Tag Archives: gospel

Feb 12 2010

“Gospel” Up Close and Personal #4


“I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome,For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:15-17)

These few verses are among the most important in the Bible concerning the “gospel” and its implications for ungodly men and women. The first foundational truth revealed here is the absolute power of the good news about Jesus’ work for sinners. “It is the power of God…“. This is a very strong, emphatic declaration. The word “power” comes from the same Greek word where we get our English word “dynamite”! The simple telling of the story of the good news is enough. Inherent in the “good news” is the explosive power to make the most vile sinner take sober account of his lost condition and see that his only hope for immortality is the Christ of the gospel.

The “Gospel” story does not need an accompanying well versed messenger, or a well conceived evangelism program, or lengthy teaching to support the “Gospel”, it alone is quite enough. It is “the power of God“.

The “Gospel” is the power of God for a specific purpose. What? “For salvation“. By design the way God saves sinners is through the “Gospel”. It is good to teach people what is right and what is wrong. It is good to teach about the church and about worship and righteous living but it is through the “Gospel” that God saves the ungodly. By simply hearing the story of Christ’s work in life, death,and resurrection God brings sinners to himself.

How does he do this? He saves those who believe it.

“for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16b)

How can a person be saved? By believing the “Gospel”. Who can be saved? Everyone who believes. When can a person be saved? When he believes the “Gospel”. Why can a person be saved? Because God promised it.

A good translation of this last part of verse 16 could read as follows. “For it (the “Gospel”) is God’s mighty power to save everyone who believes and keeps on believing”. The “believe” in the original language was in the present perfect tense meaning it is a continuous action. While there is a point in time when God justifies the believing sinner, the evidence of genuine faith is that it never stands still. It is not a one time event but rather a persevering faith. It is a faith that keeps on believing and is illustrated by a life of devotion to the Christ of the “Gospel”. “Believes” is not giving mental assent to facts. It is to rely on, to depend on, to expectantly trust, not just accept a set of facts.

“The righteous shall live by faith“. (Romans 1:17b)

What is it about the “Gospel” that makes the sinner take notice?

“For in it (the “Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed”. (Romans1:17a)

God has chosen that by hearing the story of the work of Christ for sinners that his righteousness would be revealed. Jesus himself is the righteousness of God and God’s righteousness stands in stark contrast to the righteousness of man, which is in reality unrighteousness. God’s righteousness is one that is by faith from the first to the last. Our father Abraham in the faith believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and so we follow him and are “made” righteous by trusting the truth claims of the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ.

The flip side of the coin is the wrath of God against sin. Immediately after this watershed passage about the glory of the “Gospel” comes this chilling warning.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18)

Any person who spurns the story of the work of Jesus on behalf of sinners is now the target of the certain angry wrath of God against the unrighteousness of man kind. “The wages of sin is death”, it is true and sure. Just as sure and true is that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is “good news”!

Royce

Feb 9 2010

The Exclusivisity of Jesus for Salvation


(From the archives, Jan 26, ’07)

“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:9-13 NKJV)

John’s record sounds very much like Jesus’ own words when He said,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:16-21 NKJV)

The truth is clear. Men are given eternal life based wholly upon what they have done about Jesus. And, the text is also very clear that those who refuse to take God at His word do so because they love their sin, or to put it another way, they refuse to repent. Those who go to the light, simply believing what God has said about Jesus and trusting on him, have eternal life and will not ever be condemned again.

Salvation is not found in living right, in any church on earth, in aligning with a religeous system, or any other way than by taking God at His word and trusting Jesus and Him only. Those who try to get into the kingdom any other way are rejected and will not be saved in the end unless they repent and come to Christ.

Who can God save? Whosoever will let him come.  Does God need my assistance to save? No. Can God extend His love and forgiveness to anyone on the planet at any time He chooses? Yes.

“When we all get to heaven we will sing and shout the victory”. And, every last one there will be saved by the person and work of Jesus and not by our own doing. “There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved”. Simply put, it is Christ or condemnation. Have you believed God’s record or have you believed the “witness of men”? Trust Christ today.

Grace to you,
Royce Ogle

Feb 8 2010

“Gospel” Up Close and Personal #3


“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)

Some of the most important few words of this well known passage are usually left out when people mention the “gospel” using this 1 Corinthians text. People will say “What is important is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus”. And, it is very, very important. But, why did he die?

The answer is “for our sins”. He died “for” us, in our stead. He was our representative in dying and in resurrection. He did it “for” us.

Since Adam demonstrated his unbelief by doing what God had forbidden, mankind has been estranged from God. God is offended by our sins, and his holiness demands that sin be punished. Jesus in his conversation with the Jewish leader Nicodemus said that men are already condemned. Those among us who have not put their trust in Christ are dead men walking. An unbeliever does not need to wait to be condemned, he is already sentenced to death. God’s economy of justice is simple. The soul that sins will die. Physical death awaits and then after the judgement sinners are cast into the lake of fire, the second death.

Now the good news! Jesus died in you place! He took the punishment for your sins so you don’t have to. The offer of the “gospel’ is come and exchange death for eternal life. Christ has born your sin and wants to give you his righteousness. This is atonement. By willingly offering himself as a sacrificial lamb Jesus gave God what he always wanted but never had. He desired that people do what he said, not sin, and live in beautiful fellowship with him. Jesus did all that we could not do, and, he did it “for” us.

When he died, he died “for” me. When he was raised from the dead, he was raised “for” me. These things he did representing me. When he died, I died and that death satisfied God’s justice and wrath against my sin. I am now freed from the written code (law) that was against me because a dead man is not under any law.

My life is his life, my future is his future, my righteousness is his righteousness, and my inheritance is his inheritance. I can’t die unless he dies and his life is eternal. This is “gospel”, good news!

Royce

Feb 8 2010

“Gospel” Up Close and Personal #2


The “gospel” is the story of Christ’s work on behalf of sinful people like you and me. I have been immersed in Bible language all of my life and for perhaps now over a half century have studied the scriptures, so this is very familiar language. And, I assume it is to almost all of my readers. But, it isn’t to everyone.

Let’s suppose I find myself conversing with a guy with no church background, who didn’t grow up in the South as I did, and was unfamiliar with biblical lingo. Who is Christ to that man? Who is he to you? Was he just another of the dozens of colorful characters whom we find on the pages of our Bibles? Was he only one of many teachers, rabbi’s,  or religious leaders of the first century in the middle east?

“Christ” died. He was the Messiah of God foretold by the prophets of old, the One who would come to save the people from their sins. He was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world of whom John the Baptist preached. He was the One whose birth announcement said “God with us!”. He had no human father, he was conceived in a young virgin’s womb by the Holy Spirit of God. He was both man and God.

He is the Creator of all that is and by His power every molecule keeps it’s assigned place. He  is the exact representation of the Godhead and the fullness of His glory. Before the earth was formed He is. He humbled himself and took the lowly place of a man, perfectly kept all of God’s laws, and though tempted as we are, never sinned even once.

His life on earth was one of doing only good. He went about healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead, loving the most unlovely, and reaching out to the untouchables. He alone has all power in heaven and in earth. His name is above every named that can be named and one day every creature will bow admitting his Lordship over all creation. Every man, woman, and child will one day be judged by this one man, The God-man Jesus Christ our Lord. It was this man who died, and he did it for you.

Royce