THE GOSPEL: Good News for YOU!
The phone rings late at night. We tense up, fearing
bad news: "Oh no, what has happened?" The media bombards us with
depressing regularity of all this world's pain and problems. Is
no news good news?
When did you last hear some really good news? The
gospel of Christ is the best news ever considered in the heart
of man. Angels heralded Jesus' advent onto the stage of human
history as something wonderful! "Then the angel said to them,
`Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this
day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke
2:10ff). Christ's coming wasn't bad news ruining man's life. The
gospel means good news. It proclaims God's saving mercy freely
offered by Christ to all and conditionally accepted by obedient
trust (Mk. 16:15-16). "Good" means beneficial, positive. News
means significant, timely. The soul-stirring gospel is exactly
what we need. It can change your life for the better!
Only the gospel message "is the power of God unto
salvation" (Rom. 1:16). It spread like wildfire all over the
first century Roman empire and "turned the world upside" (Acts
17:6). It gave great joy to those who obeyed it (Acts 2:41;
8:8,39; 16:34). It sparked riots and relentless persecution by
those opposing it (Acts 14:19; 16:22; 17:5; 19:23). The gospel
of Christ, in its emphasis and fullness, is positively defined
in Scripture, not by our feelings nor by human religious
tradition. The "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)
lovingly offers eternal life to people ensnared in Satan's
clutches of sin. The good news is that your soul is precious to
God. The gospel of the second chance means God has great plans
for a new and better you, if you will accept the gospel.
THE GOSPEL IN PROMISE AND PROPHECY
The gospel in promise was announced 4,000 years ago
to Abraham: "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham
beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed'"
(Gal. 3:8; cf. Jn. 8:56). The rest of the Bible is an unfolding
fulfillment of this Messianic promise God made in Genesis 12:3.
Man's greatest problem is sin (Isa. 59:1-2). His greatest need
is redemption from the just penalty of his sin. The gospel in
promise gives erring mankind hope for a better day. It's
encouraging that God always had our welfare in mind.
The gospel in prophecy consists of the scarlet
thread of redemption looking to the coming Christ (Luke
24:27,44; John 5:39ff; 1 Peter 1:10ff). The gospel would not
come in some esoteric theology or philosophical abstraction.
Gospel truth would be embodied in the Messianic God-man, Jesus
the Christ (Psalm 110:1-4; Isa. 9:6-7; John 1:14,18). He is the
towering, central figure of Scripture.
Jesus minutely fulfilled dozens of OT Messianic
prophecies. For example, He was: born of woman (Gen. 3:15; Gal.
4:4; 1 Jn. 3:8), of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23), of
Abraham's seed (Gen. 12:3; Matt. 1:1), of Judah's tribe (Gen.
49:10; Matt. 1:2), descended from King David (2 Sam. 7:12f; Acts
13:32), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:1), preceded by
messenger (Mal. 3:1; Luke 1:17), rejected (Isa. 53:3; John
1:14), silent before His accusers (Isa. 53:7; Mark 15:4),
crucified (Psa. 22:16; John 19:37), mocked (Psa. 22:7; Luke
23:35), prayed for His tormentors (Isa. 53:12; Luke 23:34), died
with criminals (Isa. 53:12; John 19:18), buried in a rich man's
tomb (Isa. 53:10; Matt. 27:57ff), raised from the dead (Isa.
53:10; Psa. 16:10; Matt. 28). None of these were accidents of
history. All were fulfilled in God's precisely laid gospel plan!
Such evidence bolsters our faith.
THE GOSPEL IN PREPARATION
The gospel in preparation unfolded during John the
Baptist's advance preaching (Mk. 1:1-8) and in the earthly
ministry of Jesus (Matt. 9:35; Mk. 1:14; Lk. 11:20). The "gospel
of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:4) centers in being drawn to
and believing in the person of Jesus Christ (Jn.
