THE GOSPEL
By Winston Pannell
Romans 1: 16-17
In Mark 16: 15-16; Jesus gave this
commandment to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that
believeth not shall be damned.” In Acts 1:2 Jesus gives this instruction to
his disciples; “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and
Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. In Matthew 24:14, Jesus
gives this prophesy: “and this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come.” In
Second Corinthians 11:4, the Apostle Paul gives this warning: “for if he
that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you
receive another spirit, which we have not received, or another gospel which you
have not accepted, you might well bear with him.”
Since our mandate from God to
preach the gospel is so clear, it behooves us to define the gospel we are to
preach. Is there room for compromise in our definition of the gospel? Can we
agree to disagree on an issue as vital as the truth in the gospel? God warns us
through the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:8 of the consequences of false gospels
and false preachers. “But though we, or and angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed.”
What is the gospel? What defines our gospel and sets it apart from other gospels?
Some define the gospel like this: God loves you, Christ died for you and the Holy Spirit is trying to save you if you’ll do your part. Others define the gospel like this: Christ’s righteousness imputed is the only ground of salvation BUT there’s more to it than this. God must work in you a holy nature. Some define it as a “promise” from God to save you at faith and repentance. They quote verses like Romans 4: 3; “For what sayeth the scriptures? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” God did make a promise to Abraham, based on a righteousness Christ would establish for him, by his substitutionary death on the cross 2000 years later. Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory unto God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Salvation was by promise to Abraham and all the Old Testament saints. They looked forward to the incarnation and death of Christ to establish righteousness in the earth whereby God saved his people. The message of all the old testament prophets was that of the Prophet Daniel who declared;
Daniel 9:24 “seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, (He was wounded for our transgressions) and to make an end to sins, (He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself) and to make reconciliation for iniquity,(He reconciled us unto himself through the body of his death) and to bring in everlasting righteousness,(Christ is the end of the law for righteousness) and to seal up the vision and prophesy,(Christ is the Antitype of all the types and the end of all prophesy) and to anoint the most Holy.” This prophesy was fulfilled in Christ’s advent into human history and all the old testament saints looked forward to his coming; “having all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.” Hebrews 11:13
Surely we can see that the message has changed since the cross. Sinners no longer look to a time when Christ will come and establish a righteousness necessary to salvation. That happened 2000 years ago. The message today is Christ has come, he has obeyed the law, he has satisfied law and justice, he has suffered, bled and died, he has redeemed his people, he is risen and seated at the Fathers right hand, reigning over his kingdom as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The gospel we preach is more than
a promise. It is the declaration of a finished work accomplished by Christ for
his people. It is not a promise of something to happen later. “Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law. HOW? “Being made a curse for us.”
WHEN? When he died on the tree; “for it is written, cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree.” How was he cursed? By the sins of his people charged
to him, imputed to him. He “knew no sin” personally. “He was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” in his character and conduct. “He
offered himself without spot.”
The gospel defines and declares for us what Christ accomplished on the cross. In Romans 1:16-17 it declares three things. It declares to ALL of God’s people, freedom from the:
The gospel declares our freedom from the PENALTY of sin. V-17a “for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.” This righteousness revealed in the gospel is the fruit and result of perfect satisfaction, which Christ rendered to Gods law and justice, and removed (past tense) the penalty of sin from everyone for whom it was established.
Luke 18:10 Jesus tells the story here of a Pharisee and a Publican who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself; “God I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” The Pharisee’s confidence in his acceptance with God was based on his religious zeal, his law keeping. He attributed his moral attributes to God. “God, I thank thee.” He’s like the preacher in Matthew 7 who said; “didn’t I prophesy in thy name?” Christ declared the preacher’s prophesying wicked works and he declares this Pharisee’s tithing and fasting wicked. Why? Is there anything wrong with fasting or tithing? Is there anything wrong with abstinence from extortion or adultery: Only if you perform them to recommend yourself to God. We ought to be generous with our money. We ought to abstain from every form of evil. But none of these will remove the penalty of our sin.
The Publican prayed thus; “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” The publican was made to see his sin problem and seek the only remedy for sin. Where did he find relief from the penalty of his sin? His plea was; “Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner: Lord PROPITIATE for me.”
