On Hearing the Gospel

I saw this quote somewhere and thought, “yes, this is why I need to hear the Gospel preached to me over and over again… I never outgrow it because it addresses my deepest problem – sin!”

“The lessons of the cross are ones we never outgrow, for the further we go the deeper we get.” – Rebecca Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1989), 159.

I would add one thing to the quote in light of Easter approaching: “The lessons of the cross and the resurrection…“.  I think we need to hold both up as high as possible whenever we talk about the Gospel.

Tempted by Apathy

More from Joel Brooks…

When pastors plead for their congregations to shake off their apathy and finally take action, this attempt to motivate can lead us to abandon the gospel if only for a moment. I have sought the Lord to repent of my own misplaced emphasis on what we need to do to prove ourselves as real Christians. I need to constantly remind myself of the gospel. Daily I struggle to put to death the desires I have to show myself as wild for Jesus and the impulse to do something great for him in order to win his approval. Romans 4:5 is the medicine I take daily—“And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness . . .” (italics mine).

What powerful, life-altering words these are! What lavish grace! Paul is saying that the one who does not go on the mission field, does not give to the homeless, does not tithe, does not throw away his TV, does not tutor at an inner-city school but believes in Christ who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Belief is all that is required for the ungodly. How amazing is that?!

This is the medicine we all need and what I must constantly preach from the pulpit—to Christians and non-Christians alike. Otherwise, no matter how strong my words are, they will only inspire people momentarily, never sustain them. I can guilt people into giving or use inspirational stories to move them, but without the steady drumbeat of the gospel, I am leading people into a works-based righteousness no matter how good my intentions. And sure, good works will follow, but not out of a heart of gratitude and worship to Jesus.

To read the complete post, click HERE.

On Itchy Ears

Joel Brooks on a GREAT danger…

I can remember the exact place where I was standing, the music that was playing in the background, and seeing the group still praying and weeping by the side door, when I heard words that knocked me off balance. It was 10 years ago, and I had just finished preaching when a young woman came up to me and asked if we could talk. She was emotionally moved from the sermon, but what she said surprised me. “Joel, these past few weeks I have never felt so challenged and stirred, but after listening to you, I feel that if I don’t go on the mission field or go and do something wild for God, then I must not believe in the gospel. Is that what you’re saying?”

I was devastated. Her words crushed me. I said to her, “No, of course not! We are all saved by grace through faith alone. That is the gospel by which we are saved. God is never impressed with our efforts.”

I reassured her the best I could, but once she left, I quickly went over the message I had just preached. Did I say those things? Where did she get that idea? Yes, I had stepped on a few toes and said some things about not giving in to the American dream and how we all need to get up off our pews and live for the Lord, but I never said that we weren’t saved by faith alone. I thought, Of course we are saved by grace through faith! Of course our works can never justify us! Every Christian knows that! But was I faithfully preaching this? Was this my focus? I couldn’t get this question out of my mind.

To keep reading, click HERE.

 

On Rob Bell’s Gospel

Below is Rob Bell’s statement of the Gospel… is there anything missing?

It begins in the sure and certain truth that we are loved. That in spite of whatever has gone horribly wrong deep in our hearts and has spread to every corner of the world, in spite of our sins, failures, rebellion, and hard hearts, in spite of what has been done to us or what we’ve done, God has made peace with us.

Al Mohler comments on what is missing:

Missing from his Gospel is any clear reference to Christ, any adequate understanding of our sin, any affirmation of the holiness of God and his pledge to punish sin, any reference to the shed blood of Christ, his death on the cross, his substitutionary atonement, and his resurrection, and, so tellingly, any reference to faith as the sinners response to the Good News of the Gospel. There is no genuine Gospel here. This is just a reissue of the powerless message of theological liberalism.

To read Mohler’s review of Rob Bell’s new book, click HERE.

On Our Main Problem

“The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not ‘used’ the gospel in and on all parts of our life.”

— Timothy Keller
“The Centrality of the Gospel”

 

On the Gospel

R.C. Sproul answers the question, “what is the Gospel?”

The Gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness – or lack of it – or the righteousness of another. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.

To read R.C.’s whole answer, including a common misperception of the Gospel, click HERE.  R.C. didn’t mention it, but what role does the Resurrection play in the Gospel?

The Gospel: A New Culture

A final post in this series on the Gospel (Post 1, Post 2, Post 3).  Ray Ortlund describes how God is creating a new culture with the Gospel…

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.  The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, healing, revival, because Jesus himself touches us through his truths.  Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile.  Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.

The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).

The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).

The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).

The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).

The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).

If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts.  If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture.  But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Source: Ray Ortlund, Christ is Deeper Still, 1/31/10.

The Gospel: An Ancient Message Centered on Christ

[To see the previous 2 posts in this series, see Post One and Post Two]

The Gospel centers on Jesus the Christ.  This can be seen in Matthew’s genealogy found in 1:1-17.  Notice the phrase in verse 1 – “Jesus Christ… the son of Abraham”.  Matthew is reminding people that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to bless the families of the earth found in Genesis 12.  Jesus is also the fulfillment of the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. Remember the story?