1:29,12:32,20:30-31; Matt. 11:28ff). Mark begins: "The beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mk. 1:1). The
emphasis of the 4 gospel accounts is Jesus on center stage, so
that we might "see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly and
follow Him more nearly." His power is seen in transforming the
apostles, privileged to intimately live "with Him" (Mark 3:14).
John wrote, "We beheld His glory, full of grace and truth" (John
1:14). Armed with message of the ages, the Son of God among men
lived the greatest life ever lived and taught the greatest
lessons ever heard. He became flesh as the perfect example of
pleasing God (Matt. 3:17). He radiated love, patience, kindness,
encouragement, mercy, and service beyond the point of His
inconvenience. "Christ came to earth to show us how to live, a
demonstration to make our way easier" (Floyd Thompson, Book,
Chapter & Verse, p. 57). "He became as we are to make us like He
is" (Inspiring Quotations, p.100).
Jesus preached "the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt.
4:23): "repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Jesus
means business, because He heralded "the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13). The gospel is absolute,
unchanging truth in our changing world. Two thousand years has
not diluted its profound message. God cannot lie, nor is He
bluffing. Gospel truth is the divine standard of human conduct,
not the volatile opinions of fallible men. We will all be judged
on that great, last day by the gospel (Rom. 2:16). His gospel
confronts us with the truth that man is a sinner in need of
repentance. We are lost, going the wrong way. Unless you see
your desperate plight without Him, you will not sense your need
for the gospel. His radical message of a new life offers hope
for positive change.
THE GOSPEL IN POWER
The gospel in power resides in what God did for man
in Christ. "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). The gospel in foundational
fact was divinely accomplished by the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ. Our faith does not rest on a myth. The
gospel, in fact, has been reliably confirmed by trustworthy
witnesses (1 Cor. 15:5-8) and apostolic miracles (Mark 16:20;
Heb. 2:3f).
The apostle Paul wrote, "Now I make known to you,
brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you
received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you
believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised
on the third day" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) Paul defines the
foremost element or divine hub of the gospel system, to which
all other ancillary spokes of the entire system connect. In
preaching "Christ and Him crucified," we read: "No event [is]
more basic to the gospel -- does not mean the crucifixion is the
only event or lesson to be taught, but it is at the heart of all
else -- remove it and all facts, commands, and promises of the
gospel collapse (my emphasis)" (Preach the Word, p. 215). We
must always anchor to the gospel's power source, which centers
in what the crucified, risen Lord did for us to provide the
basis of salvation.
The gospel was first preached in Acts 2: "Peter
preached the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ....These great facts are the heart and core of the
gospel. They help to define our lost condition, showing that we
are desperately lost in our sins and wholly dependent upon God
to provide the way of salvation. The suffering of Jesus
underscores both the justice of God and the awful sinfulness of
our sins. The gift of God's Son as the perfect sacrifice for our
sins manifests God's amazing grace and his love for the sinner
(John 3:16). The resurrection of Jesus is the crowning miracle,
proving beyond all doubt his divine Sonship, confirming that He
is fully God as well as fully man (Rom. 1:3-4). His victory over
sin and death is the firm foundation of our hope for the same
victory (1 Cor. 15:1-4,54-58)" (Guardian of Truth, Feb. 6, 1992,
p. 14). This divine plan of human redemption for all people for
all time is "the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel"
(Eph. 3:6). This "heart and core" of the gospel is important to
remember in keeping the gospel plan of salvation in proper
balance.
The four gospel writers place primary emphasis on
the atoning death of Christ. A fourth of Luke, a third of
Matthew and Mark, and up to half of John are devoted to the
final week of Jesus' life, leading up to His death on the cross.
The Holy Spirit's selective emphasis tells us the supreme
significance the death of Christ has in the gospel, for
ultimately nothing but His blood can wash away our sins (Rev.
