The Gospel: Part Five By Pastor Luis R. Scott I have presented several practical reasons that affirm that the Bible and Jesus’ resurrection are the eternal truths that reveal God’s salvation plan and reveal that Jesus is the vehicle through which God accomplished His purpose to offer eternal life to all who believe. Before moving on I think it is necessary to define the word Gospel. The word itself comes from the Greek word euangelion—that literally means “good new.” From a biblical perspective the good news is that God would take action to change the “bad news.” What is the bad news? Moses described the bad news this way: God created Adam and Eve to be in fellowship with Him and to supervise the creation. God told Adam that He had given them free will so they could relate freely and openly. God said: “the only way we can be true friends is if the friendship is based on a free decision you can make without Me forcing you to make it”, and God saw it was good and Adam understood the responsibility that God had placed on his hands. And then God said: “This free will I have given you can be corrupted if you choose to violate the purpose for which I created you. If you violate my purpose for your life, we cannot be in fellowship. Additionally, the breaking of our fellowship will bring death to you on this earth and eternal separation from me in eternity. So, pay close attention to what I am saying—DO NOT choose to believe that you can sustain your own life on your own.” In other words, God said, stay away from the temptation that you can become a god. You are my creation and I am your God. As long as you can keep this distinction clear, you will be in my presence for eternity. If you choose to believe otherwise someone else will rule over you, and you will be on your own. Well, we know how the story ended. The serpent offered Adam to become a god and Adam, the idiot, believed the serpent. They ate the freaking apple (exercised their free will to reject God’s lordship over their lives) and here we are in a humongous mess of people believing that right is wrong and evil is good. People are still trying to convince themselves that in spite of the damage and destruction we have caused we are still in control of our lives. That’s the bad news—people have rejected God’s lordship and they are condemned to spend eternity separated from God. What is the good news? The good news is that in spite of our decision to reject God’s lordship over our lives God loves so much that He designed a plan to restore us back to fellowship with Him and to eternal life (John 3:16). God’s plan was fairly complicated because it required that for the sake of His love for us, HE had to suffer in His own soul the sentence of death that we had brought upon ourselves. After God experienced death, through the person of Jesus Christ, the Father raised Jesus from the dead so that HE could offer the gift of eternal life to those who freely choose to accept it. The decision to reject God’s lordship was freely taken by Adam. The decision to accept God’s lordship again has to be freely made. God’s free gift of eternal is a trade. If we accept Jesus’ death as the payment for our sins and accept His life as the gift of reconciliation with God, we will the gift of eternal life. This is the Gospel: without God’s lordship every person is on death row waiting for all the appeals to be exhausted (Romans 3:23). I believe that the Holy Spirit will make one final appeal for repentance to every individual when they are confronted with the immanence of death. On their deathbeds many who had heard the Gospel but had not taken it seriously will repent, and God will save more people using this method than we can possibly imagine. We preach the good news (the Gospel) so that everyone can hear about God’s plan to restore people to fellowship with Him. Not everyone responds immediately to the Gospel. As a matter of fact, only a small percentage will accept the good news upon hearing the message. We preach so that the Holy Spirit can make one final appeal on the person’s deathbed. There the Holy Spirit will whisper to the dying person—Do you remember that man that told you about salvation through Jesus? Well, he was right, and I am here to tell that your last appeal to the God’s Great White Throne is about to be heard. DO you want to reconsider your initial rejection of God’s lordship? Do you want to choose God’s lordship before the hearing is held? If you do, the death penalty will be lifted and you will live eternally in God’s presence, which was His original plan. How do you plead? Some will accept the invitation and some will reject. The ones that accept will enter into God’s presence. The ones that reject will receive their wish—to live eternally separated from God. This is the Gospel in a nutshell: People do not have to die. Make sure YOU go to church this Sunday and give and glory to God, the Lord of your life.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 16:04:05 +0000
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