Paul Tripp: The Gospel is a story, and that story has a plot, and that plot explains what all of us face every day in our practical daily lives.

Kate Crowley: Welcome to Right Here, Right Now and today's program from Paul Tripp Ministries. Join us as Paul connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

Paul Tripp: Now, I don't want to shock you here, but I know that you do not have a perfect life. Maybe that's a complete no-brainer. I know that you face disappointment and discouragement all the time. I know that nothing that touches your life works as well as it was designed to work -- that's nothing!

That relationship that you thought was so perfect hasn't turned out to be as perfect as you thought it was. That car that you thought was so cool and even smelled new seems like it's always needing maintenance now.

Your house hasn't been as perfect as you thought it would be. Your friends have all failed you in some way. Your community isn't perfect. Even your church, if you go to one, has flaws.

That political candidate, oh boy, that you had so much faith in hasn't kept all of his campaign promises. Isn't that a shock? Your family reunions, oh boy, aren't always sweet times of reconnection and peace. Your job isn't as scintillating as you once thought it was.

Well, hang on to your hat here; your body isn't perfect and neither is your mind.

Now, I don't want to depress you, but if you look around, you can see brokenness everywhere you look. So here's my question: where do you go for hope?

Where do you get your motivation to press on? What in the world keeps you from just closing up shop and giving up? What makes you expectant and positive even as you are dealing with things that just aren't very positive? Where, oh where, I would ask, do you get your hope?

Music: "Message In A Bottle" by John Mayer

Just a cast away, I am lost at sea, oh
Just a lonely day, no one hear but me, oh
More loneliness than any man can bear,
Rescue me before I fall into despair
I send an S.O.S. to the world
I send an S.O.S. to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle,
Message in a bottle,
Message in a bottle

Kate Crowley: And this is Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp, "What in the world Is the Gospel Anyway?" On today's program, Paul explains how the Gospel is a story, and he'll share what 'Gospel' means.

Maybe you're wondering how you can make your life better? Well Paul invites you to visit his website at paultrippministries.org to find many resources that will help, including his helpful book, War Of Words. This is one read that'll open your eyes and heart to the power of words that reflect God's grace.

Again, just visit paultrippministries.org; that's all one word, Paul Tripp spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. And now, here's Paul Tripp with more, Right Here, Right Now.

Imagine Approaching a Homeless Man

Paul Tripp: I want to stimulate your creativity for a moment if you're capable of being creative right now. And I want you to imagine a scene with me.

Imagine you're walking toward a homeless man. It's quite clear as you approach him that this man hasn't had a bath for a very long time. His clothes are so dingy and dirty that it's nearly impossible to tell what color they once were.

His shoes have been duct taped so many times you can't see the original shoes anymore. He has sores on his cheeks, on his hands, and what is exposed of his legs. His sunken cheeks tell you that probably regular meals have not been a part of his recent lifestyle.

His eyes have that faraway look. It's almost as if he's staring, but his eyes are not really open all the way, and he's looking at nothing in particular. He sits on an open cardboard box with about six grocery bags around him that, while they appear to hold the sum total of his earthly belongings.

You can sort of hear a little bit that he is mumbling to himself, although you can't really understand what he's saying. It's almost as if he's in an argument with somebody who isn't there.

The reason that you are approaching him is that you have news for him that will forever change his life. You know something about him that he doesn't know. You know something about him that, if he knew, would radically change everything he does and says every day. You know something about him that makes it impossible for you to believe that he would exist in this horrible condition that he exists in every day.

You look at him sitting on that grate, the steam coming up around his body on that cold day where you seek him out. And it's impossible for you to imagine, given what you know about this guy, that he's living in that condition.

Here's what you know about him: you know this man is a billionaire, and he doesn't know it. You know something that is amazing that he has no grasp of. A decade ago, a rich uncle left him his fortune.

This man was beginning to have his life come unglued, and he read the papers that came in the mail; they were in the stack of the last mail that he ever got. He read, but he did not understand. He was in a moment of such discouraging depression, such powerful emotion, that the words wove through his eyes, but they never really hit his brain. So he threw the papers away and sadly headed off for life on the street.

Now, think about the scene. I have not only described for you the tragic story of one homeless man, but I think I've described for you the story of many, many religious people. They are living as if they are poor, and they have no idea of the riches that are theirs because of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible call this poverty-to-riches story? The Bible calls it 'The Gospel.' You do not have to live poor any more. You can live rich. What kind of riches? Stay tuned.

