The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Application to our Lives

Mark 15:34-47

34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

35And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.

36And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.

37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

39And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

40There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

41(Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

44And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.

45And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

46And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

Mark 16:1-6

1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

2And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

3And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

4And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

6And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

This passage that I took out of the Bible, declares the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark. The apostle Paul describes the gospel in a nutshell when writing to the church of Corinth:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

The apostle Paul is telling us that the Gospel of Jesus is just: he died, he was buried, and he rose again. The scripture tells us that he died for our sins! He was buried in a tomb, showing us that "hey this guy was dead, and there is no doubt about it." Then, he was resurrected the third day, fulfilling the prophecies in the Old Testament. Now there is way more in which I could go into, however that is not my focus. My focus is how we apply it to our individual lives! You are probably saying "why do we have to apply it to our lives, Christ paid the price for us!" However, scripture tells us otherwise. Romans 1:16 tells us how important it is:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

This tells us that the Gospel is what saves us, but how?

The book of Acts begins with the followers of Christ "chilling out" in Jerusalem because they were commanded to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, which is the outpouring of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:4-8). Acts 2:1-4 describes what happened in Jerusalem on a special day:

¹And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Then Peter preached the first sermon of the New Testament church. I will be nice and not post that, so you don't have to read it all (if you want to read it here's the scriptures Acts 2:14-36). Peter preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he preached that he died, he was buried, and that he rose again. He also stated some other important key points such as that Jesus was just a man, but he was "God was manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)" so it was not just some prophet of God being crucified, but it was God himself wrapped in flesh. Therefore, Acts 2:37 states

:Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Consequently, upon hearing that they literally killed God in his humanity, they asked Peter, what must we do, to be saved? He answered them with this:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Peter said that we must repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the Holy Ghost in order to be saved. Did not I say that it is the Gospel that saves us right?? Well, this is the Gospel, when it is applied to our lives. Here let me prove it:

• Repentance means to "turn away from your sins, to stop sinning." It does not mean to be sorry for your sins. You are supposed to be sorry for your sins, do not get me wrong, but that is not repentance. However, repentance is tied to the Gospel, but how? Repenting is like unto dying. You are dying out to your sins. Romans 6:1-2 says:

  ¹What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

  ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

  We are dead to sin, and Colossians 2:20 connects our death to sin to the Gospel:

  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

  Therefore, when we repent we die such as Christ died on the cross.

  An example of this in action is in Acts chapter 3. Peter and John just saw a paralyzed man that is laid out in front of the synagogue. Peter and John, through the power of Holy Ghost, healed him and the lame man went running into the synagogue praising God. A multitude came out to Peter and John with amazement and Peter said this:

  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19)

  Read the entire chapter to get the whole story.

• Baptism is when someone is fully immersed into water evoking, or saying out loud, "in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Baptism is also likened unto the gospel as Romans 6:3-4 says:

  ³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

  ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

  Colossians 2:12 really drives in this point:

  ¹²Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

  Therefore, when we are baptized, we are buried, like how Christ was buried!

  An example of this is in Acts 10, when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon Corneliuus and it was the first time that Gentiles, or non-Jews, got the Holy Ghost (I will get to the Holy Ghost later). After they were filled with the Holy Ghost Peter replied with this:

  ⁴⁷Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

  ⁴⁸And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. (Acts 10:47-48)

• Holy Ghost as described in Acts 2 it is a gift, somewhere in the scripture it is referred to as a "free gift," that it is given from God. And once someone receives that gift, they begin "to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit [gives] them utterance (Acts 2:4)." Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is also like the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Romans 6:4 describes it:

  ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
  

  So when we receive the Holy Ghost, we are resurrected such as Christ! You can look at Colossians 2:12 again for another reference. Some churches say that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and if you confess your sins that you are saved. I believe that wholeheartedly, but Mark 16:17 says:

  ¹⁷And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

  Therefore, if you believe, there must be a sign, and that sign is to speak with new tongues.

  An example of this in action is the story of Cornelius again, but a few verses back when he received the Holy Ghost:

  ⁴⁴While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

  ⁴⁵And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

  ⁴⁶For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,

So let's recap, because we covered a whole lot, and in not in a lot of detail as it is rather hard to convey such a big topic through text, and not orally.

1. When we repent, we die, like Christ did. However we die to our sinful nature.
2. When we are baptized, we are buried like Christ. We are buried in a watery grave.
3. When we receive the gift of Holy Ghost, we are resurrected like Christ was.

This topic is very important to grasp! These three things in which I went over above, are requirements for salvation. The Gospel is what saved us "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

If you have any questions please leave a comment and also let me hear what you think about this.