Scripture Reference: Luke 24:44-53

The simplicity of this message is as follows:

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.” – Luke 24:46–47.

This is the gospel; this is our assignment; this is the duty and responsibility of a true preacher and servant of our Lord, Jesus; and this is the truth held inviolate by the New Testament church. What is our duty, our mandate? It is this: Because Christ suffered for our sins and was raised for our justification, we are to preach and teach the remission, the forgiveness, of sins to all the nations.

If I am correct in what I see around us, the modern church, as one sees it in the world, proliferated through many denominations, is giving itself to a thousand other interests and enterprises. I don’t deny that there are political repercussions in preaching the gospel. I would be the last to say that there are not social improvements and reforms that are inherent in the Word of God. I don’t contradict the feeling that there are cultural overtones and repercussions that attend the preaching of the gospel of Christ. But I do state emphatically by the authority of the Lord Himself and the Word He spelled out plainly and clearly that our assignment and task is to preach the gospel of the forgiveness of sins.

What is the gospel? Jesus defined it as His death, His suffering and burial, and, on the third day, His resurrection from the dead. On the basis of that atonement and that triumph over sin, death, and the grave, we are to preach the forgiveness of sins. This is also spelled out plainly by the apostle Paul:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. – 1 Corinthians 15:1–4.

It is possible to address the energies of the church to all of the problems of society, that is, economic, political, social, and cultural. But when the gospel message in the Bible is declared, it addresses itself to the human heart, to the individual soul. Have you been saved? Are your sins forgiven?

The gospel message of Christ addresses the heart. All these ills and problems in society come from man’s heart. To put new clothes on a man does not make him a new man. To educate a man does not make him a new man. Giving him all of the fine cultural amenities to observe in life will not change his character. The gospel message addresses itself to the man in the depths of his soul, in his heart, at the very core, the fountain source of his life. It seeks to create in the man a new being. This is the gospel message according to the Word of the Lord.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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