When you read the New Testament, you might come away with the idea that there is more than one gospel. For instance, the very first words of the New Testament in the King James Bible are, “The Gospel According to Matthew.” Read on and you will also find the gospels according to Mark, Luke and John. Keep reading and you will come across Paul telling the Romans about “my gospel” before warning the Corinthians to hold firm to the gospel that “I preached to you.” Read all the way to the end and you will also encounter the “gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:13), the “gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15), the “glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11), before finally reaching the “eternal gospel” proclaimed by the angel (Revelation 14:6).

Of course, these are all labels for one and the same gospel. There is only one gospel in the Bible and that is the gospel which was known to Paul as the gospel of grace:

“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

The One and Only gospel

The gospel of grace is the gospel and there is no other. This gospel is built, not on a doctrine or a theology, but on Jesus Christ himself:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth … From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:14, 16-17)

Whenever you read the word “grace” in the Bible, you can substitute the name “Jesus.” Jesus is grace personified. What does the grace of God look like? It looks like Jesus. What does the grace of God sound like? It sounds like Jesus. How do we know that God is gracious? He gave us Jesus who is full of grace and truth. So when Paul refers to the gospel of grace in Acts 20, he means exactly the same thing as when he and others refer to the gospel of Christ or the gospel of God or the gospel of his Son or the gospel of peace in other places. All of these gospels reveal the One who is called Grace, who was given to us out of the fullness of the Father’s grace, and through whom we have received grace upon grace.

What about when Jesus refers to the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 24:14)? Is this a different gospel?

Whenever you hear Jesus talking about the “kingdom” you can substitute the word “king” because the kingdom is nothing without the king. Who is the King? His name is Jesus. When Jesus says we are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” he is essentially saying “seek me and my righteousness.” And where do we find his righteousness? In the gospel!

“For in the gospel the righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17)

To sum up, the gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of Christ which is the gospel of God which is the gospel of grace. They are different labels for the exact same gospel message.

What is the gospel of grace?

Paul summarized the gospel of grace in his letter to the Corinthians:

“Now, brothers, 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, 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 appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… (1 Corinthians 15:1-6)

What are the four most important bits of the gospel message according to its most prolific preacher? They are that; (i) Christ died for our sins as foretold in the Scriptures, (ii) he was buried, (iii) he was raised as the prophets foretold, and (iv) he appeared in resurrection to many.

The gospel is 100% good news!

On the cross Jesus became our sin offering, taking our punishment and securing our eternal forgiveness. He died so that we might live, he was wounded that we might be healed, and he was cursed so that we might be blessed. Jesus forged a new covenant in his blood, exchanging our sinfulness for his righteousness. His miraculous return from death confirmed that Jesus was God’s Son, just as he said he was. It also showed that the demands of justice had been fully satisfied and that no further payment was necessary. As Derek Prince famously preached in The Divine Exchange, Jesus’ death on the cross was “perfectly perfect and completely complete.” There is nothing more that needs to be done.

Do you believe it?

The gospel is good news whether you believe it or not, but it will only save you if you believe it. As Paul declared to the Corinthians, “by this gospel are you saved.” Again, by which gospel are you saved? By the gospel of God’s grace:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The gospel is not just for sinners

The gospel is no mere message. It is heaven’s cure for the world’s woes. And we can be fully confident that God’s cures are effective! Those who put their faith in his goodness and grace experience salvation power in all its fullness – victory over sin, healing from sickness, freedom from oppression.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16)

The gospel is not just good news for the sinner. It is good news for the sick, the prisoner and the poor. It’s even good news for Christians. Today many sincere Christians are bound up in the dead works of performance-oriented religion. Their joylessness and lack of fruit testifies that they have forgotten the good news of God’s grace.

What are the works of grace?

Someone once asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the One he has sent.’” (John 6:29)

The greatest thing you can do is believe the good news of God’s grace revealed in the One he has sent. Believe that because of what Jesus has done, you are forgiven, you have been clothed with his righteousness, and you have been adopted into his family. When you say “Yes!” to Jesus, he moves into your life and you become one with him in spirit. On the inside, you now look exactly like Jesus and your status before God is “perfect forever” (Hebrews 10:14).

