

### Why the Gospel is

## The Best News Ever!

Published by Gavin Cox at Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Gavin Cox

A SoMuchGoodNews Initiative

www.SoMuchGoodNews.com

(To keep in touch click on the link above and subscribe)

#  Dedication

This one is for you, Highway. What a ride!

# Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction - The Gospel

Part I - What the Gospel is...

It is News

Good News

Unambiguous News

Definitive News

Important News

Global News

Current News

Personal News

Spiritual News

Powerful News

Part II - What the Gospel does...

It Informs

It Attracts

It Imparts

It Includes

It Regenerates

It Defines

It Liberates

It Transforms

It Empowers

It Redeems

Postscript - The Gospel Revolution

Publishing Information

Other books by Gavin Cox

# Foreword

Falling in love is an apt way to describe what happens when we stumble upon the pure Gospel and experience the unconditional love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is much more than mentally assenting to the historical Bible story. Without this encounter with Love, saying the sinners prayer would be nothing more than signing a membership contract into organised religion. That is why we must be born again – out of His Love for us and into love with Him.

When people fall in love they do really crazy things, like saying yes to a lifetime commitment of marriage. At the time they don't have to prove themselves to the one who fell in love with them. Somehow, mysteriously, love makes them acceptable, beautiful, irresistible, and just perfect, and afterwards it is natural for them to yearn for deeper levels of companionship, fulfilment, and intimacy.

The true Gospel reminds me so much of this. I'm so grateful that several years back I heard the message of amazing Grace, and it convinced me– His love for me is unearned, unexpected, and undeserved. Grace came and showed me that Jesus got what I deserved, so that I could get what He deserved; the New Covenant is based on His faithfulness, not mine. I simply fell in love all over again.

It is difficult enough to articulate these things at the level of the romantic, and even more so when explaining the experiencing of God's Love. Gavin does a superb job of this– almost effortlessly. You will find this book written simply, clearly and honestly. And as you progress, chapter by chapter, you will experience the unveiling of the marvellous New Covenant.

Don't read for information only. Read to be transformed by this Message– the Good News. These truths will prove helpful in your life now, and again one day with your children and grandchildren. Learn them well.

Blessings

### Steve Wheeler

### Author of Highway to Grace (available at highway.co.za)

# Preface

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation!

This little book is not Scripture-reference heavy, and I've left cross-referencing it with the Word to you, the reader. But it is rich in Biblical thought and metaphor, and you'll recognise these throughout. It was written to be helpful, and written to make you think. I trust it will do both. This is not merely the Gospel as milk, but is also the Gospel as meat. Read, ruminate, and receive, with great joy and liberty.

The message is not a new one. No fad or fashion here. It is also not dated staleness, or a hearkening back to the past. It is the Good News of All Eternity - the Gospel of a salvation that is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. This Gospel is the power of God. It is pure plutonium!

There is a Gospel Revolution underway across the globe, and this book is a part of it. The Lord is restoring these key concepts to His church. The result will be a dynamic transformation, even if a little messy at times, for the Lion of Judah is not a domesticated kitty, and His church is not a potted plant. I am wholeheartedly persuaded that it is time for Christians to do what is necessary to break free from the confines of sterile, impotent churchianity. The Gospel is God's vision for every child of His, straight from Heaven, and straight to the heart. There is no vision bigger, and rather than local churches harnessing and controlling their members, they should be unleashing them on our world.

The Gospel - everywhere, all the time, and in every way - is Heaven's strategy for calling rebel planet earth back to the obedience of faith. This can all seem a little counterintuitive at first glance, but then so is the cross - a holy God giving His world an intimate kiss, rather than the decapitating slap it deserves.

Christianity is all about Jesus! He is God. He is Grace. He is the Gospel!

Yours in Him.

### Gavin Cox

### Gonubie, South Africa

### March 2016

# Introduction

## The Gospel

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6)

***

Crucifixion was a gruesome death.

It had been sadistically crafted to be excruciating, slow and humiliating.

Men lived for days on crosses, not that it was much of a life. Relief finally came to their fever-saturated, pain-wracked bodies by asphyxiation. That would happen when the body, traumatised and exhausted, overcame its own involuntary fight for another breath. By the time the lights went out, every nerve ending had been unbearably tormented, and the loss of control of bladder and bowel had long-since removed every last vestige of dignity. Crucifixion, you see, was about more than just ending a life; it was about suffering. Isaiah perhaps described it best when he spoke prophetically, writing that, "His (Jesus) appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind". Quite a statement! It takes us beyond "disfigured beyond recognition" all the way to "looked like roadkill". Those who saw Him knew that He was once alive, but were it not for the context, they could not be sure that He'd in fact been human.

By crucifixion day Jesus had been making headlines in Jerusalem and surrounds on and off for about three years. In the week prior to His execution things ramped up to fever-pitch across the city, and the half-day or so before the nails went through His flesh, the socio-political climate bordered on riotous. Behind the scenes was intrigue, then betrayal by a friend with a kiss for a surprising price - thirty pieces of silver, which was what an able-bodied slave cost. This was all very demeaning, and was followed by not one, but three trials. The Sanhedrin: a cultural and religious body with no civil jurisdiction. Herod: Tetrarch of Galilee and a political sidestep. And Pontius Pilate: Roman Governor of Judea, who was ultimately pressurised into passing the death sentence on someone he knew to be innocent. Included in the carnage was a sleepless night for Jesus, deprivation of food and drink, a mocking and two beatings. The latter whipping applied a heavy multi-thonged iron-and-bone-studded scourge to His flesh in ways that were well able to end a life, which is why lashes of this nature were carefully rationed at sentencing. On top of it all, there was the emotional torment of false accusation and abandonment, not forgetting the tortures of anticipation also, for Jesus knew exactly what was coming His way ahead of time.

***

Father, Son and Holy Spirit had caucused together in the councils of God before the creation of the world. They would create, they had agreed, and then take full responsibility for everything that they had made. Mankind, they had decided, would be the pinnacle of their creation.

Man being made in God's image equated to both free moral agency and significant delegated authority. The very nature of God demanded this, for God is sovereign, but He is not controlling. Humanity, and by extension the planet over which mankind presided, was thus vulnerable to deception, unbelief and rebellion. Sin, in turn, precipitated alienation from the God and demands judgement, for He is holy and just.

Our Creator is altogether good, and so the prospect of judgement as the outcome of His creative endeavours was unacceptable to Him. Redemption was thus of necessity an integral part of creation's plan. Because there was a first Adam, there would have to be a second Adam (Jesus) also. He would enter the equation innocent, as did first Adam, and be subject to the same temptations that first Adam was. But that is where the similarities would end. Second Adam would make His entrance into an already-fallen world. His choices would not be naive and uninformed; He would be enlightened and acutely conscious of the consequences of His every thought, word and deed. His job description would be different also. His would not be the broad brief of colonising the planet. For Him there would be no longevity, family, or limitless potential and pleasure. His life would be short and sharp, lived with laser-like singularity of purpose. He would live the sinless life first Adam could and did not, and then, sinless, He would take upon Himself the consequences of sin, undeservedly receiving its unbridled punishments. This vicarious propitiation, endured by a perfect substitute, would provide redemption for the worst of sinners. Justice would be served; and the fullest of pardons secured!

On this, Father, Son and Holy Spirit had agreed before creating anything. So it was, at the perfect moment in time, Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. Uncorrupted by sin, He was unlike any who had emanated from Adam's loins. He lived sinlessly, doing only what He first saw His Heavenly Father doing, and saying only what He first heard from Heaven. Holy Spirit was with Him, enabling Him every step of the way. And so it was that Jesus came to be brutally crucified, having done nought but good.

***

Men could live for days on crosses, but those crucified on either side of Him died quickly. The authorities willed it so. All dead bodies needed to be off their crosses by the Sabbath, and so those in charge precipitated asphyxiation by breaking legs. Hanging from their arms, breathing well-nigh impossible, they died quickly. Jesus' legs didn't need the breaking. By the time the two thieves died, Jesus was already dead. The spear that pierced His side revealed His corpse as soulless and His ordeal over.

Though weakened by the abuses suffered, Jesus was not weak, and frailty not the cause of His death. Weak men don't take time mid-crucifixion to forgive those who are doing them in. Weak men don't ensure that their mothers are taken care of, and weak men certainly don't have the energy to minister to the down-and-outs being executed alongside them. Doing any one of these things under those circumstances would have been remarkable. Jesus did all three! He also declined the pain-relieving opiate offered Him, and it was He who brought the proceedings to a close by declaring His job done. "It is finished", He said, before breathing His last and surrendering His spirit to His Father. Through it all Jesus was the one who was in control. He laid down His life; no one took it from Him!

Jesus died quickly because it was much more than mere crucifixion that killed Him. He died because of sin. Not His own sin, mind you, but ours. The iniquity of humanity was laid upon Him. Can any of us even begin to imagine how to quantify that? How much sin is the whole world's sin? While quite beyond our comprehension, Scripture is unequivocal about it. Jesus died for our sin. All of it. He became a sin offering. In that moment of sin's imputation, He became as unacceptable to God as sin is, and in His dying received sin's reward. Its wages have always been death, and it was for sin that Jesus died. His becoming a sin offering separated Him from His Father for the one and only moment in all eternity. The anguish this caused Him far outweighed anything that His executioners inflicted upon Him. Having remained silent throughout His ordeal, estrangement from Heaven caused Him to cry out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus spent six hours on that cross. Six tumultuous hours as the hordes of Hades congregated in vindictive, miscalculated, brooding triumph. Six hours that played havoc with creation, with darkness escalating from noontime, and the earth itself quaking as it echoed His agony. Six long hours. Six other-worldly hours. Six hours never before seen and never to be repeated.

The hardened Centurion in charge of the executions that day walked away shaking his head, believing.

***

Jerusalem of the day shared any city's challenges, sanitation included. Gehenna (our Bibles translate this Greek word as "hell") was the city dump, and was also the place where the corpses of the destitute and those of criminals like Jesus were routinely disposed of. In Gehenna fire and worms did their sanitising work while loved-ones wept and mangy curs gnashed their teeth. Sulphur was burned to mask the smell. Jesus had used this Gehenna-imagery in His teachings more than once, and it would have become His resting place, had Joseph of Arimathea not stepped in. As a wealthy member of the governing elite, Joseph's was a brand new rock-hewn sepulchre near the city, and it was here that Jesus' corpse was hurriedly interred. Isaiah had prophesied some seven hundred years earlier that His grave would be with the wicked and with the rich, and in this unexpected turn of events, so it was.

Many a story ends with the death of the hero, but not so ours. At the beginning of the next week Jesus was headline news in Jerusalem once again. The large stone which had sealed His tomb had been rolled away. His grave clothes had been discarded, the head-covering neatly folded. The tomb was empty, but this evidence confirmed that His body had not been stolen. Something much more newsworthy than rumour-mill-fodder had taken place. Jesus had risen, just as He had said He would, even though absolutely nobody had believed Him at the time. His resurrection took everyone by surprise, including His most ardent supporters. In fact, multiple post-resurrection appearances were necessary to persuade His own followers that He was alive and well, let alone His critics. His mangled corpse had been on public display, and so the unbelief on resurrection morning is quite understandable.

The cross had not been an end; on the contrary, it was only the beginning. The accounts make for fascinating reading - heartwarming explanation on the road to Emmaus; fear-rescinding reassurance in Jerusalem; breakfast in Galilee - and many, many more. Five hundred people attested to being with Him on one occasion. At other times there were fewer; sometimes even one-on-one. His incontrovertible resurrection was the ratification of His atoning work, and Jesus left no possibility of doubt prevailing. A New Covenant had been cut, the promised New Deal established, and the eternal basis of God's dealings with mankind immutably established. Redemption as agreed in the Godhead before time had been implemented. If the cross was the cheque that paid the debt of sin's wages, then the resurrection was that same cheque clearing the bank account. It wasn't just that Jesus had said that it was finished; it really was finished after all!

The rest, as they say, is history. His ascension from the Mount of Olives. His seat of honour and authority at the right hand of the Father. The Lamb of God is the Lion of Judah. The choirs of heaven added a new verse to their eternal hymn at that point - it had always been "Holy", but now it's also "Worthy" - for Jesus, and for His job well done!

***

Some seven weeks later, the last piece of the Gospel story literally fell into place when the Holy Spirit was poured out on those gathered in the upper room to pray. God sure knows how to pick strategic dates and times. Jesus' death and resurrection had straddled the Passover, a time of year when multitudes visited Jerusalem. Now it was Pentecost, and the crowds were back. At nine o'clock in the morning, the same hour at which the nails had pierced Jesus' flesh a few weeks earlier, the sound of a mighty rushing wind was heard. What looked like tongues of fire came to rest on those gathered, and in the maelstrom of glory, joy and power, they were thrust out onto the streets. Some said they were drunk, but that was not it. The Holy Spirit had come, poured out as promised. Heaven was on earth again, just as it had been with Jesus, but this time never to leave.

That day, on the crowded streets of Jerusalem, the Good News was preached in its fullness for the very first time, and with great power. A fisherman named Peter, from Galilee, led the charge. The motley ensemble with him, numbering one hundred and twenty, served as a fervent supporting cast. Festive, cosmopolitan Jerusalem got the Gospel - Jesus crucified; dead, buried, and raised - each one hearing it in his or her own language. Such is the power of God the Holy Spirit; when He is at work, anything and everything is possible.

That same Gospel has not ceased to be preached since. On that day in Jerusalem three thousand believed. Innumerable multitudes across the globe have believed since.

# Part I

What the Gospel is

# Chapter 1

## The Gospel is News

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (I John 1:1-4)

***

The Gospel is news.

It's news about Jesus - about who He is, what He did, and why He did it.

His story goes right back to before the beginning, when He partnered with the other members of the Godhead in formulating their creative and redemptive plans, agreeing on their respective roles. He was then so successful in His mission that its impact is comprehensively retroactive and will be never-ending. The cross spans time and space, for by it God was reconciling all things to Himself - things on earth, and things in heaven.

Throughout the ages, this story has been told by those who saw, heard and experienced it unfold and develop. It is so well attested to all along the way that it comes to us as eye-witness news, with many of those witnesses having been martyred for their unwillingness to waver in testimony. Yet, in contemplating its enormous scope, let's not imagine that the Gospel story is a complicated one, for this is not so. The poignant facts are all to be found condensed within the life of a single individual, Jesus Christ. The Gospel is short and simple, easily remembered, and easily told. Even little children can understand it.

When this news \- Jesus crucified, died, buried and raised - first broke on the streets of Jerusalem on Pentecost morning a little more than two millennia ago, it did so empowered by the Spirit, and immediately went viral. The believing community of a hundred and twenty soon gained three thousand more, and from there it snowballed. Confirmed by miracles, signs and wonders through the centuries, today the worldwide community of believers numbers hundreds of millions, and the forward momentum of this message gives no indication whatsoever of slowing down.

Wherever the news about Jesus has gone, it's been just as controversial as Jesus Himself was. This has been a good thing, for it means that this news has been interrogated and tested every step of the way. The first major think-tank - and there have been many since - took place as the key role-players in the believing community gathered at what we today refer to as the Council of Jerusalem. This was necessary because the news was leaping across ethnic divides, and they wanted to make sure that everyone was getting the facts, and not some culturally distorted version of the facts. This Council was presided over by James, the half-brother of Jesus. Like him, many of those present had seen first-hand what Jesus had done, and heard what Jesus had said with their own ears. This gathering therefore constituted the ideal forum for crystallising the Gospel, paring it down to its essentials. What was then viral is now global, and those early leaders served us well, as did many others through the years. Much has happened, but the facts remain, and today the Gospel is as clear as it has ever been.

