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THE GOSPEL

By George W. Sinquefield

1 Cor. 15:1 through 1 Cor. 15:4 (KJV)
¹ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ² By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; ⁴ And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

        What is the gospel? The gospel means "good news" and the gospel of Christ is, without a doubt, the best news this sinful world has ever heard. There is music in the very sound of the word, "gospel." It means "good news." It is good news to the man who, for years, has been blinded by skepticism. It is good news for the woman who, for years, has been overtaken with a fault. It is good news for the man who thinks he is hopeless. It is the greatest news the sinning world has ever heard, and the unregenerate man has ever received. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ."

        Paul, writing to the Romans was eager to preach the gospel to them because of what the gospel is and what it does.

        Romans 1:13-17 -- "And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the gentiles. I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Who, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written. But the righteous man shall live by faith." (The Living Bible)

        The gold rush came to California in 1849. In 1850 a Methodist preacher arrived on the scene. He came not seeking gold but the souls of men. There was no church there where he could preach and no congregation interested in the things of God. But the people were there and he knew thy needed Christ, so on Sunday morning he would stand upon a barrel and shout, "What's the news, what 's the news? Then when the crowd gathered around him he would say. "Thank God, I have good news for you, this morning, by brethren" and then he would tell them of Christ.

        Mack Douglas said, "The greatest hearsay of today is not denying the virgin birth, watering down the Word of God, etc, but the greatest hearsay of today is that the gospel is not good news any more."

        Sometimes we hear people say that all a minister needs to do is to preach the simple gospel. There is no such thing as a simple gospel. The gospel is the greatest conception of truth the world has ever heard. The gospel is the story that makes all the angels in heaven stand in wonderment. The gospel is the story that all the saints in glory will sing about. There is no such thing as a simple gospel. It is the most wonderful story that we could ever hear.

I.   The Gospel Is God's Power To Save From Sin

        All men are sinners and all need to be saved from sin.

Rom. 5:12 (KJV)
¹² Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Rom. 6:23 (KJV)
²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

        Joseph B. Underwood shares this with us: "Recently it was my privilege to observe a skilled heart surgeon perform a miraculous operation.As the heart beat, at times so furiously it seemed it would leap from the open body, I stood in amazement, exclaiming to myself, 'How wonderful to have the ability to perform an operation on the body's most vital organ so as to repair the damage and preserve a life.' Instantly there followed the thought that greater then the need for a physically repaired heart is the necessity of becoming a new creation in Christ, Jesus."

2 Cor. 5:17 (KJV) ¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

        The gospel tells how Jesus, by His blood, can redeem a lost soul and make him a new creature.

        Joe Henry Hawkins -- "When I was a high school lad, one afternoon after school I walked downtown. There was a man on the street corner selling some kind of cleaning fluid. He claimed he could take out any kind of stain. Back in those days they didn't make Skript ink which will wash out. I knew when I got ink on my handkerchief or my clothes how hard it was to get out. In fact, it was there to stay. He took out his handkerchief and took two small bowls. In one of them he poured a bottle of black ink and in the other some sort of fluid. I saw him take the handkerchief and dip it in the bowl filled with the black ink and turn it over and over until every thread was saturated a midnight black. Then he lifted it out and held it up. It was as black as ink could make it. "Now," he said, "watch." Then he put it over in the bowl of cleaning fluid. He dipped it down, turned it over a few times and took it by the corner and lifted it out. To our utter amazement it was as white as the driven snow." That is exactly what Jesus does with sin stained lives. He dips them in His precious blood and they come forth white. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin."

        A lay evangelist (Brazilian) was visiting one day from house to house. He met a woman, introduced himself and invited her to come to his home that evening to a service of gospel preaching. She said, "Thank you sir, for you courtesy and I would like very much to come to your home but sir, my life is soiled with a stain that can never be removed and I would bring shame and reproach upon our house if I entered your door." "Madam," replied the evangelist, "You are correct in saying that your life is soiled, for every life has been stained by sin, but I'm happy to tell you that you are mistaken when you say that the stain can never be removed. For the Bible tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" He persuaded her to attend the services. She did and before long she gave her heart to Jesus.

        There are those who think Christianity is nothing but a way to conquer their bad habits and solve their problems and help get rid of their troubles. One pastor tells of a woman who came to him feeling that she needed Christ to help her quit smoking.

        A young lady who came to him deeply disturbed and professing that she felt a real need for Jesus Christ. When he asked her to tell him just what that need was, she said: "You see, I smoke, and I know that's a bad habit, and I want to be saved from it."

