It seems that these days you can ask any amount of Christians/Christ followers/believers “What is the Gospel?” and get a lot of different answers, I thought I would post sermons/teachings that focus specifically on that question. Here is the first, by D. A. Carson. Click the link below to listen with Quicktime. Right Click and select “Save As” to download the file to you computer.
NOTE: You might end up just listening the first time and listening to it while taking notes the second time. I did.
“There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the Gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the Gospel.
The Gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness – or lack of it – or the righteousness of another.
The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.
The great misconception in our day is this: that God isn’t concerned to protect His own integrity. He’s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead – so that Christ died for us, He was raised for our justification. So the Gospel is something objective. It is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. And it also has a subjective dimension.
How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith – and by faith alone. The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and death is by putting your trust in Him – and in Him alone. You do that, you’re declared just by God, you’re adopted into His family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your pilgrimage for eternity.”
For the Blogging Bible Study, and anyone else who wants to jump in.
In Galatians Chapter 5 we have Paul’s solution to problem of returning to the law, as well as a description of the conflict in the life of the one who has been saved by grace, but also has to contend with his/her fleshly tendencies.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” – vv. 16-17
Paul describes both the “works” of the flesh and the “fruit” of the Spirit. The terms “works” and “fruit” for the the manifestation/outworking of the flesh and Spirit points to the external/internal aspects of works/fruit. Fascinating and “spot on” use of terms.
Then he summarizes with this:
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” v. 25
What Paul does not tell us is “how” we put into practice living and “walking” by the Spirit. He tells us “what” we should do, but not “How” to do it.
So the obvious question here is: How do we live and walk by the Spirit, keeping in step with the Holy Spirit living within us, so we no longer follow the impulse of the flesh? Verse 16, “. . .walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, seems to say that it’s somehow natural that when we walk by the Spirit we won’t succumb to the desires of the flesh. The “supernatural” working of the Spirit of God in the heart of a believer produces a “natural” result.
So HOW do we walk by the Spirit? What’s the key?
I have been struggling lately with something I have taken for granted for a few decades that no longer seems to be accepted fact in much of today’s evangelical Protestant Church. If you are not sure exactly what that is, from the title of this blog post, it’s that Scripture , in and of itself, is not very clear!
I’m won’t get into the various manifestations of what I’m talking about there; some who I am certain will read this would take it as personal criticism, although I assure you that is not the case. Instead, I would like to offer the following introduction to a longer article on the perspicuity (clarity) of scripture, after which is a simple chart showing biblical teaching about the clarity of scripture.
The following is excerpted from an article in The Master’s Seminary Journal published in the fall of 2004:
The Perspicuity of Scripture
Larry D. Pettegrew
Professor of Theology
The perspicuity or clarity of Scripture in its relation to almost all areas of systematic theology is affected by postmodern hermeneutics that fail to respect the
authority of Scripture. The doctrine raises a number of questions difficult to answer in a brief span, but two very basic issues are the meaning of the doctrine of perspicuity and the long-range historical context in which the doctrine has arisen.
The basic doctrine means that the Bible can be understood by people through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and that people need to search the Scripture and judge for themselves what it means.
Scripture itself attests its own perspicuity, but not to the point that it cannot be misunderstood or is in every point equally simple and clear. The doctrine does not rule out the need for interpretation, explanation, and exposition of the Bible by qualified leaders.
The doctrine does mean that Scripture is clear enough for the simplest person, deep enough for highly qualified readers, clear in its essential matters, obscure in some places to people because of their sinfulness, understandable through ordinary means, understandable by an unsaved person on an external level, understandable in its significance by a saved person through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and available to every believer whose faith must rest on the Scriptures.
