The Gospel (Part 5 of 5)

GOD chose to rescue MAN out of his sinful rebellion through JESUS, and offers him the GRACE of forgiveness and new life.

That is the description of the Gospel that the first four parts of this blog series looked at.  And you might be thinking, why is there a need for a fifth?  My purpose for writing these blogs was to address the widespread misunderstanding of what the gospel is.  However, I believe there is also widespread misunderstanding about the way a person accepts the gospel.  What I hope to accomplish in this fifth and final entry about the gospel is to clearly state how a person Biblically responds and accepts the gospel. But first we will look at some of the misconceptions.

Misconception #1
Ask Jesus in your heart... 
I have heard this taught and preached to both kids and adults from Sunday School teachers to pastors.  I have read this in books and gospel tracts, I have heard parents and grandparents say this to their children. But do you know where I've never seen or read this?  In the Bible.  It's not there.  No where in Scripture are we instructed to "ask Jesus into our heart".   This is not a Scriptural means of receiving the gospel. Does Christ dwell in our hearts?  Isn't "Christ in us" our "hope of glory"?  Yes, but asking Jesus into our hearts in not the way in which he comes to dwell there.

Misconception #2
Pray a (usually a repeat-after-me) prayer
Praying is how we communicate with God, how we articulate what it is we believe about him and what Jesus has done for us, but there are no "magic" words that we can say that will save us.  Just because a person prays a prayer doesn't mean they are saved. It is not words that save us.

Misconception #3
Walked the aisle/raised a hand
Many people, in a moment of emotional intensity, have raised their hands in response to an invitation, and even left their seat and walked down the aisle of the church and met the pastor down front. While physical and public responses are good, they must be coupled with correct understanding.  It is not the church that saves, nor the pastor. When a person looks back to their point of salvation, it must be founded upon an understanding of and response to the gospel, not a ceremonial or ritual expression of response.

So how does a person accept the gospel?  I find three parts in Scripture:

1. RESPOND in faith

Through JESUS, GOD offers us the GRACE of forgiveness and new life.  When someone offers you something the polite thing to do is respond. Over and over in Scripture we see the Apostles asking, pleading, begging for hearers to respond to the gospel.  It is clear that the way in which we are to respond is by faith. Ephesians 2:8 says "we are saved by GRACE through FAITH."

Faith is believing, trusting, depending, relying upon, or accepting as true.  When we come to the understanding of what God has done for us through Jesus, our first step is to RESPOND to it by believing it as true.  Trusting in it. Having faith in it.

Romans 10:9-11 instructs that we are to confess (RESPOND) with our mouth and believe (faith) in our hearts about Jesus. Again, I want to make a clear distinction--through prayer we are communicating to God what we believe about Him and what He has done for us.  So we do pray or confess to God our faith, but the prayer doesn't save us. Words don't save, Jesus does, and we use words to communicate our faith in Him.

2. RECEIVE forgiveness and new life

Once we RESPOND by faith, God forgives us and makes us new. Titus 3:5 says that we are washed and renewed!  We RECEIVE forgiveness for past (and present and future) sins. Jesus has taken the punishment for our sins--He served our sentence.  Therefore we receive a pardon.  In addition, Jesus gives us His righteousness.  We also RECEIVE new life. This life is a new identity. We are "no longer enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:6), through Jesus Christ we are free. We now share Christ's identity.  This is eternal life, this is the new creation, this is the abundant life, this is the life in Christ that Scripture speaks so often about.

To RECEIVE this forgiveness and new life is to also accept it as true.  Many people struggle with the idea that God could forgive them.  They fail to understand the depth of God's love and mercy.  God is "rich in mercy" (Ephesians 2:4). There is no depth out of which the Gospel of Jesus can not bring you and make you completely whole.

There is no depth out of which the Gospel of Jesus cannot bring you and make you completely whole.

3. REFLECT our new identity in Christ 

James 2:14-26 provides a crucial connection between our life and our faith. The way we live can reveal to us if our faith is genuine.  Our life can show us if we have truly RESPONDED by faith and RECEIVED forgiveness and new life, or if we have just gone through the motions (prayed a prayer, raised a hand, etc.). Again an important distinction is needed.  It is not our works or actions that save us. Salvation is not turning over a new leaf. It is not behavioral change.  However, once we are saved by GRACE through FAITH, and we have RECEIVED forgiveness and new life, our goal from then on is to live out that new life--that new identity.

