The Study Boys
Lex Lutheran and FLAME continue The Study podcast with a new venture—The Study Boys.
In this second space, the focus is on proclaiming Christ, His gifts, engaging culture, and thoughtfully including the Book of Concord in today’s conversations. This podcast serves as a reaction platform, spotlighting helpful teachings rooted in the Holy Bible and ancient Christian thought while confronting unhealthy ideas that invade the Christian space.
The Study Boys
Sharing the Actual Gospel: Evangelism & Otherwise
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Every Christian good isn't the gospel.
Obedience is good. Loving your neighbor is good. Prayer is good. Justice is good. Mercy is good. Holiness is good. Faithfulness is good. But none of these are the gospel.
So what is the gospel?
In this episode of The Study Boys, FLAME and Lex Lutheran tackle one of the most important—and most confused—questions in Christianity. Drawing from Dr. Michael Horton's work as a springboard, they examine why the gospel is something specific, objective, and unique: the announcement of what God has accomplished for sinners through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
Why does it matter to distinguish the gospel from the law? What happens when every Christian virtue, command, or good work is called "the gospel"? How does this confusion affect preaching, assurance, sanctification, and the Christian life?
Join us as we recover the biblical distinction between Law and Gospel and ask a simple but vital question:
If that's not the gospel… what is?
So that's what I would say we need desperately today. Greater clarity about what we mean by the gospel. We've got gospel music and gospel crusades and gospel tracts and gospel this and gospel that. What we need is more concentration on the gospel itself. And stop trying to fill up that basket with anything and everything that we think is interesting. The gospel is one of those words that is easy for us to take for granted because we handle it so often that it becomes a catch-all for all sorts of good things. And that's a danger because it's a very precise term. Gospel is not equivalent to whatever is good and important in Christianity. Gospel is a very particular word or kind of speech in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00The study, the study, the study. Study, boys, we bet. Lady Limit, man, Lady Limit, what's up with you, bro? How you doing out here?
SPEAKER_03I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good. Can't complain, can't complain. I um fumbled the bag with the Mormons a little bit though, but it's all good. It's all good.
SPEAKER_00They still be beating on your door though, man. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I I I let them talk, you know, have a conversation going. And right when I got to the part where I was like, okay, now let's go. Yeah. They message messaged me. Well, let us know we want to go to church. That's their way of saying they ain't coming back. I'm like, ah, yep, yep. I don't want to come up too aggressive. Yeah. It's all good, man. I feel bad that I didn't get a chance to give them the goods beforehand, but it is, man.
SPEAKER_00One man plant, one man water, bro. You did your part. You feel me?
SPEAKER_03That's real, that's real.
SPEAKER_00But that at least us this episode, man. Well, how you doing? I must forgot. How you doing, man? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I can't complain, bro. I'm in another undisclosed location. I'm on a move these days. So some good things happening, man. So y'all, y'all just, that's all I'm gonna say. Just that's it. That's all I can say for now.
SPEAKER_03Can we get a little something for the people?
SPEAKER_00I might serenade the people at the end of the episode, perhaps. You know what? If we get X amount of views, X amount of hype button pushes, then I'll do a full serenade for the extra nose family. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03That's real.
SPEAKER_00That's real.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, um the thing with the Mormons got me thinking, man, um I watched an old video a long time ago where um what is Christianity in a sense? It's kind of a um, and I'll ask you the question that that's asked in this video I watched a long time ago is is like if you had to present the faith in a handful of verses that convey the faith, convey Christianity, how would you go about it in a sense? Like what what verses would you use to sum up the faith, what's essential in Christianity in a sense? And there's millions of them in there in the Bible. Yeah, you know, yeah, but it's but I think that almost everybody we should know the key ones because we say we it's God's word. So when we're defining it, it's good if you can point to the scripture. Yeah, like you can just say, oh, Christ died for you. That's great. You know what I'm saying? That is the gospel, you know. I I love that answer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But sometimes you're in a more detailed conversation, and it's good to point to scripture. So I'll ask you, I'll ask you, what pat or or I can start it off if you like.
