The Glorious Message of the Gospel

(unedited)

By Nick Bibile

The word gospel is translated from the Greek euaggelos, which means "good news." There are many church going Christians who have a very shallow view of the gospel. Although they have some burden for evangelism they miss the true meaning of the gospel many will tell the unbeliever, God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for you, pray the sinners prayer and you will have eternal life. As a result the churches are filled with lukewarm, worldly unconverted so called Christians. There is no true repentance, a changed life that will glorify our Lord.

Saved From the Wrath of God

Many are correct when they say gospel is the good news, but they are ignorant of the bad news, so they cannot give glory to the Lord for the good news. There is no good news without bad news. The bad news is due to sin man is not capable of going to heaven, and all are under the curse of the wrath of God. Salvation meaning saved from the wrath of God and now living unto God. (Romans 5:9)

All Have Sinned Against God (Romans 3:23, 5:12)

The wrath of God is connected to his holiness, righteousness and justice. God is infinitely holy and righteous and just a little bit of sin is a violation to his holiness. If you are wearing an expensive dazzling white suite, and a little ketchup falls while eating a hamburger, your suit is ruined. God is infinitely holy and just a little sin is enough for us to be sinners. There is nothing hidden in Gods sight, everything is open lay naked before him. (Hebrews 4:13) Which means he can see our inner thoughts, motives. As God is perfedct, holy, and righteous his standard for us his perfectness in holiness and righteousness. From the perspective of God we have sinned against him in thought and action. We have violated all his laws and we are guilty before his dazzling holy throne.

We Deserve Hell

The result is the wrath of God. God will punish the sinners in hell. But is not God loving and merciful? Yes, but also God will not compromise with sin. The Lord will not leave the guilty go unpunished. ( Nahum 1:3) If the judge in your town or city allow all the law breakers to go free, as he will tell the community, "I am a loving and a good judge, thats why I allow the law breakers to go out free." No, a good judge will punish the sinners. God is the Judge of the Universe and he will punish the sinners.

God is Holy

As God is infinitely holy his punishment will be infinite. If God is less holy then his punishment will be less. And if God is not holy then there will be no punishment. That is why the cults and the other religions will not believe in hell, as their gods are not holy. If you sin against a very poor man, you may be able to get away with a very less punishment or no punishment at all. But if you sin against the richest, the most popular man in the world, everyone will know and the punishment will be much great. In the same way the God owns the universe and he is infinitely powerful and righteous and sin against him deserves an infinite punishment.

Hell is a place of unquenchable fire, where the sinners will be tormented in their bodies and minds for eternity. Every part of the body will be tormented at the same time.

There is None Righteous

God is infinitely holy and righteous. We are un-holy and un-righteous. God will not live among the sinners. (Psalm 5:4) And Gods eyes are too pure to look and approve evil. (Habakkuk 1:3) We need to be infinitely righteous to be with the infinitely righteous God. How can this be! It is impossible. From the standard of God , there is no one righteous, not even one. (Romans 3:10) We all have sinned against him and we deserve to punished in hell.

The Good News

God who is rich in mercy provided a way of escape from his wrath. Yes, we can find righteousness, it is not our righteousness but a righteousness that is found in the gospel. This is the good news! "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed" (Romans 1:17) Why the gospel is called the good news, because we are saved from the wrath of God and can become righteous and this righteousness is in the gospel. The center of the gospel is Jesus Christ! The gospel is of Jesus. There is no gospel without Jesus.

Imputation of Righteousness

Through the sin of Adam, we all sinned. (Romans 5:12) Adam's sin was imputed to us. Adam was our representative, he was made holy and perfect but he sinned. "For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, also through the obedience of one man the many were made righteous." (Romans 5:19) We have broken the law of God, Jesus became our substitute as he became a man, and as a man he represented us. He was obedient to Gods law, as he came to fulfill the Law, which we have broken. (Matthew 5:17) We were not obedient to God, but Jesus representing us became subject to the Father. Adam failed the temptation in the garden of Eden, but Jesus overcame the power of temptation in the wilderness. Christ lived a perfect life. He was infinitely perfect and righteous.

An imputation means charging to another account. At the cross our sins were imputed (charged)credited to the account of Jesus, and the righteousness of Jesus was (charged)credited to the blieving sinners account. Our position of rightreousness that is before the cross is found in Romans 3:10 as the apostle Paul said, "There is no one righteous not even one. Then the imputation happened at the cross as the apostle said, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Also in Romans 4:22-24, apostle Paul said, "This is why it is credited to him as righteousness. The words it was credited to him were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

God Displayed His Justice at the Cross

As God is a good judge and will never compromise our sins because he is holy, sin has to be punished. When our sins were imputed to Christ, Christ became the sinner. The wrath of God fell upon Jesus, as God demonstrated his justice. (Romans 3:25-26)

God Displayed His Love at the Cross

God showed his love for the believing sinner as he provided a way of escape from the wrath of God. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Saved by Grace Alone

Man was born with sin, and there is no way he can save from himself, as God said, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23)The good news is that the believing sinner is saved not from his own good works, not from his righteousness but from an alien righteousness, and that is the righteousness of Jesus. We do not deserve to be saved, because there is no righteousness in us. (Romans 3:10) The believing sinner is saved by Gods grace alone "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2-9) We cannot even say that we are saved by our own faith, as the scripture is clear, faith is not from ourselves, it is a gift from God. If we get credit for anything for salvation, then there is no room for grace. If God saved men on account of their good works of faith, where would the drunkards be? Where would the prostitutes be, and you who have cursed God and rebelled against God by not loving him, where would you be? But if it is all of grace all the glory goes to the Lord! because salvation is of the Lord. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Resurrection Confirmed the Good News

The good news is that not only the Father poured his wrath on Jesus, but he accepted the payment for our sins as it is confirmed in his resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is the confirmation, that his righteousness was imputed to us. The Father was thoroughly satisfied in the work of Christ on the cross.

Beloved, this is the mystery of the gospel! We are saved from the power of God, from his wrath of God unto Salvation. Salvation comes from the Lord. (Jonah 2:9) Once the sinner understands the gospel, he will realize how awesome God is, in saving terrible sinners like us. God did it all! The Father was infinitely satisfied in the work of Christ on the cross, and how much more Christ should satisfy our souls!

If you realize how unworthy, you are before the holy God, and you certainly deserve the judgment of God and his wrath, but believe that your righteousness is like a filthy rag before the Lord, and trust in the righteousness of Jesus Christ for your soul, then you are saved from the wrath of God. Instead of living according to the pattern of the world, now you can live unto God. You will have a thirst for God, you will love to read and study his Word, you will talk to him through prayer, and have fellowship with other strong Christians, and you will have a passion for evangelism. Yes! it was God who changed your nature, he did it not because you deserved it but because of his GRACE.

Let me close out with the words of Charles Spurgeon "...he that believeth not shall be damned, weary sinner, hellish sinner, thou who art at the devils castaway, reprobate, profligate, harlot, robber, thief, adulterer, fornicator, drunkard, swearer,-list! I speak to thee as to the rest. I exempt no man. God hath said there is no exemption here. Whosoever believeth in the name of Jesus Christ shall be saved. Sin is no barrier, the guilt is no obstacle. Whosoever, though he were black as Satan, though he were guilty as a fiend - whosoever this night believes shall every sin forgiven, shall every crime effaced, shall every iniquity blotted out; shall be saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall stand in heaven safe and secure. That is the glorious gospel. God apply it home to your hearts and give you faith in Jesus!"

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