The Gospel in Ten Words (24 page)

Out of the Jungle

[1]
Hiroo Onoda,
No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War,
Kodansha, 1974.

[2]
See Romans
8:31
–
32
and Isaiah 54:8
–
10. See
also 1 Timothy 1:11 in
Rotherham’s Emphasized
Bible
which describes the “
glorious
gospel of the blessed God
”
as
the
“glad-message of the glory of the happy God.”

[3]
“Sermon No.2207,”
The Spurgeon Archive
,

[4]
Sources for these
gospels are as follows: Paul (1 Corinthians 2:2), Peter (Acts 2:36), John (John
1:17), and Jesus (John 14:6).

[5]
“
Jesus Loves Me
,”
Wikipedia. While looking for an official source for this popular Sunday school
song, I discovered the “Senior Version” penned by an anonymous author. Possibly
inspired by Isaiah 46:4, it’s the gospel for seniors. The opening verse is as
follows: “
Jesus
loves me, this I know / Though my hair is white as snow / Though my sight is
growing dim / Still he bids me trust in him.”

[6]
“The gospel in one
word, two words …”
EscapeToReality.org
, 22 March 2011.

[7]
“Former WWII soldier
visits Philippine hideout,”
CNN.com
, 26 May 1996.

Chapter 1: Loved

[8]
See Isaiah 54:8 and
Psalms 30:5.

[9]
Here’s a tip for
preachers: They say people need to hear truth several times before they finally
get it. When it comes to the love of God, err on the side of over-doing it.
Follow the example of the writer of Psalm 136 who declared the enduring love or
loving-kindness (
hesed
) of God no less than 26 times. The love of God is
a drum worth banging loudly and often. Since his unending love surpasses
knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), there is no danger of exaggeration.

[10]
C.S. Lewis,
The
Silver Chair,
Lions, 1953/1980, p.145.

[11]
See Jeremiah 31:3,
Romans 8:38–39, and 1 Corinthians 13:7–8.

[12]
See Romans 5:5,
15:30, Colossians 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:7.

Chapter 2: Forgiven

[13]
In Luke 24:47 Jesus
describes forgiveness as a noun (
aphesis
in Greek) starting a pattern
followed by the New Testament epistle writers. Prior to the cross, God’s
forgiveness is almost always described as a verb (
aphiemi
). After the
cross it is almost always a noun.

[14]
Long before Jesus was
born, the two great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah looked forward to a time when
God would blot out our transgressions and remember our sins no more (see Isaiah
43:25, 44:22 and Jeremiah 31:33–34). In Hebrews chapters 8 to 10 (and
particularly 8:10–12 and 10:16–17) we learn that these prophecies were
fulfilled at the cross. For a sample of radical grace-based psalms, check out
Psalms 23, 36, 85, 103, 117, 121, and 145.

[15]
To the religious
mind, grace sounds like blasphemy. How ironic considering that there is nothing
more blasphemous or slanderous than self-righteously refusing to believe the
Holy Spirit’s testimony regarding the grace of God revealed through Jesus Christ
(Mark 3:29).

[16]
G3670 (
homologeo
),
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
,

[17]
Jesus said many will try to enter the narrow door of
salvation and will not be able to (Luke 13:23
–
24).
This is not because God is selective with us, but we are selective with him.
Grace is for everyone but not everyone is for grace.

[18]
Paul referred to the law as the “ministry that brought
death” (
2 Corinthians 3:7
). But note that it’s
not the law that kills people, it’s sin. “
Once I was alive apart from
law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died
” (Romans 7:9). The law activates the sin that was there
all along.

[19]
In the first chapter
of his letter, John says “we” a lot—
we
need to be purified from sin,
we
need to confess our sins, etc.—prompting some to think he is referring to
“we Christians.” If this is the case, then John’s theology is out of step with
the other epistle writers. Those who already have fellowship with Christ and
his body (1 Corinthians 1:9) do not need to be invited into that fellowship (1
John 1:3). Neither do those who have already heard and believed the message
(Romans 10:17) need to hear the message that John has heard (1 John 1:5).
Christians have heard the truth and walk in the light (John 8:12, 2 John 1:4),
but those whom John addresses do not live by the truth and walk in darkness (1
John 1:6). Since there is nothing wrong with John’s theology, we can only
conclude that, in chapter 1, he is not addressing Christians. Consider: Christians
have been purified from all sin (Hebrews 10:1–14), but those John writes to
need to be purified from all sin (1 John 1:9). Christians agree with God
(Romans 10:9–13), but those John addresses are calling God a liar (1 John
1:10). God’s word lives in Christians (1 Thessalonians 2:13) but it does not
live in them (1 John 1:10). Don’t build a theology of confession on one little
word. John uses the word “we” in a pastoral sense of identifying with his
unsaved listeners.
We
all have sinned and fall short and
we
all
need to come to Jesus but some of us already have. John writes for the whole
world. Chapter 1 is mainly directed to those who don’t know Jesus (“
You
need to have fellowship with him”) while chapter 2 is directed to those who do
(“My dear children …”). Sometimes the chapter divisions do make sense.