SPEAKER_00No, it's good, bro. Honestly, it's so funny you say that. Uh, me and wifey were talking today, and we was just like, man, it's so interesting now. You have to, since there's been a shift in the culture in terms of the sentiment, like I remember there was a time where people felt um like, man, we we want forgiveness. We want uh somebody that looks out for the underdog, the poor, and Christianity was ripe for that kind of thinking. But now we live in an era where people more so see themselves as like they're very confident. Most people are very confident, they're not so insecure. Um, the messaging out there is you're great, you're wonderful, you can do it, protect your peace. So most people are already postured for not like, nah, I know how to get the most out of this life. They're okay with accountability. I need to be accountable, right? So when trying to approach them with the gospel, it's like, man, what's a what's a good end route? You know what I mean? So we were talking about this too, just like, man, what's a good end route in view of the mood of the day? And we really settle with John 3.16, bro. Like you have to, it's a it's a positive approach. It says, for God so loved the world. And people say, man, for real? Because they they already believe the world is good. Life is good, that we should be getting the most out of this life. And if I try hard enough, I can do anything. So to know that the creator loves this world is a positive angle. You know what I mean? For God so loved the world that He He has an expression of that love that's very intimate and deep and sacrificial. He sent this only beloved son. Wow, that's what's up. Yeah. So we was thinking about that. Like, so John 3.16 is one of them verses that used to be cliche and people would try to get over it. Right. But now I think it's the one of the perfect, simple expressions of God's love for the world, and that if we would trust him, we can be made right with him. And at least that allows people to let you have the conversation with them. Because if you come in on some negative, they might be like, ah, he being, he's trying to ruin my peace. He's he's trying to deter me from my goals, my mission. And it's like, nah, bro, God is good. He loves us, he cares for us, he loves the world. And so much so, he sent this son. So, yeah, man, interesting, interesting times, interesting times. What about you, bro?
SPEAKER_03Nah, I think that's a great angle. Like, back when, um, this is a long time ago. Back when I was in high school at a uh a Catholic high school, I was talking to one of my good friends. And from that conversation, I realized, compared to the regular dynamic people talk about sharing the gospel, I wasn't good at it. Meaning that like I came with a good route. I I focused on the aspect of he loved you so much he died for you, he died for you, he reconciled you, he he did this, you know. And when I got online and not just online, I started reading because everybody likes to paint things. Oh, that's because you're online, go touch grass. Bro, I touch a lot of grass. I played two sports in high school, started both ways all the time. But people also need to know their sin in a sense. And I I never harped on that. And kind of like you're saying, the sentiment of starting off with love, the law is gonna come, you know. But starting off with love is a good way to open that door a little bit to be able to have that conversation, you know? Because you're right. A lot of people do think the world is good and do think they're already doing good. And I I think a lot of times that's why we end up with these churches that people just ear tickle and say good things and nice things, you know. That's why I was curious about like how will we go about sharing the gospel in a short, succinct way, in a sense. And um, this first clip right here, he kind of talks about the aspect of this um the world being good and how people are approaching the gospel in a sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Let's get into that, bro. Christianity is not about moral improvement, transformation, community, happiness, or any of the rest of that stuff. It's about the offended king giving his life and blood in order to rescue those who hate him. That's you and me. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our sin was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Yeah. I mean, he he laid it out there, which is interesting because that is the things he mentioned at the top, I would say within Christianity. People on the outside, I don't know if they're really thinking about what is Christianity. People on the inside, however, do need this conversation because we are the most confused. And I say we because being kind, we're a body. Um, but yeah, those who are not thinking about this clearly, like traditions who have a good handle on this, if you're not a part of those, you probably are thinking about Christianity like the things he mentioned at the top, right? Moral improvement coming up financially, squeaky clean, family, white picket fence, that kind of thing, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, nah, 100%. That's why I thought it's interesting, because people already think we're good in a sense, you know? And it's easy for us, because when we're presenting it, to just harp there and stay there. Yeah, we are, we are. It's like, don't have them leave this conversation thinking God's just a um a 401k, but to heaven. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's a lot more than that, you know. Um for me to answer the question of like what verses would I use as some of Christianity in a sense. Um I have a couple, you know what I'm saying, but I'll just rattle them off. You know? The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Next one I'll go, that was uh Romans 3, James 2.10. For whoever keeps the law but fails at one point has become guilty of it all. Showing that those two passages, I I think sum it up in the sense of starting it off because it shows how there's no distinction. We all fall short. And even for the pride and boastful, if you fall at one thing, you're guilty of it all. Then uh 1 John 4 in this love, not that we have loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins again to the aspect of the cross. Romans 5 8. But God shows his love for us and that while we're sinners, Christ died for us. So from there, you kind of get to the part of you're going from sin, we're guilty, Christ dying for us in a sense. And to sum it up, because you have to get to the gospel, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. And through all that, we can gladly say, like