What is the Gospel?
September 6th, 2011Man’s Dilemma Before God
We have sinned against and offended the God of glory, who deserves all worship, obedience and praise,whom we were made for.
We have rebelled against His Law. We have willfully and selfishly rejected God’s good rule to live independently of Him. We hate God and His rule because God is good and we are evil, willfully wanting our own way. Therefore man, in his sinful state apart from God, is incapable of pleasing or obeying God. Even our seemingly “good” works are tainted by sin and need forgiveness.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Genesis 6:5, 8:21 ESV
“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…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:10-12, 23 ESV
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Isaiah 64:6 ESV
(See also Ro 8:7-8; Co 1:21; Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:17-19; Jer 13:23; Jer 17:9; Ps 130:3; 1 Jn 1:8,10; Job 42:6; Jn 3:19-20; Ps 58:3; Ps 51:5)
“Sin is a deliberate treason against the majesty of God, an assault upon His crown, an insult offered to His throne.” - C.H. Spurgeon
Because God is holy and just, he must bring justice for the sins each person has committed.
God is holy. This means that God is morally perfect and infinitely pure. He is totally untainted by evil desire, motive, thought, word or deed. He is infinitely higher than man; totally separate and radically different.
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” Isaiah 46:9 ESV
“3For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! 4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Deuteronomy 32:3-4 ESV
“1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”” Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV
God is not neutral toward sinners. He must respond with fierce opposition to sin. This is the meaning of God’s wrath. Wrath is God’s holy response to sin; i.e. His personal active hatred toward sin that derives from His settled opposition to every evil thing. It is therefore right and necessary for God to hate sin and all who practice it.
“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” Habakkuk 1:13 ESV
“The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers… God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” Psalm 5:5, 7:11 ESV
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”” Galatians 3:10 ESV
“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 ESV
(See also 2 Thes 1:7-9; Isa 59:2; Jn 8:34; Jn 3:36; Ro 2:5-8; Jn 3:18; Ezek 18:4; Ro 6:23; Ac 17:30-31)
God cannot overlook your sin. If He failed to punish sin He would cease to be just. If He ceased to be just He would cease to be God.
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 17:15 ESV
You cannot make yourself right with God by your own virtue or merit.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20 ESV
“God does not exalt His mercy at the expense of His justice. And in order to maintain His justice, all sin without exception must be punished. Contrary to popular opinion, with God there is no such thing as mere forgiveness. There is only justice.” - Jerry Bridges
God’s Answer to Man’s Dilemma: The Gospel
How can we be saved from our sins and the righteous wrath of God? The answer is the gospel: the “good news” of God’s saving work on our behalf through the person and work of Jesus Christ. In God’s unexplainable love, he freely chose to send His Son Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and also fully man, to take the place of sinners and receive the justice of God for their sins when he died on a Cross.
God has not left us to suffer the consequences of our own foolish rebellion. While maintaining His holiness and justice, the Bible also affirms that God is love, and that in love He has answered man’s great dilemma. The good news is that even though we are deserving of eternal punishment, God, motivated by His infinite love, chose to take upon Himself in the person of His Son (Jesus Christ) the full measure of divine wrath.
“7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:7-10 ESV
Because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, God can save us in such a way that, in one and the same act, He preserved His uncompromising holiness and expressed His fathomless love and mercy.
“23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26 ESV
Jesus is both fully God and fully man (See John 1:1; Matthew 1:20-21; Hebrews 2:17; Philippians 2:5-8). He lived a perfect life of obedience under God’s Law and died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross (See Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5; Hebrews 7:26).
On the cross, Jesus bore your sin, and suffered God’s wrath, in order to satisfy God’s justice. Jesus paid the penalty for every sin, ever committed, by every person who would ever be saved through Him although He committed none of them.
“4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all….Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;” Isaiah 53:4-6, 10
“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 Corinthians 5:21
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
“10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”… 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” Galatians 3:10, 13
Because Jesus paid the debt we owed to God for our sins by taking the full force of God’s justice on Himself, forgiveness and pardon is now available to us. God now has a way to no longer hold us responsible to pay for our rebellion. All of our sins can be forgiven: past, present, and future (See Romans 5:1-11; Galatians 3:13).
