The group of young Christians had prepared well. They were to proclaim the Gospel in a town where there was no church and where the Good News of Jesus Christ had only recently been presented for the first time, so they were aware how serious this presentation was. They had prepared a mime, a karate demonstration, music and a short skit. By the time the young man who was to speak stepped forward, 150 people were listening.

"You may not be a drug addict or an alcoholic," he told them, "but you may be addicted to work, to sex, to money or the approval of others. Jesus wants to free you from these things." He then told them that Jesus had died on the cross to give forgiveness and new life.

"Now I'm going to ask you all to pray," he then said. "I want everyone to bow their head." Virtually everyone in the plaza did so. "Repeat the words I say." He then led them in a short prayer.

As heads came up, he gave them his final words to dismiss the audience. "All of you who prayed that prayer this evening are saved. If you repeated that prayer with me, your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life."

What I heard that night is a typical presentation of the Gospel in many places, yet I was far from elated at the message. My genuine fear was that we were inoculating a crowd against the message of Jesus Christ by preaching a less-than-Biblical Gospel and by substituting the response for the message.

Let's be very clear: God does not save people due to our presentation of the Gospel, but despite it. We dare not think that our sharp reasoning, quick response or clear explanation is the key upon which our hearer's destiny turns. God, in His grace and mercy, can use a weak message based on an obscure text questionably applied and poorly explained. His power is not dependent on our ability and need not be limited by our ineptitude.

Having said that, we must also recognize that faithfulness requires that we be diligent, that we be able ministers and good stewards of the message which has been given to us. Paul told the Corinthians "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." (1 Co. 4:1-2). Jesus said that His messengers should be "faithful and wise" (Mat. 24:45). Paul said that he and those with him sought to be approved in all things as the ministers of God (2 Co. 6:4), and he spoke of preaching in such a way as to be compared to a "wise master builder".

As Christians and bearers of the most important message in the universe, we should study to show ourselves approved to God (2 Tim 2:15), assuring that as we are announcing the Gospel, we are, to the best of our ability and understanding, holding forth the Word of life (Phil. 2:16).

Now, let us go back to the concern I am expressing about a less-than-Biblical Gospel message.

There are two things of which we must be certain when we present the Gospel:

1. That the message we are announcing is the Gospel of God, the Gospel presented in the Bible.
2. That we are clearly distinguishing between the message and the response, assuring that we invite people to respond to the Gospel only after they know what the Gospel is.

THE MESSAGE
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 gives us a summary of the Gospel. Paul states:

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

Note the four key elements Paul presents here:

1. Christ died for our sins
2. According to the Scripture
3. He was buried
4. He rose again the third day.

Let's look at each one of these.

Christ died for our sins. There are some important presuppositions here. For a person to believe the Gospel, he must know what or who a "Christ" is, and he must know what sin is.

To know who Christ is, he must know something of the Lord Jesus' life. To be saved, a person must know that Christ is the unique Son of God and that He lived a sinless life.

To know what sin is, a person must know what God calls sin. In Romans 3:19-20, Paul declares:

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

The divinely-designed tool to bring a knowledge of sin is the Ten Commandments. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1:8-11:

"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."

The law is good, if it is used correctly. It is not for the one who, by faith in Christ and His glorious Gospel, has been made righteous, but rather, it is for the lost, those that walk contrary to the Gospel, that they can know what sin is and of what they can be forgiven.

For a person to understand forgiveness of sin, they must know what sin is. For a person to want to receive forgiveness of sin, they must know what the consequences of sin are. As we proclaim to others the Good News, it is essential that the people with whom we are talking know something of the promised Christ and His perfect life and that they understand sin and its penalty.

According to the Scriptures. One of the prevailing attitudes today is a passive indifference to truth. The view is that truth, if it exists at all, is unknowable and, to all intents and purposes, unimportant to one's daily life. The philosophy of "whatever turns you on" was born of the idea that there is no right or wrong, no ultimate authority to tell man what he should or must do. In the post-modern world in which many of us live, truth is supposed to be relative, existing only within the mind of the one who believes it. External truth is non-existent. Thus, people say "Well, that's your truth, but for me, the truth is…" All truth, according to this view, is subjective truth and the final authority is what the individual decides to believe for the moment, what he feels is most helpful or convenient at the time.