Luke 23, we can hear these words from Christ when he says, I tell you, this day you shall be with me in paradise. So like those passages right there, I would say is a summary of the Christian faith. Like if someone had to, if you were trying to explain the synopsis of what it is, what what what are we being saved from? Why does that apply to me? How did it happen? And what does it mean for me afterwards? Yeah. And it's interesting. Isn't it? Go ahead, I cut you off. Go ahead. I would say notice like in that short little synopsis of where um Rod Rosenbot's name He talked about the aspect of it it's the it's the cross, it's not moral improvement, it's not uh blessings and well tidings, it's something that was done for us. So we have to be make sure that's the essential part and the essential point, I'll say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think that's good, man. And and so I guess for me, I'm thinking which audience are we referring to? When I think of the non-Christian audience, I have thoughts concerning how to package it and to communicate it. When I'm thinking about the Christian audience, it's not that the message changes, but I have a different emphasis to help them or sort of reel them back into what the gospel is over against um what is popularly discussed as in popular pulpits. So when I'm just out, just doing life, riding around, barbershop, grocery store, whatever, and I encounter somebody on one of those quick moments, and then it turns to a conversation, uh, I am thinking about the big themes. I'm trying to have a conversation about that there is a creator. So I'm trying to establish that we are made, that we are created. There is a there is a God who has a mind who thinks about us. And um, you know, so I'm trying to establish those realities because people really see themselves as a law unto themselves, especially in our culture where it's autonomy, do whatever you want. You like protect your peace, like I always say, or trying to be the best version of myself. All these things were self, self-self. I'm taking accountability for me so I can be better. And we, you know, the non-Christian community tends to think that we're in this world alone and we shape our own reality. So I like to bring in thoughts about that there is a creator. And then, like I was saying moments ago, then I want to talk about the goodness of the creator and his creation. So I'm like, man, creation is beautiful. Beach, mountains, weather, right? Then I'm hitting people with, um, and you know, because God has given us these beautiful gifts, how should we react to him? How should we consider him?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00And then I'm I'm coming in for, but we we can't consider him the way he deserves because we're off. We're corrupted, we're broken. So now I'm I'm coming in with that sort of law, but in a way that's palatable for contemporary thinking, not trying to cheapen a law, but I'm trying to find language that they think and talk in, right? And then after I come up out of that law piece, then I'm gonna hit them with, amen. And thank God that that creator sent his only beloved son, right, to live for us, to die, to resurrect, he ascended so that we can have the forgiveness, the help that we need that we can't produce in ourselves. So with non-Christians, I'm thinking in that way. Um, but with Christians, it's it's sort of different because it's almost like the sense of if it's a if it's a Christian that's newer and they're just learning, very, just very soft with it, right? Very uh teachy and just giving them the goods out the gate, making it very clear, very plain. But then there is a bit more aggression, if I'm honest, for those who have been uh belaboring the point that we're supposed to be decreeing and declaring and basically using God to fulfill our wishes, basically trying to find the right combination to twist his arm. Like, you got to do this amount of fasting, this amount of prayer, these amount of praise dances, this amount of emoting during the service to get God to unlock and open up the windows of heaven. For them, I'm a bit more like, come on, man, where are you getting this from? The Bible doesn't talk this way about what the goal is for Christianity, what Jesus actually is accomplishing through his church. Where is Jesus in any of that? That's sort of how I sort of navigate these things, depending on who, where, what. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, and I I love how you how you express that because everything you just said is um encompassed in that presentation I just did in regards to those passages. Yeah. And like what once you as a person know what the gospel is, you can come at different angles of it, but you know the part has to get to Christ in a sense. Yeah. Because sometimes a person, um a non-believer, or even a believer, they've already been crushed by the law. They know they're a sinner, they know they failed. But they need to hear the gospel for reassurance or to have God work on them and make them place have faith in Jesus Christ. But being able to know the raw, uncut, five-step plan of not even be like didactic, but to know that sin, uh, promise, redeemer, oh you know what I'm saying? Knowing that what the gospel is to where if you had to write it down, you can just, okay, this. When you're out there in the battlefield in the trenches, you're able to do like you just said, to where you can gauge of a short, oh, I'm gonna come in with this right here, talk to them, look for opportunity from creation to talk about life, talk about God, what he's done for us, and this, and and get there. Because even in your presentation, you still got back around to the law a little bit to put a little, you know, so you when you point to Christ, you know why he came for us. And now these blessings seem even more sweet. These and things of that nature. So I do love that. I think that the premise of what is the gospel has to be understood to where you can navigate and engage people on different different different playing fields. From somebody who is a baby Christian to somebody who's just curious, they're not a believer, but they're like, oh yeah, I mean, I think there's something, you know. The aspect of a person coming from a tab hole is idiotic. I never believed in that that that crap. Hey, good for you, bro. Now let's have a talk about the real creator. Let's let's, you know. So I 100% agree. Um contextualizing, knowing how to come about something right there. Yeah, you know, 100%. But never getting to the aspect of where it's a Christeless message in a sense. So knowing what is the gospel is a huge thing.