What we learn through it all is that truth remains true, and ceaseless attention simply polishes the diamond all the more. The news, as proclaimed by Peter on the streets of Jerusalem, is the news we herald today. Jesus lived the sinless life no descendant of Adam could. Every one of Adam's line is a sinner, due sin's wages, but sinless Jesus received these on our behalf. He died for our sins. Three days later, God raised Him from the dead, thereby vindicating His claims, and establishing His vicarious death as redemption for sinners for all time. All who believe this, in so doing appropriate His substitution personally, and thereby enter into a glorious exchange - their sin for His righteousness. All of it, for all of it! He received what sinners deserve, and in believing, sinners become saints as they enter into all that He deserves. The Gospel believed is salvation received, and it is by faith alone that men and women are put right with God. The Holy Spirit makes them alive and anew. In the moment of faith, those who believe are instantly transported from darkness to light, from death to life, and from being in first Adam to being in Christ (last Adam). God Himself, who made this possible for them, does it to them. We believe; He works! This is the Gospel!

***

Contemplating the factual basis of the Christian faith, as we are, presents us with the perfect opportunity for addressing those aspects of the faith that are as yet still to be proven.

These divide themselves into several categories. Firstly, there are those claims which are simply not subject to the historical record. The very existence of God falls into this category. These are the kind of facts which simply cannot be proven, but cannot be disproven either. In the matter of the existence of God, the Christian and the Atheist take comparable positions, albeit on opposing sides. The Christian believes there is a God; the Atheist believes there isn't one. Both believe. The point at hand is that those aspects of Christianity which cannot be proven either way do not weaken its case.

Other claims of Scripture are prophetic in nature, and so are not yet subject to the historical record. Not yet proven, they are also not yet disproven. Time will tell. But while they remain prophecy, they also in no way erode the veracity of the Gospel.

Still other facts are subject to the historical record, but are yet to be substantiated as fact. These typically have to do with people, places and events. There were once many more of these than there are today, as again and again the Biblical account has been vindicated, and the discrediting conclusions reached on the basis of inadequate historical gleanings found wanting. In effect, the Bible has had the privilege of scrutiny in the interests of didactic accuracy (Christians want to teach the truth) and the interrogation of vehement opponents. Both have served it well, and all these years later, there is yet any disproving to be done. The case for Christ may not be built exclusively on proven facts, but all evidence indicates that it is built exclusively on truth, for there is still no sound reason for doubting its claims.

Which brings us to this chapter's concluding thought. The substantial agreement of the subjective, experiential witness of hundreds of millions of Christians makes a weighty contribution in favour of the Gospel. This is especially so given that Christians are themselves a study in diversity. Cultures differ and times change, but the experience of Jesus remains the same. Even with the Bible's poetic leanings, with it speaking to the heart at least as often as it does to the mind, the global Christian community remains unanimous about its Lord and Saviour; about who He is, what He came to do, and why. Multiple millions claim a relationship with the same Jesus, and even though their testimonies vary circumstantially, about Him they agree. If one person sees the spaceship, so what? But if a few hundred million do? Any reasonable court of law establishes truth on the basis of two or three witnesses. On the basis of this logic, the Gospel must be true, even if every facet has not yet been proven. The most reasonable thing to do is to treat it as fact.

# Chapter 2

## The Gospel is Good News

There were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:8-12a)

***

We live in the shadow of Adam's fall. Consequently, good can be a rather vague notion. The weather is good. So is pizza. The birth of a baby is good. Yesterday was good. Kids who go to good schools get a good education. At times, even the economy is good. We know what we mean when we say these things, because good is a relative term, aiming our thinking in a direction without making a particularly strong statement. Good certainly has positive leanings, but it has limits in terms of quality and quantity. As the saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

It's different with God. With Him, good is an absolute. What He means by good, we mean by words like excellent, awesome and perfect. He is altogether good; not good in the sense of "good, better, best", because His good is in the superlative, ultimate sense. He is good, never to be anything different. He cannot be more good, and will never be less so. Now, when it comes to writer's craft, the experts tell us that we should avoid adverbs (words ending in "ly" that exist to strengthen verbs), because they make for weak prose. We should use strong verbs to start with instead. Ironically, that means that in this instance, the only way to describe God accurately is to write badly, for He is completely, utterly, totally, perfectly, thoroughly, perpetually, immutably, exceptionally, impressively, incomparably, magnificently, spectacularly, unconditionally, inexhaustibly, singularly, definitively, and only, good!

Which in turn means that most people are wrong about Him. Even Christians. We all too easily think of Him as good in qualified ways, and thereby misrepresent Him entirely. He is altogether good. He does nothing bad. Ever! It's not as if, in His higher wisdom, some things that are terrible for us are actually good for God. We were created in His image, remember, and so His good is always good for us, even if we use different words to describe it - like wonderful, glorious, excellent, perfect or magnificent. Right thinking never wavers on this, knowing that He is good, and realising that He is the source of all good things.

God is not the source of our pain. Sickness is not from Him. Suffering is not from Him. Poverty is not from Him. Depression, suppression, oppression - all are so "not Him". Bad things are not the tools of His trade. He is exclusively in the saving business. Good God is so good at good, that He even only does good in the vilest of situations. So good at good is He, that some folk mistakenly get to thinking that He might just have engineered the problem in the first place, in order to bring so much good out of it. This is not so for God is singularly good. He never has the end justify His means, doing bad things for good outcomes. Sickness, suffering, destitution and death are not good. Our God is the God of life!

Bad things do happen. They happen because we all live in the shadow of the fall. With satan driving the agenda, bad things are grounded in sin, be it Adam's (the fall), ours, or someone else's (the drunk driver coming the other way). It is satan and sin that destroy; not God! God is indiscriminately good. He is not just good to good people, nor is He only good to Christians. The Bible puts it this way - He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. While we were His enemies, He loved us, and He loves those who are His enemies still. Satan, on the other hand, is altogether evil. There is not a single vestige that is redeemable in him, or else Good God would've redeemed him also. He is a thief who only steals, kills and destroys. Any gift he offers is destructive, no matter how attractive the packaging. As someone has said, "This is not complicated: God good; devil bad!" Always. Anywhere and everywhere, to everyone.

***

Which brings us to the Gospel. The word Gospel literally means "good news". The Gospel is good news from Good God. No exceptions; no limits! It is all good news and only good news. And that good is not our humanly-speaking good, like weather and pizza and the economy, but His good. So here we go again, but it can't be helped. The Gospel is completely, utterly, totally, perfectly, thoroughly, perpetually, immutably, exceptionally, impressively, incomparably, magnificently, spectacularly, unconditionally, inexhaustibly, singularly, definitively, and only good news! Get it? The Gospel is good news for everyone, everywhere, at all times.

This is unqualified. The Gospel is not largely good news, or mostly good news, but it is all and only good news. It is by grace from first to last, a message of unmerited favour. It's at this point that it is most often misrepresented. All Christians have a Gospel that includes grace; too few have a Gospel that is all of grace - and there is a big difference. We'll develop this thinking as we move ahead, but what this means is that if on any point it is not good news, then it is not the Gospel. Any strings attached, any price to pay, any "if" or "but", and it's not the Gospel. Any stick, carrot or other form of manipulation, and it's not the Gospel.

When people first hear this, their first reaction is often that this is just too good to be true. How can this be? Where's the catch? But it is true. And it is good. Because it is good news from a good God, it's actually too good not to be true! "Good news of great joy that will be for all the people", is what the angel said to those shepherds all those years ago. It was good news then, and it's good news now!

# Chapter 3

## The Gospel is Unambiguous News

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1–4)

***

At first glance, the Bible can appear to be riddled with contradictions.

The reason for its apparent ambiguity is that the Bible is an account of seven covenants, two of which were specifically designed to reveal mankind's inadequacies. These two covenants are hardly the makings of good news. Four others were prophetic precursors to Christ, which certainly do have the makings of good news. These six, two of works and the four of grace, then find their culmination in the New Covenant, or Jesus Covenant. The good news about this seventh great covenant is what we in turn call the Gospel.

The Bible is therefore a book that documents seven contracts, but thanks to Jesus, only one of which applies. Jesus is what God has to say to us, and He is an unambiguous message. He is God's Logos (the Greek word for Word). God's message.

Applying Scripture without appropriately distinguishing between these seven covenants inevitably results in contractual confusion. Read the Bible understanding that Jesus is God's message to us, and that only the New Covenant's terms and conditions apply, and things are clear. If you'd like to know more, get a copy of the first book in this series, "How To Read Your Bible & Not Get Confused". It will give you a working knowledge of each of the seven covenants, which demonstrates how the Jesus Covenant completes the others. It goes without saying that I highly recommend it!

***

In the final analysis, it all boils down to what we believe is the basis for right-standing with God.

All belief systems fall into one of two possible categories, because they answer that question in one of two possible ways. The first category believes that our right-standing with God is based on our performance. This is Law or legalism. According to this view, right-standing with God is achieved by right behaving. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad. Different words are used in different contexts - laws, rules, standards, commandments, conditions, demands, instructions or requirements - but the dynamic being described is always the same. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad! The moment a stick and/or carrot is involved, no matter how it's sliced, diced, stirred or shaken, you can be sure that legalism is at work.

Christianity stands alone in the alternate category. Grace knows that no one can ever be good enough for God. He is too holy, and we are all too sinful. Grace grasps that God's standard is perfection, and by that measure, all men fail. Grace knows that right-standing before God is an undeserved gift, believed and received, and that it is based on Jesus' sinless life and substitutionary death. On the cross He received what we deserve, in order that we might receive what He deserves. The Gospel is the outrageously good news of this unambiguous unmerited favour - do good, get good; do bad, get good!

Law and Grace are diametric opposites, and mutually exclusive. Law advocates for self-righteousness; Grace advocates for Christ's righteousness. Law relies on self-effort; Grace relies on Jesus' efforts. Law relies on us. Grace relies on Him. These opposing views cannot be blended or used to balance one another out. Any attempt to do so defaults to Law. Grace is either all of grace, or it is not Grace at all. Law plus Grace equals Law. Grace plus Law equals Law. Think of a bottle of one-hundred-percent pure spring water. Now introduce a little pollutant, or perhaps even something that is useful in its own right, like salt. No matter whether you add a little or a lot, the water will no longer be pure water. For it to be pure again, you'd have to remove every trace of the contaminant. Interestingly enough, the converse is not true. Adding pure water to a bucket of polluted or sea water will not alter its fundamental nature. It might dilute it, but it will never make it pure. Consider another example. Imagine a gift. Any gift. Now, put a price on that gift. Any price. Once priced, it is no longer a gift. Suggesting payment, however trivial, redefines the transaction. Sell the item for a lot, or sell it for a little, a sale remains a sale. No matter how much the price is reduced, a bargain can never be a gift. So it is with Law and Grace. Add Law to Grace, no matter how sparingly, and you'll have Law. Add Grace to Law, no matter how abundantly, and it remains Law.

With apologies to my friends who are smokers (the analogy works too well not to use), the Surgeon General has determined that smoking is detrimental to your health. The toxins do their deadly work, whether inhaled by puffing on cigar, cigarette, cigarillo or pipe, or ingested by sniffing or chewing, should these be your preferred options. Concentrations differ, and there is something for everyone's preferences when it comes to branding, but it's ultimately the same thing. Just so with Law. There's something for everyone. You can become more Jewish or less worldly; you can get more serious or compromise less. Legalism's various products and brands promise increased spirituality of every conceivable kind. Just put in the effort and you can have more Holy Spirit, greater access to God, increased prosperity, greater revelation, or even more grace. All you'll need to do is repent more, obey more, pray more, or join a particular group or movement. Nothing could be easier. It's a simple matter of five steps to this, seven steps to that, or for those who are keen really to get somewhere, twelve steps to something else. No pain, no gain, you know. But the common factor is the pursuit of self-righteousness. Stick or carrot, or sometimes both. But irrespective of the packaging, legalism is a ministry of condemnation and death. Seldom does it present marked "Caution: Legalism Kills!" Much of it is pedalled by well-meaning preachers who want the very best for their congregants. Only a tiny minority finds its route to market through manipulative charlatans blatantly abusing the people of God. Whatever the delivery system, it's our own cobbled-together belief systems, buried deep in our sub-conscious, that make us susceptible. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad.

No matter from whence it comes, anything that is not all of grace is not grace at all. Only Christ's righteousness can save us, and only His righteousness keeps us saved. No ambiguity there. None whatsoever!

# Chapter 4

## The Gospel is Definitive News

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11–12)

***

The cross of Christ was once for all.

It was altogether effective. That is to be emphatic - it was altogether effective for everyone, everywhere, for all time. It need never be repeated, and no one is ever excluded from being its beneficiary. It was once, for all!

This is in stark contrast to what had preceded it. The Old Testament record is littered with repeat-sacrifices. Four times the writer to the Hebrews emphasises this vital distinction between the old and the new (7:27, 9:12, 9:26 and 10:10).

The wages of sin has always been death, and in the face of this human indebtedness, animal sacrifices were in-and-of-themselves powerless. No animal could ever adequately substitute for a sinner; only a fellow human being could do that. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were thus place-holders in time, and served as prophetic foreshadows of a perfect sacrifice to come. They were not payments for sin, but God-instituted promissory notes, for which the Lord Himself stood surety. He was Guarantor and Guarantee, for the Eternal Covenant had already been established pre-creation in the councils of God. These sacrificial chits authorised deferred payment of sin's debt, and because God Himself authorised them, those offering them for sin were credited as righteous. In this promissory dynamic of grace and faith, pre-cross-of-Christ saints from Adam onwards walked with God.

The down side, however, is that a debt deferred is by its very nature a reminder of a debt outstanding. By the time the sacrificial system had been fully institutionalised under Moses, the Day of Atonement provided annual relief from the burden of sin, but simultaneously stood as an annual reminder of sin also. Those who benefited from it were no-doubt grateful for the gift of righteousness it endowed, but they knew that they would be back doing the same thing again the following year, for the wages of sin was yet unpaid. The very sacrifices that worked relief declared their own transience and inefficacy even as they did so.

***

The uncleanness of sin is more accurately understood as leprosy, than as mere dirt and grime. Sin corrupts things at the level of their essential nature. So it was that lepers were unclean, as were certain foods, and corpses, and sinners. Washing is indeed a Biblical notion, but not a superficial one. Jesus expressed His disdain for those who, in their religiosity, were whitewashed tombs, or who only cleaned the outside of the cup. Sin leads to a grubby exterior also, but the far bigger problem is that the heart and mind of any sinner is at least as sinful as his outward behaviour indicates. Ultimately, uncleanness is in-Adam-ness - corruption and decay right down at DNA level - and can never be eradicated by scrubbing. Wash a sinner, and you get a clean sinner, because washing will never get you a saint. A far more substantial intervention is necessary to effect that transformation.

Hence the inadequacy of the sacrifices of old. They only treated sin on a superficial level. In something akin to an annual bath, all they did was to conceal sin by covering it over. A little delving into the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) reveals this clearly. Both have words which are accurately translated "atonement" in English, which is the appropriate term for describing the making of amends for sin. Yet in their respective languages, the meaning of the word differs significantly. The Hebrew describes the covering over of sin; the Greek describes sin's removal. The cross of Christ was vastly different to the animal sacrifices of old, accomplishing what they never could.

Jesus was the perfect substitute. He was a second, sinless Adam. More accurately, He is last Adam, for there will never be any need for another. On the cross, Jesus received the wages of sin. Not of His own sin, but of ours. The cross of Christ was payment for sin, period. The Scriptures are emphatic about this. Until then, the Lord in His mercy had left the sins of the past covered-over, unpunished, awaiting the work of His Son. When Jesus died the debt incurred by sin was paid in full. Theologians call this propitiation. Justice had been done. The demands sin had placed on a holy God had been met. Punishment had been fully and finally meted out. Atonement was redefined. What had been a covering-over by the promissory-notes of animal sacrifices was now an expunging, once for all, by the blood of Jesus. Theologians call this expiation. Everything had changed, forever. Sin was dealt with. Once, for all!

***

Men and women who come to God through Christ's atoning work are plunged, not into a bath of sorts, but into a grave. And not just any grave, but Jesus' grave, as, in the moment of faith they are united with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. It is this baptism (immersion) into Christ that saves. When sinners are immersed into Christ, they enter riddled with sin's incurable leprosy. Moments later, they have been co-crucified with Christ, and are no longer in Adam, but in Christ. This is all of grace, and by faith alone. They are raised altogether new - no longer sinners, but saints; no longer unclean, but clean; no longer leprous with sin, but sanctified, made holy, righteous, with Christ's very own righteousness having been imputed to them.