Upon salvation we are adopted into the Royal family of God.  We have gone from being enemies of the King to being children of the King. We ought to begin to live like it. When our identity changes our behavior will REFLECT that change (Col. 1:21-22, Romans 6, Eph 2:11-22).  

4. REPENT
The way in which we go about REFLECTing our new identity is Christ is through REPENTance.  REPENTance is a changing of the mind that leads to a changing of behavior. It is not my buckling down and trying harder. We REFLECT our new identity by first believing that it is true, second focusing our minds upon its truth, and living according to our newly changed minds. REPENTance is not an afterthought, the Bible regularly combines salvation and repentance.

So, in closing
The Gospel is 
GOD chose to rescue
MAN out of his sinful rebellion though
JESUS and offers us the 
GRACE of forgiveness and new life

We accept this offer of GRACE by
RESPONDING in faith
RECEIVING forgiveness and new life,
REFLECTING our new identity in Christ through
REPENTANCE.

The Gospel (Part 4 of 5)

GOD

MAN

JESUS

GRACE

GOD chose to rescue MAN out of our sinful rebellion though the work of JESUS, and offers us the
GRACE of forgiveness and new life.

In the 3 previous blog entries I have shared in greater detail about GOD, MAN, and JESUS and the relationships between them and how they fit together in an understanding of the Gospel. You can read them here, here and here.

In this entry I want to look at GRACE.  Grace is unmerited favor, or and undeserved act of kindness. Let's focus on the first bit, unmerited or undeserved.  When we looked at MAN we saw that we had rebelled against God--we were guilty.  With the noose around our neck, there was not a thing that we could do, we had nothing to barter with, nothing but our guilt.   We are undeserving of His grace. Not only are we undeserving, we are ill-deserving. The only thing we deserve is God's judgement against sin and rebellion.

Yet in His grace (undeserved kindness toward us) He chose to rescue us through the sacrifice of Jesus and give us forgiveness and new life. 

The Freedom of Forgiveness
Forgiveness means to no longer hold a person morally responsible. It is releasing a person from moral guilt.  In His grace, God declares us "not guilty".  What this means is all of the running, rebellion, sin and selfishness has been erased.  Through Jesus, God gives us a clear past. Furthermore, the sacrifice of Jesus also atones (covers) present and future sins. Once the Grace of God through Jesus has been applied to your "account" there is not a thing you can do to disqualify yourself from being always forgiven. John 8:36 "So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." 

Some may think that you can use up the forgiving power of Jesus.  That somehow if you do too much sin, or too "big" of a sin you will be disqualified, or rejected.  This is not so.  For those in Christ, wherever there is sin, there is more and more grace to forgive.  Nothing can disqualify you.  Ephesians tells us that we are sealed (marked with a mark of ownership) and that seal is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (1:13-14).  Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

You might be thinking, "Well if I'm forgiven and nothing can change that, why should I strive to avoid sinning and obey God?"  This is a perfectly good question, in fact, it is one that Paul asked himself.  In Romans 6:1 he asked, "Should we go on sinning so grace may increase?"

   it's not who we are anymore.   

The Motivation of New Life
"No way!" Paul answers his own question. His reasons follow in the next verses.  Simply put, it's not who we are anymore.  This grace is not just forgiveness, but new life.  Our old life of sin and rebellion died with Jesus. In the same way that Jesus resurrected, so did we, but to a new life in Him. Jesus has taken our sin and forgiven it AND he has imputed (given or assigned) to us His righteousness.  Our identity is no longer rotten sinner, but Righteous Son. 

Over and over in the opening chapters of Ephesians Paul uses the phrase "in Christ" or "in Him" to describe our new condition.  This is our new identity.  The old self has been done away with and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Now, there will be times that we still slip back into behaviors of our old self, not unlike a recently married woman signs her maiden name instead of her new married name. And when we do, there is grace to forgive.   That's why it has been called Amazing Grace.

#5 coming soon!

The Gospel (Part 3 of 5)

GOD chose to rescue

MAN out of his sinful rebellion through...

JESUS...