Music: "We Never Change" by Coldplay

I wanna live life and never be cruel
And I wanna live life and be good to you
And I wanna fly and never come down
And live my life and have friends around
We never change, do we? No, no
We never learn, do we?
So I wanna live in a wooden house
Where making more friends would be easy
I wanna live where the sun comes out

The Dilemma of Biblical Vocabulary

Paul Tripp: Now I want to share with you a huge dilemma; it's the dilemma of Biblical vocabulary. There's terminology that the Bible regularly uses, and people of faith use this terminology. But I'm afraid that very often we don't know what we're talking about. And when it really comes down to defining the terms, we don't have a whole lot of definition floating around in our heads of the terms that we use all the time.

So I want to start very basically here. I used, a minute ago, the word 'Gospel.' What in the world is the Gospel anyway? That's what I want to talk about in this program. That's what I want to talk to you about the next few days.

Well, the word 'Gospel' actually means "good news." The Gospel that is revealed in the pages of Scripture that has Jesus Christ as its central character is good news that addresses all the bad news of life in this fallen world.

But here's the problem, and you need to get this; we have tended, those of us who call ourselves people of faith, to think of the Gospel as an event rather than a story. And people outside of the faith have no idea what in the world we're talking about at all.

You see, the great expansive word that defines all of what God has done for us has been shrunken down until it has lost most of its meaning. Think about this: when the average person hears the term 'Gospel,' what he thinks is this - Jesus died for my sin so that I can go to heaven. Jesus died for my sin so that I could go to heaven. That's sort of the Gospel formula. Now, although there's much right with this statement, it's a sorry definition of the riches that God has given all who seek Him.

So here is the event form of the Gospel again: Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins so that I could spend eternity with Him. Now, I want to say again, what is wrong with this summary of the Gospel is two things. Here they are.

First, it treats the Gospel as a single event and not a story. The Gospel, both historically and personally as it operates in your life, is a story, a process. So, because this summary only focuses on the event of the cross which is admittedly that premier event of the story, it misses much of what God has done in Christ for all who believe in Him.

But there's a second deficiency in this summary. It only focuses on one aspect of the riches of the Gospel that is of the inheritance of every believer.

So here's what happens to many believers. They think of themselves as spiritually poor, hoping that they can hang on till they're taken into eternity to enjoy the riches that are waiting for them there.

You see, what they do not know, because they are only getting part of the story, is that they are rich, right here, right now, because of what Jesus has done for them. That prolific writer, the apostle Paul said he, "Prayed that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you." He wrote this in Ephesians, Chapter 1. That is my hope for you as well, that God would open your eyes to the richness, the expansive, comprehensive, richness of the Gospel.

Now, what does it mean to say that the Gospel is a story? Well it means that the Gospel is the record of God's unfolding work of rescue, forgiveness, restoration, and ultimate and complete defeat of sin. The unfolding story, this unfolding story, is what makes up the content of Scripture. This story begins being told with the first words of Genesis and doesn't culminate until the last words of Revelation.

Now, maybe you're thinking, "Look Paul, I'm never going to be a theologian. I'm not sure I'll ever understand the technicalities of Biblical teaching. How is this going to help me face the stuff that I have to deal with every day?"

What a great question! Listen carefully; there are few things more life-transformingly practical than what we are talking about right now. You see, if you do not understand the Gospel story, then you do not know who you are; you do not know what God is doing; you do not accurately understand the meaning or purpose of life; you do not fully understand what is wrong with you and your world, and you do not understand the resources that are or can be yours so that you can live life as it was designed to be lived.

And if you do not understand these things, you will not think, desire, do, and say the right things as you face what is on your plate every day.

Let me give you a ridiculous example. This is really a ridiculous one, but I think it works. Pretend with me that someone gave you a brand-new car, and pretend that you had no idea whatsoever what a car was. And pretend that that person told you that it was a means of transportation, but they never told you about the engine, about the ignition, or about the fuel.

So, you come out of your house on a hill one morning, and you open the door, and running alongside the car, you give it enough of a push to jump in, and get it moving. You think this is really great as the car silently rolls down the hill until you reach the bottom of the hill, and you begin to approach the next incline. You try your best to push the car up the hill; you give up, and you walk to work.

Now, I know this is a ridiculous example, but stay with me. What is the problem with the person in the story? It's simple! He didn't understand what he'd been given, and so he used it improperly and quickly got discouraged and gave up.