Historically, debates about perspicuity have related to Marcion’s attack on the OT, the fathers’ denial of OT perspicuity, covenant theology’s subordination of the OT to the NT, and the medieval church’s attack on biblical perspicuity. The Reformers, the Protestant scholastics, and the German pietists supported the doctrine which is of primary importance for the practice of contemporary Christians.
| Scripture is clear because: | Scriptural Reference: |
| Scripture is light. | “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105).“And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place . . .” (2 Pet 1:19a). |
| Scripture is profitable. | “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). |
| Scripture explains salvation. | “. . . the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15b). |
| Scripture is addressed to common people, not religious experts. | “Hear, O Israel” (Deut 6:4).“The common people heard Him [Jesus] gladly” (Mark 12:37, NKJV).“to the saints who are in Ephesus” (Eph 1:1).“with all those who in every p lace call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:2). |
| Parents can teach scripture to their children. | “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut 6:6-7). |
| Even a child can understand Scripture’s message. | “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. . . ” (2 Tim 3:14-15a). |
| Scripture tests the accuracy of religious ideas. | “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if tese things were so” (Acts 17:11). |
Charmaine at the Blogged Bible Study asked this question in here post for today:
“How do we know that Christ is formed in us? ”
The question arose from a passage of the weekly reading in Galatians 4:
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth, until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” vv 19-20
I’m sure there are some good answers around that also go to the question, “How do we know we are saved?”, but the first thing that came to mind was this passage of scripture:
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Rom 8:29
Somewhere back in time, God predetermined that He would have a people that would be conformed to His Son’s image and brought then He brought it about. that “conforming to the image of the Son” is Christ being formed in us.
For those who have received Christ as Savior and Lord, it is happening already, and for those who are being drawn to the Cross it is a promise that it will happen when they do receive their Savior.
So that’s an objective look at the question.
If you are reading this, what say you?
Question for the Blogged Bible Study
Two sons born to Abraham, one son strictly from a union of flesh representing the law, and the son of promise representing the Messiah to come. God even referred to Isaac as Abraham’s only son.
“Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”” – Gen 22:2
I looked up seven translations/versions of the Bible and found thal all but one (The Message) used the term only son, referring to Isaac. Abraham had two sons, and God actually conferred a blessing on Ishmael after he was cast out of Abraham’s camp, along with his mother.
What might God’s reference to Isaac as Abraham’s only son signify to us as believers? I don’t think Is there a principal there that we can apply to our lives?
And by the way, I’m still working on it, in case you think I would be asking questions for which I thought I had an answer.
🙂
Another Blogging Bible Study (BBS) question from Galatians
It is by faith we are saved, not through works of the law – Paul’s teaching to everyone, everywhere he preached. There is perhaps nothing more clearly taught in scripture. Abraham believed God and his faith was counted/accounted/credited/reckoned to him as righteousness. Christ had not yet appeared on the scene.
Yet Jesus said:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
and
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” – John 3:18
The ‘inclusivists’ among us will say that as long as one believes in God, or a creator/supreme being he/she will eventually spend eternity in bliss. They sometimes use Abraham as biblical ‘proof’ of their claim. They will even say that Christ died for ‘sin’ in a very broad sense, so that is it not necessary to have ever heard of Christ, or the name of the Son of God. One needs only believe in a supreme creator/being – they are still going ‘through’ Christ.
Here’s the question:
Did Abraham somehow believe in Christ before Christ was born?
If your answer is yes, what was it that God told Abraham and Abraham believed, that might provide a clue as to how that is possible?
Dan
A small group of believers I know here in Blogland engage in discussion about certain portions of scripture and are currently blogging through Paul’s letter to the Galatians, with it’s central theme of Justification by Faith. One of the two Monday contributors made a couple of comments that simply beg for thoughtful consideration. Thanks Dale! I encourage you to read Dale’s blog post.
The thought provoking comments that invite serious thought and discussion are these:
“I am not saved because I accepted Jesus. I am saved because Jesus died for my sins!!! I was saved 2000 years ago!”