Part 3 in this series focuses on Jesus as the means of our rescue or salvation.  So much could be said about the work of Jesus on our behalf. As I sit here at my keyboard I have a sense of woeful inadequacy to even attempt to capture the scope and wonder of the sacrifice of Jesus toward us.  Yet it is with that acknowledgment I will attempt to provide a sliver of the glory of Jesus Christ.

But first let's review:

GOD is creator. He is our creator. We answer to Him. We are accountable to Him.  

MAN has sinned.  We have gone our own way, turning our back on God. We reject the accountability. We are indebted to, enemies with, and separated from GOD our creator. "But God..."   GOD rescued.

This is how God rescued us...

God entered into our humanity (the same way you and I entered humanity).  He was born. We celebrate this at Christmas.  God entered the world though the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus was fully God and equally fully human.  Jesus lived our life--yet he lived it the way that we were intended to live it--without sin. Then he died our death.  Jesus died on a Roman cross.  But why did Jesus have to die?  How was that the plan?

To answer this question we need to look at the character of God.  God is a God of love, mercy and kindness.  We all know this. But God is also a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness.  God cannot violate one aspect of His character in favor of another.   So, as God saw man suffering and dead in their sins, in love and mercy God may have wanted to just excuse our sin, overlook it, ignore it.  But as a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness He could not.  In the same way a Court Judge can not let the guilty just go free--fines will be paid, sentences will be served. Enter JESUS. Jesus became the solution to that problem.  The Bible explains this in Romans 3, God presented Christ [JESUS] as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness [character] at the present time, so as to be just [a God of justice] and the one who justifies [a God of love and mercy] those who have faith in Jesus (to justify means to forgive and be made righteous).

You see, in JESUS, God Himself entered into our world and lived a human life.  In his humanity, Jesus could be our substitute--taking our place, serving our sentence.  Yet in his divinity, he was able to pay the penalty for all.  Jesus, being God, has an equally eternal depth of holiness.  When he died he paid the penalty for the sins of all who would believe.

As sinners we have committed treason against God--against our King. In doing so we have received the sentence of death.  So here we stand on the hangman's gallows with the rope tight around our neck.  The executioner steps up to the platform, places his hand on the lever and asks for any last words.  Just then you hear a voice, but it's not coming from the onlooking crowd. It's coming from the balcony. It's the King.  

"Executioner, stay your hand!"

Then he comes down from his throne, walks up the steps to the platform and stands right in front of you.  Then he takes the rope off of your neck and puts it on his own. And says

"You are free."

As you begin to walk away, he hands you the keys to the castle.

GOD rescued MAN through JESUS.

The Gospel (Part 2 of 5)

Last time I introduced a simple definition of the Christian gospel or good news. My hope is to give you a better understanding of the Gospel and the ability to share it clearly, concisely, and completely with others. To do that I'm taking 5 blog posts to provide an in-depth look at each part of the Gospel message.  The simple statement we are working from is this:

GOD chose to rescue
MAN out of our sinful rebellion though
JESUS and offers us the 
GRACE of forgiveness and new life.

Last time we looked at GOD rescuing us (see that post here).  In part 2 we will look at MAN and our sinful rebellion.

The Bible clearly says that no one is exempt, but that all have sinned (Rom 3:23). We all like sheep have gone astray, turning to our own ways (Is. 53:6). There is no one righteous and no one who seeks God. (Rom. 3:10-11) All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Is. 64:6-7).

But what does it really mean that MAN is sinful?

Pastor and theologian, R.C. Sproul, shares three ways in which scripture describes our sin against God.  First sin is a debt.  Not a financial debt, but a moral debt.  God as our Creator has the right to require certain obligations from His creation. When we fail to live up to our moral obligations we incur a debt.  But, we don't like this. We don't like having obligations imposed upon us... we are FREE!  We reject this notion of moral obligations and certainly reject the idea of being indebted. This just further shows our sinfulness. Now, you can become upset about this, but that will just lead to more indebtedness!

Secondly, scripture describes our sin as enmity.  Enmity means to position oneself against or to stand as an enemy.  This is a picture of our moral protest, our rebellion. Scripture clearly says that in our natural, sinful state we are enemies of God (Rom 5:10, Col 1:21).

Thirdly, sin is criminal.   Sin is transgressing, or violating, God's law.  God's law is simply an expression of His Chrarcter.  His love for all, His perfect justice, His honesty, His kindness, His holiness, etc.  We, being made in the image of God are to live like His Image.  When we don't we violate His Character in which He made us.  When we sin we violate, we transgress the Law (Character) of God.  Like any violation of the law it come with a penalty. 1

If you were to smack me across the face, what would the penalty be?