What is the penalty for sin? God told Adam in the garden that of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” James 1:15 says; “then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” Adam’s lust (his desire to be as God), resulted in disobedience and his disobedience resulted in spiritual death. “The wages of sin is death;” spiritual, eternal death.
What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? What can free me from the penalty of sin: nothing but the blood of Jesus. The reason men die eternally is because the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is not imputed to them. That was the problem with the Pharisee. He trusted in his own righteousness and refused the righteousness God approves. He “trusted in himself that he was righteous:” and Jesus said; “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance.” The Publican prayed; Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.” He prayed the God would propitiate for him. That’s what the word “merciful” means. Lord, you atone for my sins. He saw what the writer of Romans saw in chapter 3; “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” He saw what John the Apostle saw in 1 John 2:2; Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.” He saw in this one a Substitute, a Surety, a Representative, a propitiation who would put away his sin by his death on the cross. That’s the only way a sinner can be justified and Jesus said of this man; he went down to his house justified.” V-14.
Romans 1: 17a says; “for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.” In the gospel, several important truths need emphasizing about this righteousness.
· It is revealed only in the true gospel
· It must be revealed. It is a mystery hidden from sinners by nature.
· It is God’s righteous requirement for salvation.
· It is the merit of Christ’s whole work of mediation as Substitute, surety and Representative.
· It was established by the obedience, suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
· It is approved by God the Father as evidenced by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
· It made satisfaction to God’s holy law and justice.
· It enabled God to be both a just God and Savior.
· It brought full pardon from God and acceptance with God for all the heirs of grace.
The question of when the penalty of sin was removed and acceptance was given is controversial. Some say that God has done his part: the penalty is removed when you do your part. Others say Christ’s righteousness is the only ground but the penalty is removed when God does something in you. Still others say the penalty is removed when God enables you to do something. What say the scriptures?
· Hebrews 1:3. “Who, (Christ) being the brightness of his (God) glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.” Where did he purge our sins? At the cross. How do we know this? He sat down, having finished the work.
· Hebrews 9:26. For then must he often have suffered since the end of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” When did he put away sin? When he sacrificed himself.
· Hebrews 10:14. “for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.” When were we perfected? By his one offering. For how long? Forever.
· Romans 5:10. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ” When were we reconciled? When he died. “By the death of his Son.”
The scriptures are abundantly clear that we were justified, redeemed, sanctified, reconciled and adopted into Gods family at the cross. To make our change of standing with God to take place some other time or place is to accuse God of injustice and reject the preeminence of Christ in salvation. If my sins were charged to Christ and he put them away at the cross, how can a Holy God charge me one minute with them? He can’t and remain just. “God cannot twice justice demand, first at my bleeding Surety’s hand, and then mine.” If Christ didn’t finish the work he came to do, if he left something for me to do, or something for God to do in me, or something God would enable me to do, then he can’t have the preeminence in my salvation and God cannot be a Just God and Savior. He cannot be glorified.
This righteousness in 1:17, established by his obedience, suffering and death removes forever the penalty of our sins and secures us in a perfect standing with our God. God declares it so. When my sins were imputed to him on the cross and he put them away by his death, this righteousness was imputed to me and I stand in that righteousness alone for all my salvation, from election past to final glory in heaven. He declares me not guilty. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Who can condemn me? The answer: no one or no thing. Christ has redeemed me, and all he represented at the cross when he paid the penalty for our sins in full. Our gospel declares it so.
The gospel declares our
freedom from the power of sin. V-17a. “From faith to faith.”
Although our standing was fixed
and secure in Christ when he died on the cross, and we can never be brought
back under the penalty of our sin, our state is far from sinless. By
nature we are “alienated and enemies in our mind by wicked works.” By
nature we are under the power and influence of sin, evidenced by our “going
about seeking to establish a righteousness of our own,” in ignorance of
God’s righteousness in Christ. Left to our “free will” we will always choose
against God because our minds are enmity with God. We, like the Publican who
went to the temple to pray, must say of ourselves, “in me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” We must agree with God who said; “there
is none good, no not one.”