“13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14
Christ was then resurrected from the dead and now lives in heaven and is the Savior of all who will turn from their sins and place their trust in what Jesus did to reconcile them to God.
Jesus is not dead, He’s alive! God raised Jesus from the dead as ruler of the world! God accepted Jesus’ life and death as payment in full for our sin to satisfy (appease, or propitiate) God’s justice, and He showed this by raising Him from the dead.
“who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:25 ESV
The moment you turn from your sins and place your trust in what Jesus did to reconcile you to God, God “justifies” you. Justified is a legal (forensic) term meaning that God legally declares you “righteous” and treats you as such before the throne of God on the basis and merit of Jesus Christ alone and what He did on the cross for you. This is not on the basis of you own deeds or effort. He declares you righteous as a free gift (See Romans 3:25). You don’t deserve it and God was not obligated to do so.
So the Christian gets to go to heaven based only on the virtue and merit of Jesus Christ alone, even though he doesn’t deserve it.
Our Response to the Gospel: Repentance and Faith
God commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ alone in order to be saved. You can’t turn to God without turning from your sins. You can’t love sin and love God at the same time.
The gospel calls for its hearers to respond. It leaves us with a decision to make. Are we going to continue in our rebellion against God and try to run our lives our own way without God? Of course the end result of this is God giving us what we ask for and deserve; eternal condemnation in Hell. Or, for those who see themselves as undeserving and helpless, there is an opportunity to turn back to God and appeal for mercy, trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15 ESV
“testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” Acts 20:21 ESV
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12 ESV
So there are basically two options: (1) Continue to reject God’s rule and live life your own way, and thus face God’s judgment and just condemnation, or (2) Submit your life to King Jesus and rely on His life, death and resurrection to be declared righteous before God, and thus receive forgiveness and eternal life. What will you choose?
Jesus openly invites you to come to Him and receive underserved forgiveness (See Matthew 11:28-29, John 1:12-13). God is rich in mercy and love (See Psalm 86:5, 15). However you must come to Him on His terms.
Repentance and faith is the attitude that God produces in the heart of a sinner that says “I can’t save myself, but Jesus Christ can, so I am going to stand on who He is and what He did for me to be saved.”
“Where sin is not acknowledged, there is no help or remedy; for he who thinks himself whole when he is sick seeks no physician.” - Martin Luther
What is Faith?
The offer of salvation is to be received by faith (trust) alone. Faith is a complete simple dependence on Christ through trusting in who He is according to Scripture and what the Bible says He alone did on your behalf. Anything we “do” or bring of our own will only lead to God’s wrath and not His forgiveness since all we do is tainted with sin. The gospel is God’s promise, and anyone who believes it receives it.
Believe the gospel is true. Believe Jesus is who He says he is. Believe you need to be rescued. Believe that Jesus can save you, and that He desires to save you, and that He will save you. Believe that Jesus’ work secured that rescue. Believe he rose from the dead and is alive. Reach out and grasp this as your only hope. Lean upon Him and entrust to Him your life. Always remember that it’s not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that saves you.
What is Repentance?
Repentance is a change of mind and heart about sin and your commitment to sin. Repentance is seeing sin as wrong, and seeing yourself as a wretched sinner in need of Jesus. It’s a heart attitude that says, “I’m lost! I can’t save myself! I need a savior! I don’t want to sin anymore! I want to follow Jesus Christ instead! Help Lord. I surrender all to you! Save Me! Change Me!”
Repentance carries the idea of turning around or changing direction. Sin is rebelling against God and His rule over our life. To repent is to turn back to God and to embrace Him and His rule and authority over our life. Repentance is simply giving up. Stop fighting against God and stop attempting to gain your own salvation through your own works. Just give up and fall upon Christ.
It’s important to note that the call to repent of sins is not the same as stopping all sin in order to be saved. Rather repentance is the beginning of and a progressive ongoing move toward holiness. It’s about direction, not perfection. Forsaking and overcoming sin is a lifelong battle that takes place throughout our lives and won’t end until we see Jesus face to face.
Also, understand that repentance and faith does not earn you salvation. This is not what saves you. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is what saves you. Repentance and faith is simply (1) a responsive change God produces in your heart (See 2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 16:14), and (2) how God requires you come to Him to receive this righteousness (See John 1:12).