SPEAKER_00It is, bro. And it's so interesting too. Um, you know, just this passage, because that's what we're doing, right? Where we're showing through scripture where this, where we ought to learn how to talk and think about what the gospel is. So you look at a passage like Galatians 2, 16. Let me just go there. It says so wonderfully, let's start at 15. We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. This is Paul verse 16. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
SPEAKER_03Amen.
SPEAKER_00Which is which is so clearly helping his audience know the difference between being entrenched in ideas that offer a pathway to pleasing God apart from Jesus. He's entrenched in an audience that's constantly tempted to default back to okay, what God is really looking for is my moral improvement. What he's really looking for is my sanctification level to continue to rise. And in a non-Christian world, it shows itself. They're not thinking about maybe particularly the Christian God or God in general, but it it's a similar thing. They're thinking, man, I need to be good enough, I need to be successful enough, I need to be charitable enough. They still have this sort of fixed law in their minds as to what does it mean to be right? What does it mean to be good? And they're not sending those efforts up to a deity as an expression of worship. But it's the interesting thing is their behavior shows that they are created by the creator who has these demands, because by default, they function in that same pattern, though ignorant of their creator. But then in a Christian world, more religiously so, we're a we're struggling to realize this justification by faith thing. And it's it's such an aggressive attack against it from the world, the flesh, and the devil, God says this faith has to continue to be encouraged and strengthened in you by hearing it. You can't stop hearing it because it's almost like not that it leaks out because God preserves and protects the faith in us that He creates by His Word through His Holy Spirit. But because we're sinners and saints at the same time as Christians, there's that weakening of it. There's that um that sort of straying from trusting in it as we should. And through hearing it regularly, that's how God sustains it, continues to. Strengthen it and expand it in our hearts. That's hard for us, bro. And people make a lot of money to get a lot of clicks, likes, subscribes, subscribers from selling those unhealthy, non-biblical expressions of Christian religion. They can make a lot of money by telling you, I have the secret to overcoming this. I got the secret to get you to be better, to overcome that vice, to fix your finances, to restore your marriage. And in that, they remove Jesus from being central in the name of this is this is the meat of Christianity. The other stuff, that's the milk. This is the meat. And the punchline right here is they all they oftentimes use the word gospel.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00This is the real gospel. This is how you live out the gospel. These are the these are the gospel imperatives. And they take all of that word space, human effort, and they give it a word and they call it gospel. And that's what we're doing in this episode is saying, is that what the gospel is? Or is it something unique and particular, and we do right to make sure we slow down and think more clearly about what actually is the gospel and who is it actually about? You feel me?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Man. That's a great that's a great uh lead into, I think, our the next clip, man. Let's get into that.
SPEAKER_02The gospel is one of those words that is easy for us to take for granted because we handle it so often that it becomes a catch-all for all sorts of good things. And that's a danger because it's a very precise term. Gospel is not equivalent to whatever is good and important in Christianity. Gospel is a very particular word or kind of speech.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_02Already.