        Well, that wasn't exactly what he expected to hear, and he felt rather sure that there was more to her story, for otherwise she wouldn't be so deeply disturbed. So he said: "I see, you smoke; that is a bad habit, one that isn't easy to conquer. But, tell me, what else is troubling you? There must be more to your problem.""No," she said, "nothing else; tht's it."

        "Nothing else is bothering you, nothing you feel you ought to confess?" asked the minister. "No," she said, "oh, I do have a rather bad temper, and sometimes it gets the best of me, so that I say things I shouldn't say; but that doesn't really bother me too much."

        The minister began to probe a bit further, for, after all, if she was to find Christ as her Savior, she had to realize why she needed Him -- she had to see her sin and confess it. But no mater how hard he tried to get her to open her heart and look inside, her answer was always the same. Her big problem was that she smoked; that was all. And that's why she wanted the preacher to bring her to Christ. So he finally told her the only thing he could tell her. He said, "You don't need Jesus Christ." That surprised her, and she said, "I'm afraid I don't understand." And he said, "No, I don't think you do. Let me try to explain it to you.

        "If it's smoking that bothers yu, why don't you go to the American Cancer Society and get all the literature on the subject, and then follow the rules prescribed for those who want to quit smoking. Thousands of people have been cured of smoking without ever becoming christians. You don't need Christ for that. And if your bad temper gets the best of you, why don't you see a psychiatrist; he'll help you conquer it. Thousands of people have gotten their tempers under control without ever becoming Christians. If these are the only things that bothers you, well, you can solve them without Christ.

        That upset the young lady somewhat, but she surmised that he was talking with his tongue in his cheek. And yet she didn't really understand. She actually had the strange notion that God had sent his Son into this world, to suffer and die on a cross, to save her from smoking. This is what the gospel meant to her.

        When one is saved, the Holy Spirit comes to abide with him and to give him power to live the Christian life and to overcome the sins of the flesh, but that's not the main ministry of the gospel. It is first of all the "power of God unto salvation."

        A Hispanic man who speaks little English walked into a pharmacy in Brooklyn seeking to cash his lottery ticket for 24 dollars. When the clerk checked it, the discovery was made that the man's ticket was worth 1.6 million dollars. When the clerk tried to explain that to the Hispanic man, the man got very upset and stalked angrily out of the store. Some people pursued him and finally communicated to him what had happened. He was one of three persons who would split 4.8 million dollars. The man had a ticket worth $79,000 each year for the next 20 years, but he almost did not understand. Many of us are in the same boat. We see the gospel as something that is good for the community. We do not see the gospel as life changing, value enhancing, joy inspiring.

        There are those who claim that the gospel has failed. "How is it," asked a man of a minister, "that your religion has been going for nearly two thousand years and has not influenced more people than it has don?" In reply, the minister asked, "How is it that water has been flowing for more than two million years and people are still dirty?" It is not the gospel's fault that people are not saved. The gospel has not failed. Where ever it is proclaimed and received, it changes lives.

        A drunkard said after he was saved, "For 25 years I have been a drinking man. I heard the gospel this week and was saved. This is the first clear week I have had in 25 years. I am going to be a better man. I am going to live for the Lord."

        The testimony could be multiplied by the thousands who have responded and whose live have been changed. The greatest lives of the world have been produced by the gospel. Paul was the chief of sinners, but the gospel made him the chief of saints. Peter was the cursing fisherman, but the gospel made him a mighty preacher. Bunyan was a swearing tinker, but the gospel made him a great author. Luther was a frigid formalist, but the gospel made him a mighty reformer.

        It takes more than a dainty sugar sweet little message to produce a Judson, a Livingston, a Moody, a Spurgeon. Yes, there is a power in the gospel.

        "The gospel message was born in the heart of God, is written indelibly in the blood of the Son of God, is sustained by His matchless love and is kept glowing by His quenchless compassing for humanity. Its mission is salvation, liberation, consolation and glorification. Its motivating qualities are love, truth , grace, mercy, peace. Its field is the world, its soil is the human heart, its objective is human emancipation from sin's dark domain. It is not circumscribed by national nor international social obstructions. It is applicable to all classes, all times, all climates, all conditions.

        The gospel is sufficient for the darkest night, the most uncertain day, the horrors of any war. It braves and conquers the gravest perils, the ugliest catastrophies, the blackest legions of disaster. It is salvation for the soul, inspiration for the life, security in death. It comforts millions, give heart and hope to vast multitudes, binds up wounds on a thousand battlefields, pencils the blackest war clouds with rainbows of hope and snatches victory out of defeat."

