What Is the Gospel (part 2)

The Gospel Begins With God
To proclaim and define the gospel properly, one must begin with God. To start anywhere else would be tantamount to idolatry. This would make the gospel man focused instead of God centered. What saith the scriptures?
Psalm 79:9, "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!"Psalm 3:8, "Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessings be on your people!"Isaiah 43:11, "I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior."Jonah 2:9, "... Salvation belongs to the Lord!"Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."2 Corinthians 4:6, "For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."Ephesians 1:4, "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world...."Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God...."Revelation 7:10, "and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’"Revelation 19:1, "After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God....’" Theses are a few verses among many that could be multiplied to show that salvation is initiated by God. Thomas Brooks, in his usual elegant and magisterial manner, wrote,
God is Alpha, the fountain from whence all grace springs, and Omega, the sea to which all glory runs... God is an all-sufficient good... God hath in himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you. God is a satisfying good, a good that fills the heart and quiets the soul....(Thomas Brooks, "Apples Of Gold" in The Works of Thomas Brooks, 6 vols. (Banner of Truth Trust, 1980), 1:187.)"The glory of the new covenant," wrote Michael Horton, "is that God gives in the gospel what he demands in his law: both justification and the renewal of heart and life. Only because of God’s one-sided act of regeneration does anyone repent and believe." (Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way (Zondervan: 2011), 565.)
God is the CreatorThe gospel begins with God as the Creator. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth" (Acts 17:24). "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host" (Ps. 33:6). "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created" (Rev. 4:11).
As the Creator, God is sovereign over his creation. "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is your. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all" (1 Chron. 29:11). "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36). "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him" (Col. 1:16). See also Hebrews 1:2; Psalm 97:1, 103:19, and 115:3.
As the Creator, God has rights over his universe. "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers (Ps. 24:1; see also Ps. 50:12, 89:11; Ex. 9:29; Job 41:11). "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?" (Matt. 20:15). "For who can resist his will?" (Rom. 9:19). "Has the potter no right over the clay...?" (Rom. 9:21).
Lastly, as Creator, God issues forth laws; he is the Lawgiver. "For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us" (Is. 33:22). "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy" (Jms. 4:12). "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 19:7-8). The reader may also consider Exodus 20:1-17 and Isaiah 51:4.
God is righteous and holyThe Lord of lords is holy and righteous. Hear the testimony of scripture, "righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (Ps. 97:2). "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty" (Rev. 4:8). "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel" (Ps. 22:3). "You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:45). "Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules" (Ps. 119:137). "The Lord is righteous is in all his ways" (Ps. 145:17). "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn. 1:5).
The holiness of God implies that he is pure, without sin, and opposed to anything and everything that is contrary to his nature as God. "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders" (Ex. 15:11)? "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy" (Ps. 99:9)! "You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong" (Hab. 1:13). "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. And nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed" (Rev. 15:4). "The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence" (Ps. 11:5). "The boastful shall not stand before you eyes; you hate all evildoers" (Ps. 5:5).
As righteous, God always does what is right and can only do right. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just" (Gen. 18:25)? "For the Lord is righteous" (Ps. 11:7). "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he" (Deut. 32:4). "The Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him" (Ps. 92:15). "Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means" (Rom. 9:14)!
God is the JudgeBecause of who he is (the righteous, holy, sovereign, just, Creator who has rights over his creation), God is entitled to judge. He is the Judge! The author of Hebrews calls him "the judge of all" (Heb. 12:23). "But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed" (Rom. 2:5). "The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge" (Ps. 50:6)! "It is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another" (Ps. 75:7).
Our great God is not like earthly judges. No. He knows all and sees all. His judgments are just, precise, and upright. Nothing goes unseen by God. There are no mistrials, contaminated evidence, corrupt lawyers, or paid jurors. He has all of the evidence. Nothing is missing; it is an airtight case when God judges. There are no appeals. "He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable" (Is. 40:28). "Great is the Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure" (Ps. 147:5). "We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man... that you will escape the judgment of God" (Rom. 2:2-3)? This last verse implies that not only will God judge, but that there is no escape. Remember, God is sovereign and has rights over his creatures. Period. He rules and judges perfectly. How would we expect anything different? Can a perfect and holy God judge imperfectly? No, of course not.
God is graciousNot only is God just, holy, sovereign, and righteous, he is also gracious. Oh, thank God for his grace. We are beginning with God, remember, and if we were to stop our discussion without mentioning grace, we would all be doomed. We would be without hope. Why? Because without God being gracious we would get what we all deserve-hell and judgment and condemnation and misery and justice and wrath.
But God is a God of grace! "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Tit. 2:11). "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:7). "For by grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8; see also vs. 7). "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16). "But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Ps. 86:15). Believers "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). "For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17).
Jonathan Edwards taught on the greatness of grace,
It was of mere grace that God gave us his only-begotten Son. The grace is great in proportion to the excellency of what is given. The gift was infinitely precious, because it was of a person infinitely worthy, a person of infinite glory; and also because it was of a person infinitely near and dear to God. The grace is great in proportion to the benefit we have given us in him. The benefit is doubly infinite, in that in him we have deliverance from an infinite, because an eternal, misery, and do also receive eternal joy and glory. The grace in bestowing this gift is great in proportion to our unworthiness to whom it is given; instead of deserving such a gift, we merited infinitely ill of God’s hands. (Jonathan Edwards, "God Glorified in Man’s Dependance" in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 2 vols. (Hendrickson, 2004), 2:4.)God is gracious. Luke 24:47 records the Lord’s words to his disciples before he ascended to the Father. He told them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sin in his name to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. Beginning in Jerusalem are some of the most gracious words ever spoken. Why? It was in Jerusalem that the Saviour was betrayed. Those people who worshiped Jesus as he rode into the city were some of the same ones that cried, "crucify him" to Pilate. These wretches mocked and scorned the Lord of Glory. As he hung on the cross they ridiculed even more. In Acts 2, Peter preaches as says that the people present killed Jesus (vs. 23).
So where is the grace? Those same murderous people were the first to hear the gospel. Further, three thousand were converted in one day. That’s grace. The disciples were to begin preaching in the very place in which Christ was crucified to the same people that killed him. Oh, marvelous matchless grace! This is grace because what God did would have been the last thing we would have done. We would have preached Christ’s message all throughout the known world and then proclaimed it in Jerusalem. But, praise God, he is not like us. God is gracious. (John Bunyan preached a sermon entitled The Jerusalem Saved Sinner from which I used his main premise as an illustration of God’s amazing grace.)