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May 7, 2017 |
| The Gospel | ||
We hear the word "gospel" used in the church and we know that the first 4 books of the Bible are called the "gospels", but what does "gospel" mean?. That's what we will look at in this lesson
The word "gospel" means news, especially good news. That doesn't tell us very much though.
We usually shorten the names of the first 4 books of the New Testament down to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But their full names are like "The Gospel According to Matthew" and "The Gospel According to Mark." Each of these books tells us about the good news from the perspective of that person, who was a witness to the events described.
Each of the gospels tells the story of Jesus. They begin at different times in his life but they all end after his resurrection. So we know the good news has something to do with Jesus' life.
It still isn't clear exactly what the good news is though. To understand it more we need to understand what the bad news was that made it necessary to have good news.
There is a God and this God is holy, which means that he is separate from anything that is not like him. Even more, he cannot tolerate anything that is not like him.
This God created a universe and a people in it and he required of them that they submit to his rule, making him their ruler, lord, or king. He also gave them the freedom to choose.
These people, Adam and Eve, however, desired to be like God, equal to God, and they rejected his rule. This caused their natures to be changed. They then experienced both good and evil within themselves. Their bodies now had evil desires that would continue to tempt them all their lives. This nature was passed to their children, their children's children, and so on, down to us.
We are therefore in a war within ourselves. We must choose between the evil desires of our bodies or to obey God. There also others who tempt us to do wrong.
We know that God requires obedience and anything else is evil. Even one act of disobedience changes a person, just as with Adam and Eve. To God they become repugnant, (extremely distasteful, unacceptable, abhorrent, revolting, repulsive, disgusting, offensive, loathsome, sickening, detestable, appalling, intolerable, contemptible).
Such a person cannot be in God's presence. God would lash out and destroy him. There is nothing that person can do to restore the relationship.
That person is everyone. There is no one who can live without doing evil. There is no one who doesn't lie or hate or do the other things that God has said not to do. Therefore all of mankind were destined to be separated from God
It was unacceptable to God, though, that he would be forever separated from his creation, whom he had created in his own image and loved. But God is also just. How could God be just and also restore the relationship?
Think of it this way. If someone starts beating on another person for no reason you want the police to stop him. But if he tells the policeman he's sorry and won't do it again and the policeman says he can go free, does that seem just to you?
Of course not. When evil is done there is a price that must be paid. We have nothing we can give to pay that price. Money doesn't fix broken bones. A punch to the head of the offender doesn't undo the damage caused by the punch given by the offender.
It is the same with God. There is nothing we can do to undo the evil we've done. God would be well within his rights to destroy us.
That's the bad news.
God the Father determined however that acceptable payment for the damage could be made by the death of a substitute, if the substitute was perfect. He had determined that substitute would be Jesus, his Son, and God also, who lived a flawless life.
The Sun was the creator of everything that has been created (John 1:3). From the smallest atomic particle to the largest star to the framework of the universe itself. That makes him the owner of everything including us. Justice would be maintained by the greatest injustice of all - God allowed himself to be killed by the beings he created while being perfect and innocent.
Being God, his sacrifice was great enough that it could pay the debt of all mankind for all time.
Has justice really been maintained by doing this? What about the man who was beat up in our example? Does he feel that it is just that the death of the Son of God would free the offender? He might wonder how that heals his injuries and pays the debt to him. If he thinks about it though he will realize that all men were destined to be separated from God, including himself. Therefore he also has a debt to be paid and should be thankful the offender is redeemed for that same redemption is available to him. He should also be forgiving just as he was forgiven.
The redemption offered is available to those who believe in him. That doesn't mean believe he exists or even to believe that he died to pay the debt of their sins. It means to believe in everything that he is. It means to completely turn your heart around so that he is the only thing that matters.
That is something we cannot do ourselves. Only God can make that change. When he does, some of the change happens immediately as we see through God's eyes how horrible and sinful we have been. The life we have lived becomes as repugnant to us as it is to God. We find we simply must stop living that way.
Then we begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Holy Spirit begins to guide us. We read the Bible and grow.
The more we do, the more we realize how upside down the world is compared to the way God wants it to be. We find ourselves being strangers in a strange land, or as we might say it in modern terms … "Not my monkeys; not my circus."
So far we've seen that receiving Jesus means that the debt we owed and could not pay has been paid. We've also seen that God will change our heart and give us the Holy Spirit to guid us. That doesn't mean we are now perfect. We have begun a process of conforming ourselves to the pattern God has set for us. We will still fail, repent, and be forgiven. This is the evidence that we have changed - that we continue on.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But those that received him, to them he gave authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name (John 1:11-12)