins at the same time (v. 4-10). We usually answer the question of why Jesus died by saying that He died for our sins, but that is only one side of the equation. He did die for our sins as our substitute. However, at the same time He died to satisfy the wrath of God. The price that He paid on our behalf was paid to God.
5. Through the death of Jesus, we are justified (v. 11). This means that our guilt and condemnation are removed and His righteousness, life, and blessing are bestowed. If we are in Christ, we are innocent in the sight of God.
Conclusion: John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” We either stand in the grace of Jesus or stand under the wrath of God. Where are you? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you admit your sin and that you are deserving of wrath? Are you attempting to do anything to save yourself or are you relying on grace? Are you relying on Jesus alone for your salvation?