Believer's baptism (immersion in water) celebrates this, richly reminding of, and all-the-more appropriating salvation's fulness.

Christ's atoning sacrifice was effectual for all sin - sin in its past, sin in its present, and sin in its future. It was the implementation of the Eternal Covenant in Christ's blood, decided upon before creation, and made manifest two millennia ago. It dealt with all sin, everywhere, for all time. Jesus died once for all! He did so for everyone, everywhere, for all time - including all future generations (like ours). It was against this guarantee that God credited righteousness to those believers whose sins were covered over by the animal sacrifices of their day, and it is thanks to Christ's perfect sacrifice that generations not yet born will be reconciled to God also.

# Chapter 5

## The Gospel is Important News

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. (I Corinthians 15:3–8)

***

The Gospel is important news. That much is obvious. But the point Paul was making to the Corinthian church was more than that. His point was that the Gospel is of first importance; in other words, important above and before anything else. Since he made this point to those who were already Christians, its application goes beyond being a salvation issue.

Earlier in the letter he had made the same point in a different way. "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 3:11). The Gospel is foundational to everything else. Any other point of departure, point of convergence, or even point of reference, is folly. The Gospel was foundational to the creation of the world, remember. Paul's point is that everything God has ever done, and everything He will ever do, rests on this foundation. He builds exclusively on this foundation. Not everyone else is as wise. No wonder so many things around us rise only to fall, for it is impossible to ground a durable structure on an inadequate foundation.

Yet amongst Christians, to whom this perfect foundation has been freely given, a perplexing folly prevails. Instead of building meticulously, some slap up an inappropriate shack, seemingly without a second thought concerning the incongruous wastefulness of it all. Instead of using the finest materials and building with care, they live carelessly, which is exactly what a number of the Corinthians had done, thus prompting Paul's comments. They had been given the perfect starting point, and were ignoring it, to live self-centred, carnal, sin-ridden, inconsequential lives. Their plumbline was their flesh, and the licentious result was a church divided and confused, posturing in spiritual gifts and dishonouring one another. So bad was the situation in some instances that Paul judged it enough to make a hardened pagan blush.

The Galatians, incidentally, had done the same thing, only in a different way. They too had ceased giving heed to their foundation, and had adopted instead the carnal plumbline of self-righteousness. They dutifully surged ahead, reintroducing the demands of the Old Covenant, steadfastly relying on their best efforts to live well. In so doing they were even worse off than the Corinthians, for they had been bewitched and were deceived in their relinquishing of grace and faith.

Understanding this counters the strange notion bandied abroad at times that thinks of true Christianity as a narrow road between the licentiousness of the Corinthians and the legalism of the Galatians. Nothing could be farther from the truth, for as we have seen, both licentiousness and legalism are expressions of the flesh. Both are wood, hay and stubble. Both define themselves in relation to Law, licentiousness by its rebellion against, and legalism by its embracing of. The notion of true Christianity being somewhere between the two is ludicrous; if that were true Paul would've prescribed a little more Law to the Corinthians and a little less to the Galatians. Instead, he prescribed the Gospel to both. Paul knew that it was the work of Christ that was of first importance!

***

The Gospel is of first importance in a foundational sense, but it is more than that also, for it is of first importance in every sense! It is of first importance sequentially (before all else), and of first importance in its primacy (above all else). Jesus is the foundational chief cornerstone, and He is also the glorious crowning capstone that completes everything. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He is the point of departure and the point of it all. All things were created by Him and for Him, and He holds it all together.

That is to say that the Gospel should be our plumbline from first brick to last. Few gravitate to something as far afield as the licentiousness of the Corinthians or the Pseudo-Judaism of the Galatians, but nonetheless we seem to deviate off plumb all too easily. The plumbline for our lives and churches should never be anything other than the Gospel. Vision is a good thing. So are the Christian disciplines. Prayer, Scripture and worship are all good. A great deal of good fruit can come out of well-construed discipleship programmes or outreach initiatives. Yet, none of these things should ever consume us or define us. If we allow them preeminence for a moment, it will not be too long and our Christianity will be all about us and what we are doing, rather than all about Jesus and what He has done.

May I suggest that significant deviation off plumb is more common than we'd like to think. We gather to sing about ourselves, pray about ourselves, and reinforce our doctrinal positions. In a church context, we seem to work extremely hard at reproducing ourselves, and generously fund ourselves as we do so. We carefully compare ourselves to others, and just as carefully compare ourselves to ourselves, for our need is to produce measurable results that justify our efforts and set us amongst the successful. One cannot help wondering how much of this will be revealed as gold, silver and precious stones when tested, and how much will be wood, hay and stubble. After all, that which we do for Him is of questionable value; it is only that which is done in Him that will remain.

It's all very simple, really. Christianity is not about us. It isn't even about who we are in Him. Authentic Christianity (and church) is about Him! That is why the Scriptures repeatedly exhort us to "set our minds on things above" and to "fix our eyes on Jesus" and the like. These are not empty cliches but invaluable instruction in the fundamentals of the faith. Christ and His work are central to everything else. It is the universe's raison d'etre; the centre of gravity of the cosmos, as it were. If it is Eternity's focal point, how much more should it be ours! And how freeing it is when it is. No stress or strain or striving, for our life rests on Him and in Him, and what we do arises from who we are.

# Chapter 6

## The Gospel is Global News

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

***

The Gospel of the kingdom is no different from the good news we've been talking about all along.

Jesus is the Creator Sovereign - a loving King who rules over all that He has made - and we must be careful not to confuse that by projecting onto Him what we think we know about earthly kings and kingdoms. He was king before kings were invented, so to speak, and it was He who invented them. It's vital to allow the spiritual reality inform its natural reflection, and not the other way around. This vital interpretive principle applies to many of the major areas of life, including life itself, marriage, birth, family, community, and the like. The Lord Himself must therefore be the primary shaper of our thinking on kings and kingdoms.

He is obviously not a tyrant or dictator. The briefest of glances at His world confirms this. He is sovereign, but He is not controlling. He gave us the freedom to choose, and He is not one to take back His gifts. The mess the planet is in reflects on our abuse of delegated authority, and should not be attributed to Him. Misbelief on this matter has extensive ramifications. God is good, and desires good for His planet, but is it not surprising how frequently Christians frighten one another with threats of imminent judgement for sins committed, when such a paradigm is so poorly substantiated? On the contrary, at any given time God's family has a number of children beating a path to or from the proverbial pig pen, all of whom, without exception, encounter nothing but the great love of God on their return to Him. The fact is that He does not treat us as our sins deserve, just as He promised!

Jesus is also not some sort of constitutional monarch. On this point many go awry in their thinking. He rules by grace and not by law. Confusion here will have you interpreting His teachings as some sort of constitution of the kingdom or New Testament legal code. Those who think this way end up with a Gospel of rules and regulations. By it Christians are defined as those who do a, b, and c, and/or eschew e, f, and g. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad! Sound familiar? The moment the teachings of Jesus become the Christian rule-book, we replace the foundation of the faith - Jesus crucified, died, buried and raised - with our own efforts. Grace operates in a completely different way. Under grace, people love because they have been loved, and they give generously because they have received freely and unconditionally. The obedience of faith is a fruit - an outcome, if you like - of outrageous, unmitigated, unmerited favour. Herein lies the mystery of grace - transformation is by its power, and salvation is something done for us, to us, in us, and through us. Grace is the means by which Heaven, in all of its perfection, is re-colonising rebel planet earth!

The Gospel of the kingdom, then, is the good news of reconciliation with God through the work of Jesus, our perfect substitute. It is the news of the possibility of anyone receiving, as a gift, the government of God, with all of its attendant benefits. How much better is that than the destructive alternative of the dark, oppressive government of satan, sin and self which is our inheritance in Adam. As the Good News is heard and believed, the kingdom of God advances. In this way beneficiaries (everyone) become believers (Christians), and believers in turn become witnesses, telling others, everywhere, in words, works, ways and wonders. And so the kingdom comes, little by little, glory to glory, as creation returns to submission and obedience to our Creator-King, and He alone is exalted.

The kingdom comes by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone! This is the Gospel!

***

Christians have widely varying views on what the end means. Let's not start an end-times argument, but focus on what we all agree on - before wrap-up, the Good News of what Jesus has done will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Before the end, the Gospel will go global (Matthew 24:14).

The heart of a God who desires all to be saved pulsates through this definitive end-time condition. Mercy has triumphed over judgement by the cross, and so there can be no end until mercy is ubiquitous and victorious. Glimpses into the age to come reveal that Christ's bride is from every nation, tribe and tongue, which is another way of saying that mercy's triumph will have been established.

All of that is to say that the Gospel is inherently missional. It's news to everyone, for everyone, by everyone. It burst from the upper room onto the streets of Jerusalem because it is inherently effusive in nature. The Good News is new wine. It's celebratory. It's sparkling wine; a fine champagne. The Holy Spirit has a wonderful way of giving things a little shake-up from time to time to ensure that the corks keep popping and the bubbly keeps flowing. One of the authenticating marks of an accurate Gospel is that it pulsates with life.

Exactly how this Gospel of the kingdom will be universally proclaimed remains cause for speculation. Many believe that technology will be the facilitator. There is no doubt that it is easier now than ever to disseminate information, and the possibilities continue to increase with logarithmic acceleration. Others lean towards the conviction that the Gospel is beyond information, and is essentially incarnational. In other words, this message is a love-message, and as such needs embodiment; a personal messenger who is more than a talking head on a screen. These debates may well be a moot point however, for the Gospel is God-news and its efficacy is by Holy-Spirit-power. The Gospel saves as it applies Christ's once-for-all redemptive work. It is therefore likely a both/and rather than an either/or.

What seems more important than the how, in the light of the Gospel's effervescence, is the who and where. The meta-trends of the early twenty-first century are generational and geographical. Our world has an exploding populace that is ever-younger, and urban is trending, with cities born, and even mega-cities birthed on an almost daily basis. There was a time when unreached people groups were far-flung foreigners. Today they are just as likely to be our countrymen and neighbours. Some of this untold multitude is assuredly amongst the poor in your city, wherever your city may be. The point is that it no longer takes great effort for us to go into all the world with the Gospel, for modernity has brought the world to us. The missional churches of our day are not only those with vision, plans and programmes, but even more so those who are alive in the Gospel. It's all very simple. Christians are the recipients of unmerited favour. All that becoming missional requires is becoming channels of the same!

# Chapter 7

## The Gospel is Current News

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts... (Psalm 95:6–8)

***

The Gospel is perennially relevant. It addresses the human condition on the most fundamental of levels. It answers the all-important first-order questions in life: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where we are going? In short, what is it all about?

Our answers to these questions determine how we see the world. In answering these we effectively answer all questions. Answer these well, and although we might well increase in knowledge, grow in maturity, or develop in insight, the framework in which we live remains settled, clear and helpful. This was as true for the humble illiterate peasants of patriarchal times as it is today for the sophisticated twenty-first century urban technophobe. These questions are not subject to circumstance, gender or culture, for they interrogate our commonalities - the creation, our Creator, and our humanity.

Because it addresses the first-order questions of life, the Gospel will always be relevant to every single human being, no matter who, where or when. It is always ever-relevant, ever-topical, current news. The ways in which it is communicated differ endlessly and are dictated by context. Yet from goatskin-clad, be-sandalled prophet of old to cutting-edge techno-wizardry, the news itself remains unchanged.

***

The Biblical record is a magnificent demonstration of the Gospel's applicability in the now, for it spans millennia. It reveals again and again that the Gospel is applicable to everyone at all times - believer and unbeliever alike.

The Gospel is for every unbeliever. The Bible records it preached to all and sundry - Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old, slave and free. It is good news for any man or woman who will give it the time of day. Jesus did not die for some; He died for all. The Gospel must go where it has not been heard, or heard but not yet believed.

The Gospel is also what any Christian who is in trouble needs to hear. The Corinthian church to which Paul wrote was in deep trouble. It was divided every which way. There were factions amongst leaders. Disgruntled believers were dragging each other into court to resolve disputes. Members were posturing in their spiritual gifts at the expense of others. They were doctrinally confused. Even the communion service, in those days a meal, was a fiasco, with gluttonous behaviour by some while others watched hungrily from the sidelines. It even appears that some arrived to celebrate the Lord's Table drunk. Not good! It was into this sin-fest that Paul wrote. He addressed the issues, even invoking disciplinary action, but his hope for their future was in the Gospel. His confidence was not in what they would do, but in what Jesus had done. His trust was not in the rightness of their response, but in the gift of righteousness that they had received. His confidence (faith) was in God's unmerited favour, even though the situation was devoid of merit and undeserving of favour. Talk about counterintuitive!

The Corinthian letters help us understand that confronting bad behaviour is not legalism. When the situation warrants it, correction is in order, and even strong rebuke if necessary. That's not legalism; that's common sense! Legalism is suggesting that anything other than the work of Christ places us in right-standing with God, or indeed keeps us there. Not for an instant did Paul suggest this to the badly behaved Corinthians. On the contrary, he addressed them as sanctified (as saints) and blessed them with grace as he loved up on them in his salutation. Their bad behaviour was unfitting, but their salvation was in Christ, and not in their own ability to reform. How different this is to so much of the Christian world, where grace is extended to sinners, but condemnation to fellow believers who lose their way. Doing so reflects the misbelief that we are somehow saved by grace, but kept by law.

Even more counterintuitive is that the Gospel is equally for model believers who are in the sweet spot in their following of Jesus. For them, the Gospel is essential, for the mountaintop too is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. Paul's letter to the Ephesians illustrates this magnificently. That letter was most likely a circular letter to the churches in the region. At the time of writing the church in Ephesus was healthy and vibrant. To these believers, full of life and faith and abounding in good works, Paul wrote the Gospel. He wrote encouraging these believers to even greater heights, and did so by extolling the glories that are ours because of that which Christ has wrought on our behalf.

So... are you yet to place your confidence in Christ? I have good news for you. Are you a believer who has lost your way? Have you been waylaid by the enemy, corrupted by poor choices, or bad friends, or do you find yourself ensnared in some sin or another? Whatever the reason for your being in a pigpen of sorts, I have good news for you. Or are you living for Jesus, following your calling, and flowing in your gifts? Are you in the best place you've ever been, with opportunity and promise bursting out on every side? Well, there is good news for you too! In every instance that good news is the same. It is the Gospel - Jesus crucified, dead, buried and raised. He lived sinlessly, and then received all that sinful men and women deserve, all in order that we might enter into all that He deserves. That is the great exchange - our sin for His righteousness. All this is possible because He lived and died as our substitute, once-for-all, and in His vicarious life and death we rejoice. Jesus is alive, and all who place their confidence in Him live also. In Him we find freedom and fulness. In His victories we triumph. This is the Gospel!

***

There are so many chapters in the manual of Christian endeavour: Bible, church, prayer, spiritual warfare, worship, stewardship, servanthood, community, marriage, family, spiritual gifts, callings, discipleship, kingdom, prophecy, evangelism, missions, et al. The Christian curriculum can seem so vast that it overwhelms when unhelpfully presented.

Yet this was not what Paul had in mind when he claimed to have taught the Ephesian church the whole counsel of God. His ministry to them had been no different to his ministry to the Corinthians, to whom he declared nothing but Christ and Him crucified. There is no contradiction here, for the Christian curriculum is much narrower than most think. Jesus is what God has to say to us, which means that the full Christian curriculum is nothing other than the Gospel. This Good News is the whole counsel of God, for it impacts on absolutely everything. It informs how we pray and shapes how we play. There is no sacred-secular divide in it, for there is no aspect of life in which the Gospel does not carry import. All things were created by and for Jesus, and through the cross God was reconciling all things to Himself. All. The Gospel is a cosmic reality - all!

While the all of the Gospel is everything, it is not a complicated or cumbersome all. In sweet synopsis, the Scriptures call the day of salvation "Today". Today is the day of salvation, and in the beauty of grace, every day is "Today". The Gospel is current news everywhere every day.