SPEAKER_00Already, yeah. Man, that's so good too, because man, I came up hearing the word gospel used for nearly everything, bro. If, if I'm trying to think, man. It was a catch-all. It was a catch all. Man, I'm we out here giving the gospel when we telling people, y'all out here wilding. Or if we did something good, right? We helped the, we helped the lady move. It's like, man, that's the gospel right there, bro. We we was out there all day. She gave us pizza after we was done. Man, the gospel, the gospel. That's what the gospel is about. And, you know, our hearts were right, but he's right. We use it for anything that's good that comes from a Christian. We say, that's gospel.
SPEAKER_03It's kind of like when people use a term so much, the actual meaning of it gets watered down in a sense. You know, like um, there's a whole bunch of words in society that were usually just negative, though. And people in our society now, they want to use it all the time, use it all the time to where when it really does happen, an assault or something like that, you're like, oh, what do you mean? Oh, yeah, they they assaulted me this and this. And you're like, oh, that's a serious thing, this and this. Yeah, they were mean to me. Yo, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Don't use that hard term. I'm not saying someone being mean to use a good thing, but you can't go grab this term because now this term isn't viewed as heavy or as weighty as it should be. Precisely, bro.
SPEAKER_02Let's keep it going. From Genesis to Revelation, the gospel is God's promise of a son who will crush the serpent's head, forgive the sins of his people, raise them from the dead, and give them everlasting life solely on the basis of his grace for the sake of Christ. Now, Yuan Geleon is simply good news, particularly uh associated with military battle. So a uh runner would return to the capital from the battlefield with the announcement, the Yuangelion, of uh success on the battlefield. So it's a victory report. It's sort of like the headlines that we we've all heard about for World War II being concluded. Uh victory in Europe. That is exactly what the gospel is. And that's why it's not just good news because of its content, it's good news in the form of its delivery. It's not good advice. The gospel never tells us something to do. The gospel tells us about something that's been done. We hear people say today, uh, you know, we need to live the gospel, uh, need to do the gospel. But actually, we need to do the law. You can't do the gospel. That's a category mistake. It's the most fundamental, basic theological mistake that you can possibly make to confuse the law with the gospel. The law is good. Doing things, doing what God commands is absolutely important. But it's not the good news, it's not the gospel. And if we confuse those two things, we'll make ourselves partly our own saviors.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Oh, that that's that happens a lot. When people don't we talked about before, where I was saying that you have to know the root of the gospel. It's Jesus. When people start talking about the aspect of um politics, uh social good, um, blessings, but your your best life and things of that nature, you're not conveying what the actual gospel is, of placing your faith and your trust in Christ who died and rose for you. And since and now people have no idea what the clear-cut message is that you're being saved from. Like you could have a horrible life. I'm sad to say that, like, um, not be rich, not be middle class, struggling, this and this. Christ still died for you and bestows his blessings of eternal life and salvation on that person, just as much as he does to the person who uh living Bronny James. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But so I I love how he worded that and phrased it in the sense of doing the law is good. Don't be wrong, going out doing things and helping people, but don't point to that as the gospel because people end up looking to that as what saves. They end up looking to that as that's what it means for the gospel is doing these good things. And because I'm doing the gospel, I'm doing this, I'm good. Uh doing the law is good, but the law doesn't save.
SPEAKER_00Facts, bro. That is the key point. That's what we're trying to emphasize is the gospel is God's promise to us. It is his promise that he made long ago in Genesis, that he continued to fulfill and ultimately fulfills in Christ Jesus and delivers to us regularly through his word and sacraments. By faith, we lay hold of those promises. And that is what we mean when we say the gospel. Narrowly speaking, particularly speaking, we mean the forgiveness of sins brought by Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ alone. And I love that point, which you have to slow down and make that distinction, lest you think the gospel is us participating in our own saving, us contributing to our own salvation. And you may be more savvy and say, I wouldn't, of course, we don't contribute to our own salvation. You may be more learned when you hear that, you say, Yeah, that's ridiculous. We're justified by faith alone. But when you haphazardly use the word gospel in such a messy way, you can slip into this default of thinking you're contributing to your own salvation by your follow-up. My follow-up is my obedience. My follow-up is my faithfulness. I just saw a video clip recently where somebody was talking about that. Like, man, that's it's about being faithful. It's about being faithful. It's what you take the gratitude from what Jesus has done for us, and now you go out and you live faithfully. That's what God rewards. You want to hear God say, job well done, my good and faithful servant. And you think that Jesus got you in, and albeit by the help of the Holy Spirit, that your faithfulness earned you something, even on the back end? No. No, even on the back end, your Holy Spirit-inspired good works do not contribute in the least bit to your saving, to your salvation at all. Jesus alone is who accomplishes our salvation, our forgiveness. And anybody that's in heaven, in the new heavens and the new earth, is because of Jesus. Anybody that heard job well done or that will hear, which is actually every Christian, every Christian will hear, job well done, my good and faithful servant. Why? Because of Jesus' completed work for us that he delivers to us in our baptism, right? Because in his baptism, he absorbed all of our sins on himself, and in his life, he carried our sin, and then on the cross, he was crushed and punished for those sins, and he rose and ascended for those sins. And now, what does Paul say? Through the resurrection, we are justified. So through and through is Jesus, through and through, and that's why we have to be careful about what is the gospel. It is God's promise to us the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ, because of Christ. Period. You feel me? Hey, let's let them keep cooking, bro.
