What is Gospel Truth?

Jon Howe   -  

Are you tired of merely existing? Does your heart yearn to be a part of something meaningful? Wouldn’t it be great if you could start living today like a champion?
The Devil wants you to suffer, but God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. He wants all of his children to experience peace and happiness. At this moment, you are just getting by, but God wants more for you than minimum wage. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Did I forgot to mention that this life of prosperity is absolutely free? All you need to do is believe. What are you waiting for? With nothing to lose and the world to gain, trust in God today and watch Him turn your relationships, health, wealth, and life around!
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” The above is an example of an almost-right gospel. In our day and throughout the record of human history, nothing has been more distorted than the saving message of Jesus Christ. Many people with good intentions buy into the pack lies that I just fed to you. Even in our churches today, there are people who would unwittingly entangle themselves in a web of deceit such as the one weaved in the previous paragraph. My aim today is to show you from the scriptures a clear picture of Christ’s salvation so that we might not fall for its pathetic counterfeits.
The first masterpiece in the gallery of gospel truths that we must consider is God Himself.
You see, although the gospel floods our life with blessings, it is primarily not about us. Understanding God’s character in relation to the gospel that’s sort of right versus the gospel that’s actually right is the dividing line between heaven and hell. Often times God is treated as a divine butler who’s total reason for being is to make you happy, but Santa Clause is not synonymous with Yahweh. Isaiah writes: “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:9–11 NASB)
God does not restrain his wrath because His people deserve it. He does so ultimately for the glorification of His name. However, why is God even angry with people in the first place? An equally forgotten truth about God is His goodness.
God is good. Let that sink in.
The LORD of glory is impeccably righteous, absolutely just, and incapable of doing evil. David writes, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.” (Psalms 7:11). Being the unchanging standard of good, God won’t sweep your iniquity under the rug. His sleepless eyes witness the exhaustive extent of human activity and it invokes His wrath daily.
Why?
Here’s the simple answer: God is good, and you are not.
All men are born wicked. This is the bad news of the good news. Contrary to the popular idea that says there’s something good in everybody, the Bible says that there isn’t anything good in anybody. I think its hard to misunderstand Paul when He is so clear: “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” (Romans 3:10-18)
Notice that this condemnation of our race is universal. It does not say that some or even most have sinned. It says that no one is righteous and that all have turned aside, becoming worthless.
Thus far, the question becomes not “how can I have my best life now”, but rather “how can I stand before a just and holy God?” If God is just, then He can’t forgive you, for that would be unjust. All men have sinned and therefore they ought to be paid the wages of their work: death (Romans 6:26).
However, look at this seemingly contradictory description of God: “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.” (Exodus 34:6-8 ESV)
God forgives all types and kinds of sin, yet He will not leave the guilty unpunished. How on earth can this be? How can God uphold His justice while at the same time justifying those who deserved to be punished?
The answer to this critical conundrum is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Before the world was made, the Father planned to redeem a people for Himself from every language, tribe, and nation. However, His wrath towards sinners would not be abated unless the demands of justice were first met. Thus, the Son is sent into the world. Taking on humanity, this Divine person lived righteously under the law so that He might redeem those who could not live up to its standards. On the cross, all of God’s righteous indignation towards His people was poured out on His Son, His only Son, whom He loved. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). His death was the payment, and His bodily ressurection was it’s vindication. This is why Paul was able to say that God is just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).
Lastly, we must consider our response to such good news. Notice that Paul says that God justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Christ accomplished a great salvation, but it is only those who exercise trust in His redemptive work that benefit from all that was bought in Calvary. By the way, did I forget to mention that it’s free? However, this free gift will cost you dearly. Unlike the gospel counterfeits of our day, Jesus doesn’t promise health and wealth. Jesus is not a means to an end.
The awesome reward of the gospel is God Himself.
Paul writes, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8).
What is the gospel? “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).
This is the one and only message of salvation. Let us, by God’s grace, labor to protect it from it’s man-centered imposters. After all, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36).