The Gospel: Power that Saves, Heals, Assures

Your phone rings, and it’s your doctor. 
She is calling to report your recent test results.
“I have ‘good news’ and ‘bad news,’ she says.
“Which would you like to hear first?”

Maybe you’ve been in that situation.  You know that something is wrong physically in your body.  But you cling to the hope that “good news” will outweigh the “bad.”  Hard as it may be to hear, you want the truth.  And, what good doctor would keep you from receiving an accurate diagnosis?

When we sense we are sick physically, we pursue a medical diagnosis.  Likewise, when we take time to examine our “spiritual health,” we may sense an uneasiness that all is not well.  Here, we also need to confront “what we think” about ourself (subjective) with an objective spiritual diagnosis (one from an outside source).

Hearing the Real “Bad News”
Two factors influence our spiritual health—one is objective.  It’s what God who knows all things says about our spiritual condition.  The other is our internal sensitivity and response to God’s Spirit and truth. 

A majority of humans on Earth have heard the message that God is a God of Love, Mercy, and Truth.  Sadly, Adam, the first man God created, chose to rebel against his Creator.  As Adam’s descendants, we were born into a genealogy that is plagued by a “spiritual sickness” known as sin (missing God’s mark).  This is the “bad news,” and it doesn’t come from within us—it is divine, objective revelation from God. 

The Old Testament psalms (e.g. Psalm 14: 1-3) and the Prophets (e.g. Isaiah 53: 6) declare what the Apostle Paul later confirmed in the New Testament: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 23).  Quoting from Psalm 14, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote, in Romans 3: 10-12,

as it is written:  None is righteous, no, not one;
    no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside;
    together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.

The “bad news” that we are not only sinners but are infected with sin as part of our nature is made worse by the fact that God will by no means clear the guilty (Numbers 14: 18).  In Hebrews 9: 27, we read:  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…  Bottom line, all of us are infected with the sin nature, we are sinners, and one day we must give account of our sin to God.

How We React to “Bad News”
Our spiritual health is also affected by a second factor—our reaction as sinners to the news that we are spiritually fallen and sin-sick in God’s eyes.  Such news is upsetting to our pride and quest for power, prestige, and profits.  As individuals, we are clever in our sin nature.  Our tendency is to deny, dismiss, and reject the “painful thought” that we are sinners.  Some of us join sociopolitical groups with others of like mind who reject God’s authority.  Here are a few “natural reactions” to our fallenness:

Excuse ourselves: “I’m not perfect, but I’m not a bad person.”
Extra humility (misplaced): “I’m so lost and depraved that God has given up on me.”
Dismiss God:  “I am perfectly complete in my world--without acknowledging God.”
Deny God: “God doesn’t exist.  Even if He did, He wouldn’t notice or care about me.”
Mischaracterize God: “God is Love.  Love cannot be vengeful toward anyone.”

Can you remember using any of these characterizations to deal with the impact of your “spiritual diagnosis?”  They are “natural reactions” to “bad news.”   But just as enduring a harsh Winter makes the Spring all the more wonderful, so accepting and acting on the Bible’s “bad news” makes the “Good News,” the Gospel all the more wonderful.  To use our medical analogy, we must hear the “bad news” and our doctor’s wise recommendations and then act upon them if we want the best possible medical outcome. 

Here’s how God’ and His Word does its work.  Greg Gilbert explains in What is the Gospel? how the “bad news” that God is a Holy Judge (Hebrews 9: 27) and mankind is condemned in sin (Isaiah 53: 6a)) is followed by the “Good News” that Jesus Christ became our sin-bearer (e.g. Isaiah 53: 6b).  First Peter 2: 24 states, Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’  Our only rightful response as sin-sick people is to bow in humility before the cross of Christ where the blood from Jesus’s wounds was shed to cleanse us from our sin.  There, by a humble act of faith, we can repent of our sin and be willing to confess it (saying what God says about sin) and then, turn from sin to live a life that pleases God according to His Word.

Two Online Messages You Must Hear
Because we are sin-full rebels from birth, it is difficult for us to accept the “bad news” of our spiritual sickness in sin.  It is even difficult for Christ-followers who have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation to realize how deeply ingrained sin is within us.  It is also difficult for us to continually surrender to His Spirit and to the Word of God [which] is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  But, if unsaved sinners believe and trust the Gospel, God will save completely forever (1 Peter 3: 18).  And, if saved, Christ-followers will submit to the Good News of the Gospel, it has the power to heal them. This is why I have written this relatively brief introduction to encourage you to view two excellent Gospel messages, each briefly described below.

The first message is “How to Change Deeply,” by pastor Timothy Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City.   Keller offers a Scriptural message that is greatly encouraging to many who will admit their sin just as the Apostle Paul so aptly confesses in Romans 7: 18-25.  Keller’s solution is to come to our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who lovingly bears your name on His breast.  There, in humility and gratitude for what Jesus did on His Cross, be filled with the Joy of knowing His great sacrificial love for you.  Then, as you embrace God’s joy and delight over you, realize who you are in Christ, and dare to allow His Word to pierce deeply into your heart and soul so that you can discern the thoughts and intentions of your heart.  As Keller says, “convict yourself with the Joy in Christ,” how deeply He loves you, and how much He suffered to ‘take away’ your sin and bring healing.  Then we can ask, “Why should I go on grieving the One I love… when He’s given me all I need in Him?

But, watch out!   Our sin nature doesn’t give up easily.  Lest we become diverted by assurances like Romans 8: 1 to devalue God’s saving grace and dismiss our sin lightly, Keller also includes examples of how to pray by applying the Joy of Christ by speaking back to him lovingly, intimately, and repentantly, about the depth of our sin.  In so doing, Keller notes, we can learn to connect the glories of the Gospel with our particular sin patterns to achieve consistent victory.

The second message I want to recommend is “The Gospel Heals,” by our own Pastor Zach Swift, West Hill Baptist Church, here in Wooster.  Pastor Swift provides practical teaching from Scripture in 1 John 3 on how you can be assured of your salvation by faith in Christ, and how you can be confident in your standing in God’s eyes in the face of lingering memories of past failures, or spiritual defeat that comes from falling short of God’s standards each day, or just not being able to “diagnose” why you are down or depressed.  According to Swift, our loving Father in Heaven “longs for you to have a healthy heart and a clear conscience…If you belong to God and you have repented of your sin, He doesn’t want you to live under that condemnation any longer.  Live your life to glorify Him, for the Gospel, for who He is, and what He has done in your life.”

In conclusion, I hope you will avail yourself of these two messages if for no other reason than to be encouraged through worship and love of our Creator and Savor God.  If you are struggling with pride and sin, realize that God’s power through the Gospel is greater.  If you are struggling in your conscience with sin you have already confessed and forsaken, realize that God knows all things.  He is our Judge, but He is also our Loving Father in Heaven.  If you have questions, reactions, or new insights, please use the “Comments” link below or write to me by e-mail: silviusj@gmail.com.

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Dedicated to the members of a Small Group at West Hill Baptist Church within which Abby and I are privileged to fellowship with other Christ-followers in pursuit of God, knowledge of His Word, and lives that please Him.