As we talk to others about Christ it is essential that we not only communicate a Biblical message, but that those listening understand we are presenting the Bible message. We are not giving our opinion and we are not giving out something that we feel to be true. This is, as one writer puts it, "true truth", truth that exists outside of me and outside of human opinion. In the myriad of philosophies, fads and religions that appear and disappear around us, we must make certain that those who hear the Good News from us understand that this is not just "my new thing" but rather is a message from outside of me, a message from the Book of God. The Lord said, "He that believes in me as the Scripture has said, out of his body shall flow rivers of living water." The promise is not for those that believe in Christ as they feel or as they think convenient or even as they have heard. The promise is for those who believe in Him as the Scripture teaches. It is imperative that the Gospel be presented not only in accord with the Bible, but also as the message of the Bible. It is imperative that we establish the authority of God's Word. Peter said that we are born again by the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23).

An additional observation needs to be made here. When Paul said, "according to the Scriptures", he was, of course, referring to the Old Testament prophecies. In establishing the authority of God's Word, we should at the very least take people back to some of the prophecies concerning Christ. At the fall, God promised that One would come to crush Satan and open the way for man to come back to God. In Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, prophecy explains how that One will crush Satan's head. These portions and others not only help listeners understand the Gospel. They also affirm the inspiration (and thus, the authority) of the Bible.

That He was buried. This short affirmation is made to put an end to speculations surrounding His death. There is no room here for a simple "swoon", as some have postulated. Much less is there room for a substitute on the cross, as Islam puts forth. No, it was Christ Who died and it is Christ Who was put into the tomb.

Here also is place for referencing prophecy pronounced hundreds of years before Christ's birth: Isaiah 53:9, Psalm 16:10.

And that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead is, perhaps, the single element of the Gospel most often left out in our day. Yet Paul says that if Christ did not rise we have no message! He declared that if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our faith is empty and devoid of force, we have no reason to preach to others, we are still in our sins and there is no hope after death. In short, without the resurrection, there is no Gospel.

For us as believers, the cross is central to our lives, because we are called to take up our cross daily. For the unbeliever, however, the resurrection is the central element of the Gospel.

To tell a person an unbeliever that Jesus died is not so impressive, though we explain to them the significance of His death. After all, everyone dies, and it may sound to them as if we are only attaching a symbolic significance to His death. Christ's death on the cross grows in importance and impact for the unbeliever as he understands that the same Jesus who was crucified rose physically from the dead, came out of the tomb alive and victorious. Again, the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:4 that Jesus is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection provides the proof that He is who He said He is.

When Christ died for our sins, we died with Him, as Divine judgment came on all Adam's race (2Cor. 5:14). We who were dead in our trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1) became twice dead, as in God's eternal reckoning we received the death penalty on the cross of Calvary. If this is our only message, it is not good news. But God's Good News is that three days later Christ came out of the tomb alive! He spent more than a month with His disciples, showing Himself alive from the dead with many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3). When He died, He tasted of death for every man (Heb. 2:9). When He rose from the dead, He rose with eternal life (Rom. 6:9). When a person puts his trust in Christ alone, his sins are blotted out by the payment made on the cross and he becomes a participant of Christ's eternal life as he comes into Christ. Because He lives, we live.

Paul again adds the phrase "according to the Scriptures", emphasizing that the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament, as for example in Job 19:25-26. Paul is emphasizing that prophecy confirms the validity of our message, but he is also reminding us of the authority of the Scripture and the centrality of the resurrection.

"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel" (2 Tim. 2:8). The resurrection is the heart of the Gospel of God.

We conclude, then, that a presentation of the Gospel to a person who has never heard that message should contain something of the promises concerning the coming Christ and something of His life. It should include what sin is, which can be understood through the Ten Commandments. And it should include the facts of the death, burial and physical resurrection of Christ.