How can we say we are free from the power of sin when we, if we’re honest with ourselves must admit we sin every moment we live? How can we who “drink iniquity like water” (Job 15:16) say sin’s power is broken? The gospel does declare all who are regenerated, converted sinners free from the power of sin. Sin’s ability to hold sinners in ignorance, which results in enmity, which results in rebellion, is broken by the death of Christ. It is realized when we are brought to faith and repentance and made to see that the whole of our salvation, from election to final glory in heaven is conditioned on the finished work of Christ. Romans 1:17 say’s this righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith.” What is God saying here? From faith= from Holy Spirit wrought faith as God’s appointed way of sinners submitting to “the faith”; the righteousness of God imputed and a greater persuasion of this truth as the Lord continues to teach us. It is that subjective faith wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Holy Spirit looking only to that finished work of Christ on the cross.
By nature sinners cannot see this reality. They cannot understand the need of a satisfaction to Gods law and justice. They see no need of a righteousness imputed. Their minds are blinded by Satan to the glory of God in redemption. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that; “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, cannot shine unto them,” because Satan has blinded their minds. They are still bound by the power of sin.
Before regeneration and conversion sin has the power to:
· Deceive us concerning our sinfulness and the wickedness of our best efforts to keep the law. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” I saw my best efforts were wicked works.
· Keep our wills in bondage and hold us in unbelief. Now we can freely and gladly repent.
· Blind us to the glory of God in redemption. Now we “look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
· Hold us in legalism. Now we desire in some degree to obey God motivated by grace, love and gratitude.
· Condemn us. Now we see the law fulfilled. “Christ is the end of the law for Righteousness to everyone who believeth.”
· Condemn our works. Before justification the works we performed brought “forth dead works and fruit unto death.” Now, those same works bear fruit unto God because we are connected to the vine: Christ. We stand perfect before God in him.
For the regenerated sinner, this power is broken. We are liberated from thinking that something we do or is done in us or by us can break that power. We are dogmatic that Christ’s Righteousness alone, imputed to our account at the cross has forever broken this power over us. Do we still sin? Of course we do. Everything we touch is tainted with sin. Every thought we have, every breath we take is sinful. But, this sin can never bring us back under condemnation because all our sins are washed in the blood of Christ. We are not plagued with the uncertainty of our standing before God, but when doubts and fears come upon us, we go back to the word and hear Christ say; “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. How do we believe this to be so? It is revealed from faith to faith. We see in this righteousness all we need to bring us to final glory in heaven. It is revealed from faith to faith because “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world,” and the Holy Spirit will always take us back to the cross for “all our wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.” The gospel declares our freedom from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin and:
The gospel
declares our freedom from the presence of sin. V-17b: “the just shall
live by faith.”
Although we have been delivered from the penalty of sin and the power of sin, we are still plagued with the presence of sins on every hand. Jesus said in John 16:33; “These things have I spoken unto you, that you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulations; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” I believe part of this tribulation is our awareness of daily sins that overcome us. God say’s, even to those regenerated and converted sinners “that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Our best efforts to please God are sinful because we don’t obey perfectly. We don’t obey perfectly because we’re sinners. We have to, and do agree with the Apostle Paul who said of himself in Romans 7; “for the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. We find relief where Paul found it. “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.” We live “from faith to faith.” We live not because of our faith but because of Christ’s finished work to establish a perfect righteousness, which he freely imputes to all the heirs of grace. We live by that faith, that gospel, that body of doctrine, which exalts Christ as the Lord our Righteousness.
Because we’re such sinners, we can’t even begin to imagine what glory will be like. We can only believe what God’s word tells us concerning our future state in glory. He say’s in 1 Corinthians 2:9; “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.” Turn to 1 John 3:1-3.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.”
We have this promise from God that one day we shall be just like Christ. Now “we know in part and we prophesy in part,” but then “we shall know even as we are known.” Jesus prophesied to the preachers in Matthew 7; “I never knew you.” He said of his own; “my sheep hear my voice and I know them.” John 10:27 We shall know him as we are known of him.
We shall be able to love the Father and Christ perfectly. We shall be able to worship the Father and Christ perfectly and our song throughout the ages will be “worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” WHY? BECAUSE:
He has
removed the penalty of sin from us. “Therein is the righteousness of
God revealed.”
He has
removed the power of sin from us. “From faith to faith.”
He shall
remove the presence of sin from us. “The just shall live by faith.”
"Go
ye into al the world and preach this gospel.”