# Chapter 8

## The Gospel is Personal News

The Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:11-13)

***

One day a woman was caught in the very act of adultery. She was dragged into a hastily constituted kangaroo court. Law (Moses, represented by the religious leaders of her day) and Grace (in the person of Jesus) stood side by side in the Temple grounds in Jerusalem early that morning. The terrified woman's sin was used to pose a question, "What do we do with adulteresses?" Law was clear. "We stone them!" Grace held a different view. All other sinners in attendance were quietly dismissed, and the question was then answered by the only sinless person present - Jesus. "No condemnation", said He. "Now go, and leave your life of sin."

Hopefully we'll never have to endure what was done to that poor woman, but nonetheless our sinful state poses the question: "What should be done with sinners like us?" The Bible teaches that this question is embedded in us, for creation is consistent in nature with its Creator, and so consciousness of right and wrong has been woven into its fabric. No one had to tell Adam and Eve that they were sinners once they'd sinned; they knew, as do we. So it is that at some point we all ask, at least of ourselves, "what should happen to someone like me?" And we know the answer. We might conceptualise it differently, couching it in our own thought forms, but in Biblical parlance it's simply this: "The wages of sin is death".

That is not good news!

The Good News is that the wages of sin has been paid in full. Its demands on a holy God have been fully and finally settled. Sin has been dealt with. It is finished! Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. We all are like wayward sheep, each one having gone astray, turning away from God and to our own way. But the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. That's good news!

That is not to say that everyone has already had their sins removed from them. But it is to say that everyone can and may! Provision has been made for everyone's salvation, and only needs appropriation by the individual. We are saved by grace through faith. The best way I've ever heard this illustrated is through the analogy of a parachute. When Adam sinned, he hurtled head-long out of the plane of life, taking all of humankind with him. All are sinners. All are already condemned. All are born effectively hurtling towards an eternity separated from God. But each and every one of us, aware of it or not, has also been kitted out with a parachute. That parachute is the cross of Christ, once for all, and well able to save. That parachute has been issued to everyone. No matter how fast their lives are spiralling out of control or how close they are to the ground, as surely as all are sinners in Adam, all are potential saints in Christ. Believing is receiving, for believing amounts to relying on Jesus and His efforts to save, rather than on ourselves and our own machinations. Believing pulls the ripcord. Altitude is not an issue at that point. Some deploy their chute on their deathbeds, literally moments before impact.

This analogy also helps make abundantly clear why the Law can never save. It cannot do so for it is not of faith, but a ministry of condemnation and death. It underscores the sinfulness of sin, clarifying its consequences. "You're falling", it screams. "You're a sinful sinning sinner, and you're hurtling towards unenviable, eternal separation from God. You're gonna die, man", says Law. "Stop falling", it shouts, "Stop falling, or else you're finished!" But a body in free-fall is no more able to stop falling of its own accord, without a parachute that is, than a sinner is able to stop being a sinful sinner without grace. The law cannot save, for it appeals to us to act out of our own inability. The Gospel is a completely different matter. It is all of faith. It declares that our iniquities have been laid on Christ, and that the righteousness rewarded for His obedience has been gifted to us. Right-standing with God is the package strapped to our back even as we plummet through life. "Trust what's been provided", Grace yells. And when we do, we find our plunge instantaneously arrested, and we rest in the sure grip of His fail-safe salvation.

***

The Gospel's nomenclature reverberates with its goodness. The Bible calls it the Gospel (Good News), the Gospel of God, the Gospel of Christ (of Jesus Christ; of the Lord Jesus Christ) Furthermore, it is the Gospel of grace, the Gospel of peace and the Gospel of your (our) salvation. All thanks to Jesus. It is also the Gospel of the glory of Christ and the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God. (As already noted, and for the sake of completeness, add in the Gospel of the kingdom as well).

There is one final appellation that the Bible records: Paul referred to it as "my Gospel". By this he meant that the Gospel had come to him by revelation. It was not mere information passed on to him by someone else. It was light and life to him and in him. It was of the Spirit and by the Spirit. Paul knew in the depth of his being that Jesus had died for everyone, including him, and that sweet knowledge had become his personally, for the Lord had given it to him. This was the Gospel that saved him, and the Gospel which he proclaimed. He had the Gospel, and the Gospel had him. It was his Gospel! The same thing is true of every other believer. The knowledge of the salvation wrought for all men has been made known personally, individually. We believe because we have a one-on-one thing going with God. The facts might come from anywhere - friend, book, Sunday School or TV preacher - but the life in the facts comes from God alone. Heaven, by the Spirit, takes a personal interest in our lives, and saves each of us individually.

Legend has it that a prisoner was given a New Testament Bible. He was thrilled, for he needed paper in which to roll his tobacco. Having time on his hands, and being a systematic sort of a fellow, he opted to make use of the pages front-to-back, reading each before using it to roll a cigarette. The story goes that over many weeks he smoked his way through the front matter, and then through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, each puff a delight. But then came the day that he happened upon the page bearing John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." In an instant he understood the Gospel, believed, and was born again of the Holy Spirit. In that moment, the Gospel became his Gospel, whilst he was preparing another cigarette. Right there he had his one-on-one with God.

Paul's Gospel. My Gospel. Your Gospel?

# Chapter 9

## The Gospel is Spiritual News

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." \- Jesus (John 6:63)

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." \- Paul (I Corinthians 2:12–13)

***

Christians live by faith. As such, they place a great deal of emphasis on the unseen. This can sound quite ethereal, as if spiritual things are transient intangibles, and quite unlike the real world, where the senses verify the authenticity of it all. On the contrary, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Remember that God is spirit, and that the spiritual world preceded the temporal one, and will also outlast it. Created things, which can seem so immovable to us, are in reality temporary. The eternal is in the spiritual. This is the secret that men and women of faith have learnt. Reality - the real, eternal, unchangeable world - is in the unseen.

There is nothing mystical about the spiritual realm or about living by faith. Consider for a moment that the spaces we inhabit are filled with electronic communication. Innumerable radio, television and telephone signals literally saturate the airwaves. All are unseen. But all that it takes for crystal clear reception is the appropriate device. In the same way, we live right in the middle of a spiritual super-highway. Our Creator has suspended our temporary world in space, right in the heart of the spiritual, eternal, real world. Spiritual stuff is happening around us thick and fast, all the time. It's just that our fives sense are largely oblivious of this. All around us is continual spiritual activity - demonic, angelic and divine. Born again by the Holy Spirit, and alive in Him, Christians are perfectly suited to living by faith, because they are ideally equipped for locking into God and all things godly, at the same time filtering out demonic interference and other peripheral spirit-world static.

When we speak of revelation, all that we're referring to is receiving and understanding the spiritual signals coming to us from God. Living by faith is easy. It's living by what you see and hear from God. It's not complicated, difficult or weird. In Adam, we were limited, natural beings. Born again, we're high-capacity spiritual beings, although restricted somewhat by being confined to our original natural bodies - our Adam-suits. Natural things no longer define us, however, because we take our identity from Christ. Grasping that we are now spiritual beings, fully equipped to live spiritual lives, is the single fact (revelation) that allows us to re-orientate ourselves into being Spirit-led in the day-to-day.

***

The Gospel originates in the spirit-realm, and is in essence spiritual. The great thing about it is that although spiritual, it has been exquisitely engineered to infiltrate, establish and transform the natural realm.

Remember that Jesus is the Logos (Word) of God. He is God's message to us, altogether spiritual, but perfectly designed to inform and transform the natural world. As God's Word, He created the natural. God said, and it was! And that's exactly how the Gospel works. It is God's word (information) about God's Word (Jesus), and in the communicating of it, the Word Himself moves the conversation from the temporal into the eternal by the power of the Holy Spirit. We start out sharing the Gospel (words) with someone, and before long Jesus is revealing Himself (God's Word) to the person, and soon they find themselves swept into an encounter with Him in His love, grace and mercy. This is the dynamic of all true preaching, and what makes it so powerful - words that are spirit and life. Preaching the Gospel is not a Sunday morning church activity; it is what happens whenever we share the Gospel in the power of the Spirit, be it in self-talk, one-on-one, or before multitudes.

***

Revelation has a language all of its own. Paul said that he taught spiritual truths to spiritual people in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was not referring to some other-worldly alien dialect, but to the dynamic described above. The way communication in revelation language works is that the moment you can see it, you can speak it. No great learning curve here; our access to the spirit-realm and inclusion in its dynamics are a gift. Ability dawns on us by revelation. We see it, and can do it. To be born again is to be equipped; to be baptised in the Holy Spirit is be the empowered-equipped.

Those who are fluent in "revelationese" know that it is a picture-language. The idiom tells us that a picture paints a thousand words, something the Lord knew before we ever did. That's why preaching, praying and prophesying can be so graphic, and why the Bible is a book of poetry, pictures, parables and people's stories. The Scriptures even tell salvation's story in great metaphors - justification, redemption, reconciliation, warfare and worship. These are all ideas which are rich in meaning, derived from the law courts, the slave market, the family, the battlefield and the innate desire within each of us for meaning in life. Through them we discover that we are not condemned, but freed, accepted, victorious intimates of God Himself. So much said in so few words; this is the beauty of revelation's language.

The picture-language Gospel is everywhere around us. It is embedded in virtually every aspect of life and we all interact with it continuously. You've perhaps just not noticed it because it's not been pointed out to you, or perhaps you've not been helped consciously to engage Holy-Spirit-revelation-channel in the way your life in Christ has been designed to do. Even the tiniest smidgen of unmerited favour has the seeds of the Gospel in it. The Scriptures are unequivocal about this. Every good gift comes from God. Remember that movie that put a lump in your throat? Somewhere, someone was doing something that reminds of Jesus. And remember that magazine article? That act of kindness? Reminiscent of Jesus, hey! Then there's that neighbour of yours who volunteers down at the pet shelter on weekends, caring for abandoned strays. Sound familiar, somehow? Can you hear the Gospel echoing everywhere in the natural realm? Could it be that in this regard even Hollywood is our friend, and that in every rags-to-riches tale, every get-it-right-in-the-end love story, and every against-the-odds epic, are traces of the Gospel that can be used to point those around us to Christ? Doing so will edify those who are Christians and evangelise those who are not. And doing so is well within reach of all of us.

The Good News is everywhere. So is the need of it. Death, decay and destruction are also ubiquitous. This is thanks to an enemy that does nought but steal, kill and destroy. It is also thanks to Adam's ever-compounding legacy, which is all around us, and at times even expresses itself through us (our flesh). Were the Gospel just information, it would amount to little more than another opinion piece amongst the plethora of tabloids constituting twenty-first century living. But it's not. The Gospel is spiritual. It preceded, and supersedes, temporal realities. Fragmented reflections of unmerited favour sparkle and glitter, beckoning our eye on every side, even on the darkest of days. Every shimmer is an opportunity to be seized. Let's do so.

# Chapter 10

## The Gospel is Powerful News

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16–17)

***

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation!

This glorious Good News is not passive, but active. It works. It does stuff; accomplishes things. It's not just that the Gospel can be powerful when put to appropriate use, for example by powerful preaching or testimony, or when accompanied by confirming signs and wonders. The Gospel is powerful all on its own without any of these very good things attending it. Stand-alone, the Gospel is powerful! Remember the fellow from an earlier chapter who met the Lord smoking his way through the Gospels? His story makes the point. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. It's glorious to partner with, and it certainly makes good use of our gifts and callings, but the Gospel all on its own is able to save, for saving is its purpose, and save it does.

The creation account helps us to understand. God the Father decreed; He spoke by the Living Word, Jesus; Holy Spirit did the work. Will, Word and Works, and there you have it - the Trinity in glorious synergy bringing something out of nothing. Into the dark, formless void that was, Father decreed, and that which was Spoken was accomplished by the Spirit, who was to be found brooding over the project waiting to do all that was willed. In exactly the same way, salvation in Father's will, through and in Jesus, and by the Spirit. When the Gospel is proclaimed, the Good News and the Spirit work together in creative synergy - Will, Word and Works - their sublime redemptive poetry, joyfully engulfing, loving, and saving, just as choreographed to do before time began.

Jesus Himself made the same point very simply when He described the Gospel as a seed. Fertile seeds are powerful things, containing everything necessary for maturity, including life, thanks to their ingenuity in design. The whole oak is in the acorn. In the same way, the freedom and fulness secured for us in Christ is in the Gospel. Jesus crucified, died, buried and raised - such a tiny seed - yet therein lies every provision and every victory, sufficient for everyone who believes, and in an abundance befitting eternity. Just as fertile seeds can lie dormant for decades before conducive conditions facilitate germination, in the same way the Gospel shared can patiently await its appointed time. Like any seed, harvest depends upon the soil into which it's sown, but scant harvest on occasion in no way reflects upon the perfection of this seed. On the contrary, just as we've witnessed plants of all kinds breaking through paving or rock, the Gospel produces exceedingly abundantly above expectation, again and again, even in the most adverse of circumstances.

Both Jesus and Paul demonstrated their confidence in the power inherent in the Good News in a rather noteworthy way. Both encountered self-appointed ministries whose motives were questionable, and neither sought to put a stop to them. Both knew that the Gospel was well able to look after itself. Good motive or bad, the power of the seed remained unchanged.

This short chapter sets up the rest of this book. It so demands to be the longest chapter of all, that the next ten chapters are devoted to expanding upon it. The Gospel works wonders; many wonders. The Gospel bears fruit; plentiful, abundant, lasting fruit. The Gospel does all that the Lord designed it to do. Because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone that believes, the latter half of the book more than dovetails with the former. What the Gospel is and what the Gospel does are inseparable. There is even inevitable overlap chapter-to-chapter, for the glory of the Gospel is nothing if not an integrated whole. Nevertheless, it is ever so worth our while teasing out its richness so as better to understand, admire, appropriate and communicate it. The beauty is that the Gospel doesn't justify or redeem or reconcile or...; it justifies and redeems and reconciles.... Where one stops and another starts is of little consequence, for the colours, flavours and facets (pick the metaphor you most prefer) work off and into one another in magnificent, enriching, enhancing and compounding splendour.

Looking into the Gospel is comparable to gazing into the night sky. It will always be breathtaking, and there will always be more to see. This is the nature of the infinite. Describe what you see in terms of planets, stars or galaxies, whichever you prefer, for magnificent remains magnificent, even when perspective shifts. My prayer is that this exercise in Gospel-gazing will whet your appetite for a lifetime of exploration. Together we will forage on the fringes of the inexhaustible, exploring the limitless bounds of the revelation of our Lord that will keep us captivated for all eternity.

# Part II

What the Gospel does

# Chapter 11

## The Gospel Informs

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14)

***

The first thing that the Gospel does is inform.

It tells people who Jesus is, what He did, and why He did it. It conveys the facts.

As it does so, it addresses any number of things that folk are confused about. Given the amount of trouble in our world, people are surprisingly ignorant of the fact that the mess we're in is not God's fault. As we share the Gospel with them, they discover that He is good, and that His intentions towards us are good. They also learn of His plan of salvation, and they learn that it is a free gift already given to them, no strings attached.

Helping folks get the facts straightened out is essential. Many who reject Christianity outright are rejecting an ill-conceived notion, for the Jesus from whom they are distancing themselves is but a grossly distorted caricature of the true Jesus whom we love and follow. Even amongst those who embrace Christianity on some level, more than a few do so in ignorance, assenting to what they mistakenly believe to be a moral code or a value system. It's only as you begin habitually to share the Gospel with people that you discover just how ignorant our post-modern world is of its facts.

Accurately conveyed, the Gospel has been appropriately described as the greatest story ever told. The ability to communicate it precisely, creatively and skilfully, is within reach of everybody. This is thanks to the fact that the Jesus story is a story that the Holy Spirit just loves to help tell. It's also all been couched in picture-language and story-form, remember. And besides, every good gift, random kindness, or incident of unmerited favour speaks of it. When you understand this, luck and coincidence cease, and are replaced by a serendipity whose architect is Grace.

Right at the centre of it all is Jesus, last Adam, who identified with our humanity in any and every way.

