Several years ago, Michael Horton conducted a survey of one hundred people at a convention for Christian Booksellers asking the question, “What is the Gospel?” These were people seriously involved with Christian education. Yet when their responses were evaluated, only one adequate answer was provided.
To answer the question “What is the Gospel?” is rather simple. The gospel is Jesus, the person and work of Christ—who Jesus is and what he did.
The gospel also describes how the benefits of His ministry are subjectively appropriated. That is why the doctrine of justification by faith alone was so pivotal at the time of the Reformation, because it was not a secondary matter but rather had to do with the gospel.
Essentially, the pressing question that the gospel answers is, “How can an unjust person become just in the sight of God?”
When Paul went to Athens and preached, he did not have time to start with Abraham and go all the way through Malachi. Yet he was able to present in a nutshell the message of truth of God and the history of redemption, which culminates in the person and work of Christ.
If we analyze the proclamation found in the book of Acts, we will see the message that this Man was born of a woman, of the seed of David, according to the Scriptures. He lived a sinless life, made a sacrificial atonement on the cross, was raised by God from the dead for our justification, and ascended into heaven to the right hand of God, where He is crowned Lord of lords, and King of kings, from where He will return and judge the world.
The benefits of this are reconciliation, forgiveness of sins and justification, from which we get peace with God, which is received by faith alone. That is the gospel.
One of the biggest problems we face in the church is preaching to people who are unconverted but think they are converted. They have made a profession of faith by walking an aisle, raising their hand or signing a prayer card, and they think because they have done those things they that have been truly converted. Just because we profess to have faith does not mean that we have it.
I can think of one classical sermon that addresses this same theme, “A Warning to Professors,” by Jonathan Edwards. This was Jesus great warning: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.” (Matthew 15:8).
He ends the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ “ (Matthew 7:21-23).
One of the great things about being a pastor in a single location for several years is that it allows you to preach verse-by-verse through whole books of the Bible. I do not have to lay awake thinking what verse I should preach; the text dictates that for me.
Preachers are accountable to preach the whole counsel of God. So, if I am not bound to preaching through books, I can intentionally or unintentionally fall into the “hobby-horse syndrome” of preaching only the texts I like or want to preach. But when the preacher is dedicated to verse-by-verse exposition, he cannot avoid preaching the whole counsel of God.
I am reminded of the wellknown illustration of Vince Lombardi picking up a football before his players and saying to them, “This is a football, am I going too fast for you?”
Before today’s modern preachers, I would pick up a Bible and say to them, “This is a Bible, am I going too fast for you?”
In other words, when we start anywhere other than the Bible, we go every way but the right way. I am not providing a technique for success. This is the job and duty of the preacher of the Word of God. Forget the entertainment and other gimmicks and preach the whole counsel of God.
Let us live our lives Coram Deo, in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the Glory of God.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.