We are not saved because we made a decision to accept Jesus. We are saved because Christ died for our sins. The death and resurrection of Christ is the core of the gospel message (1 Cor 15:1-4), and it was Christ’s death 2000 years ago, in our place, that secured the salvation all those would believe in Christ and become the true children of God spoken of in John 1:12-23.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” – Jesus
So we have the fact that 2,000 years ago Jesus paid the price for our sin, as well as a point in time when a person comes to faith in Christ and is “born of God”. We also have John 3:16 that tells us that those who believe will inherit eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – Jesus
Here we have a picture of both the sovereignty of God in salvation and our responsibility to believe and make a decision out of our human will. We are not “born again” because of our decision, but it is only from the moment one believes (requiring an operation of human will), that we are truly a child of God.
How is it that we are not saved because we accepted Christ by an act of human decision/will, yet we must believe, (a real decision is involved) in order to be born of the Spirit of God and become His children? Assume both halves of the question to be true.
This is an open discussion. If you read this and have a question, even if it’s “What does it matter, as long as we are saved?”
Found on a professing Christian’s blog:
“Scripture is written word. It doesn’t become truth until it is read and interpreted. That interpretation is a personal opinion. To think that there is some sort of “universal” interpretation that does not rely on individual interpretation is naive. We only get close to that when the interpretations of many individuals all agree; then we can be fairly certain that we’ve hit upon a real truth. So, when I ask for your position, I’m asking for your interpretation of the Bible in order to see if it matches up with my interpretation. If we can agree on our interpretations, we’re closer to discovering the truth.”
When I first read that, I thought that perhaps by ‘truth’ the author was referring to our application of the truth already in scripture rather than ‘truth’ itself, as the words express. After explaining to the author that truth is already contained in scripture and interpretation is mostly about discovering the inherent truth, I received a distinct affirmation of the ridiculous assertion that God’s truth is indeed about our consensus of what we think it means, and that scripture is not truth until we decide what that truth is, and the larger the consensus the better.
This is not to say that every passage of scripture is perfectly clear to our human minds. We do need to study a bit – the context, other passages that speak about a topic/subject, and even consult outside research tools that aid in obtaining a more complete understanding of what we read. Indeed, as the author of the above quotation rightly asserts, we do need to be involved in reading and interpreting scripture. Even when we are so involved, we need the Holy Spirit (our embedded instructor) to illuminate the inherent truth of scripture to our minds and hearts.
The matter at hand, is not whether scripture interpretation is needed, but whether or not the written word, the words in the Book, contain truth.
I give you the words of Jesus shortly before his crucifixion:
“For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. . . . I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. . . . Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” – John 17:8, 14, 17
Who among us believers would deny that Jesus spoke the very word of God to His followers? (I hope that’s a rhetorical question.) Assuming a resounding YES, the only question left is whether or not God’s word (truth) made it into written form. Paul told young Timothy:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Did God ensure, by divine inspiration, that what was written would actually contain truth? Paul certainly thought so. It takes a very low opinion of God to believe that He was unable to make that happen!
Perhaps my young friend will discuss the matter further here, but I doubt it. I am confident he will be reading this (he knows where I live in Blogland), but since I’ve been asked to just ‘go away’ for being a trouble maker, I somehow doubt it. Maybe what he said at his place about wanting to discover truth was well, just ‘words’.
God is completely sovereign over the affairs of men, including their eternal destiny, AND man is responsible and accountable for the decision to believe in or reject Christ as Lord and Savior.
Scripture teaches both. You can accept that or not – no spoon-feeding on the matter provided here. If you don’t like the idea (and most folks probably won’t), even quoting directly from scripture will be labeled as just ‘my opinion’. Check it out for yourself. This writer hopes that your profession of Christ (if you are a Christ follower) would drive you into Scripture to see exactly what God has revealed to us about the matter, and having done that, just believe it and leave the mystery of it all to God’s secret will.
In the end you will believe what you want to believe, as do we all. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is that somewhere inside of the person who has trusted in Christ for salvation, there is a change in what we want to believe – there’s a new desire to believe what God reveals in scripture, even if we can’t wrap our human brains around it.
The Battle Cry 