***

Consider the following: Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, and so was effectively born to a single mom. He was adopted and raised by his step-father. His birth was to a relatively poor family, and in a stable. He spent a part of his early childhood in exile, for His were a subjugated and oppressed people. During His relatively short life He experienced significant loss (His cousin John was unjustly executed), and He was consistently misunderstood. He was also misused, the needy extracting from Him without thanks or concern for His wellbeing. Then, having done nought but good, He was wrongfully accused, unjustly condemned, and brutally executed even though clearly innocent. Alongside injustice of every kind, He endured frenzied and seething hatred, riotousness, imprisonment, mocking, horrific beatings, public humiliation, betrayal, abandonment, deprivation, loneliness, fear and shame. He died destitute, and even tasted separation from God as He became a sin offering.

During His lifetime Jesus consistently embraced the marginalised, aided the poor, delivered the bound, and healed the sick. He touched lepers, engaged prostitutes and adulteresses, and dined with tax collectors and sinners of all kinds. He held and blessed babies, stepped over cultural divides, and even had time to engage the thief crucified alongside Him.

The five major metaphors of salvation underline all the more the degree to which Jesus identified with humanity in all of its frailty. In the law courts of heaven those who were once guilty are justified; in Christ they are declared not guilty. Through the cross of Christ those who were enslaved to satan, sin and flesh find their freedom. Those once imprisoned are redeemed, ransomed, set free. Jesus was tempted and tested by the devil. Enticed and opposed, He triumphed. The serpent (satan) bruised His heel (the crucifixion), but Jesus crushed his head (total defeat on every front). Christ is the victor in whom any embattled man or woman can find victory. The cross breached every divide. In Christ, God and sinner are reconciled, and because of this reconciliation, every other divide becomes reconcilable. Thanks to the cross even the worst of our enemies might yet be our friends. Furthermore, Jesus taught us that meaning in life is found in the will of God. For this we were created, and to this we are saved. Everyone has purpose, for accidental pregnancies are a reality, but accidental children are not. All of us are the work of His hands.

The oft-overlooked crux of the matter is well illustrated using a sci-fi analogy. Should we finally discover life on another planet - let's call it Zork - then the best way by far to establish relationships with the Zorkians would be to travel to Zork as a Zorkian. Jesus laid aside the glories of Heaven and became another Adam. Just like us, He came to us, and so we can understand Him, for He understands us. His identification with us even enables us to understand the ways in which He is different from us, for example, His sinlessness and righteousness, because they are in direct contrast with us and ours. And, thanks to His identification with us, He is well able to explain the things of Heaven to us in ways we can understand.

***

Anything and everything provides a starting point for sharing the Good News of the Gospel. The good things, that reflect His grace, and the bad things, which attract His compassion and mercy. At every point of celebration, we joyfully give thanks to God, from whom all good gifts come. He is willing and able to bless, and not so only for the deserving. A baby born or promotion earned; reason both for words of gratitude or a prayer of thanks. And no matter the adversity, we can sensitively tell of our God, who understands. He is able to comfort, for He identifies.

Herewith something of a postscript thought of exceptional consequence in this day and age: When God tells us that He hates divorce, He makes the statement as a divorcee. The Scriptures are clear that He issued unfaithful, wayward Israel a certificate of divorce, and that He has bound Himself to the bride of Christ, a second wife if you will. His heart towards divorcees is compassion, not judgement; He knows their pain.

The facts about Jesus - who He is, what He did, and why He did it - inform life on earth of the realities of Heaven, no matter the circumstance at the time. The Gospel reveals Jesus. Simple as that!

# Chapter 12

## The Gospel Attracts

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. (Luke 15:1)

***

Jesus is attractive! And Jesus is the Gospel, remember. He is God's message.

In this our Lord has been grossly misrepresented. He is wrongfully portrayed, frowning disapprovingly, the holy God who hates sin. That much is true - He does hate sin. But He is not the God of the frown. He is the God of the warm, open-hearted, beckoning smile, for He has dealt with sin. He did so, once for all, through the cross of Christ. When He looks at His world, He does so to save, not counting humanity's sins against them. These were credited to Jesus' account, remember.

It's also good continually to remind ourselves that this world is His world, and He loves it. He created it, and He is its Redeemer. The Lord does not labour under the same sacred-secular divide we do. He loves all men, and does good to all. He sends rain on the righteous and on sinners. All good gifts come from Him, and He does not limit them to His children. God is good to all, for God is good. So it was that the grace of God, which saved us, touched our lives long before we ever placed our confidence in Jesus. We've all observed the way in which children exhibit profound, unfettered faith. You and I were once that child. Like most others, you and I in all probability were educated out of that faith, this through the influence of others and the messy business of just living. Yet, again and again along the way, we were also the beneficiaries of the prevenient (going ahead of) grace of God.

Coming to faith in Christ is a personal journey. While there is most often a clear moment of believing, there is also almost always process involved. For some the journey is shorter and sharper, the Gospel heard and believed, but for others it is a long and protracted one. The very idea of being born again helps us to understand this, for spiritual realities are reflected in the natural realm for the benefit of our insight. When the proud parents announce that their baby was born at 05h15 in the morning, they are not implying that everything took place in a moment. We know that the moment of birth was the culmination of many months, starting with conception, through gestation, and finally the rigours of labour.

Jesus is the way to the Father. The Gospel - good news about good God and what He has done - is empowered by the Spirit to unfurl this attractiveness to men and women the world over, no matter who they are, or what their circumstance might be. Jesus is a suitor who woos His bride. Be sure, the Jesus-way is a narrow road, for it is an exclusive one - no one comes to the Father but by Him - yet at the same time it is the broadest highway imaginable, for our Heavenly Father desires that all men be saved. It is a road without condemnation, disapproval, rejection or demand. No toll fees to be paid. No strings attached. No obstacles to be overcome. It is the easiest thing imaginable to come to faith in Christ, for God has made it so. Were it at all difficult, then many, if not most, would be excluded. Rather than difficult and obstacle-ridden, the way to the Father is by grace alone through faith alone. It's Good News Boulevard, a highly incentivised pathway, for along it can be found provision, healing, deliverance, acceptance, restoration, opportunity, mercy, lovingkindness, and much, much more besides. These are there for the taking, for Christ has given all, and He asks nothing in return. The mystery is how, in so doing, we are won heart and soul, and will give anything back to Him in return.

It is therefore not ours somehow to make Jesus attractive or appealing by the way we do church or share the Gospel. Neither is it ours to make Him relevant in any way. He is attractive and He is relevant. Our challenge is not to distort the unconditional beauty of Perfect God, who is Love itself, in our bearing witness to Him.

***

One of the surest signs that we've moved away from the Gospel is that we are no longer attractive to sinners.

It happens all too easily. Our Christianity inadvertently becomes about ourselves, and more about what we're doing, than about Jesus and what He has done. It's a subtle shift, from Jesus to Jesus plus - Jesus plus prayer; Jesus plus worship; Jesus plus evangelism, revival, holiness, our church, or some other vision - good things all, but before long, religiosity begins to rear its ugly head.

Jesus plus can be very popular with some Christians. At times they'll flock in droves, even travelling great distances for it. Not that there is anything inherently amiss in events that are by Christians for Christians about secondary matters. It's just that these should not be the dominant norm. They should not define, let alone consume us.

Surely it is obvious, to the point of being self-evident, that Christians and churches should be like Jesus - magnets to sinners and repellent of Pharisaic self-righteousness. Sinners can sniff out a fake a mile off. Being attractive to sinners is not something you do, it's something you are! The Gospel is more than something you believe; it is something you embody. You do not as much have it as it has you. If the Gospel has you, ministry flows, to believer and unbeliever equally generously. None of us has anything better to offer another than Christ and His perfect work. Embattled saint or rebellious sinner - both find hope and life in Jesus. Any local church that gets to grips with this will have no problem filling their building. Their gatherings will be condemnation-free zones, and their singing, preaching and prophesying all about what Jesus has done. These gatherings will likely be a bit messy, pleasingly reminiscent of the crowds around Jesus. To fix this is to lose it. To love unconditionally is to partner with God in the bringing to salvation those for whom He died. New Covenant discipleship is teaching people to love and trust Jesus. As we shall see, it is He who transforms lives.

Like moths to a flame. This is the Gospel!

# Chapter 13

## The Gospel Imparts

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

***

The one-liner above is one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible.

The misquote declares that faith comes by hearing the word, by which is meant the Bible. In other words, more Bible, more faith; less Bible, less faith. The absurdity of that claim becomes clear in the light of the Bible being an account of seven covenants. Increasing expertise in the now-obsolete Old Covenant, which the Bible itself claims is not of faith, will by no means increase faith.

What the verse does say: more Jesus more faith. In other words, more Gospel, more faith. Now that makes sense. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and what Paul is teaching us is that the more grace flooding our hearts and minds, the greater our response of faith will be.

Two illustrations help us here. Both revolve around Jesus. The first is of the woman with the discharge of blood (Matthew 9:20-26 et al). She was ceremonially unclean and should not have been barging through a crowd to get to Jesus, let alone reaching for Him in order actually to touch Him. Yet, as she watched Him from a distance, she became so filled with faith, that in a moment of unselfconscious abandon she did the unthinkable. She knew that if she could just get to Jesus, her problems would be over. When Jesus sensed her touch and turned to her, He did not see a ceremonially unclean woman who had behaved inappropriately. All He could see was her faith. Here the relationship between grace and faith is well illustrated. When we fix our eyes on Jesus (Grace), doing so fills us with faith. And as we unselfconsciously reach out to Him, all that Grace sees is faith!

The second is a point made earlier as we contemplated the Gospel as powerful news. Jesus described the Gospel as a seed. Peter goes one further and tells us that it is in fact imperishable seed. As you know, seeds contain everything necessary for maturity; the whole oak is in the acorn. What we are learning here is that faith is included in the Gospel's DNA. As the good news of God's unmerited favour reveals His grace and mercy, it beckons us towards Him, all the while imparting to us the faith necessary to do so.

***

One important point does require clarifying, though, to ensure that we don't cause confusion.

The Gospel imparts faith. It does so to the unbeliever, in order that he or she might believe. It does so to the believer also, not for the new birth per se, but so that the benefits of salvation can be appropriated in that believer's life. Fortunately, Christ's once-for-all sacrifice is appropriated by an irrevocable, once-for-ever, action of faith. When we move from in Adam to in Christ, that moment is all-defining. It is not on-again-off-again based on the strength of our faith at any given time (we don't move into Adam when our faith is weak, and back into Christ when our faith is strong again). The faith that saves in a moment has irrevocable rewards.

Not so the faith that appropriates the benefits of salvation. This is a variable. Its lack was what most exasperated Jesus about the Twelve. Their salvation was not under threat, but again and again, just like ours, their faith was found wanting. And just like us, it was for the same reason - faith in God became faith in faith or faith in self. The disciples panicked as they saw the wind and the waves. Peter took his eyes off Jesus and sank. They thought Jesus was fussed because they didn't have much food with them, forgetting that He'd twice fed multitudes with little. They found a demon impossible to dislodge because they did not believe. As with us, as Jesus pointed out, anxiety on any level is rooted in unbelief.

The remedy is simple. Faith is always a gift from God. That is true of the faith that saves, and it is true of the faith that appropriates the benefits of our salvation. He is always the source of faith, and it is always all of grace that we ever have any faith at all. Faith does not stem from our efforts. It is unselfconscious. Its eyes are on Jesus, not on itself. That's why it so pleases Him. Faith has the main thing as the main thing, always. Perhaps the best way of summarising this is to say that Jesus is faith's object. Authentic, mountain-moving, water-walking, giant-slaying, sick-healing, dead-raising faith is focused on Him. It's not looking at the mountain, raging sea, giant, tumour, or corpse. If you ever find yourself wondering whether you've got enough faith for something, the answer is no. Asking the question means that your faith is displaced, and you're relying on yourself rather than on Jesus.

Dynamic, vibrant faith is within reach of all of us. All it requires is for us to break away from crippling self-preoccupation and yield to grace. Just like everything else that comes our way thanks to Jesus, faith is a fruit; a result; a consequence. The Scriptures make it plain that we are hampered by a lack of faith, but they make it equally plain that it is not only more faith that we need, but more grace. Faith is by grace. When we lack faith, we need grace. We need Jesus. We need Gospel! Paul clinched the argument when he taught that reigning in life is through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17). Christians walk by faith. They stand in faith. They please God by faith, and they run their race by faith. They even fight the fight of faith. They are believers, and believers believe! But while it is true that every victory is by faith, it is even more true that every victory is by grace. God even does us good when our faith wavers. How much more so when our faith is strong.

Are you in need of more faith? Immerse yourself in the Gospel. That will do it!

# Chapter 14

## The Gospel Includes

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1–9)

***

Nothing could be more revolutionary than that which is done to you in the moment that you first put your confidence in Christ.

The Gospel believed is the Gospel received, and in that instant of faith, the greatest exchange imaginable is effected - Christ's life for yours! The transformation that occurs is literally out of this world, as in a moment you go from being "in Adam" to being "in Christ". All of the major metaphors of Scripture apply in that instant - death to life; darkness to light; satan to God, condemned to justified, slave to freeman; enemy to friend - on and on it goes. Many books would be necessary to do justice to the many wonderful facets of this single glorious truth - inclusion in Christ. And that's the big idea. Believing includes us in Christ.

This is not just some sort of transfer of allegiance; it is the all-encompassing transformation of a life. The phrase "in Christ" is ubiquitous in Paul's letters, for it describes the essence of salvation. "In Christ"; "in Him"; "in Christ Jesus". Those of us who preach and teach these truths will often refer to this as the believer's position, placement, status or standing. In Christ!

***

Christians are saved, but they did not save themselves. They are in Christ, but they did not put themselves there. It is not even their faith that saved them. In the moment that they believed, it was the Holy Spirit who went to work as per the Father's decree, transferring them from in Adam to in Christ. This was all of grace, and is something that God does to all who believe.

The enormity of what happens is not faith-sized, but grace-sized. It's not as if those who have great faith receive a great salvation, and those with less faith receive a lesser salvation. Those with less faith may well appropriate less of the salvation given to them, but a lesser faith does not lessen the work of Christ on our behalf. To think thus is absurdity, for those who believe have not just seen, heard or tasted, but have entered into salvation by the power of God. Tentative faith (a mustard seed's worth) does not unleash a tentative reaction from heaven. Salvation is a one-size-fits-all proposition - Jesus! Rather, believing thrusts us into the white-water of the new birth, and those who have put their confidence in Christ have been carried along by the power of God, away from the old and right into the new.

It is simply not possible to be a half-Christian or a bad Christian. It is not we, ourselves, who make ourselves Christians. It is a work of God, and all that He does He does well. There is only one kind of Christian on the planet, and that is the perfect kind, for we are of His making. Some of us do live poorly representing our in-Christ-ness, thanks to paucity of faith, or to misbeliefs of one kind or another. But that does not mean that we are lesser Christians, for we are all Christians by the same work of the same Spirit. Understanding this is life-changing. In Christ, is in Christ, is in Christ! We've received a faith of equal standing before God, writes the apostle Peter. We might have different gifts and callings, and some might fellowship more intimately with God than others do, but we've all received equal access to God, with equal rights and privileges. It is all of grace alone, and all because of Christ alone. We have all received the highest title and the richest commendation imaginable, for in Christ we are all God's beloved children, in whom Father is well pleased. That is who we are. That is our identity.

***

In the moment of faith His story became our story. In an instant, the Holy Spirit united us with Christ, in His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. We were raised to new life in Him, and are now seated with Him in heavenly places. We are the saved; He is the Saviour. Our salvation has come through our literal immersion into Him, and into His substitutionary, atoning work. Christians have been baptised (immersed) into Christ. It is this to which believers' baptism testifies most graphically.

