We love a lot of things in America. We love TV shows. We love cars. We love sports. We love food. We love other people. We love sleep (well, not me, I took a night off that to write this and do a few other things). We love to use the word love. There is one thing, however, that I especially love, and that is the gospel.
The gospel gives me the strength to get through each day. The gospel is my highest joy. I never get tired of talking about it (and trust me, I talk about it a lot). It captures my wonder. It is my cause for praise. It is my motivation for living and is my reason for hope. I have cast all I am on the truth of the gospel. Without the gospel, my heart is a dull, dreary dungeon, but with the gospel I carry the hope of eternal life and have been granted soul as white as snow. It is the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Rom 1:16). Coming this July I will have been a Christian for 5 years, and I love the gospel more now than the day I was sanctified by it. It is a treasure to me.
But what is it?
That's the question these days, isn't it? What is the gospel? Let's look at some scriptures and see what the LORD Himself says the gospel is from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance [the gospel] I also received:" (3). The gospel is a message, not a lifestyle. The gospel cannot be "lived out" in the most precise sense of the terms, because the gospel doesn't have anything to do with what I've done right, except to say that I haven't done anything right at all! The gospel is about Christ's work, and we don't live out Christ's work. We only demonstrate the power of the gospel by doing good deeds, we don't share it that way.
"that Christ died" (3). The gospel is that Jesus Christ died on a cross at Calvary. If the cross is missing from a presentation of the gospel, you have not been presented the gospel. Without it, there is no basis for hope in the rest of the message. For example, what does it mean for Christ to be raised without first dying? How is there a sacrifice (atonement) without a death (Heb 9:22)?
"for our sins" (3). The gospel is primarily about God dealing with specific sins of specific people. This means that the gospel is NOT social. The gospel is not to prepare the world for Christ's coming by feeding the hungry and caring for the poor, but to snatch people out of the flames (Jude 23). The fact is that the gospel is primarily about our spiritual relationship to God, and by the way, the picture isn't pretty. We fall far short of God's glory and apart from the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit we like it that way. The personal nature of the sins being paid for informs us that the death of Christ is three things:
- Penal - He was punished. His death was not an unfortunate accident, nor was it an example to follow. This was a deliberate (Acts 4:27-28), predestined (Rev. 13:8), God-pleasing (Is 53:10) punishment of the Righteous on behalf of the wicked.
- Substitutionary - His death was in our place. We deserved exactly what He received. The wrath directed at Him we kindled, so in a very real sense, we personally add to the suffering of the Son of God. Christ's death was not for sin in general, but for my personal sins (1 Pet 2:24). Christ's death must be more than some sort of example to follow. If He died and there was no actual danger toward us, it would be like jumping in front of a bus for a person who wasn't about to be hit by it. Ridiculous.
- Atoning - His death satisfied God's wrath against the sin. It was a sufficient payment, and God was appeased by it. But it not only clear us of guilt and satisfy God's wrath against us; it reconciles us to God (Col 1:22). The resurrection is the proof of this.
- "that he was buried, that he was raised" (v.4). The power and effectiveness of the gospel is secured and vindicated by the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead as verified by many eyewitnesses. This is the sign that God accepted the sacrifice of Christ as totally sufficient, and is ultimately the first fruits of God's solution of the problem of death - that fearful thing which ushers you from earth to the judgment seat of God (1 Cor. 15:55).
Now because of the gospel the fear has been removed. Now because of the gospel, death has lost it's sting. Now because of the gospel, I can sing this verse louder than anyone I know:
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!
Too much could not be said about this topic, but then I wouldn't be writing a blog, I'd be writing a book. I hope this blog encourages you greatly, especially given my 2 months MIA. God bless, and preach the gospel to yourself daily. We all need it.