True repentance and faith will grow deeper and continue throughout the rest of your life as you follow Christ. Repentance and faith starts as a seed before it blossoms. The fruit of genuine repentance and faith is that it produces good works, but good works are not the same thing as repentance and faith.
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8 ESV
“repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance” Acts 26:20 ESV
Being saved from your sin also means that God will give you power to leave sin and grow in holiness and love. You are going to be empowered and called to leave your old life behind. Again, this isn’t what saves you. Changing your life is not what responding to the gospel is, but it is what being saved will result in. If you don’t want to follow Jesus and leave your sins, than you can’t be saved. Real repentance and faith manifests itself in a changed life, and if a person goes on living a life of unrepentant sin it should be a very grave indication that their profession may be false.
“They told the Indians only of Christ’s present glory and power. In this way they pretended to win them over to faith in Christ. By hiding from them what might discourage them they preached a false Christ. … Cursed is the person who encourages you to come to Christ and allows you to think that you can still indulge one sin in your life. I am not saying that when you come to Christ you will at once be absolutely and perfectly free from all sin. But in your heart and by a holy determination you must daily mortify all sin as grace enables you. Your choice of Christ must be wholehearted with no thought of turning back to some favourite sin. It is either God or the world, Christ or Satan, holiness or sin. They cannot be reconciled (2 Corinthians 6:15-18).” - John Owen
What Makes Our Response to the Gospel Possible?
Given what Scripture teaches about sin, it is not surprising that God must do a supernatural work in our hearts before we can be truly converted.
The Bible teaches that the natural condition of man is one of sinful hostility toward God. We are “dead in our sins”. This means that like a corps, in our natural condition we are willingly cold, lifeless, and unresponsive toward our Creator and His offer of salvation in the gospel and powerless to change ourselves.
“1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV
“19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” John 3:19-20 ESV
If this is the case of man than how do we respond to the gospel at all? It is here that the gracious nature of salvation becomes even more amazing: God acts, so that we can act.
Chosen in eternity past
God’s saving actions begin before creation when He chose us and determined that He would save us, not on account of any foreseen merit or virtue in us, but only because of His sovereign good pleasure.
“”Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards.” I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” Charles Spurgeon
“4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:48 ESV
A. Effectively called
God’s choosing of us eventually results in His calling us and drawing us to Himself. This is often called “effective calling”. This happens as God invites and draws sinners to Himself by His Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel. While God is the one who draws us, this does not mean that a person is somehow saved apart from their own willing response to the gospel. Through the grace of God, the “divine summons” of God brings about the response it requires.
“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” Romans 8:30 ESV
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” John 6:44 ESV
B. Regenerated (“born again”) by the Spirit
When God calls us, He then changes our heart so that we can freely respond. This change is called regeneration. In regeneration, God acts secretly in which He imparts new spiritual life to us which anables us to willingly believe the gospel and repent of our sins. Sometimes this is what’s called being “born again”.
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” Colossians 2:13 ESV
“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”” John 3:3 ESV
“Any gospel preaching that relies upon an act of the human will for the conversion of sinners has missed the mark. Any sinner who supposes that his will has the strength to do any good accompanying salvation is greatly deluded and far from the kingdom. We are cast back upon the regenerating work of the Spirit of the living GOD to make the tree good. Unless GOD does something in the sinner, unless GOD creates a clean heart and renews a right spirit within man, there is no hope of a saving change.” - Walter J. Chantry
C. We must act, but God gets the glory
God is responsible for all of the saving and so He gets all the credit. This does not mean that we do not play a role in it. We have genuine feelings and we have the real capability to think and make real choices that matter and that have real consequences. So we have a real response, but God is still responsible for all of it so that He can get all the credit and glory.
“What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand!” - George Whitefield
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:37 ESV
“For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”… For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” Romans 10:11, 13 ESV
“Behold, what manner of love is this, that Christ should be arraigned and we adorned, that the curse should be laid on His head and the crown set on ours.” - Thomas Watson
“To the question: what must I do to be saved? The old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon and peace; and exchanging one’s natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one’s heart by the Holy Ghost.” - J.I. Packer
