adrianwarnock.com Adrian Warnock
This Site:

Favorite Sites:



Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Another statement of the simple gospel


Covenant Life Church quotes a gospel celebration which does a fantastic job of explaining the gospel. The church also has a great statement of faith which, like the somewhat less detailed new UK Evangelical Alliance statement of faith I would have no problem signing. The discussion of the simple gospel will never stop, for it is the gospel itself that saves but also, I do believe that the preaching of the gospel does good in a believers heart, and if done right can indeed be described as what John Schroeder helpfully calls transformative preaching


The Gospel of Jesus Christ is new, good news: the best and most important news that any human being ever hears. This Gospel declares the only way to know God in peace, love, and joy is through the reconciling death of Jesus Christ the risen Lord.

This Gospel is the central message of the Holy Scriptures, and is the true key to understanding them.........

This Gospel is the only Gospel: there is no other; and to change its substance is to pervert and indeed destroy it. This Gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.......

The Father sent the Son to free us from the dominion of sin and Satan, and to make us God's children and friends. Jesus paid our penalty in our place on his cross, satisfying the retributive demands of divine justice by shedding his blood in sacrifice and so making possible justification for all who trust in him (Ro 3:25 26). The Bible describes this mighty substitutionary transaction as the achieving of ransom, reconciliation, redemption, propitiation, and conquest of evil powers (Mt 20:28; 2Co 5:18 21; Ro 3:23 25; Jn 12:31; Col 2:15). It secures for us a restored relationship with God that brings pardon and peace, acceptance and access, and adoption into God's family (Col 1:20, 2:13 14; Ro 5:1 2; Gal 4:4 7; 1Pe 3:18). The faith in God and in Christ to which the Gospel calls us is a trustful outgoing of our hearts to lay hold of these promised and proffered benefits.

This Gospel further proclaims the bodily resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus as evidence of the efficacy of his once-for-all sacrifice for us, of the reality of his present personal ministry to us, and of the certainty of his future return to glorify us (1Co 15; Heb 1:1 4, 2:1 18, 4:14 16, 7:1 10:25). In the life of faith as the Gospel presents it, believers are united with their risen Lord, communing with him, and looking to him in repentance and hope for empowering through the Holy Spirit, so that henceforth they may not sin but serve him truly.

God's justification of those who trust him, according to the Gospel, is a decisive transition, here and now, from a state of condemnation and wrath because of their sins to one of acceptance and favor by virtue of Jesus' flawless obedience culminating in his voluntary sin-bearing death. God 'justifies the wicked' (ungodly: Ro 4:5) by imputing (reckoning, crediting, counting, accounting) righteousness to them and ceasing to count their sins against them (Ro 4:1 8). Sinners receive through faith in Christ alone 'the gift of righteousness' (Ro 1:17, 5:17; Php 3:9) and thus be come 'the righteousness of God' in him who was 'made sin' for them (2Co 5:21).

As our sins were reckoned to Christ, so Christ's righteousness is reckoned to us. This is justification by the imputation of Christ's righteousness. All we bring to the transaction is our need of it. Our faith in the God who bestows it, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is itself the fruit of God's grace. Faith links us savingly to Jesus, but inasmuch as it involves an acknowledgment that we have no merit of our own, it is confessedly not a meritorious work.

More Headlines From This Blog
Back to homepage or visit the archive pages April 2003  May 2003  June 2003  July 2003  August 2003  September 2003  October 2003  November 2003  December 2003  January 2004  February 2004  March 2004  April 2004  May 2004  June 2004  July 2004  August 2004  September 2004  October 2004  November 2004  December 2004  January 2005  February 2005  March 2005  April 2005  May 2005  June 2005  July 2005  August 2005  September 2005  October 2005  November 2005  December 2005  January 2006  February 2006  March 2006  April 2006  May 2006  June 2006  July 2006  August 2006  September 2006  October 2006  November 2006  December 2006  January 2007  February 2007  March 2007  April 2007  May 2007  June 2007  July 2007  August 2007  September 2007  October 2007  November 2007  December 2007  January 2008  February 2008  March 2008  April 2008  May 2008  June 2008  July 2008 

25% Off Logos Bible Software

Add to Google Reader / Homepage

Subscribe via RSS feed or enter your email address here:

My Library

ADRIAN'S LINKS

In partnership with the Jollyblogger


WARNIE AWARD WINNERS


Reformed Charismatic Blogs

Other Links


BUY the Electronic Edition

YOUR ADVERT HERE


MY INTERVIEWS


Sermons on the Web


Previous Posts

Associated with

Small print

Opinions expressed in this blog are Adrian Warnock's alone, and do not represent the views of his church, employer or anyone else for that matter!

Material is often provided for your research purposes rather than as an endorsement. We ask you to report anything you see here or on a linked site that you feel may be inappropriate or may inadvertently breach copyright to adrian.warnock@gmail.com.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivs 2.0 England & Wales License.

ESV
Unless otherwise indicated, all bible quotations are from The English Standard Version © 2001, Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved. See my ESV Interview for more information

Services by:

Christianity Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Powered by Blogger