1:5; 5:9). "More writing and preaching are needed on the person
of Jesus Christ. Brother Henry Ficklin, who sat as a student at
the feet of J.W. McGarvey, said, as a young preacher, he failed
to accomplish the results he desired in preaching until he began
to preach more on the life of Christ. We haven't preached too
much on the plan, brethren, but some of us have preached too
little on the Man" (Weldon Warnock, Guardian of Truth, Dec. 1,
1994, p. 25).
What does it mean that the gospel is "the power of
God unto salvation"? We say a baseball pitcher has many "saves."
An accountant "saves" us money on our taxes. However, think of
waking up in the middle of the night. Your lungs are filling
with smoke. Your eyes sting. Your cough violently. You feel
intense heat. Your house is on fire! You panic, realizing you're
about to be burned alive! Yet, at that moment of terror, a
fireman suddenly breaks through the inferno, grabbing you to
take you to safety. You have been saved! Only Jesus (meaning,
Jehovah saves) could have died our death, paid our debt, and
suffered the penalty due our sins at the cross. He saves us from
the eternal ruin of God's wrath on the impenitent in Hell's
"lake of fire." Praise God! If the gospel doesn't excite you,
check your pulse to see if you're alive.
THE GOSPEL IN PERSONAL ACCEPTANCE
The gospel entails conditions a person must meet to
enjoy its benefits and precious promises (1 Pet. 1:22f, 4:17; 2
Pet. 1:4). The gospel preached in Acts made people sad then glad
or just plain mad, but it never left them bored or indifferent.
All that God has done to achieve and provide salvation for lost
man is of no avail, unless YOU freely choose to personally
accept it. God will not force the gospel on anyone. Always keep
in mind that there is a distinction in the gospel pertaining to
God's part and man's part. There is a divine side and human side
in the plan of salvation. Man must cooperate with God's part to
bring about his full and free salvation. Faith is the open hand
that accepts God's gift of gospel grace. You must decide "what
then shall I do with Jesus?" (Matt. 27:22). Your response makes
the final difference in your eternal destiny.
A Christian is someone who has "obeyed the gospel"
(Romans 10:16; cf. 1:5; 16:26). These steps into Christ are
found together in Hebrews 10:22-23.
(1) Faith in Christ: The first step to become a
Christian is to wholeheartedly believe in Jesus as the divine
Savior. "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your
sins" (John 8:24). You must realize a desperate spiritual need,
that you're a sinner who cannot save himself (Rom. 3:23; 6:23).
Instead of trusting in yourself, you place your full confidence
in the crucified and risen Christ (John 20:30-31; Rom. 10:9f).
He is the only way back to God.
(2) Repentance from Past Sin: At the same time you
turn to Christ, you turn away from your sin. "Unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish" (Lk. 13:3). Repentance is a change
of mind toward sin and self (Acts 3:19). Seeing sin as God does,
you hate it and turn from it. Sin is what crucified Jesus. True
repentance produces the "fruit of repentance," which is a
changed life. Real repentance is being sorry enough in your
heart over your sin that you stop living in sin and change the
course of your life (Col. 3:5-10; 1 Cor. 6:19-20).
(3) Confession of Christ's Deity: The next step is
the good confession that Jesus is the divine Lord, that is, the
Christ, the Son of the living God (Rom. 10:9; Matt. 16:16).
"With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation" (Rom.
10:10). Publicly declaring loyalty to the risen Christ commits
you to Him above all.
(4) Baptism into Christ for the Forgiveness of Sin:
"Be baptized and wash away your sins" (Acts 22:16). Faith's
immersion in water is the occasion of being united with Christ's
death, where He shed His saving blood (Rom. 6:3-5; 17-18; Gal.
3:26-27). Baptism's express purpose is to obtain the forgiveness
of sins (Acts 2:38; 1 Pet. 3:21). The old man of sin is buried
in that watery grave and a new person emerges, "raised to walk
in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). Baptism is the converting step
that produces a Christian and returns us to God (Mark 16:16;
Acts 3:19). This is the point at which a person is added to the
one body, the Lord's church (1 Cor. 12:13; Acts 2:47).