Scripture says the wages of sin, or what sin deserves, is death.  Now that might seem a bit harsh, but consider it this way....   If you were to smack me across the face, what would the penalty be? I would get a little upset, but not much more.  If you were to smack a police officer across the face, what would the penalty be? You would probably be arrested and be put in jail. If you were to smack the president across the face, what would the penalty be?  You would be lucky if you didn't get shot! 2

The offense was the same in all three scenarios--smacking someone across the face, but, you see, it is the one the offense is against that makes the difference.  And we have done far more than smack God across the face. We have committed treason against our Creator. We have each staged a personal coup.  We have taken the life God gave us, the image God has given us and said, "Thanks, I'll take it from here.  I don't want to go Your way, do things in Your Character, I want to be my own boss---I'm free!"  This kind of treason carries the penalty of death... and through death it was paid in full! We will look at that in part 3.


1 http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/cosmic-treason/
2 heard this illustration from my friend Luke Rosenberger

The Gospel (Part 1 of 5)

The Gospel is the good news. It is the foundation of our faith. It is our motivation for serving. It is our hope, our joy, and our peace.  But what is it?    I'm afraid that many Christians have difficulty clearly, correctly, and concisely articulating the Gospel.  For example some have said...

• The Gospel is that God loves everyone no matter what...
• The good news of God's establishing his kingdom on earth through love...
• God wants you to have your best life...
• God wants to have a relationship with you...
• Jesus died for you...

While some of these may contain truth, they do not fully capture and explain the Gospel. Throughout different preaching series I have given this concise, clear, and complete description of the Gospel, and it is simple to remember by the following outline.

GOD 

MAN

JESUS

GRACE

GOD chose to rescue 

MAN out of our sinful rebellion through

JESUS and offers us the

GRACE of forgiveness and new life

In this blog series I will be going through the different points of the gospel and providing further explanation of each.  My hope is to give you a better understand of the Gospel and the ability to share it clearly, concisely, and completely with others.

GOD 

The Gospel must start with God.  The Gospel doesn't start with us, or even the cross. It starts with God, for it is God that we answer to.  He is our creator and He made (designed) us in His image (Genesis 1:26). It is against Him that we have sinned.

Our first parents--though temptation by Satan and their own choice--sinned, marring that image and breaking their fellowship with God and each other. They have since passed down a nature and environment of sinfulness to all their descendants (Rom 3:23, 5:12). In this fallen sinful state humans are hopelessly separated from God. By our nature and behavior we stand condemned before Him and are objects of God’s Holy wrath against sin (Eph 2:1-5).

"But God..." are some of the greatest words in the Bible. The chariots were coming, but God parted the Red Sea...  The giant was strong, but God was with David... We were dead in our sins, but God who is rich in mercy made us alive... We were in a sinful, separated state, "but God" chose to rescue us.  My boys have a book entitled, "The Jesus Storybook Bible". (I would highly recommend to parents of young children. amazon link) Over and over again it refers to God's salvation as "God's rescue plan". God did not sit idly watching us flounder in our sinful state. God initiated contact. God reached out. God rescued.  It may seem like we found God, or we cried out to Him, but the reality is any finding, crying, or reaching is only a response to God first drawing us to Himself (John 6:44).

Picture a person out at sea in choppy waters--struggling to stay above water. Their boat has sunk, they are minutes from drowning. Suddenly from out of nowhere a Coast Guard helicopter flies over.  Hovering above the distressed swimmer, the chopper lowers down a rescue cable. A member of the crew jumps into the frigid waters and helps the victim into the harness, makes sure the cable is securely  attached, and gives the "thumbs up" to the crew above to lift the tired soul out of the dangerous waters.  Just as the cable tightens, the rescue diver shouts, "Hold on tight!"  Once safely on board the helicopter, the distressed swimmer says, "Whew, it's a good thing I was holding on tight!"

Seriously?  As if holding onto the cable on the way up is what rescued him!  Yet if we don't start with God and Him rescuing us, we can easily mislead ourselves into believing that we are responsible for our salvation, or rescue.  No, the only thing we are responsible for is our sinful condition, but that will be covered in part 2.