THE title of this new year message describes the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is truly glorious. The world in general is pleased to despise this Gospel and sees no glory in it, yet for those who receive it and come to know it, it is the most glorious thing the world has ever known, and more precious than anything and everything that can be found in the world. People spend enormous time and energy to obtain treasure they perceive in life, but ignore and pass by this glory, the Gospel of Jesus, which is a greater treasure than all the world can put together. In a world that is becoming increasingly broken and frightening, the Gospel of Jesus is the one possession which brings solid comfort, assurance and safety for the soul, in time and eternity, and this is the glory that is opened up to us in these words which inspired Paul and which God has pointed me to for 2008.
This glory of the Gospel I can see in my mind and appreciate in my soul, but how to communicate this glory is not so easy for me. In this dilemma I have I would share with you a way this glory has been enhanced for me, which is by seeing in the message text for 2008 the various words and phrases which explain the glory of the Gospel.
GOOD NEWS.
The Gospel is good news. This is what the word 'gospel' means. The Gospel, however, is not another good news in the midst of many pieces of good news. The Gospel is the best good news, the most powerful good news, and good news which is lasting through time to eternity.
If this world needs anything it needs good news. The world is full of bad news in the sense that it is news that tells of disaster and evil. Most of the news we hear is bad news, and this speaks of how broken and full of disaster our world has become. People are frightened. There is some good news around which lifts the spirit for a short time, but this is rare.
The Gospel is good news because it tells of certainty which gives real lasting hope in the midst of life where hope is diminishing, and in which there is no answer to the bad news of death which hangs over us all, and comes to all at some time in our lives. The Gospel is good news which gives strength to face life in this world, and peace in the troubles which we are unable to avoid in this world.
TRUTH.
The Gospel is glorious because it is true. We use the word gospel to express truth in other spheres in life. We say something is 'gospel' by which we mean that it can be relied on as true and not a deception or a lie. Gospel speaks of truth and is truth that endures. The Gospel is truth that can never be corrupted or diminished.
The Gospel can be relied on whereas we are finding increasingly that things can't be relied on in the world. In life we receive a piece of news, perhaps some new legislation or promise proposed and passed in government which is said to be true. On inspection and digging deeper into this truth, we find that it is not true in a complete and objective way, and this is because the promise is hedged about with caveats, which take away from the truth of the statement originally made. The Gospel is totally true and there is no caveats, and this adds to its glory.
POWER OF GOD.
The glory of the Gospel is that it is a demonstration of the power of God. The Gospel tells of the power of God active in the world to bring eternal blessing to those who receive the Gospel.
Good things in life come to us through power exercised in some way, usually power of human beings singly or corporately. Government gives good news sometimes when it provides some positive benefit for its citizens, and this good news can be received with delight because the government has power to provide the benefit. The Gospel is glorious because the good news it speaks of is provided by and offered through the power of God. This means that it can never fail, and it gives exactly what it says it will. God's power can't fail because it is almighty, and no power in earth or heaven can overcome the power of God.
We see the power of God in the world when some natural disaster hits a region and brings devastation and suffering. This is the power of God demonstrated in the world in judgement. The Gospel is glorious because it is the active power of God to bring blessing for time and eternity.
The glory of the Gospel is that it is a demonstration of God's power active in the world to pour out blessing and joy. It is the power of God active to keep those who receive the Gospel in that blessing, and to protect from all that would take that blessing away.
The glory of the Gospel is that it is the power of God, not only to provide the blessing and joy, but active thereafter to keep us in the blessing for all eternity. Once we have received the Gospel, the power God is active in our lives to protect us from all things – the world, the flesh, the devil, and death, and is like an invincible forcefield that can never be broken.
A verse from a hymn by Toplady expresses this fact -
The work which his goodness began,
The arm of his strength will complete.
His promise is 'Yea' and 'Amen',
And never was forfeit yet.
SALVATION.
The glory of the Gospel is that it is good news of Salvation. It is good news which tells us that salvation has been provided and is offered freely, and is a salvation that is complete and full and eternal.
The glory of the Gospel is that it is good news of the best salvation and one salvation that we really need. We are saved from all sorts of things in life, but the salvation which is in the Gospel is the greatest and the best. We can be saved from sickness by the skill of a doctor of medicine. We can be saved from an accident by the courage and quickness of one who rescues us. We can be saved from an unwise action by timely wise advice given. All such salvations as these are good and gratefully received, but the salvation of the Gospel is a salvation that goes beyond anything else in this world.
