05 The Five Facets of the Gospel - the Gospel Demands

THE FIVE FACETS OF THE GOSPEL

Part Five, The Gospel Demands

By Louie Marsh, 9-28-2025

 

· The Gospel Events - The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

  · The Gospel Witnesses – Scripture, Apostles Eye-Witness Testimony

  · The Gospel Affirmations - Jesus is Lord - Jesus is Savior

  · The Gospel Promises - Forgiveness of sins – the gift of the Holy Spirit

1) The First Gospel Demand

 

·  Repent!

 

“³⁷Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37–38, ESV)

 

“¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,” (Acts 3:19, ESV)

 

“³⁰The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,” (Acts 17:30, ESV)

 

o Repentance means to have a "CHANGE of mind or heart."

 

o Used in Greek army for our phrase "ABOUT FACE!"

 

· What do I repent about?

 

o All my SINS in general.

 

o  DISBELIEF about Jesus in particular.

 

“²¹testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21, ESV)

 

 Our main change of mind is about Christ, from rejecting Him to Accepting Him!

 

· My repentance shows through my BAPTISM.

 

The first sign of real repentance is following the command of Christ to be baptized. If you're still arguing about it – ask yourself who’s really in charge? If it’s Jesus then why not just do it?

 

“¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

 

· My repentance shows through my LIFESTYLE.

 

“⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:7–8, ESV)

 

Quote from Dr. Rene Padilla..

 

"This new reality places men in a position of crisis-they cannot continue to live as if nothing had happened; the Kingdom of God demands a new mentality, a reorientation for all their values ...repentance is much more than a private affair between the individual and God.  It is the complete reorientation of life in the world- among men- in response to the work of God in Jesus Christ."

 

2) The Second Gospel Demand

 

·  Submit to Christ as Lord!

 

This is the real goal of repentance - to turn away from a self directed life and toward a Christ directed one! That's why as a Christian repentance continues to be a vital part of our lives - we must do it every day!  All Gospel preaching in the NT led to this point!

 

3) Savior VS Lord Question

 

John Stott wrote this in 1975,

 

"They distinguish sharply between the acceptance of Jesus as Savior and the surrender to Him as Lord, and they even promulgate the grotesque notion that to insist on surrender in addition to acceptance is to distort the Gospel.  Well I honor their conscientious desire to protect the Gospel from all perversions...Further we must be careful never to define faith in such a way as to ascribe to it any merit.  The whole value of faith lies in its object (Jesus Christ), not in itself.  Nevertheless, saving faith in not an acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior in within a kind of mystical vacuum, and without any awareness either of the Christ being accepted or of the concrete implications of this acceptance.  Saving faith is a total, penitent and submissive commitment to Christ, and it would have been inconceivable to the apostles that anybody could believe in Jesus as Savior without submitting to him as Lord."

 

· I must adopt a BIBLICAL Balance

 

“⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:7–9, ESV)

 

We're not talking perfectionism here. That's why forgiveness and repentance are so vital. Neither are we saying it's o.k. to get fire insurance alone. To accept Christ in truth is to struggle with making Him and Him alone Lord of all your life.

 

Jason Sacks said, "If you're not going live like a Christian then don't call yourself one!"