The gift of salvation is not extraneous to our person. It is not like an item of clothing or jewellery, or even like any other experience we might have. It is not something that can be received, explored, enjoyed, kept, exploited or discarded. It cannot be lost or misplaced. It is defining. It's not so much something we possess, as something that possesses us. Being in Christ is far more a matter of Christ having us than our having Him. Those who have believed have been engulfed in Saviour and salvation just as surely as Jonah was swallowed by the big fish. The difference is that we were not ingested, but en-wombed. We were re-created; born again; re-made. Nicodemus puzzled over this because he could not imagine how he would ever get back into his mother's womb. He understood the point, just not the means, for the womb into which the Spirit thrusts us is the work of Christ, from which we re-emerge altogether new.

We would better speak of believing into Jesus, even if it is grammatically awkward. Coming to faith is literally believing into Christ, which is what faith ultimately accomplishes as grace is appropriated by the Spirit. It is also why the whole experience is irrevocable. If we were saved by our faith, then our salvation could well be on-again, off-again. But we are not saved by faith; we are saved through faith. Believing opens the door to the tsunami of God's power, and that which was wrought for us on the cross, is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. It is a leap forward from which there is no way back. In a moment, we are included in something altogether other, immeasurably bigger than ourselves. We are welcomed into a kingdom, a family, a fellowship, a union. We enter by literal re-creation. The Gospel believed is salvation received; the Gospel believed is inclusion in Christ.

# Chapter 15

## The Gospel Regenerates

Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again (John 3:7)

***

Our world is indeed a global village, and emigration (from) and immigration (to) common. In a way, this describes what happens when we believe into Jesus. But faith in Christ results in much, much more. As the Holy Spirit plucks us from in Adam and plunges us into Christ, there is a new passport, but there is also a new birth certificate!

The Gospel literally regenerates. Emigration might make a South African an Australian citizen, but it can never make the South African an Australian genetically. Union with Christ accomplishes exactly that. The Bible is emphatic about this. Those who are born again by the Spirit's power are born again with a new nature. They are no longer who they once were; they are altogether new. What they have become is not a reconditioned or improved version of their former self, but an entirely new self. "Born again" can just as accurately be rendered "born from above" in its translation. This helps us comprehend that the new birth is of holy, imperishable, eternal, incorruptible seed. The new nature is just like Jesus' nature. Not like Adam, but like Jesus! Christians are born again from the same stuff Jesus is made of, and their new nature is effectively a twin of His.

The implications are enormous, and the Scriptures reiterate this truth in numerous ways. Peter's writings teach us that Christians are participants in the divine nature. The book of Hebrews declares that anyone gathering with Christians is gathering with the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Paul described his body parts as the body of Christ. In this he went beyond the mere metaphorical use of language. We are not just like His body; we are His body. We are spiritual, and that's not because we behave in "spiritual" ways, but because we're spiritual in nature. Jesus is the only Son of God, but we are the sons and daughters of God. Christians are the residential address of God here on earth. Holy Spirit is in us. We are not like temples; we are temples. Christians have eternal life, and we have it now.

None of this implies that Christians are God; to suggest that is heresy. But it is to convey emphatically that Christians are born of God, and made of God-stuff. We are no longer of earth, but of heaven; and literally so, born and bred. Paul once again makes this point magnificently when dealing with the subject of the resurrection. Our Adam-suits (bodies) are perishable, weak, dishonourable, natural and temporal. Our new nature could not be more different. It is imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual and eternal. Our resurrection will be the clothing of our newness in an appropriate way, for that which came from Adam cannot adequately contain all that is ours in Christ.

***

Remember those Old Testament saints to whom righteousness was credited when they believed - the likes of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and David. They were put into right standing with God against the promissory notes of the sacrifices of their day. On the foundation of that gift they, and many others just like them, lived what can only be described as extraordinary lives. They healed the sick, raised the dead, circumvented death, and saw countless other miracles. Yet none of them received the Holy Spirit in the way in which we do today. Their sin was covered over, but not yet taken away. Righteousness was credited to their account, but they were not yet those made righteous in the same way we are.

This resurrection life into which we are raised by the Spirit's power at the moment of our re-birth was something longingly anticipated by those saints of old, and something which they only received after the cross. These saints went to the grave awaiting Christ, but for believers today, absence from the body is presence with the Lord. It was only together with us (in Christ) that these saints of old have been made perfect (their salvation made complete), for salvation only came in its fullness through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

***

Baptism means immersion, and the Scriptures use this term with reference to our inclusion in Christ, and with reference to the Spirit's work in empowering believers. Taking a moment to think this through will be most helpful. In the days of old, when craftsmen plunged cloth into dye, it was said that they were baptising the cloth in the dye. Dip, dunk, immerse and plunge are all synonyms. Notice also that the cloth did not baptise itself, the point being that self-baptism is a swim and not a baptism proper. Notice also that the cloth when fully immersed was also saturated, i.e. the cloth was in the dye, and the dye was in the cloth.

So it is when we come to faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the heavenly craftsman who immerses us into Jesus, uniting us with His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. In that moment, we are plunged into Him (included in Christ), and He indwells us (we are born again). These two things are simultaneous and inseparable, just like the cloth and the dye. Both also enjoy amplification as we respond to them and appropriate them more fully, and it is baptism that facilitates this.

As Christians are then taught that they are no longer in Adam but in Christ, they should also be taught that Scripture commands a response of faith-filled obedience. Baptism (immersion) in water celebrates their death and resurrection, testifying to its reality, and serves as a funeral service for the old life that once was but is no more. Extraordinary demonstrations of the goodness of God are often unleashed into the faith-filled believer's life as the truths of the Gospel are appropriated through this simple, ever-so-tangible step of obedience. The hasty departure of demons is commonplace. So is healing from sickness of all kinds, and release from addictions and emotional pain. It has even been reported on occasion that ugly, disfiguring tattoos or occult-induced scars simply vanish. These good things happening are thanks to the Gospel at work, as vibrant faith, expressed in obedience to the commands of Jesus, accesses grace. The same sort of thing happens through the laying on of hands and the breaking of bread. These are not powerful rituals, but empowered means of grace, when appropriated by faith.

A similar explosion of transforming power accompanies baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who immersed the believer into Christ when he came to faith. Now, as this new believer learns that all life in Christ is by the Spirit, a desire for more arises deep within him. This is all of God, and as deep cries out to deep, Jesus steps in and baptises him in the Holy Spirit. He does so just as John the baptiser had said, "I baptise you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire". This immersion is for enabling, and the Scriptures describe it as such - a baptism for power. Experiences likened to encounters with water, wind, fire and oil are commonplace. Gifts are imparted; revelation abounds; joy overwhelms; peace proliferates; and this immersion in the Spirit is typically accompanied by speaking in tongues. Drunkenness in the Spirit is also not uncommon, as was the experience of the one-hundred-and-twenty in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Believers who step into this vortex of life and power also learn that encounters of this nature are in the offing, and many pursue a lifestyle of repeated infilling as they desire to be conduits of more and more of the life and power of God.

***

We have all been given far more than we've received. The Gospel is good news of glory, freedom and fulness, and even those amongst us who have experienced much have only just begun to enter into all that has been freely provided for us. In the moment of faith we are included in Christ, and the Spirit regenerates and indwells us, a deposit guaranteeing much, much more.

And there is so much more! Our experience of Him intensifies, heightens, deepens and widens as we grow in God. The Lord works in our lives to bring us increasingly into what Paul so wisely refers to as the obedience of faith. Compliance is not a good motivator for water baptism or the infilling of the Spirit. There's little point in subtly pressurising believers towards these things because "that's what the Bible teaches" or "that's what we do as a church". We should preach and teach them unashamedly, and offer opportunity for them constantly, but be sure to anchor them in the perfect, finished work of Christ. Let's have the Gospel impart the faith that will see believers responding expectantly and obediently. All of Christianity is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. All of Christianity is with the Father, through and in Jesus, and by the Spirit. These are things that cannot be legislated or administrated. Let's preach the Gospel, and let the Gospel do its life-giving work.

# Chapter 16

## The Gospel Defines

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (II Corinthians 5:16–17)

***

The Gospel believed is salvation received.

In our moment of faith, Holy Spirit plunged us into Christ. Simultaneously, the Spirit birthed new life in us: God-life. Spiritual life. Eternal life. Suddenly everything had changed. The old had gone; the new had come!

Perhaps not everyone noticed the change. I came into this world with my mother's nose and my father's ears. These remained the same after I was born again. In other words, while absolutely everything had changed, to the casual observer nothing had changed. This is Paul's point in the passage quoted above. Many people even looked at Jesus and saw just their neighbour, another Galilean; nobody special at all. They knew Him according to the flesh, or according to outward appearances. And outward appearance is not the business end of the Gospel.

That's not to say that the Gospel doesn't impact outwardly. Countenances change. Postures do too. Behaviour should make a quantum shift. But the issue here is that Christians are judged by the work of Christ, and not by their outward appearance, or even their behaviour. For Christians, the old has gone and the new has come. This is so because of what the Lord has done for them and to/in them. Therein lies the defining measure.

***

We all continue to live in our Adam-suits after we are born again. The Bible calls these vestigial components of our old lives our flesh. This flesh refers to a little more than just our physical bodies, for it encompasses the remnants of our in-Adam-ness. Thanks to our flesh, our lives have the propensity to be reduced to some kind of war zone. Our mortal bodies are subject to sickness and disease, deterioration and decay; even death. In Christ is health and resurrection. Unhelpful views, attitudes, memories and beliefs flood our hearts and minds. In Christ is a lifestyle of repentance and mind-renewal. Our flesh is by its very nature godless, rebellious, selfish and sinful. Our new life in Christ is anything but.

The result can be an unhelpful religious schizophrenia. Sinner sometimes; saint sometimes. Saved today; unsaved tomorrow. Passages of Scriptures, unhelpfully applied out of context, all too easily reinforce the confusion. Into this malaise comes the Gospel with glorious clarity. Our flesh does not define us; the work of Christ does. Our freedom from any confusion is wrapped up in the once-for-all-ness of the Gospel. The Gospel is definitive news, and as such the Gospel defines us unambiguously. Christians are righteous. They belong to God. The Holy Spirit is in them. Period! The Christian with a hand in the cookie jar is just as justified (not guilty) as the Christian piously praying in the pew. There is no difference at all between the two according to the Gospel plumbline. Both are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

Grasping this becomes the God-given foundation for all behavioural change. It takes us off the horns of dilemma and settles once-for-all who and what we are. Christianity is identity-driven. Christians learn to live righteously because they are righteous; to do good because they are good; to do what pleases God because they are pleasing to Him! Christians "do" because they "are". That's the mystery of the Gospel.

***

By way of illustration: The early church was being prepared to disseminate the Gospel cross-culturally. At the time, while not all Jews were Christians, nearly all Christians were Jews. Consequently, the distinction between Judaism and Christianity was not all that clear.

One morning, as lunchtime approached, Peter, the leader of the Christians at the time, went up onto the rooftop to pray. At that moment, Peter the apostle was Peter the hungry, and the Lord made magnificent use of the opportunity. Peter was induced into a trance-like state, and in the ensuing vision a huge tablecloth of sorts descended in front of him. In it were birds and animals of all kinds, and they all shared one thing in common - by the standards of Law of Moses, they were unclean or common. Three times the Lord instructed Peter to kill and eat. Three times he declined. Each time his reason was the same \- he'd never eaten anything unclean, and he didn't propose to do so now. Each time the Lord's response was the same. "What God has made clean, do not call common".

From there the Gospel went to the Gentiles. From then on Peter and the Christians understood that only one thing defined clean and unclean, and that was the Gospel! Anyone in Christ had been fundamentally redefined. It did not matter what they once were, or even what they looked like, for nothing was to be judged by its flesh. Anyone who was in Christ was a new creation. The old was gone; the new had come. To be in Christ is to be clean!

Many of the Jewish brothers and sisters of the day struggled enormously in coming to terms with that, Peter included. So do we, because it takes us so firmly into counterintuitive territory. We all agree that God does not judge the book by its cover, but we're also painfully aware that everybody else does. Perhaps in the church, this is especially so. After all, if it walks like a sinner, talks like a sinner, sounds like a sinner and smells like a sinner, well, it must be a sinner. And if it walks like a saint, talks like a saint, sounds like a saint, and smells like a saint, well, the probability is that it's a saint. Not true, bellows the Gospel! Saints who walk and talk like sinners may well be wayward saints, and on other days they might be you and me. Sinners who walk and talk like saints are a blessing to have as neighbours, but their self-righteousness falls short of Heaven's Perfections.

It's not unusual for things not to be as they appear in the religious arena. The church is consistently embroiled in scandal, and unhelpfully so. But even more scandalous is the Gospel, our God-given plumbline. Outside of Christ, and apart from the righteousness that is by grace alone through faith alone - everyone is leprously unrighteous. And in Christ, even the most Peter-repelling, creepy-crawly-esque individual, who evokes our immediate no-thank-you is perfectly righteous. Perfectly righteous, and mercifully, undeservedly, completely so! There is nothing fair about the Gospel. There is nothing fair about sinners being made righteous. But then, there is also nothing fair about sinless Jesus becoming a sin offering for our sake. It's not fair, but in Christ, the old has gone, and the new has come!

# Chapter 17

## The Gospel Liberates

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

***

The freedoms granted us in Christ are Christ's victories won, but couched in liberty's language.

The freedom the Gospel brings is a wonderful thing. It is not dangerous, wild, or boundary-less. The Gospel's gift is freedom in Christ, not freedom apart from Him. True freedom is not licentiousness or lawlessness. Those who live without restraint are not free, but prisoners of sin, satan and flesh. Freedoms in Christ are His victories appropriated, and appropriating these will always move us towards Christlikeness, and never away. The opening line of Freedom for Dummies would be, "It's freedom from sin, not freedom to sin, silly!"

Like everything else the Gospel brings, it grants freedom unconditionally. No strings attached. The freedom that is ours in Christ is without rules and regulations. It is unmerited, and it can be squandered. For this reason the Bible wisely cautions us against using our freedoms to indulge our flesh. Why? Because, if we do so, we will once again find ourselves in bondage to our carnality. And why run back to that from which the goodness of God has delivered us?

Those who are in the know tell us that most addicts require more than one attempt at rehabilitation before they're able to break the cycle. This is because they typically misuse their early freedoms, flirt with temptation, and get themselves back into bondage that first time round. The fact is that the addict is only truly free when he or she uses his or her freedom to stay free. So it is in Christ. True freedom values freedom. In Him we are unfettered; free; no strings attached, and soon learn that to misuse that freedom is to relinquish it. The younger son in the parable ended in the pigpen thanks to the exercising of his rights and freedoms. Not the freest of outcomes, that. This is why Paul tells us that all things are lawful, but not all are helpful; all things are lawful, but not all edify. Just because we can doesn't mean we should, and maturity can tell the difference between the two. Walking in this distinction - now that's freedom!

***

The mechanism by which we are free in Christ is the same by which any of the other benefits of salvation become ours - death and resurrection. In the moment we believed, His story became ours, and we were placed in Him. Faith is confidence in this exchange, which in turn enables us to appropriate the richness of the salvation-package in its fulness.

In the moment that we believe into Jesus, His victories become ours. All of them. Instantly. But it is believing that is receiving, and so it is in the day-to-day of our Christian living that the Gospel imparts revelation and faith, both of which work within us for the appropriation of these freedoms a little at a time. As we shall see in a later chapter (The Gospel Empowers), freedom from condemnation is the linchpin around which all of the many benefits of salvation are appropriated. This is so because it is impossible for a righteous man to be powerless. Increasingly the full assurance of our right-standing with God becomes the beachhead from which we possess our inheritance on an experiential level. The gift of righteousness persuades us that we indeed qualify, without exception, for everything that God has promised. On that foundation, believing is receiving.

***

As noted, then, in Christ we are the justified. We are not guilty. We are righteous. We are condemnation-free.

In Christ we are free from sin, and from its dominion. We have been forgiven, cleansed, and delivered from sin. We are saints (holy ones). Grace teaches us to say no to sin, for grace has loosened us from sin's grip.

Christ has also freed us from our past. We are no longer in Adam. Our baptism served as the funeral service for that old life of ours. We might still carry its scars, but not its wounds. Even Jesus carries scars, and they do not make Him ugly; on the contrary, His scars are medals all; veritable trophies of grace and mercy.

