THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of them are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, and to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

The gospel is not something that wise men thought about and conceived through eons of time. It is the good news of Jesus. And the witness of the gospel is essential. Hundreds of people saw Him alive, followers, enemies, family, and strangers. To this day people say Jesus has forgiven me. He has embraced me with the gospel of His love and grace. He is alive! I have experienced Him in my life too.

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THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."

Have you ever had a doctor tell you, you are going to die? I have. And I cannot fully explain the sensation. But whether there are enough evidences of the imminence of your death to alert your doctor or not, you are going to die.

Death is indeed a dark prospect. I suspect most of you have walked away from the graveside of a loved one, and sensed its empty sadness clinging to you.

That is one of the reasons the death and even the burial of Jesus is part of the gospel. He went through that ordeal with us and for us. And against all nature, and as far as we knew, all possibility, He rose from the dead, giving great credence to the promise of our resurrection. We will indeed shout, "Death, where is your sting!" Because of the gospel death will not have final victory over us.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GOSPEL

In the week that we set aside to celebrate the cross and the resurrection of Jesus we remind one another of importance of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul reminds the believers in Corinth, and a thousand generations who would follow, of the gospel that transforms lives. Verses one through three read,

"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."

The gospel is not just the starting point of the Christian Life. It is crucial to everything we are and do. We can rejoice all of our lives that Jesus died for our sins. Our eternal hope is in the gospel. Paul reminded the believers that this is what he preached to them. He reminds us that this is what we received. The good news fulfills all the Law and the Prophets. This makes sense of everything in our lives. Upon this truth we stand!

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GOSPEL WAGES

Possibly even more than Romans 3:23, the passage we last dealt with in this blog, Romans 6:23 sounds like anything but good news. That is partly because we have been bombarded all of our lives with the nonsense of self-esteem. You are important! You are wonderful! You are flawless! You are a winner! You can be anything you want to be!

But as helpful as that thinking may be, it strikes many of us as unreal, a little like the Easter Bunny. We were on the ball team where everyone got a meaningless trophy when we didn't win a game. Or we told a friend she had a beautiful hat, when we were just too shocked to speak the truth.

But in His love God speaks reality to our hearts. Romans 6:23 reads,

“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Let me point out two crucial things this verse teaches.

1. This verse brings us to the Desperate Need of the Gospel.

The world promises wages in its counterfeit currency. The true wages of living our lives as if we didn’t need God are lostness and death without Him.

So you have cancer. You go to two doctors. One of them smiles, gives you pain pills and a fishing poll. The other doctor says we are going to operate on you to remove the tumor from your body. I have been there. The hard words are the good news?

2. This verse also teaches the Wonderful Gift of the Gospel.

The gospel is not something you earn. It is the gift of God's love.

Many years ago I served in a church that was unhappy with me. God gave my wife and I great comfort in Revelation 3:9. He assured us that the people would come to know that He loved us. At first I wanted to say, "No God. I want them to know that I was right." But after His word began to wash over us, we decided we needed His love in our lives more than we needed to be successful or impressive.

Every wonderful thing in life comes from His love and the gift of the gospel. It is eteranlly good news!

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THE GOSPEL AND GLORY

We ought to see everything in Scripture in the light Jesus and through the lens of the gospel. From time to time over the next few months  I want to show how one passage or another can be seen through the perspective of the gospel.

I will begin with a passage that most of us would use to present the gospel. Taken alone it may sound like nothing but law and judgment. But that is not really the case. This verse is a lift ticket to ascend the glory and grace of the gospel. The verse is Romans 3:23.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Few things can be so terrifying as darkness. So, aided by the enemy, we have become particularly adept at rationalizing the spiritual darkness that engulfs us. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says,

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ.”

 For this reason it can be alarming for this reality to be brought home to someone by the Holy Spirit. It has been tempting for many of us to avoid putting people off with this truth. But I am convinced that people must come to awareness of the darkness before they can begin to long for the light. In the awareness of this darkness people begin to see the light of the glory of God.

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THE GOSPEL!

We often think of the gospel as that most elementary truth of the Christian life that you leave behind as you grow deeper in the faith. But that is not true at all. It is true that the gospel is simple and may be the first thing a person becoming a believer understands. But we never outgrow the importance of the gospel in our lives.

The Humility of the Gospel

Few things are more important in the Christian life than humility. Peter said, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up." The gospel is the final source of our humility. The Son of God had to die to redeem me!

The Security of the gospel

But there is no security like the gospel. God loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me. His love is the foundation of our security.

The virtue of the gospel

Because of the gospel we do not try to do what is right so God will accept us. We hunger to do what pleases God because we have been accepted in the beloved.

We ought to see everything in Scripture in the light Jesus and through the lens of the gospel. From time to time over the next few months  I want to show how one passage or another must be seen through the perspective of the gospel.

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A POWERFUL SECRET TO SUCCESS

I don't write a great deal about success. I fear our hearts read something glitzy rather than substantial. But I need to show you something about success from the word of God. The characteristic most connected with genuine success in the Bible is humility.

Jesus repeatedly told us we would be exalted if we humble ourselves. James said we would be exalted if we humbled ourselves in the sight of the Lord. Peter told us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

Let me give you three examples of successful humility or humble success. I know of a number of spiritual leaders in history that have exemplified this principle. But none of them shone as brightly in the twentieth century as Billy Graham.

I think you will agree that Billy has been successful in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men. Called to the White House in crucial times by presidents from Harry Truman to George Bush. He preached in sweeping movements of God on five continents. On June 3, 1973 Billy ended a five-day crusade in  Seoul Korea, by preaching to over a million people. No other preacher in history has ever preached to a crowd like that.

And yet people who met and knew Billy Graham were always stunned most by his humility. It is amazing that those who have followed in Billy's wake have thought promotion and strategy were the way to greatness.  

I would like to go far back into Biblical history for our second example. Numbers 12:3 says Moses was more humble than anyone on the face of the earth. And I think it is safe to say that God exalted him. Those words were spoken while Moses was facing jealous opposition during the great trial that God brought upon the Children of Israel to humble them. In Deuteronomy 8:2 the Lord said, "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in in the desert these forty years, to humble you." What has God done in your life to humble you? Don't chafe under His mighty hand. God's humbling is the key to great blessing.

The third example of humble success towers over all the others. Can you honestly call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ if your heart does not hunger for humility. He who shared His Father's eternal glory humbled Himself for you. His whole ministry was an expression of ultimate humility.

As a follower of Christ, are you seeking the power of humility? As a child of God, are you praying for the Holy Spirit to produce supernatural humility in you? This is a crucial key to being used by the hand of God.

Now I do need to caution you about thinking of humility as a means of self promotion. Such Pharisaical efforts may impress people, but not God. Our humility needs to be an expression of grateful devotion to God. We cannot be truly humble in order to get what we want from God. True humility wants to see Jesus honored because of the wonderful grace He has lavished upon us.