But your outside still needs work. Your mind needs to be renewed. Your body may need fixing. Your relationships may need mending. Your neighbours and workmates probably need saving. And God’s plan is to bring heaven to your corner of the world through you.

God has empowered you through his Spirit and the precious promises of his word to fulfil the gospel mandate. We do not need to hunker down and ask God to give us things. We just need to believe that through Christ we already have everything we need to get the job done (Ephesians 1:3, 2 Pet 1:3).

“Working out your salvation” means discovering who you are in Christ, taking risks for Jesus, and ministering in his power and authority. It means representing Jesus and his cross-wrought victory in areas where sins’ effects are still being felt. When you shine with Jesus-light, darkness flees and the dominion of the king is enlarged. Sin, sickness and poverty are put under his feet when you put them under your feet. We complete the mission the same way we started – by trusting in God’s amazing grace:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10, NKJV)

Which gospel are you listening to?

Take care that the gospel you are listening to is the gospel of grace. As Paul warned the Galatians, anything which adds to or detracts from the good news of God’s grace, is a distortion or perversion of the true gospel (Galatians 1:6-7).

What is the “Whole” Gospel?

Heaven forbid that we preach half a gospel, but what is the whole gospel?

Your answer to that question says a lot about your views on the finished work of the cross. For instance, whenever I proclaim the good news of God’s unconditional love as revealed in Jesus, I can just about guarantee that some serious person will pull me up for not preaching the whole gospel.

What they say: “We’ve got to preach the whole counsel of God, brother.”

What they mean: “You should tell people they need to do stuff – repent, confess, turn from sin, work, etc. – to earn the free gifts of grace.”

Earn the free gifts of grace?! What an absurd thing to say. It’s like saying, “Now children, pull out your piggy banks because Mommy and Daddy expect you to reimburse us for your Christmas presents.” This is just so ridiculous I’m speechless. How can you compensate God for his priceless gifts?

I am a big fan of repentance, but repentance may not be what you think it is.

I’m also a big fan of confession, but confession may not be what you think it is either.

And turning from sin? Well any time you turn to Jesus you automatically turn from sin. It’s inevitable. The issue is not what you are turning from but Who you are turning to. The Pharisees turned from sin every day but they never turned to Jesus. Turning from sin doesn’t make you righteous, just religious.

What is the “whole counsel” of God?

Paul told the Ephesians “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Some translations say, the whole “will” of God. The whole counsel and the whole gospel are the same thing because God’s will is always good news. He is not willing that any perish. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost but desires all of us to come to him to receive new life.

So what is the whole counsel of God that Paul proclaimed? He tells us just three verses earlier:

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)

The whole counsel of God is the unmixed gospel of his grace. Period.

“Just grace?!” says the serious man. Yes, grace and nothing but. Not grace-plus-your-confession, nor grace-plus-your-repentance – just grace.

“I can’t accept that,” says the serious man. Well, you wouldn’t be the first religious person to have a problem with grace:

The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God… (Luke 7:30, KJV)

Isn’t that interesting. Those who loved the law rejected God’s counsel. Who else did the Pharisees and law-teachers reject? Jesus (see Mark 8:31)! Indeed, Jesus is the whole counsel of God. If you would preach the counsel, the whole counsel, and nothing but the counsel of God, then preach Jesus and nothing else. He is both the will of God made flesh and the means by which God’s will comes to pass. Jesus is the Good News!

How not to preach the gospel

In my next post I want to give you some practical handles on how to proclaim the whole gospel, but let me finish here by showing you how not to preach the gospel:

Add stuff to it.

If you take all the blessings of God – his love, favour, forgiveness, acceptance, healing, provision, deliverance, etc. – and tell people they must do stuff to merit them, then you are diluting the gospel of grace. You’re preaching a mixed gospel of grace-plus. Grace is no longer the whole gospel; it’s only part of the gospel.

