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Content:
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ..."
The Gospel necessarily involves good things such as comfort and healing, but it has
actual content which can be taught.
"So they set out and went from village to village,
preaching
the gospel and healing people everywhere." (Luke 9:6)
The word Gospel means "Good News".
In Greek, it is
euangellion which is
eu (good) +
angellion (message).
But WHAT Good News? TELL
ME THE BOTTOM LINE
- The Gospel has to do with the historical PERSON of Jesus
Christ.
"The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1)
Without the reality of His Person and the facts of His life, Christianity is trite, ridiculous,
unbelievable.
The Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:
"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received
and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the
word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on
to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures... But if it is
preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been
raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
(I Cor 15:1-3,12-14)
- The Gospel has to do with the Divinity of Christ
Jesus' Good works showed the Divine character of his Person and teaching. A member of the
Sanhedrin, Rabbi Nicodemus, came to Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who
has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not
with him." (John 3:2)
- The Gospel has to do with the WORK of Christ.
Luke writes about his own Gospel of Luke:
"In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote
about all that Jesus began to do and to teach." (Acts 1:1)
Jesus' Good works showed the Divine character of his Person and teaching.
"The Jews
gathered round him, saying, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, {Or
Messiah} tell us plainly.' Jesus answered, 'I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles
I do in my Father's name speak for me.'" (John 10:24,25)
In probing the motives of the rich young ruler, Jesus asked,
"Why do you call me good?
...No-one is good — except God alone." (Mark 10:18)
Jesus said,
"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the
Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me."
(John 5:36)
- There is only one Gospel, the same for all nations, not
permitting differences of race, qnationality, or social divisions:
"And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." (Mark 13:10)
"And [you] have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." (Col 3:10,11)
Many religions claim to have their own gospel. But there is only One Gospel — the same one taught
by Jesus and Paul and the early Christian Church.
"I am astonished that you are so quickly
deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel —
which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are
trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a
gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"
(Galatians 1:6-8)
- THE GOSPEL IN PLAIN SPEECH:
Strangely enough, the Good News involves a bit of bad news, first: Every human being is a creature
of God and responsible to God Himself, but we are also members of the Human Race, which is a race
GUILTY of sinning against God. We have three things against us:
- Sin coming from our society, from our Human race, from within. (It is commonly called
"original sin".)
It doesn't matter how you cut it — whether you think Adam existed or not, (we do), whether you
think sin is handed down from your parents biologically or judicially whether you think guilt is
only a word or a feeling... because we ALL wrestle within ourselves about sin's origin, and there
are times when we ALL know that somehow "I'm guilty!" Guilt is a real problem for
us all.
The GOOD NEWS is that there is a solution!!!
TELL ME THE BOTTOM LINE
- Your own sinful acts in the past — and who among us is without sin?!
The only way we'll ever deal with our sin is to admit it.
"If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:8,9)
The GOOD NEWS is that there is a solution!!!
TELL ME THE BOTTOM LINE
- Our own sinful nature, which continues to sin, even when we don't WANT to!
Even the Apostle Paul had this problem: "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good,
evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at
work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of
the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body
of death?" (Romans 7:21-24)
The GOOD NEWS is that there is a solution!!!
TELL ME THE BOTTOM LINE
You may think I'm going to tell you something trite, that all you have to do is
"believe". Well, yes and no.
- BELIEVE & BE SAVED?
What does it mean to believe? There are many meanings to "faith", but what the Bible means
is Total Commitment to that which is proved True. God Himself gives us evidence in the Bible which is
solid ground for such commitment. We're asked to make a leap of commitment, and not a blind, illogical
"leap of faith".
Actually, the Bible does say "He who believes will be saved." But what that means is a
well-founded, heartfelt, total commitment. Sometimes it takes some research to get to that place where
mind, heart & will coincide. But God Himself promises to get you to that point if you will seek:
"Ye shall seek me and ye shall find Me if ye seek for Me with all your heart."
(Jeremiah 29:13)
"Seek, and ye shall find." (Matthew 7:7)
I don't mean you have to go off on a quest for a holy grail or seek a monk in the Himalayas, as a
friend of mine did. Seeking means simply to be honest and to be open to God Himself. Most people who
talk about being "open" are really open to anything EXCEPT the simple truth God has placed
clearly before us. Are you open to THAT? Really? Are you ready to ACT on the truth you find — even
if it means a personal commitment to God, on HIS OWN terms? Ah, there's the rub.