[20]
Brennan Manning,
The
Ragamuffin Gospel
, Multnomah, 1990/2000, pp.123–129. This is just one of
many good stories in Manning’s book.

[21]
Too strong do you
think? Yet Jesus uses similar words when dealing with the mask-wearing Maxes of
Laodicea (Revelation 3:16).

[22]
See Romans 4:8 and 2
Corinthians 5:18–19.

[23]
This classic youth
group song is based on Ephesians 1:7.

Chapter 3: Saved

[24]
See Romans 3:23,
6:23.

[25]
A friend asked me to
explain how salvation can be free in light of the high cost of discipleship.
Jesus said, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my
disciple
” (Luke 14:33). He also said, “Freely you have
received” (Matthew 10:8). So which is it? Is salvation free or does it cost us
everything? It’s both. The gift is free but you can only receive it with empty
hands. The cost is you have to let go of your old life in order to receive his
new life. You can’t have a bet each way. If you would follow the Savior you
must forsake all other saviors including yourself.

[26]
Paul’s warning about
other gospels and those who preach them is found in Galatians 1:6–9. “If anyone
preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, may he be
condemned to hell!” (GNB). Similar warnings were made by Jesus (Matthew 7:15–23),
Peter (2 Peter 2:1–3), John (1 John 4:1–3) and Jude (Jude 1:4).

[27]
See Acts 2:21, 4:12,
17:30,
1 Timothy 2:4 and 1 John 3:23.
Jesus
preached a consistent message of salvation through faith before and after the
cross. Before the cross it was, “Whoever believes in me may have eternal life”
(John 3:15); after the cross it was “Whoever believes will be saved” (see Mark
16:16).

[28]
The wonderfully
affirming “whosoever calls” message was proclaimed by Peter (Acts 2:21), Paul
(Romans 10:13), and no doubt the other apostles as well. They wanted believers
to have a secure assurance of their salvation. Incidentally, in case you were
wondering why a chapter entitled “Saved” came third and not first in a book on
the gospel, the answer has to do with John the Baptist’s dad. When Zacharias
got his speech back, he prophesied that his son would “give his people the
knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins
” (Luke
1:77). Salvation comes through forgiveness. Because you are forgiven, you can
be saved. Because your sins have been removed, you can receive the gift of his
righteousness.

[29]
A friend of mine
likes to tell new believers, “If you fall in the kingdom, you fall
in
the kingdom.”

[30]
The success of the
lifeboat gospel may also explain why the church is full of women and children.

[31]
G4982 (
sozo
),
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
.

[32]
Not everyone I have
prayed for has been healed. Since healing is one part of the salvation package,
the temptation is to think, “If God couldn’t heal this person, perhaps he can’t
save me.” This is a lie from the pit of hell that will fill you with doubt and
render you impassive with unbelief. Any healing should be celebrated as a miracle.
It is proof that God wants to heal, that he does heal, and he does it through
us. “Well, what about those that don’t get healed? What does that show us?” It
tells me that we’re still learning. Why would Paul exhort the Philippians to
“go for it all the more in my absence” if they only ever experienced success?
Like us they needed encouraging. “Keep going. Don’t give up because you’ve had
a few setbacks. A sick and dying world is waiting for the experienced and
mature sons of God to be revealed.” Paul also said that God is able to do
“immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is
at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). God’s power works
within us
. There
is something about
us
that releases or restrains the power of God. We’re
still learning but Jesus isn’t. Every single person who came to him for healing
was healed. Similarly, every single person who comes to him for salvation is
saved (see Hebrews 7:24–25). No exceptions.

[33]
See Matthew 9:22 and
Mark 5:34 in the KJV.

Chapter 4: Union

[34]
Many Christians are
worried that they are going to be cut off on account of sin, bitterness, or
barrenness. The only way that could happen, given the connate nature of our
union with Christ, is if Jesus decides to be unfaithful to himself. In other words,
it’s not going to happen. “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he
cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). What happens to unfruitful branches?
Jesus said the branches that don’t bear fruit are “lifted up” (John 15:2). They
are not cut off. That is a bad translation that doesn’t fit the context. Jesus
used the Greek word
airo
which can mean taken or lifted up (see Matthew
16:24 for such an interpretation). Unfruitful branches are lifted out of the
dirt and redressed so the sun can nourish them. Sticking with that metaphor,
the reason some Christians are barren is they are face down in the dirt and not
basking in the light and love of the Son. Fruit follows intimacy.

[35]
See Romans 8:9, Colossians 2:9, and John 14:20.