SPEAKER_02We are saved. We do not extend Christ's incarnation, we do not contribute to his redeeming and reconciling work in the world. We are the ones who are redeemed and are telling everyone else about it. We are witnesses to his redeeming work, not extensions of it.
SPEAKER_03I love that. I'm just a mess, bro. I'm just here to tell you, hey, there's a guy over there, bro. And his name is Jesus. Like, hey, that's all I can, that's all I can do. Listen, just go, man. Go that, bro. Talk, talk to them, talk to the boss. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, because you hear people say, like, you know, and even the examples you gave or a little while a second ago, those are great things, good things, but we can't muddle it. Like, there's people who use phrases like, I'm out here winning souls, right? Bro, I'm all for evangelism. Straight up, you know? But casually, when you hear that term, like I'm winning souls, right? And it's a biblical, you know what I'm saying? Getting out there, making it happen. But a lot of times they're tying that to their reward. A lot of times it's it's as if they're the one doing it in a sense, rather than them just pointing to the one that does it. You know? It's almost like a like a basketball game. I'm not even the point guard passing it to Michael Jordan. I'm literally a guy saying, hey, go on this arena. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm I'm not really, I'm just pointing you in the direction of it. It's the Holy Spirit who works on your heart. It's God who cleanses and washes your sins away. It's I'm not the one doing it. All I can do is tell you about that and be just a messenger proclaiming what God did. Like, hey, he died for you, bro. He loves you.
SPEAKER_00That's it. That's that hits me so deeply, bro. Just because, man, I there was so much fuzziness in this particular pocket for me because I grew up believing that Jesus loved everybody and died for everybody, and I had affections for that reality. Then I went into a space where I was convinced that that wasn't true, um, not from emotion, not from following the wave, but because scholars use their prowess to make cases from scripture. Um, and as a as a young man coming up trying to follow that, uh, I was digging in my word and working through scripture as well, and and and was convinced otherwise from no scholars, uh, dead and alive. So then it became fuzzy for me because my language and my mood and my attitude about it switched because my theology changed. So I wouldn't tell people that Jesus was their savior. I wasn't announcing good news where the gentleman in the video so articulately laid out and expressed. I would I didn't see myself as, look, I'm just out here to tell you this good news, like a herald on a soapbox saying, Hear ye, hear ye. Facts. Jesus died for us. Right. I didn't I saw myself as coming to people with potential. It's like, okay, well, Jesus didn't die for everybody is is part of what I was being taught. So I don't, person in front of me, I don't know if you're one of those or not. There's potential here for you, depending on which way in God's mind it splits. So my my news to you is if there's potential there. If you choose him, trust in him, and then live the kind of life that we would say is the gospel imperative, the the rules of the gospel, the empowerment the gospel pushes you to do, then you can probably have some assurance that this good news is for you. But you got to keep it up, though, and you got to increase. So that doesn't sound like good news, really, does it? It sounds like, I mean, you might. If. So it's just so, it's so joyful to have a better understanding, the biblical understanding that what I'm doing, I'm I'm just announcing the good news that Jesus died for the sin of the world. Paul calls him in 1 Timothy 4 the savior of the world, and especially to everyone who believes. So the people that panic and say that's universalism. No, that's not what Paul was preaching. He said those words inspired by the Holy Spirit, nor did anyone in his audience hear that in their ears. You have to keep this stuff in context. They didn't assume Paul was preaching universalism. Right. They understood what he was saying. Paul's announcing that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but in a unique way to those who lay hold of what he accomplished by faith, and his Holy Spirit creates that faith by the very announcement. That's why we announce it. Because faith is actually produced in us because the gospel is it's an event. God is performing an action with that proclamation. And uh, so it just feels so good, bro, to put it in common terms. It feels so good to celebrate this reality, bro. My goodness.