We no longer have a sinful nature. Our old man was co-crucified with Christ. We are not who we once were. What freedom!

In Christ, we are no longer subject to the dictates of our flesh. We are Spirit-born, Spirit-indwelt, Spirit led and Spirit-empowered people. By the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the flesh. Our vestigial in-Adam-ness does not provide the drumbeat to which we march; we keep in step with the Spirit and are moved by the rhythms of Heaven.

The pressure is off. No more striving. No one left to impress, including God! We are free from trying to be and trying to do, for God has made us to be, and has prepared good works for us to do.

The righteous requirements of the Law have been met in us. We are free from the Law's demands (we are not under it), and we have been delivered from its curse (its accusation, condemnation and disqualification).

Satan is a defeated foe. Christ has triumphed over Him. In Jesus' name, demonic strongholds yield and demons flee. His power over us has been broken, and to us has been granted authority over him, in Jesus' name.

The world no longer fools us. We are no longer ensnared in the system that surrounds us. Its way of thinking is not ours; its value system no longer ours either. We are citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world, and our worth and ways are determined there.

We are no longer ashamed. We are the forgiven, loved, accepted and affirmed - no matter what has transpired. God is not ashamed of us, nor is He embarrassed to be associated with us. He proudly, publicly, takes full responsibility for us. We're His kith and kin now. He is the lifter of our heads, says the Bible.

And, last but not least, we are free from fear. Even death, the last enemy to be conquered, has lost its sting. No judgement awaits us; only the consummation of our salvation. The Lord has promised that He will never leave or forsake us, and He reassures us constantly that there is no need for us to be anxious about anything. He is well able to take care of us; and He will; and He does.

***

This chapter could be amplified exponentially. For instance, all sickness, war and poverty has its source in satan and sin. Jesus is Healer, Prince of Peace, and Providence Himself. The will of God is clear - Jesus taught us to pray heaven to earth - and there is no sickness, war or lack in heaven. Having couched the benefits of believing in the language of liberty, let's not short-change the Gospel by misrepresenting its richness in any way. The truth is, the benefits of our salvation are a two-sided coin - freedom and fulness - which can and should be described, understood and received in abundance. Freedom and fulness in Christ, that's the Gospel, and the Gospel believed is its benefits received.

A well-proclaimed Gospel will leave no room for an orphan spirit. Our God is our Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of sonship. Anyone who is in Christ is God's child in God's family, and is blessed. The old has gone; the new has come. The bad has gone; the good has come. Paul's words help us to conclude the thought: "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

# Chapter 18

## The Gospel Transforms

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16–17)

***

Quoted above is the paragraph that Paul used to set up his theological magnum opus (we call it Romans). Its final phrase launched the Reformation in the heart of Martin Luther, and makes the heart of every Gospel-believer sing. Amidst its awesome virtues nestles this great insight - we can no more change ourselves than save ourselves.

Fortunately, the righteousness of God is by faith from beginning to end, which declares the Gospel as able to change us as to save us. The same dynamics of grace and faith that save are those that transform.

***

Before pursuing our opening line of thought, three matters are best borne in mind regarding Christians and their behaviour. Firstly, Christians are not under Law, but they are also not lawless. Under grace, they belong to Christ, and are under His governance. As such, our actions should rather obviously bear appropriate witness to our faith. None of us can represent Christ perfectly, but licentious or lawless living is simply not concomitant with those who are His.

Secondly, although Christians have a new nature and are indwelt by the Spirit, personal transformation towards godliness is not automatic. If that were so, then the New Testament would carry no instruction on behaviour appropriate to the faith, and no discipleship would be necessary in the church. While new nature and indwelling Spirit inevitably work towards Christlikeness, the flesh (the remnant of our in-Adam-ness) leans towards sin. Christians are left with choices to make and allegiances to decide, and should be encouraged and instructed in order to facilitate their choosing wisely.

Thirdly, the most common error regarding behaviour and personal change is for believers to come to the conclusion that it is all up to them. The Galatian churches had fallen into this by-our-own-efforts trap. Having started in the Spirit, they were continuing in the flesh. This migration from grace to law has remained a perennial problem amongst believers throughout church history, and is strongly in evidence in the twenty-first century church also. Programmes proliferate, be it in the name of vision, growth or change. Meanwhile, the saints become busier and busier, and more and more tired. This continues despite the fact that the whole treadmill of self-effort is doomed to fail. Yet many believers blindly forge on, trying harder and doing more, until they grind to a disillusioned, burnt out halt. The lesson in it all: we cannot change ourselves, and we cannot change others.

***

It's the Gospel that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Salvation, Biblically speaking, is a broad, all-encompassing term. It certainly includes salvation from sin, but also includes healing, deliverance and provision. It is even used in reference to resurrection on occasion. In other words, any kind of saving we could ever possibly need is part and parcel of our salvation, including the wherewithal to save us from ourselves. In it is all of the grace we could possibly need for personal transformation. There is grace to forgive the unforgivable, love the unlovable, and endure the unendurable. In the Gospel is the answer to every dilemma, strength for every weakness, wisdom for every occasion, and freedom from all bondage. The Gospel is the power of God for freedom and fulness in Christ. Period!

All God's promises are "yes" in Christ Jesus (in Christ we qualify), and it is through these that we receive that which God has provided for us through the cross. As the Gospel produces faith in us, so that faith unlocks the deluge of God's goodness, already stored up and just waiting for us to receive. As we believe, in rushes the Lord, Word and Spirit, to do in us and for us, just as He said He would.

Here's the key! The Gospel is not only the news of salvation, but by the Holy Spirit's power, it is the power of God that works that salvation in us. The news believed is its benefits received. This is how God has decreed it to be; the Spirit and Word are inextricably linked. Creation demonstrated this magnificently - God (Father) willed, and the Spirit wrought as the Word (Jesus) spoke the world into being. In the same way, the Spirit and the Gospel are inextricably linked. It was the Spirit who revealed Christ to us when we first heard the Good News. It was the Spirit who immersed us in Christ when we believed, and who made us alive in Him. Everything else that the Gospel does is accomplished in this same way. It is all by the Spirit. Christians are therefore by definition spiritual people - of the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit and led by the Spirit.

Word and Spirit working in tandem transform us from glory to glory. Finding this counterintuitive, our greatest temptation remains reverting to our own efforts, earnestly seeking the Spirit's enabling on those. Obedience to the Scriptures, Christlikeness in all things, and a lifestyle marked by the disciplines of the faith - these are virtuous notions all - but pursuing them carries the danger of attempting to transform ourselves. The dynamic is entirely different when we put our focus on the perfect, finished work of Christ, and unleash its power to work within us. From His work within emerge obedience, Christlikeness, and disciplined living. These things might sound similar, but they could not be more different.

Repentance is how the Bible describes our aligning of our thoughts with the Gospel. A lifestyle of so doing equates to the renewal of the mind. As we repent (change our minds) and align our thinking (belief-systems) with the Gospel, the Gospel effects transformation from within. The obedience of faith is a fruit of the Gospel, and not its precursor, or its requirement. Scripture consistently distinguishes between our own efforts and Christ's work. Salvation is by the latter; self-righteousness, disillusionment and bondage by the former. These are lessons well relearned in our day, for too many church activities are focused on what we should do, and too few celebrate what Christ has done. If we gave the focus to celebrating Him, so much more would be accomplished, for it is His working we need, and not our own. There are no limitations in the equation from God's side. The restrictions are with us. We are finite, temporal creatures, independent of will, and of limited capacity. Imagine for a moment a vast ocean and a tiny bucket. Toss the bucket into the ocean and it is instantly surrounded and filled. That's us and God. We are in Him and He in us. And our hope is in the ocean, not in the bucket.

It is this that the Scriptures seek to convey through what have become somewhat clichéd phrases. "Fix your eyes on Jesus." "Put Jesus first." "Seek first the kingdom." "Fix your eyes on things above." We're people of the Spirit, so let's live by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit, sing in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit, and live one-with-another in the unity of the Spirit. This is the way of salvation; the way of righteousness that is by faith from beginning to end.

# Chapter 19

## The Gospel Empowers

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31a–39)

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

***

More than conquerors! Do all things! The prophet Zechariah declared Christians to be prisoners of hope. Jesus Himself said that we would do even greater things than He did. Christianity's history is that it often thrives most vibrantly in the face of vehement opposition. Something indomitable is going on here, and the Gospel is the cause of that.

It is right-standing with God that sets Christians up for risk-taking, because although a righteous man may fail, he can never be a failure. Right-standing grants glorious immunity for it is apart from the Law. As such, it is divorced from performance, and is defining, constant, unchanging, irrevocable and inviolable. God says that we are not guilty. He says that we are not guilty even when we are guilty. Even when sinning - literally busy sinning - Christians are still justified (not guilty before God), for they are in Christ.

The Gospel doesn't just tell people that they are new; it actually makes them new! Sin appeals to the flesh, but it cannot satisfy. Sooner or later, with our righteousness a settled conclusion, the desire to live significant lives arises. And since failing cannot turn us into failures, we have every reason to be bold, risk-taking adventurers in our pilgrimage.

Someone with nothing to lose has everything to gain, and with the promises of God factored in, all things are possible! Why pray small prayers when you can pray big ones? Why aim low when you can aim high? If it really is all by grace alone through faith alone (which it is), and if it is all to Christ's account, and already paid (which it is), and if He really is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine (which He is), then why not go for it!

The Gospel is clear. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. The freedom and fulness of our salvation are irrevocable gifts. Why then settle at any point, or ever take no for an answer? A squandered inheritance is not irreplaceable, because God does not have to reallocate slices of pie; He simply makes more pie! (The Lord does not have to take from the older brother in order to reinstate a returning prodigal's inheritance). Christ is as much Healer of the sick Christian as of the healthy one. This never changes, even on one's death-bed. Christ is as much Provider to rich as to poor, in bull markets and in bear. His riches in glory are the measure of our supply. No matter how much has been squandered, for whatever reason, Zechariah is right - we are prisoners of hope.

***

The gleanings of recent years have included in their yield four magnificent illustrations that illustrate our point. None is original to me, but I've used them all repeatedly. I can't recall where they came from (best guess Rob Rufus on most), or else I'd give credit where due. They're just too good to exclude, though, and so if it's you I'm plagiarising, please forgive.

Life in Christ is like walking on the high-wire, with His perfect work our safety net. We might slip and fall, but are guaranteed to remain safely suspended in the lofty context of His victory. When we lose our footing, there is no devastating plunge to destruction. Instead, all that needs to be done is for us to regain our equilibrium and get walking again. We're righteous in Christ, and in that all-important regard, nothing's changed. Consequently, when we walk, we do so confidently, sans anxiety or fear, for no matter how tetchy things might get on the wind-buffeted high-wire of life from time to time, we cannot fall. So let's go for it!

For those who love the game of cricket, life in Christ is an innings at the crease with an umpire who will never give us out. The bales scatter; we're not out. Caught playing the shot; not out. Plumb LBW; a shake of the head from the umpire. We can't even be run out. That's because every ball that life or devil bowls is effectively a no-ball. The cross has rendered every ball a free hit. Each and every one remains a scoring opportunity, but none can take our wicket. So, spinner or seamer, it matters not. Simply take a stroll down the wicket and have a go!

Our life in Christ is a ride on an up-escalator. The inexorable upward momentum makes it well-nigh impossible for us to lose ground. Serious regression takes concerted, sustained effort, for He wills and works for our salvation at all times. Stumble we might, but as we do, the escalator of His loving-kindness continues to carry us into our preferable future. He works for our good in all things, even if the things themselves are not of Him and not good. We can rest in Christ and enjoy the blessings and privileges that are ours by unmerited favour, for it is He at work to will and to do in and through us. Forwards, upwards, glory to glory - that's the doing of this Gospel in which we stand. Let's live large, and go for it!

Ours is the privileged life of the adopted child. (This is Biblical fact. Indeed, we are His four times over. He created us; He redeemed (purchased) us; we are born again of Him; and He has adopted us). He has taken us into His family and given us His name. We are His, and all our stuff is His! He is our protector and provider, wills the best for us, and plans and follows through accordingly. And so, out there on the giant school playground of life, there's no need to submit to the bullies of anxiety, fear, guilt, manipulation, oppression, condemnation and shame, and no need to inflict their pain on others. On the contrary, there's every reason to suck the stuffing out of the marrow bone of life - who is your Daddy!

***

Nothing is more empowering than the inability to fail. Temporary setbacks are inevitable, but in Christ we have been placed out of defeat's reach. We might yet disappoint ourselves and others, but our relationship with God is disappointment-proof in any ultimate sense. We are in Christ, and the perfection of His performance has been imputed to us. The most natural thing in the world now is for us to embrace the advantage and live well.

The Biblical accounts of Abraham of old illustrate the potential we've been presented with magnificently. Read the descriptive account of his life and times in the Old Testament, and it's the story of a typical human being. There are moments of extraordinary faith, and there are times of sin and unbelief. He reads just like us. Then read Heaven's record of that same life and times in the New Testament, and what you find is a fully sanitised account. Post the cross, Abraham suddenly presents as a super-saint, who never doubted for a moment, nor put a foot wrong. Can you see it? The same life and the identical events, when viewed through the gift of righteousness, is flawless. It's failure-proof. Right-standing with God ensures that there is nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

The righteous live by faith, and that life has every reason to be an abundant one, for there is no other kind of life in Christ!

# Chapter 20

## The Gospel Redeems

All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. (Philippians 4:22)

***

The Gospel is the continuous application of God's once-for-all solution in Christ Jesus.

There is nowhere it cannot go, no one it cannot save, and no situation that it cannot redeem. It is the yeast in the dough; the smallest of seeds that becomes the biggest of trees; literally Heaven invading earth.

The sweet Pauline one-liner quoted above is a concluding comment in his letter to the church in Philippi. What gets it jumping off the page is realising that Paul was writing from prison in Rome. Rome, epicentre of the mighty Roman Empire. Rome, which in the person of Pontius Pilate had literally issued Jesus' death warrant. Rome, home to the Empire's supreme commander, Caesar. Caesar, whose household had been infiltrated by the Gospel. Those of Caesar's household greet you!

This Gospel is God's strategy for the redemption of rebel planet earth. The way it all works is quite sublime. It is God who makes Christians. Each and every one is His workmanship, and so inherently witness to Him. This is self-evident. The newborn are testimony to the new birth. As trophies of the cross, we testify by our very existence, even if we never do a single thing for the fame of His Name. Yet we are not just static trophies of grace on the mantelpiece of heaven. Rather, we are living trophies, the workmanship of God, and engineered to partner with Him. In an action of extraordinary condescension, the Lord invites us to co-labour with Him in the very Gospel that is our salvation. We, witnesses to His work, get to testify in addition to His grace in words, works, ways and wonders. And, rather unsurprisingly, the effectiveness of our witness is dependent on His efforts and not ours.

Good works have been prepared in advance for us to do. Works that are perfectly suited to our unique blend of abilities and circumstances. In Christ, living in God and living for God are one and the same thing. There is absolute congruence between who God has made us to be and what He has called us to do. The enabling baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers our witness significantly, but does not create it. The new birth does that. John the baptiser, under the Old Covenant, declared that he needed to decrease in order for Christ to increase. Jesus later stated emphatically that the least in the kingdom (born again) was greater than John. That is so because those who are in Christ have been co-crucified with Christ; His story is our story. We do not decrease for Him to increase. On the contrary, He increases as we grow into all that He has made and called us to be. He must increase, therefore we must increase also! Any theology that insists that true piety is achieved by dying to self denies that those in Christ are new creations. Acknowledging that the new has come is what frees us to live in freedom and fulness, veritable oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord.

The Gospel gifts us comfort in our own skins, and in Christ "authentic us" will always be infinitely more fruitful than "imitation someone else". Learn of others, but be yourself.