You may be saying, "But I have led people to Christ without all that and those people were genuinely converted!" In John 4:38, Jesus told His disciples, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." We often meet people into whose lives God has already sown much truth. They have become convinced, perhaps, that Jesus is the Son of God. They may be thoroughly convinced of their sin. Yet they have not accepted Christ, perhaps simply because they have not understood what receiving Christ means. We often reap where others have sown. But we also sow where others may reap, and Paul warns us to be careful what we sow (1 Co. 3:5-10). When we talk with an individual, we need to listen and discern what they already understand, so we can know what we need to add into their lives, by God's grace. When we speak to a group, we should be aware to whom we are speaking, so we can know what foundations to lay. Peter's message on the day of Pentecost did not start with an explanation that God is not an idol of gold or silver made with men's hands, but neither did Paul begin his message on Mars Hill by telling those people that the prophecies of Joel had been fulfilled.

When the Philippian jailer fell at the feet of Paul and Barnabas, asking what he must do to be saved, they told him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). That is absolutely true and the only correct answer. But the next verse says, "And they spake the word of the Lord to him." That jailer must have said something like, "OK, I'm willing to believe. Tell me about Him." And they did. They started at the point of this man's understanding and spoke the Word to him.

Phillip, when he spoke to the Ethiopian eunuch, "began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35). He began at the point where God had sown truth into this man's life and from there, preached Jesus. We sow or we water what has been sown and occasionally, we reap where others have sown. A "Four Spiritual Laws" which for years contained no reference to the resurrection* was nevertheless fruitful in bringing some to Christ because the resurrection of Christ was a truth already sown into the life of the person who was converted, perhaps in Sunday school or in a movie or book. Reaping was done where others had sown.

However, we dare not assume that it will always be true that the people we speak to have a large backlog of Christian information. Especially in today's society, where ignorance of the Bible is endemic, we must be certain we are laying adequate foundations.

THE RESPONSE
When the salesman arrives at the door, hoping to sell a new vacuum cleaner, he tries to get the person at the door to the decision line as quickly as possible. He wants to give a minimum of information and get the contract signed.

Often, it seems that the Gospel is being presented in the same manner. The evangelist is the "salesman", the product is the Gospel and the decision, the prayer prayed, is the contract to be signed. With the agility of one trained in notching his Bible, the salesman moves people deftly toward the decision line, skillfully dodging their questions, carefully avoiding difficult subjects. After all, the most important thing is the decision, isn't it?

No, it's not.

We are not told to make decisions but disciples. Decisions may or may not make disciples, and if we put our sights on decisions, we may be tempted to reduce the Gospel to that minimum of information sufficient to get people to the decision line. We may be tempted to leave out certain information that might discourage someone from making a decision. We may be tempted to use persuasive techniques which will motivate a person to make a decision for the wrong reasons. With the decision as the goal, the message and the method can be adjusted.

Not so when we have our eyes set on making disciples.

When I was taught to get decisions, I was told not to mention baptism, since that might only confuse or distract the listener.

When we are making disciples, we will make sure we are giving the entire message before we explain how to respond.

When I was taught to get decisions, I was told to avoid any reference to hell, since that would only "turn people off."

When we are making disciples, we will assure that the person with whom we are speaking understands his dilemma and God's unique solution.

When I was taught to get decisions, I was trained to place my hand on the back of a persons neck at decision time, so that as I suggested he pray I could gently lower his head for him.

When we are making disciples, we will make certain we have not confused the message with the response.

A genuine response to the Gospel is not simply an emotional response. It is believing something. It is trusting Someone. It is understanding the facts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and putting trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sins. And you cannot believe what you do not know (Rom 10:14).

Paul, in Romans 10:8 refers to the "word of faith, which we preach." The word of faith is not the Gospel. That is laid out in 1 Corinthians 15, as we have seen. Here, Paul is giving us the word of faith, the response to the Gospel. He goes on to state what response to the Gospel should be preached:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Having presented the Good News, we call on people to confess Christ as their Lord, believing He has risen from the dead. If we have laid the foundation with clarity, we can call them to a Biblical response. If they believe, they are genuinely born again and we will see not simply a decision but a disciple.