II.   To Save Man Socially

Matt. 16:24 through Matt. 16:25 (KJV)
²⁴ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

        One has reminded us that ours is a crossless discipleship. "only as you and i take up the cross and die to self seeking will there be the kind of discipleship that can fulfill the vision contemplated by Christ when He commanded, "Go make disciples of all the nations."

        A man stood upon the track when the engine was coming. A lady saw that his back was turned toward the train, so she screamed, "Help, help, help," and he shouted. "I'm coming," an ran toward the house to save her from some imagined evil. It took him off the track. His springing forward to assist her took himself out of danger." A Christian is in danger of losing his life by living only for self. He hears the cry of the world and he forgets self and springs forward to help. He is saved from the danger of losing his life, for true life, real happiness and peace comes to those who forget self and live for others.

        The gospel is the only power that can save man from hatred. The only power that can cause men to live together in love and peace. We read of an old warrior to whom his monarch said, "Slave, don't you know I have the power to hang you?" To which he fearlessly replied, "Well, don't you know that I have the poser to be hanged and still despise you?"

        One night a black man was walking along Forty Second street in New York, from the railway to the hotel,carrying a heavy suitcase and a heavier valise. Suddenly a hand took hold of the valese and a pleasant voice said, "Pretty heavy, brother! Suppose you let me take one. I'm going your way." The negro resisted, but finally allowed the young white man to assist him in carrying his burden and for several blocks they walked along chatting together. "And that," said Booker T. Washington, "was the first time I ever saw Theodore Roosevelt."

        Then there is the story of an old colored man who was employed by a family to take care of the yard and garden. Among the members of the family was a five year old boy whose chief delight was to follow the old man around and watch him work and listen to his homely talk. One day the old man said to the boy, "John, how come you like to hang around here when the folks go away? I'm just an old black man and you a little white boy?" The child stood still for a moment and then looking up into the face of the old man he said, "Uncle John, it don't make no difference to God and me cause you are black."

        The only way to make bad people good is to expose them to the gospel. Even Charles Darwin, the man who contributed so much to evolutionistic thinking, admitted this. He wrote to a minister; "Your services have done more for our village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. We have never been able to reclaim a single drunkard, but through your services I do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village! Later Darwin visited the island of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. What he found among the people was horrifying -- savagery and bestiality almost beyond description. But when he returned after a missionary had worked among the people, he was amazed at the change in them. He acknowledged that the gospel does transform lives. In fact, he was so moved by what he saw that he contributed money to the mission until his death.

        A missionary relates: "During World War II it was my responsibility and privilege to assist the First Baptist Church of Gallop, New Mexico, in a revival meeting. In the same cit a group of Japanese Christians from Arizona, California and new Mexico were meeting together to worship God and proclaim His gospel.

        Having led several people of their race to Christ as Savior, they came to us requesting permission to use the baptistry of the First Baptist Church. They arrived at the close of one of our services, entered the building with reverence, knelt in prayer, then stood to sing in their own language great hymns such as "Amazing Grace," "At The Cross," "Rock Of Ages," and "Oh, How I Love Jesus." As they sang in Japanese and we in English, my heart was so overcome with emotion that I could no longer sing. At that moment, while American and Japanese soldiers were fighting each to the death on the islands of the Pacific, Christians of these two enemy countries were assembled in the same house of worship, singing in different languages the same hymns to the same Lord and Savior. Our hearts had been united by faith in and love for Jesus Christ and therefore by love for one another."

        Paul B. Kern says, "America was meant to be God's experiment in brotherhood. Shall we become simply another battle ground for the age old conflict of color and creed? The answer rests with the Christian mind of America. Does it believe in the common fatherhood of God, not as a theological formula but as a social creed?"

III.   We Must Tell The World This Good News.

        There is a story about an English gentleman named Alfie. Alfie could do nothing right. He bungled everything he ever touched. One day in a moment of deep despair and desperation, he tried to take his own life. He failed at that, too. While he was in the hospital, a friend cane to visit. The friend asked, "Alfie, why did you do it?" And Alfie responded, "Because there is no good news anywhere. There just can't be any good news anywhere. Because, if there was, surely someone would have come running to me to share it with me."