SPEAKER_02Let's keep it going, though. Uh, we've got gospel music and gospel crusades and gospel tracts and gospel this and gospel that. What we need is more concentration on the gospel itself, and stop trying to fill up that basket with anything and everything that we think is interesting.
SPEAKER_00I'm so glad he gave us that list, bro. Gospel concert, gospel music, gospel tracks. Though that is the language. That is the language, bro. We attach that word gospel to anything, to anything, nearly anything. And and and as he said, rarely do we ask, what is the actual gospel though? What is Jesus actually doing? What are we celebrating? What was completely very very important, bro. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Nah, like the gospel, what is completed? What what good news are we proclaiming has happened? You know, like we have gospel award shows where the the the song that that might win is one guy reverencing Jesus and two guys who aren't even believers. You know, like that's the gospel of the sh like that that's the gospel? Why are we tying this word to this? Like it's just I I love how he mentioned that list also. How just to give prime real examples of how this word is thrown around and oh, like you said, uh gospel crusades. Yeah, they're going out sharing the good news. That's great, you know? You're giving the gospel to these people. It's a crusade and you're sharing the gospel. Like get out there and actually talk Christ. Let's keep it essential to what exactly the gospel is. It's not the aspect of you going out there doing that, it's the aspect of what you're actually saying and announcing in a sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And now, you know, for the for the people that are out there that are aware, they'll say, wait, but the Bible does. Jesus did use the word gospel in a broad sense that included both law and the gospel, to that we say, amen. We're not ducking that. But the primary expression in Scripture when it comes to the word gospel is uniquely what God does for us in Christ Jesus. That is where we harp on. That's what we harp on. That's the Bible puts the weight there, the emphasis there. We do right to follow that. So when you talk about stuff like a gospel crusade, as you mentioned, people may go out to evangelize, but oftentimes they're out there to tell people how bad they are. Right. And even if they see a Christian, I remember times in my concerts, bro, I would have people come to my concerts to give me the gospel, quote unquote. Like soon as I get off stage, it'd be a gang of dudes there, like, we know you just got off stage, but we want to tell you, make sure you're living right when you leave her and go back to the hotel. Don't be doing nothing impure. God is watching you. He knows your motives. If you was on stage doing that for self-glorification, for money, and they would be just thinking they're doing some type of gospel good. And that's like, bro, that's not the gospel, bro. But oftentimes, people go on these crusades mingling and mixing law and gospel. And when they don't know what those distinctions, they bring a lot of condemnation, crush a lot of consciences. And oftentimes people can handle it for a while, but eventually they tap out. A lot of people lose faith. The faith is stripped away from the mingling of those two categories law and gospel.
SPEAKER_03The law crushes. Like you said, you can you can take a couple left-right hands, eventually one's gonna, ooh, oh, oh, one's gonna get you. So, and sure, okay, people you mentioned, well, hold on, Jesus did do this, you're not Jesus. You're not Jesus. So we're more delicate how we parse it in law and gospel because when we mingle it, it's it's not as defined as when Christ does it. So it's better for us to keep it law, gospel. Well, Jesus, stop acting like you're doing what Jesus did. Stop acting like that. You know what I'm saying? I'm sorry. Jesus lived a whole life and didn't sin. You can't go a couple hours, bro. So come on. Like, don't you don't get me started. Don't just don't. I hate that. Well, G W W J D, what would Jesus do? I don't do it. And if I and if I did know, I can't do it. So what kind of question is that, bro? What kind of question is that? So, nah.
SPEAKER_00That's real, bro. That's real. Yeah. These are good, man. I think you got some more in the kitchen for us cooking. Let's let's jump back in there.
SPEAKER_01God was under no obligation whatever to do any of this, but he did it anyway. If you're going to some claimed Christian church, and this is not the essence, the center of what is communicated to you every single Sunday, my advice to you is get out of there. Switch churches.