"The gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15) restores the
broken relationship between erring man and the Creator.
"Everything is wrong until God makes it right" (A.W. Tozer).
Peace with God means we can have "the peace of God that passes
understanding" (Phil. 4:6).
THE GOSPEL IN DAILY LIFE
Everyone must choose how to live. The gospel system,
in its full scope of the whole NT, covers God's entire plan for
saving, sanctifying and perfecting the new Christian's "life" (2
Tim. 1:10; Mk. 8:35). The "glorious gospel" teaches us to avoid
sin and to actively do right, so we can fill our lives with
virtue (1 Tim. 1:5-11). This is properly "accentuating the
positive (good) and eliminating the negative (bad)" (cf. Eph.
4:17-25). Living under Christ, we must take up our cross daily
in self-denial to follow our crucified Lord (Lk. 9:23). "Many
religious people profess lip-service to being 'cross-centered.'
But really they just 'wear the cross' instead of truly 'taking
up the cross' to follow Jesus in radical obedience. He who
learned obedience by suffering to the exact demands of God's
will expects no less submission in our obedience to Him"
(Christianity Magazine, Feb. 1992, p. 12).
The practical focus of the gospel system, planned in
the divine counsels of eternity past, is to train and transform
a disciple "to walk in the same manner He walked" (1 Jn. 2:6;
Rom. 8:29). It's been said, "You can't talk the talk unless you
walk the walk." The gospel compels us to ask, "What would Jesus
do in this situation? How would He treat this person?"
Christ came "that they might have life more
abundant" (John 10:10). This is the greatest quality of life
known to man. We can wake up each day with a sense of
fulfillment and meaning. You can live life on purpose because
the gospel gives you a sense of divine purpose. You can know
where you're going and why you're here. The gospel's byproduct
is to make better families, better citizens, better neighbors,
better all around people in every relationship. Since the gospel
is "good news," those who gladly accepted it continued to
"greatly rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet.
1:8-9; Acts 8:8,39; Phil. 4:4). Truly appreciating the gospel
means we should radiate the joy of our salvation. We should not
look like we've been weaned on a sour pickle.
The Lord's gospel plan directs Christians to band
together into local churches, "striving together for the faith
of the gospel' (Phil. 1:27). Learning to work together with
fellow saints, in the local church's authorized work and
worship, helps build up our spirituality. The gospel doesn't
envision isolated Christianity. The local church trains saints
by Bible teaching (1 Tim. 3:15). Members help us when we're down
and encourage us to grow stronger in the Lord.
THE GOSPEL IN HOPE
Only the gospel can answer that haunting, ancient
question, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14).
Robert Ingersoll, an atheist of yesteryear who gain famed for
his attacks on the Bible, said in an oration at his brother's
grave: "Every cradle asks us, `Whence?' and every coffin,
`Whither?' Death is a narrow vale between the cold and barren
peaks of two eternities. We cry aloud and the only answer is the
wailing echo of our cry." How pitiful is man without hope! Thank
God for the hope of the gospel! The gospel alone brings
"immortality to light" (2 Tim. 1:10). Death isn't the end of
life, only the end of your earthly troubles. The gospel in hope
looks heavenward, to bring the faithful Christian safely home to
God forever (Col. 1:5, 23).
In heaven, we will be eternal monuments to God's
amazing gospel plan: "in the ages to come he might show the
surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus" (Eph. 2:7). Those saved by the gospel will circle the
throne of God and forever shout praise to the Captain of our
salvation: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and
blessing!" (Rev. 5:12). Will you be there? Obey the gospel now
and follow Christ to the end. The "good news" will make you glad
you did!
If we can help you know the good news of Christ,
please contact us at WFrankWalton@juno.com.
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