Find the Gospel

Sep 25, 2024    Pastor Josh Wootton

Welcome back to the Know and Do Podcast, where we explore hermeneutics—how to interpret the Bible—and how to apply what we learn to our everyday lives. In this episode, we dive into an essential topic: finding the gospel message in any Bible passage you study.


We’ll answer critical questions, such as why we study the Bible, what the gospel is, and how we can uncover the gospel message in both the Old and New Testaments. Additionally, we introduce two essential tools to help you see the gospel more clearly in scripture: the "History of Christ" tool and the "Must/Can't" tool.


Key Takeaways:

The Bible is a big book about God and his desire to reveal himself to us.

The gospel—“good news”—is central to all Scripture and can be found throughout the Old and New Testaments.

The gospel message is: God is holy, we are not, Jesus came to offer us his holiness, and we must believe in him to be accepted by God.


The Bible presents the gospel from the beginning, showing how Old Testament figures like Abraham, Moses, and the prophets anticipated Jesus's coming.


The History of Christ Tool: The gospel can be traced from Christ’s eternal past, his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and present reign to his future return and eternal future.


Biblical references show how the Old and New Testaments point to these pivotal moments in Christ’s story.


The Must/Can’t Tool:

Ask these four questions when studying a passage:

What must we do?

Why can’t we do it?

How did Christ do it?

How shall we live in light of what Christ has done?


Bible Verses Discussed:

John 8:56

Romans 3:9

Matthew 17:1-3

Hebrews 11:39-40

Luke 24:27

Colossians 1:16–17

Genesis 1:26

Zechariah 9:9

Isaiah 53:5

Job 19:25-27

Psalm 110:1

Daniel 7:13–14

Hebrews 12:1-3


Handout + History of Christ