My friend went to the Himalayas and found his monk. Discouraged not to find his answers there, he sat
by the Ganges River. An Indian Christian handed him the Gospel of John, and he began to read —
"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
might not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) He ended his quest there. He found
what he was seeking.
So what is NOT TRITE about such a faith?
It is not trite in what God does:
- Faith is based on a death pact in which Jesus promised His Father that He would pay the price for
those He loved. (The Covenant)
- Faith is based on a solemn Promise of God to Abraham, and repeated to David and many others:
"I will be your God and you will be my people."
- Faith is based on a real payment for this Blood Pact — paid for on the Cross by none other than the
Perfect Son of God — the only one who did NOT deserve to die.
- Faith is rooted in the Greatest Love you could ever hope to find: not your love for God, but God's
love for His people!
- Faith is attested to by God in the greatest of facts: when God raised Christ from the Dead, the
Father showed that the payment made by His Son was sufficient! We could go on and on... Faith is not
trite, but profound.
It is not trite in what we do:
- Faith alone saves. That's not trite. IT WORKS! Try it!
- Although Faith alone saves, it is ALWAYS accompanied by Good Works. ("Faith without works in
dead." — James 2) This is not a Boy Scout "good deed per day", but a whole life full
of living with a good purpose — a life worth living.
- Faith produces within us a love for God which motivates us.
- Anything that cost the death of the Son of God must certainly be worth the effort!
- "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
- Faith transforms us!
Faith deals with our three problems above: the guilt of our original sin, our sinful past, and our
inner nature of sin!
"Is this weird? What does real Faith look like? I'm not the religious
type."
Whoever said anything about being religious? Jesus hung out with REAL PEOPLE
like fishermen, not with the priests. We're talking about LIFE! Yes, worship is a part of life, but
life is a part of worship! We believe in "the Reformed world and life view", which means
an integrated life. There is a place in a God-honoring life for all the wonderful things He has
created: music, mathematics, sex, friendships, family, pets, dancing, etc. "To everything there
is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven". Real Faith means a real life. Jesus
said, "I am come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
"But what about all the LAWS? Aren't there a lot of Do's &
Don'ts?"
True Christianity centers about one topic — GRACE. It has to do with what
God has done for us, not what we can do for Him. After all, He's God — what does He need from us? Yes,
God has demands, and His Law is there, and it is constant. But Why? Because the Law reflects God's own
character. Sound ominous? It's not, really. Because the Law, properly understood, is LIFE. When God
first gave Israel the Law, he said, "Look what I have set before you this day — LIFE!" The
Law is good. It's like a driver's manual for a car, showing how the machine works. Wouldn't we all
like to live in a place where all the other people think, "I want to keep the Golden Rule and care
for my neighbor. I don't want to rob him or cheat him. I want to think the best of him and look out
after his stuff." That's just what the law says.
No, the real focus of the Bible is not on the Law, although there's so much of it there. The focus is
on the LOVE that God Himself has for us, and how the Father SHARES that love, sending it into our
hearts by the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. This changes us, making us STOP DESIRING what we
should not desire, and making us LOVE what is Good and HATE what is Evil. All the Law then becomes an
aid to us in understanding how to apply God's love in real-life situations. "Oh, how I love thy
Law. It is my meditation all day long." — King David
But Do's and Don'ts? We insist on nothing that is not insisted on by God Himself in the Scriptures.
And this is the sum:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy might
and all they soul and all they strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is
like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two hang all the Law and the
Prophets." — Jesus
The Gospel is Good News, from start to finish.
It's Good News
that I don't have to make God happy on my own strength! "Amazing Grace! How sweet the
sound!"
It's Good News that I can be freed from the power of sins and weaknesses in my
life!
It's Good News that I can be freed from the guilt of my past failures!
It's Good News that my character can be changed into something beautiful that copies the glorious
character of Christ Jesus!
Won't you accept God's Good News today?
Remember the
BOTTOM LINE. Have you done it?
Have you given up hope in
your own self-sufficency to receive God's gift of nobility, faith, and strength?
This could really
be Good News — the best thing that ever happened to you, your family, and your society. |