Whenever we add things to the gospel of grace we dilute its strength and empty the cross of its saving power.

What do these gospel additives look like? I am sure you know them. They are called prayer and fasting, Bible study, the spiritual disciplines, tithes and offerings, Christian duty, the virtues, works of service, ministry, self-sacrifice, helps, missions, outreach, submission, sowing, etc. In the hands of graceless religion these good things become death-dealing burdens. If you think you must do them before God will bless you, you have fallen from grace as hard as any Galatian.

Religion is cruel

Imagine a man crawls out of the desert in desperate thirst and you say to him, “Drink this, it is pure spring water.” That’s good news for the thirsty man. He doesn’t need to do anything except receive what you are offering. But if you ask that man to do something before you give him the drink, then it’s no longer good news. It’s cruel torture.

Telling a thirsty man he must pray for an hour before he can drink is not good news. Nor is telling him that he must keep the rules, play the game, and do what he’s told. This isn’t good news; it’s bad news. It’s the religion of this world that derailed the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Laodiceans and thousands of other churches since.

And telling him that the drink is free now but he must pay later is no different. In fact it’s worse because you given him a taste of real freedom before binding him with cords of obligation.

The good news is that grace is always free and if we drink it daily it’ll change us from the inside-out. You want to see change in your own life and the lives of others? Then follow Paul’s lead and preach the whole gospel of grace adding nothing to it.

This emphasis on what we must do before God will bless us is a doctrine of demons. It’s poison in the water. The true gospel is additive-free and it’s grace from start to finish.

Look to the cross – God has blessed us already! Look to the empty tomb – the work of saving you is finished! Believe it! Reach out and receive by faith the gift God has already given.

If you would preach the whole gospel then preach Christ alone. Trust me, He is all you need.

Good News!

The gospel is good news, but what is the news and what makes it good?

Much of what is sold as “the gospel” is an inferior substitute for the real thing. Don’t be fooled by cheap knock-offs! There is an easy way to distinguish the authentic from the counterfeit. The true gospel is 100% good news. There’s no bad news in the good news. If the gospel you’ve bought into makes you feel insecure, anxious, guilty, and condemned, then it’s no good. Discard it before it kills you!

The original gospel signalled a great joy for all people. It was, and remains, an announcement about a Man. This Man has done not one, but two deeds of supreme and eternal significance. If you have not heard of this Man and His deeds, then this will be good news for you:
1.Jesus died for you. In the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen, Jesus gave His life for us. We had chosen independence from God and reaped the whirlwind. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son to ransom us from the power of sin and death. The Son of God became a son of man and took the punishment that brought us peace. He was rejected that we might be accepted; wounded that we might be healed; cursed that we might be blessed. On the cross He carried our sin and gave us His righteousness. Through Him we have been reconciled to God and our sins are no longer held against us. In the grip of death Jesus cried, “it is finished.” His rescue mission complete, Jesus committed His spirit into the hands of His Father and died.
2.Jesus lives for you. The ransom paid in full, Jesus rose triumphant from the dead. He now sits at the Father’s right hand, a perfect High Priest who ever lives to speak for us. If you believe that Jesus has saved you, then believe that He will keep you for He will never change His mind. He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith and His blood has obtained your eternal redemption. Jesus is not alone in all this. Your heavenly Father loves you with an everlasting love and saving you was His plan all along. In order that we might have a firm and secure hope to cling to, God the Father has sworn a covenant of peace with the Son of Man and neither will ever break it. He has also given us His mighty Spirit – the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead – as a deposit guaranteeing all that He has promised. Through our representative Jesus, and as an expression of His enduring love, our heavenly Father has joined Himself to us, promising never to leave nor forsake us. We stand secure, not on our feeble promises to Him, but on His unconditional and unbreakable promises to us.

The gospel is Jesus and He’s the greatest news in the world!

Source: Pastor James Kufre Power Grace Chapel Southampton

www.powergrace.org

http://graceversuslaw.com/2015/06/30/if-its-not-the-gospel-of-grace-is-it-a-gospel/