Here we have to face the truth which most people refuse to accept and laugh at as rubbish. The salvation which is offered by the Gospel is a salvation which people refuse to accept is needed. It is salvation from the wrath of God poured out on each one of us because we have fallen short of the holy standard that God, our creator, requires of us. The tragedy is that our modern world denies that God even created this universe, and they certainly deny that we are in any danger from his wrath. To many, if not most, who accept God as creator, he is not a God who judges us because we fall short of his standards, but rather they believe in a god who is like a great teddy bear who pats us on the head and says 'I love you and it does not matter how you behave.' The tragedy is that the only reliable revelation of God, the Bible, tells us plainly that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and unrighteousness of of mankind, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Romans 1:18). The glory of the Gospel is that it tells us the good news that this same God who pours out his wrath on all sin, has provided a salvation that will save us completely from his wrath against our sin.
The glory of the Gospel is hidden from most folk because they have no conception of the fact that they are sinners before God, and have no understanding of what an offence their sin is to the purity and holiness of God, and that they are under the condemnation of God and destined for death and hell. The glory of the Gospel is that in the Gospel there is salvation from sin, Satan, death and hell, and it is a salvation that saves us completely from these awful consequences of sin, and restores us to fellowship with God, removes his wrath from us, washes us so that we are pure in the sight of God, and restores us to a God's favour and the privilege of being called children of God, and heirs of his everlasting kingdom. This glorious good news includes the fact that God becomes our Father and ceases to be our judge, and his love and protection is around us throughout this earthly life, and that he has pledged that he will bring us to eternal life in his heavenly kingdom for ever.
SIMPLE.
Such tremendous blessing as this glorious Gospel proclaims surely must be difficult to receive and come at great cost. Everything in this life that is worth anything is costly. However, though the cost of this salvation was infinitely costly, the suffering of Christ of our death and punishment in hell, yet we are not required to pay any of the cost, and the way to receive this salvation is simple and not complicated. All that is asked is that we receive it thankfully as a gift offered to us by God's grace and love. There can be nothing so simple as this.
This receiving must include recognising our desperate need of salvation, that we are sinners doomed to die. In this receiving there must be confession of the justness of our doom and a real acceptance with sorrow that our sin deserves nothing but such doom, but the receiving is simply reaching out in faith, believing the word of God that it is offered freely, and resting our hope and soul upon Jesus and the promise that he has won eternal life for us.
This is something everyone can do. It requires no great intellect or physical strength. It requires no long labours or complicate rules. It is simply receive the gift with thankful hearts.
REJOICING.
The glory of the Gospel is that it brings to all who receive it great joy. We experience what Paul calls the joy and peace in believing. It lifts the burden of guilt and fear of God. It gives peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul expressed this when he said 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel'. By this he meant that I glory in the Gospel. I rejoice in the Gospel. I am thrilled with the Gospel, because it brings to my soul everlasting hope, and certainty, and it brings me into the everlasting love of God. The Gospel gives us joy and comfort when we face death. It gives us joy which is not taken away even when everything else in life seems black and hopeless. It gives eternal hope, and the presence of Jesus as our shepherd through the valley of the shadow of death.
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The Gospel is the power of God for salvation says the apostle because it reveals a righteousness from God and a righteousness of God, that is equal to the righteousness that is in God. This is why Paul rejoices and is not ashamed of the Gospel. He tells us this in the next verse following our text.
The wrath of God is poured out on all human beings because we are unrighteous, that is defiled and corrupt and soiled before God. With all the good we may feel we have, we are still unrighteous before God, and unless we can be righteous before God and in the eyes of God, we are lost and cast out of the presence of God. The glory of the Gospel is that it reveals a righteousness that is perfect in God's sight. It is a righteousness that we contribute nothing to and is outside of us, but a righteousness that is provided as a gift which we can receive, and by faith put on, so that all our sins are covered, even blotted out, and in the sight of God the judge of all the earth we appear with no sin staining us, and absolutely pure.
This wonderful righteousness is provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. He worked it by his life and his death. In our place he lived the life which God requires of us all, and then as a sinless sacrifice he offered himself to God as a propitiation. This means that he took responsibility for all our sins, and accepted the just wrath of God against those sins to fall upon himself. By this act he purged our sins and won everlasting righteousness for us. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead proves that he was a total propitiation for our sins, and exhausted all the wrath of God against our sins, completely and for ever.
The cost of providing this righteousness Jesus bore in his body in his life and on the cross, and by faith we submit ourselves to this righteousness, and renounce any trust in ourselves to produce righteousness acceptable to God. The glory of the Gospel is this provision of righteousness by which we are accounted righteous before God for ever.
SUPPLIES OUR NEED.
The glory of the Gospel is that it supplies all our need and our greatest need. Our greatest need is to be reconciled to God; to be saved from the wrath of God and eternal damnation. In the Gospel is the supply of all our need through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the future which lie before us in 2008 and all that the future may bring, we have in the Gospel a glory that is our salvation whatever the year may bring, and every year in the future, and eternity as well.