        George MacDonald tells of a country preacher who found on his steps a woman of the streets, helpless and homeless. Like a Christian man, he took into his home, comforted her and led her back to this paths of purity and peace. During the interview, the little girl asked her mother, "Who is in the parlor with father?" The mother replied, "It is an angel dear, who has lost her way and your father is showing her the way back."

        Multitudes the world over have lost their way and need to be told how to find their way. The world is full of those who have lost their way -- in the midst of philosophical speculation, in materialism, , and worldliness, the rush and roar of our complex civilization, in the dark by paths of immoral living. They need you and me to show them how to find their way.

        The main mission of the church is to preach the gospel.

Jesus did

Matt. 4:23 (KJV)
²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Luke 4:18 (KJV)
¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, Matthew 4:23 Luke 4:18

Paul did

        He wasn't ashamed of it. He knew it was God's power to change lives. He received it from God -- not man. He suffered all things, "lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ." Some were perverting the gospel --saying one must become a Jew first in order to be saved. This gave Paul great concern -- He wrote Galatians to set them straight.Paul was thankful for help in proclaiming the gospel. To the Philippians -- I thank my God, "for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now" Phil. 2:22 speaking of Timothy -- "he hath served with me in the gospel?" Paul suffered a lot for Christ but he rejoiced that he could say "that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." (Phil. 1:12) He urges Christians to proclaim the gospel by the way they live. Phil. 1:27 "Only let your manner of life be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." He pleads with Christians to help those who are proclaiming the gospel Phil. 4:2 -- "help those women which labored with me in the gospel. He rejoiced that Christ was preached even if of envy and strife.

Phil. 1:15 through Phil. 1:18 (KJV)
¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: ¹⁶ The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: ¹⁷ But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. ¹⁸ What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Philippians 1:15-18

        Dr. Kenneth Chafin said at our last evangelistic conference,"Preaching, as we use it today, is not basically used in the New Testament sense. Preaching is the word used when any child of God hearlds the gospel. We have basically institutionalized the concept of preaching. Preaching has come to be the religious, or semi religious essay which follows the special music and precedes the invitation. I think that we are living in a day where there is going to be a resurgent emphasis upon proclamation involved with the laity." It was to every saved person that Jesus gave the great commission.

Matt. 28:18 through Matt. 28:20 (KJV)
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

        I had an intensive study of the gospel of Matthew under Dr. Ray Robbins when I was in the seminary. Dr. Robbins reminded us that we had been putting a lot of emphasis on the "going" in the commission. He said the main emphasis should be on witnessing. He said that Jesus really said, "As ye go, preach the gospel."

        One has said, "The ocean wouldn't hold our preaching but you could put our practice (telling other of Jesus) into a teacup. The greatest hearsay of Southern Baptists is the hearsay of confining evangelism within the walk of the church at stated hours. One of the most frustrating things of all the world for the preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to proclaim a gospel to people who are already won to the Christ of the gospel and invite people who are not there to respond."

        God's people are going all over the world and as we go we are to proclaim the gospel. Let me share these words from the lips of Dr. R. C. Campbell, one of the great preachers of days gone by.

        "The gospel is the only hope for a lost world. It is the apostle of good will, the guardian of the soul, the purifier of life, the conquerer of death, the hope of resurrection , it is medicine for the sick, bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, hearing for the deaf, sight for the blind, cleansing for the leper, healing for the wounded, consolation for the sorrowing and life for the dead. It is hope for the youth, strength for the adolescent, joy for the aged confidence for the dying saint.

        This message cures plagues, eradicates pestilence, mitigates horrors, purifies dens of iniquity, triumphs over chaos, gives plenty for poverty, health for sickness, a flower embroidered universe for a wilderness of sin. It is an home for the homeless, help for the helpless. Its heart throb warms the earth, its pulse beat gives hope to humanity, its message is wafted across the storm tossed, war swept, submarine infested oceans. Its sympathy is boundless, its love is unfathomable, its song is ageless, its power is measureless, its results are eternal. It changes fading hopes into tapestries of fadeless glory. The nations will all one day kneel at its altar and pay homage to its power. Under its banner marches earth's greatest army with its legions of devotees. Its source is God, its center is Christ, its power is the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is salvation, its hope is the resurrection, its consumation is heaven."

        Dr. A. C. Archibald says, "The gospel begins with the incarnate Son of God. It is first of all a fact. It begins not with a word but with the Word made flesh. Had it begun with a word, it would have been a philosophy. Had it begun in a system of new ideas, the end of the gospel's demand would have been intellectual assent. But because this gospel is primarily a Person, the end is surrendering to and following that incarnate One."