God had instructed Abraham to take Isaac to the top of Mt. Moriah and sacrifice Isaac. Abraham obeyed and trusted God, saying to his son Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Just as Abraham was about to slay his son, and the angel of the Lord called to him to stop. And wouldn’t you know it, a lamb ram was caught in the thicket… a substitute for Isaac. This story foreshadows Jesus, the perfect, spotless lamb substituted in our place.

In addition, Matthew 1 tells us that Jesus is the Son of David.  If you look at verses 1-6, you see the origins of David’s line, from Abraham to David’s father Jesse. If you look at verses 7-11, you see the rise and decline of the house of David. If you look at verses 12-17, you see the house of David descend into obscurity, almost to the point of being extinct. Isn’t it beautiful that just when David’s line appears to have become extinct, then the root comes from the stump of Jesse? What a cliffhanger!!! A greater king comes, one greater than David and all his descendants.

Matthew is reminding us that God is keeping His promises to David, which are captured in 2 Samuel 7. Even Matthew’s use of the number 14 in verse 17 emphasizes this. Jewish people assigned numbers to Hebrew letters. And when you count up the numbers associated with David’s name you get 14. Though this is foreign to us, it would be recognizable to Jews in the 1^st century that Matthew has bathed this genealogy in new David expectations. God promised David a descendant who would rule forever and ever and that promise has come true in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, we see that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus’ name means “Savior”.  And the title “Christ” means “Annointed One” or “King”.  So, even His name speaks the Gospel – Jesus is the Savior King who has come to save His people. Jesus is the Gospel!

Matthew’s chief aim in including the genealogy in chapter one is to show that Jesus, the Savior King, is truly in the kingly line of David, heir to the messianic promises, the one who brings divine blessing to all people groups.

The Gospel: An Ancient Message

In the previous post, I talked about how the Gospel is not advice, but rather a message.  Now let’s explore how the Gospel is, not a new message, but an ancient message.

A great example of its ancientness is in Matthew 1:1 and how Matthew emphasizes two names – Abraham and David.  A Jewish person would immediately think of two covenants when seeing these names. The first of these, the Abrahamic covenant, is found in Gen. 12:2-3, where God says to Abraham,

…I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Do you see the Gospel in this covenant? It is there in verse 2 – “…in you all the families (or tribes or people groups) of the earth shall be blessed.” And how will God bless all the families of the earth?  We’ll see this in an upcoming post (but I think you already know).

Now consider the second covenant, called the Davidic covenant, which is found in 2 Sam. 7:10-13.  I will focus on the end of verse 11 where God says to David,

…the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house (or “a people”). When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring (or seed) after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house (or “a people”) for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Do you see the Gospel here? God is predicting that He will send a king to his people who will rule forever. This obviously was not fulfilled in Solomon who ruled only for a time, not forever. It is fulfilled in someone else…  a seed or descendant of David who will rule forever.

But the Gospel is even more ancient than David and Abraham. The earliest reference to the Gospel comes from a familiar passage – Gen. 3:15 – where God says to the Serpent,

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Here is what many call the proto-Gospel. There is a clear promise that the woman, Eve, would have a future descendant who would bruise or crush the head of the serpent who had lead Adam and Even into the ruins of sin. And that future descendent would also be a son of Abraham and a son of David.

The ancientness of the Gospel speaks its rootedness in history.  Notice that this genealogy does not start with “Once upon a time…” or “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”.  The story of the Bible is not a fairy tale or legend. Stories like Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel have no historical roots because they are made-up stories. But the Bible and its Gospel are firmly rooted in history. Notice in Matthew’s genealogy the names of Abraham and David.  Notice the names of kings, like Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, and Joram.  Notice the reference to Israel’s deportation to Babylon in Matthew1:12 & 17.  And notice how this genealogy basically picks up where the last OT book of Malachi leaves off… with the promise of the coming of the Lord.

The story of the Gospel is the greatest story ever told because it is real and it is true.  All other stories, as good as they may appear to be, do not measure up to this true story of creation, fall, redemption, and recreation. In fact, all good stories are really just plagiarizing some part of the Gospel story.  Any story that speaks of sin, evil, and redemption is just borrowing from the most ancient of stories, the Gospel.

The Gospel: A Message

The Gospel is not good advice, but rather a message.  Advice is something that is given before something happens, but a message is a report about something that has already happened.

Consider the illustration of war.  When a commander wants to conquer a nation, he calls in military advisors to give him advice on how to wage the battle.  But after the military action is over and one side has won, a message is sent out about the outcome of the battle.  This is illustrated in the Bible when God sends out messages through angeloi (i.e., angels) as we see in the Christmas story.  So, advice comes before an event and a message comes after.

Unfortunately, we often treat the Gospel like it is good advice… “Hey Bob, come up front to the altar and say this prayer and then read your Bible and pray every day”.  Let’s face it – we often do this to people thinking we have shared the Gospel.  But the Gospel is not advice; it is a message!   It is the message that something has already happened.  The war is over.   A descendent of David is victor.   Sin and Satan has been defeated.  Our job as Christians is not to give people who are not Christians advice, but rather, to declare a message to them.