Now, I want you to hear me say this. I'm deeply persuaded that this is the plight of many people who call themselves believers. They simply do not understand what they have been given, so they live discouraged and defeated lives. They live more driven by fear and avoidance than by hope and courage. They face problems that they cannot solve; they get hooked to things that they cannot defeat, and before long, they have lost their enthusiasm for their faith. You cannot live properly in this fallen world without understanding the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Music: "Nothing But The Blood" by Jadon Lavik

(Words and Music by Robert Lowry)
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

You Have to Know the Meaning and Purpose of Life

Paul Tripp: Here's the ticket; if you are going to live properly in this fallen world, you have to know the meaning and purpose of life. You have to know who God is and what He's doing. You have to know who you are. You have to know what has gone wrong with you and your world. You have to know what it means to say, "That God sent Christ to solve your dilemma." And you have to know how to enter into what God has provided for you in Christ.

Now, hear this: All of these things are laid out for us in the origin-to-destiny story of the Gospel. What we're talking about is not some distant and abstract theology. It is the most practical life-altering thing that you could ever seek to understand; and when you understand it, you not only become a more spiritual person, you are literally given back your true humanity.

So today, we've begun to talk about the Gospel - God's good news for a terribly broken world, and today, we've said that that Gospel is a story. Maybe you've been thinking, "Well Paul, I'm not sure what that means." Well, as I always do, let me explain. The Gospel is a story because the Gospel has a plot; there's a drama in the plot. Not the drama of personal achievement, not the drama of personal success, but the drama of undeserved and unearned grace.

Now, you can summarize the plot of the Gospel story in four words. It's a creation, fall, restoration, and destiny story. These four words not only summarize the unfolding drama of the Biblical story, but the drama of your personal story as well.

Creation: God makes a pristine and beautiful world and places people in it.

Fall: Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and sin enters the world, leaving them and the world terribly damaged.

Restoration: God sends His Son into the world to live, die, and rise again in order to restore all things to what they were meant to be when created.

Destiny: God finally defeats sin and death and invites us to live forever with Him where these things are no more.

Now, you see, this is your personal story as well. God creates you, and the Bible says that creation is good, but sin does damage to you. God comes into your life in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ to restore you to what you were meant to be. And God welcomes you finally into eternity with Him.

This is the story of your marriage if you're married. God gives you a wonderful relationship with this person. Sin damages that relationship; it makes it difficult and discouraging. Jesus Christ comes into that relationship in His grace to restore it to what God meant it to be, and God ultimately will culminate all of that in eternity.

This is the story, not only of the Gospel - this creation, fall, restoration, destiny story is the story of your life as well. The Gospel is a story, and that story has a plot, and that plot explains what all of us face every day in our practical daily lives.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Could it maybe be that your life is like pushing a car up a hill; and after that day, have you given up? Have you just decided to quit pushing? Have you looked at the car thought, "I must be missing something; I must be doing something wrong"?

You cannot live life the way you were created to live it unless you understand the Gospel. Here's the problem: few of us do.

Is your life a picture of hope and courage? Or is it a picture of doubt and discouragement? Are you gaining ground? Or are you losing it all the time? Are you dealing with problems that you simply have not been able to defeat? Are you addicted to people, situations, or things, and you seem unable to resist their draw?

Do you know who you are? Do you know what life is really all about? Do you understand who God is? Do you get what God is doing? Do you really know what you have been given so that you can live life right here, right now?

You've got to hear this. We're not talking about distant, abstract, esoteric theology. No, what we're talking about is a real life; and if you do not know these things, there is no way you can live as you were meant to live.

I want you to hear me say this: you simply don't have to live in poverty any longer. You do not have to be confused about life any longer. You can begin to experience the new and practical riches of the Gospel right here, right now. And these riches only can be found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gospel.

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp explaining how the Gospel is a story on Right Here, Right Now. There's more coming from Paul's series, "What in the World Is the Gospel Anyway?" Tomorrow, be sure and tell a friend where they can hear this program on the radio or online at paultrippministries.org.

Now, for an honest look at how our words can impact others, you need to pick up a copy of the book, War of Words. In this writing, Paul Tripp examines the importance of mastering and practicing godly speech. That's, War of Words. Just log on to paultrippministries.org -- that's all one word, Paul Tripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

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Tomorrow, more on identifying the Gospel. Tell a friend and join us then. I'm Kate Crowley, and on behalf of Paul Tripp Ministries, I want to remind you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now. Be sure and listen in tomorrow.