SPEAKER_00Amen, bro. It's that dire. It is that dire, bro. If you are going somewhere Sunday after Sunday, it's about your faithfulness, your obedience. It's about overcoming. Your trauma and being healed from your deep-seated issues. They're giving you psychoanalysis of why you think the way you think about you name it. And the pastors, some pseudo untrained therapists trying to get into the weeds of why you have such a behavioral pattern that's stopping you from your blessings. If you're going somewhere where they're talking about demons and generational curses and witches and warlocks and what we can learn from witches and how they function and or decree and declare your better life. If you're hearing this over and over, you're not hearing about Jesus. Yeah. You're not hearing about the forgiveness of sins. And here's the trap. The trap is that God has informed us of the most pertinent matter for the human being, which is you have fallen in Adam, so because of original sin, there's corruption in your personhood. You are also living out that corruption day to day, even as a Christian. And our faith, your faith, is regularly under attack. Whether that's from life's difficulties, where you start asking, where is God? You start doubting if God is here, your sins, your temptations, pulling you, pulling you, just tugging and dragging you backwards. God has informed us that this is a reality that is ongoing. And that is the most important thing. When the culture shifts and says, ah, that's that's milk. The real warfare is overcoming trauma. The real warfare is learning more about your psychological journey and being able to untangle all the web of crosswires in your mind, in your, in your thinking. If that is the replacement for what the infinitely wise God has told us about our personhood as human beings, you are not hearing the Christian message. Right. And that is important. It's heavy, it's weighty. But the good news is you can simply leave that space and go somewhere where you are hearing the purity of the gospel, the law, gospel distinction, word of God, and sacrament. You can come kick it with us. Concordance. The Augsburg gang. You feel me? Come hang out where we hang. Get you a book of concord. Learn about these things. We got plenty of places for you on the on this side. So, man, uh this is my prayer, my plea. I know it's yours too, bro. I know it's yours too.
SPEAKER_03Facts, facts. I love how you sum it up. So my one verse I'll say for the gospel would be Romans 4, 5, which is, and to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. So that to say that every Sunday you need to be hearing about that one, that one who we place our faith in that makes us righteous. That's the point. You know, if you're hearing about anything other than Christ, like you say, demon witches and warlocks, if you're hearing about um various political things, you know, from from American flag in the pulpit to people saying let's go out and let's uh protest this evil in the world. I'm not even bashing those things. I'm just saying that's not Christ. We can meet after and talk about that. Right now, I need to hear about my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, who died, reconciled me. That's what I need. That's what I need to hear. The one and my works don't add to it. The one who works, yo, you got your wage. You got your high five from the pastor, you got your praise, you got your acknowledgement. But the one who places faith in him who justifies, that's what I need to hear about.
SPEAKER_00Amen, bro. Well said. Well said. Ah, Titus 3, bro. This is my verse I want to end on. Titus 3, 5. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. It is God's work through and through. God works through means. And when we go to gather, we're not just going to hear a message. It's not just, oh, we go, we go get some inspiration. We're gonna go get charged up and hear the coach in the locker room give us the gameplay for this week. It's no, we're we're gathering we gather with the saints where heaven and earth collide, where we encounter God Himself through his word. Where it is an event. God speaks into us realities that we can't create within ourselves. When the preacher is speaking, you are hearing the very words of God through his mouth. When you receive the Lord's Supper, you are receiving Christ bodily in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins. He's actually joining us together as a family. My goodness, these are miraculous realities acting upon us. Stuff you can't achieve in your living room, just having a quick devotional or listening to a quick song that stirs you up to go hard next week. It is it is a reality that supersedes our ability to grasp, and and it's all God's work. We're just passive and we receive, and that is his promise to do for us Sunday after Sunday after Sunday until we die or until Jesus returns.
SPEAKER_03Let's go.
SPEAKER_00That is very different. So, man, thank y'all for tapping in. This this is a conversation we have to continue to have. So, flood the comment section with what you think the gospel is, what you've heard people say about the gospel, and we'll continue to build on this because we have to clear the way. So, anyway, hit that uh hype button. Make sure y'all just tap that mug till it breaks so we can move these videos around. We appreciate y'all, man. Um, the study, boys. You the study, the study, the study.