***

World evangelism is the job description of every believer. Many are the good works prepared in advance for each of us to do. The parameters of our daily lives are what describe the scope of our respective mission-fields. Our world is our parish, literally, even if not exclusive to us. The parishes of those around us overlap with ours, but in the great condescension of God, we are each invited to play our part. Accepting that invitation is our privilege, knowing full well that only one part really matters, and that's His part. We are no one's saviour; He is everyone's saviour. Our story might seem to have little value, except that in Christ our story is His story, and therefore invaluable. Thinking this way moves our paradigms beyond the restrictive confines of our vision, church or ministry, and encourages us to take our place in His vision, His church and His ministry.

A few will be called to leave their families for the sake of the Gospel; most will be called to love their families for the sake of the Gospel. Understanding this is life changing. The single mom, struggling to survive, learns that surviving and raising her child unto, for and in the Lord, is her ministry. Her life in God is her life for God. As such, she has the comprehensive backing of heaven, not one iota less than the television evangelist reaching multitudes. In Christ, everything we do, everywhere we go, and everyone we know, are all beneficiaries of our witness, if for no other reason than their being in our lives. As the Spirit leads and empowers, they are also likely beneficiaries of our witnessing, be it in words, works, ways or wonders. Think this way and our jobs are vocations (callings), no matter how menial they might seem to others, for we comprehend that we are strategically placed representatives, just because we're us. It is a small step from there to becoming fully functioning ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven in our thinking, inviting those around us to be reconciled to God, just as we are.

***

The Gospel knows no great sacred-secular divide. That gulf is of dead religion's making - a gulf which causes us to have Christian friends and non-Christian friends, sacred spaces and secular spaces. The Gospel corrects our thinking and teaches us that God loves His world; that we have only one life, and it is in Christ, with Christ in it. There we realise that we simply have friends, some of whom are believers, and some of whom are not (yet). There we know that any giving in response to the Spirit's prompting is worship, whether in a church meeting on Sunday or to a beggar at the roadside on Monday. The Gospel unites our fragmented psyche and brings congruence to the many varied facets of our lives. It teaches us that living in the Lord is living for the Lord, and that the single important point of accountability for all of life is the will of God - His will as expressed in Christ Jesus, and His will in follow-ship of Him.

How we've diluted and domesticated the church by holding believers accountable to her vision and values. Christianity has become a diminished churchianity as accountability has centred on church - attendance, involvement, giving and service. This is small thinking, and will at best produce seemingly impressive local churches. The Gospel's point of accountability is towards something far greater - global redemption. It is found in the glorious invitation that comes to us from Christ Himself. Having done all for us, "Come follow me", He invites. If we're going to ask each other anything by means of accountability, let's ask each other whether we're doing what God wants us to do. That question might harness fewer resources for the local church, but will unleash much more for the kingdom of heaven.

Local churches are wonderful things. It is my strong conviction that every believer should be a contributing member of one. But I also regard local churches to be the products of the Gospel, as well as essential conduits of the Gospel to those around them. Each local church will inevitably have its own distinctives, these in both strengths and weaknesses, but no matter what, the local church's core business remains the same - the Gospel. Let's hear far less about vision, values and ethos - about us and what we're doing. Let's keep things about the Gospel - about who He is and what He has done! Thinking this way releases believers and churches into glorious synergy with what the Lord is doing in our day. Local churches need not be controlling or confining. They can be givers rather than takers, and entities that believers live their Christian lives out of and from, rather than towards and into.

The redemption of the planet is in the Gospel. Local churches either tend to facilitate this flow or dam the river. Those who dam it most will produce temporary verdant oases that will inevitably tend towards stagnation over time. The church is not the power of God for salvation; the Gospel is. Myriad are the testimonies of just how much Jesus loves His world. Innumerable others await, and increase and acceleration will be logarithmic as Christians get clear on the Gospel, and are liberated and encouraged to be and to do, twenty-four-seven, anywhere and everywhere, as per the glory of the Good News. On every street in every village, and in every suburb in every city, are soul, situation and circumstance aplenty perfectly poised for redemption. Let it be. Amen!

# Postscript

## The Gospel Revolution

There is a Good News revolution underway in our world.

God is restoring His Gospel to His people, with delightful and dramatic results. Christians are being released from damning belief systems and controlling models of church leadership. Healed from the abuses of the past, they are being liberated into living, loving and labouring in the Gospel. Disheartened believers are finding faith once again, and with it we draw ever nearer to the greatest harvest of souls this planet has ever seen. The Gospel's brightest years beckon!

This resurgence is redefining local churches. The Lion of Judah is not a domesticated kitty, and the righteous oaks of His planting not potted plants. In their misplaced zeal to stave off these changes, some have undermined the Gospel by declaring a number of its fundamental tenets heresy. This concluding chapter is not as much a considered refutation of these critics, as an attempt responsibly to reassure on what have become contentious issues. The Good News is outrageous. It is counterintuitive in the extreme. In fact, it's downright scandalous. The fulness of salvation is gifted to the most damnable of sinners, simply because he or she believes. But outrageous does not equal false, and the Gospel has never been without its critics. Just ask Jesus!

Most of the material below was relocated from elsewhere in the manuscript during the editing process. These paragraphs did not fit the flow of the presentation of the Gospel across the preceding chapters, but they do contain valuable insights and qualifiers that pertain to the message as presented overall. Perhaps the best way to relate to them is as you would those clips that are included during the credits at the end of the movie - not essential to the story, but too good to leave on the cutting room floor. Crafted into a logical progression of a sort, they are concept-dense, and should prove helpful apologetically (in defence) and didactically (in instruction) in conversations around the Gospel. My hope is that they will do much more to bless than to confuse.

***

Christianity and Judaism are diametrically opposed belief systems, despite the fact that the former came out of the latter. Folk confuse the two because both Israel and Jesus came from Abraham's loins. This should not lead us to conclude that the Old Covenant, instituted by God through Moses, is applicable to Christians. On the contrary, Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses, and thereby rendered the Old Covenant obsolete. In so doing, He delivered us from the governance of the Law, and its curse. That curse is nothing other than receiving at God's hand that which our sins deserve.

The Perfections of God are reflected in the Law of Moses, just as they are in the commandments of Jesus. "Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect", said He. Grace fully embraces these demands of Law, but is emphatic that these demands were fully and finally met on our behalf by Jesus. He did what those of us who are in Adam could never do, weakened by the flesh as we are. Rather than opposing or avoiding the Law, those who preach Grace fully embrace it, but refuse to bring it to bear as a means to righteousness.

Law cannot produce righteousness, but it does have two important functions. Firstly, Law convicts of sin. As such, it unmasks the inadequacy of self-righteousness. When it comes to Christians, however, this is a redundant function. They are already convinced of the utter sinfulness of all men, and persuaded that their self-righteousness is a stench in Holy God's nostrils. It was for these very reasons that they placed their confidence in Christ. When they read the Law they rejoice, for it confirms to them all that their new nature intuitively knows, and that which the Holy Spirit leads them in, for those who follow the Spirit are attuned to the metronome of Heaven.

Secondly, Law preserves. When self-government implodes, if external dictates are not imposed, society disintegrates. In addition to exposing the inadequacies of the unbelieving hard-heartedness of their self-righteousness, the Law of Moses preserved Israel until the coming of Jesus. Nations rose and fell around them, but Law preserved them (Galatians 3:19 - 4:7). This is why Christians support an independent judiciary which upholds a Judeo-Christian worldview. We also regard vocations in the legal profession, or in law enforcement for that matter, as noble pursuits. Understanding Law's preservative qualities also equips us to confront lawlessness, just as the Scriptures guide, on those occasions that it rears its ugly head - be it in church, family, or society at large (Romans 13:1-7). Important to note in this context, however, is that the rule of law and the setting of appropriate boundaries is not Legalism. Legalism is about pursuing righteousness through self-effort; wise boundaries are about good governance. God is not the author of confusion or chaos, and Grace promulgates neither. Grace doesn't default to Law as some sort of plan B. It's not as if grace goes through life with Law in its backpack. Law is not the gun under Grace's mattress; something to fall back on in threatening situations. And Grace certainly does not cease to be Grace when confronting lawlessness. Grace governs responsibly. Grace is anchored in all that is good, and good governance will always be an expression of Grace that is to be celebrated.

The Gospel is also not antinomian (against Law). Eschewing Legalism does not amount to being opposed to Law. Grace is good governance, and does not condone or promote sin. Paul, in response to this very accusation, is clear: "By no means!" (Romans 6:1-2). Christians are under grace, led by the Spirit, and realise that sin is a bad thing. To believe otherwise is folly, even if the Gospel, confidently proclaimed, opens us to that accusation. No one in his right mind actually ever advocates for sin! Its consequences are guaranteed negative, for God will not be mocked, and we will reap what we sow. Apart from what it does to and in us, our sin also often does damage to others, and frequently those others are those whom we love and cherish most. Inadvertent sin is inevitable, and unwelcome enough at that, but consciously yielding to sin renders believers who do so deceived, and puts them squarely on a wrong road. They leave the good works prepared in advance for them undone, squander the rich inheritance that is theirs in Christ, and forfeits faith-filled obedience's rewards. Worldly carnality paves the pathway to the pigpen, and those who journey along this way leave themselves vulnerable to demonic plundering every step of the way. Satan's agenda for us is well-established and equally well documented - stealing, killing and destroying - and yielding to sin is to move in favour of his plans. Despite our flesh's propensity towards sin, from which none of us is immune, the promise of the New Covenant remains clear. God will not vent His anger on us ever again. Propitiation is past; our sin was fully and finally judged at the cross. Our transgressions have been removed from us, not in part, but the whole - past, present and future. We are the justified. We are and always will be righteous before God.

For this reason the Gospel is emphatic that the Holy Spirit does not convict Christians of sin. The issue is not His being uninvolved with our transformation towards Christlikeness. Of course He helps us become like Jesus! The issue is in what the metaphor "conviction" erroneously implies. This is judicial speak. Convicts are convicted, guilty, damned, condemned, and facing judgement. Christians are not. They are justified in Christ. They are not guilty, even when sinning. This is outrageous grace, but the foundation of the righteousness the Gospel reveals. To say that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin is to declare that He works in opposition to the Father, who has justified us in Christ. Such thinking is ludicrous, and opens the unwitting believer to unmitigated condemnation that is not of God, but is issued in His name. The Gospel is clear - there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus - let alone any from God Himself.

It is the Lord's will for Christians to live holy lives. He has provided many an aid to our doing so. The Creator has gifted us all with a conscience. This can be seared, but those in Christ can nurture a clear and re-sensitised conscience that labours for beauty within our humanity. We are born again from above, with a new nature. That new nature carries the DNA of heaven. Unlike when we were in Adam, our new man is inclined to Godliness, and is not at all like our Adamic nature, with its inclination towards sin. The Holy Spirit also lives within us. He is grieved by our sin, yet never condemns or abandons us. His role in our lives is always consistent with the finished work of the cross, and His guidance always towards righteous living. So generous is Heaven with the Spirit that Jesus literally immerses us in Him, a baptism of power that enables supernatural ability, efficiency and might. In addition, the Lord has given us His written word, which declares His Gospel, reveals His will, and documents His promises. Every verse is valuable to us, and the Scriptures play an invaluable role in our lives, enhancing our faith and renewing of our minds. Furthermore, Christ has granted us placement in His body. We are surrounded by brothers and sisters who minister to, encourage, edify, support and surround us. Their giftedness is to us, and for us. Christianity is a corporate endeavour, and relationships of love and trust provide a context for struggles, and necessary encouragement, instruction and edification, ensuring that the victories of Christ are established in even the most fragile areas of our lives.

These are all means by which our loving Father exercises responsible discipline in our lives, all the while moving us towards maturity, as He loves, affirms, guides, corrects and exhorts us. On occasion He will even rebuke us, if necessary. As He disciples us, Spirit, new nature, Scriptures and saints work together to bring us to repentance, which is nothing other than a change of mind, a renewing of our belief systems, and a moving of us into agreement with heaven on all matters. Discipline and repentance are the give and take, the cut and thrust, of personal change. They are beneficial in every way. Some Christians mistakenly confuse repentance with Godly sorrow (feeling bad about our sin). Others confuse it with the cleansing rituals of the Old Covenant (only those who repent are cleansed). It is neither. Repentance is the change of mind that brings us into agreement with God, and is a necessary component of faith-filled living. His discipline is also not some sort of punishment. Some mistakenly believe that in His disciplining of us, the Lord resorts to imposing on us the very things from which the cross of Christ brought relief. This is not so, and although our sinful behaviour might result in the likes of sickness, poverty or shame, these are never instruments applied to our lives by the Lord for our correction. Correctly understood, these are all consequences of sin (our sins, Adam's sin, or the sins of others), and are circumstances in which the Lord unfailingly works for our good. That is His nature.

As we've seen, believing the Gospel results in an immediate and comprehensive change in our position or status. Those who believe are in Christ. We've seen also that the Lord intervenes in our condition or state in a significant way at the moment of faith. We are born again of the Holy Spirit, and indwelt by Him. In addition, the Lord gifts us His written word and a place in His church. From then on, the expected course is one of growth as we move from being infants to taking our place amongst the mature in the Lord. This process of change is life-long, profitable, and most desirable. As we mature, so we increase in Christlikeness, authority, understanding, wisdom and fruitfulness. The progression is one from glory to glory. How we refer to this process is of vital importance, however, for many incorrectly refer to it as sanctification. This is not so, for sanctification refers to the Lord's action in our life to make us holy. Saints are sanctified. Sinners are not. About this we must remain emphatic, for to misunderstand it undermines the transformative power of the Gospel. Living a progressively holier life (a good thing) does not make a Christian more holy. The exact opposite is true! It is only because God has already made the Christian holy, that said Christian has any hope whatsoever of living a holier life. The gift of righteousness is the engine-room of positive change, and to imply its inadequacy is to render it powerless.

This is very important. Many church programs that are geared towards maturing the saints are founded on the presumption that Christians are not holy, but should be so. This point of departure undermines the Gospel, and mistakenly vests all hope for transformation in our own efforts. Instead, we should be emphatically declaring that all Christians are saints, sanctified by God Himself. It is as we invite them to discover their true identity in Him that they will be empowered to live accordingly. Paul's letter to the Corinthian church was of a confrontational nature. Many matters were awry and needed addressing. For this very reason, Paul addresses them as saints, sanctified in Christ Jesus. He rightly wanted them to change their minds and their ways. His desire for them was to live as saints, which they weren't. For that reason He was meticulous in addressing them as such, for in Christ they were holy people, made so by God, and a revelation of that was the very thing that would enable them to walk worthy of their Lord.

***

In conclusion, a story that will spark our imaginations.

Babylon fell on the night of 12 October 539 BC. The armies of Darius the Mede diverted the Euphrates River, which ran through the city, and his troops flooded the Chaldean capital, catching the populace unawares. With the river running through it, and food stores sufficient for some twenty years, self-assured King Belshazzar was banqueting at the time, a thousand dignitaries with him. Such was the revelry that debauched Belshazzar called for the vessels seized by his ancestor Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple of the Living God in Jerusalem to be used to party. This arrogance precipitated Heaven's direct intervention in Belshazzar's affairs.

So it was that at that banquet, some time prior to the actual invasion, a disembodied hand appeared out from nowhere and wrote in Aramaic - "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin". Literally mina (fifty shekels), mina, shekel, half-shekel. At face value that was a bit like writing "pound, pound, shilling and penny" in our modern parlance. Poor Belshazzar paled and his legs all but gave way beneath him, even though he had no idea what it meant. It was Daniel the prophet, in whom was the Spirit of God, who explained. The words could also be figuratively translated "numbered, numbered, weighed, divided", and this was apt, for God had numbered the days of Belshazzar's rule. The king had been weighed in the balances and found wanting. His kingdom would be divided between the Medes and the Persians. Later that night, Belshazzar lost his life to the invading Medes.

The point? In Adam, all men are Belshazzar. In Christ, no one is he. For Christians are numbered in Christ, weighed in Him, and rewarded in Him. This is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. That's the Gospel. It's the Best News Ever!

# Publishing Information

Published by Gavin Cox

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Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

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#  Other Books by Gavin Cox

The Not Confused Series

How to read the Bible and not get confused

Why the Gospel is the Best News Ever

Living in the Will of God

Bringing the Bible to Life Series

Welcome Home

Rahab's Place
