The Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
(1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
The Character of God
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” - Isaiah 6:3
“For the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face.” - Psalm 11:7
“God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” - Psalm 7:11
“The LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows Himself holy in righteousness.” -Isaiah 5:16
The Condition of Man
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:23
“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.” - Romans 2:10-12, bold added
“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” - Ecclesiastes 7:20
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” - Isaiah 64:6
The Great Dilemma
“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”’ - Exodus 34:5-7
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.” - Proverbs 17:15
“Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be it from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” - Genesis 18:25
“Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.” - Exodus 23:7
God’s Action
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God showed His love for us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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. 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.” - Roman 3:23-26
Man’s Response
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” -Acts 17:30-31
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” -John 3:36
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” - Mark 1:15
“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” - Isaiah 55:6-7