The Gospel

The spiritual laxness in many of our churches should burden every concerned Christian. Multitudes who claim to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ show no noticeable change in their lives. Yet the Bible clearly states that Christ produces a radical change in the lives of those who receive Him. They were once in darkness, now they are light. They have been born again, regenerated, and become new creations. These are radical, life altering changes! Still too few show any interest at all in spiritual things. Many attend church only when they have nothing else to do. Can you help but wonder, “Why?” Since the Gospel really is God’s power unto salvation (Rom.1:16) why do so many claim to have received the Gospel but are still unchanged? While I cannot go into all the details about what is wrong, one thing is certain—God and His Word have not changed. Since the Gospel was changing lives when Paul wrote Romans, it still has the power to change lives now. So why aren’t we seeing more changes than we do?

I believe we have presented the Gospel either wrongly or that what we are presenting is not really the Gospel at all. Most people start out by telling lost men and women that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. Then because most lost people think that they are already pretty good they readily accept the fact that God loves them. Having received this message, they begin planning their own lives without taking God into account. They seem to think that God sends whatever successes or wealth they obtain. Then when they face hardships they abandon God and His church since they are still centered on themselves. They do not deny themselves, neither are they willing bear any cross, and certainly they do not follow Jesus. Luke 9:23. Jesus and Paul never started with God’s love; they always began by showing sinners their sin. You will find no place in the Gospels where Jesus begins by telling sinners He loved them. But certainly He did and does love us! John 3:16. The closest we come is John 3:16. But Jesus said this after Nicodemus realized that it was impossible to enter the kingdom on His own. And even then it was a general statement that Jesus loved the world.

So if we don’t start out with the “God loves you plan,” what do we do? We begin where Jesus and Paul did—with the law. People need to see their sinfulness or they will never see the need to repent. Until they see that they have broken God’s law and offended the thrice holy God, continue being deceived—thinking that they are saved when they may not be. Their last state is worse than the first. Consider a couple of examples. Mark 10:17-22 tells of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus enquiring what he needed to do to have eternal life. Our Lord immediately took him to the law. (10:19) But the young man still didn’t understand, since he thought that he’d kept all of the law’s requirements. Jesus loved him enough to tell him the truth. He needed to get rid of whatever possessions he had that kept him from taking up his cross and following Jesus. Our Lord’s style of evangelism is far different from many today. Jesus did not start with love—the young man and all of us who are converted must be convicted of our sin. God uses the law as the tool for that. In the book of Romans Paul does the same thing that Jesus did. Paul takes almost three chapters to convince readers that all have sinned and come short of God’s glory. Only then does he show that faith in Christ provides the way to escape the law’s punishment for sin. For an example he points to Abraham—Abraham was a sinner (he worshipped idols), but a radical change took place when he trusted God. Romans 4:16 says that we must have the same kind of faith that Abraham had—faith that shows that a radical change has taken place.

Note: Those who already broken over their sin are ready to be led to the cross and God’s love. The general rule is: the law should be applied to those who think highly of themselves (pride which God hates), and grace to those who are broken by their sin.