Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS, USA

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

The word “gospel” means “good news”. We live in a day and age where good news is sorely needed. In Christ we have that good news. The gospel is the good news of “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:2-4). The gospel is the good news of what Christ did for us when He died “the just for the unjust” on Calvary’s cross, was buried, and raised again the third day as the evidence of our justification and acceptance by a holy God.

The gospel is good news, not good advice. Some have mistaken the two. Many offer plenty of good advice about how we ought to live, or what we ought to do to be saved but no good news about how we can be saved by the finished work of Christ. We hear nothing of the fact that “our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”. No sermon should ever be preached without proclaiming the wonderful good news of the gospel. Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel” (I Cor. 9:16b).

The gospel is GOOD NEWS FROM GOD its source. The gospel tells us how the offended Sovereign of the universe offers grace, pardon, and mercy through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is good news about God that He is “propitious” and gracious and that He took the initiative in bringing about reconciliation between God and man, between One who is holy and one who is a sinner, by sending His own Son to be our Redeemer. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to make His Soul an offering for sin (Isa. 53:10). Again, the Scriptures declare “Herein is love, not that we loved God , but that God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”(1John 5:10). God planned our salvation, chose us in Christ, and sent His Son to reconcile us to Himself by bearing our sins in His own body there on the cross. It was when we were seen as ungodly, not good people, that God loved us and sent His Son to die for us. Graciously, the gospel has its origin in the heart and mind of God.

It is also called the GOSPEL OF CHRIST because the theme of the gospel is Jesus Christ. It speaks of His humanity. He was the Promised Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the Seed of Abraham (Psalm 89:36), the One who was born of the virgin (Matt. 1:18-25), born in Bethlehem’s manger, the Seed of David (II Sam. 7:14-16). He was the Son of Man, one of us, qualified to be our representative. He only could say, “I always do the will of My Father who is in heaven”. When He offered up His life for us, it was a perfect life of infinite value. He died the innocent in the place of the guilty; the innocent on behalf of the guilty. He took our sin and guilt upon Himself willingly, bore the full brunt of divine wrath which should have fallen on us, and paid the penalty for our sin once and for all by being made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). Never will another offering for sin have to be made. Jesus paid it all once and for all, and after three days arose triumphant from the grave. The theme of the gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel also speaks of His deity. He was declared to be the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). “Declared” means demonstrated or made manifest. He has always been God from all eternity. Our Saviour must be both man and God. Jacob’s ladder rested on earth and reached into heaven. So Jesus, the man, one with man on earth, must also be Christ, the Son of God, one with God in heaven. As such He was qualified, willing, and able to bear our sins. “He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). In other words, the gospel of God includes, magnifies and sums up the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as He died on Calvary’s cross for our sins and was raised from the dead as evidence of our justification (Romans 4:25).

The gospel is also called THE GOSPEL OF GRACE (Acts 20:24). We could never earn or merit salvation. We are sinners and deserve to be judged, condemned and punished by a Holy God. But salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:5). We have no righteousness, but God gives righteousness freely to all who will believe the gospel. It is of faith that it might be by grace. This grace of salvation is free to all who believe the gospel. Works won’t save us, baptism won’t save us, connections can’t help us, only the grace of God can save us. The believing sinner is given Christ’s righteousness, so that He stands before God just as accepted as God’s own Son. The believer’s sins are blotted out and he is clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace!

It is the GOSPEL OF OUR SALVATION (Eph. 1:13). The gospel brings deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes (Rom. 1:16). It brings deliverance from the power of sin and one day it will bring deliverance from even the presence of sin. Now are we the children of God and have passed from death unto life. We are no longer under condemnation, but have full spiritual life in Christ. This truly is good news.

It is also called the GOSPEL OF PEACE (Rom. 10:15; Eph. 6:15), because it is the only message which can bring peace between God and man. God’s holiness demanded that sin be punished but God was in Christ reconciling us to Him. Christ made peace through the blood of His cross (Col. 1:20). The penalty for sin was not set aside, but fully fell upon our representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. This peace comes to us when one accepts and appropriates the good news of the gospel by faith (Rom. 5:1).

It is also called the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM (Matt. 4:23; 9:35), because it is the only basis on which one may be born again and enter the Kingdom of God and one day share in the reign of Christ. Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. The gospel reminds us that the same Jesus who was crucified, arose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is coming in great power to reign over this world. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. One day He will come again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The kingdoms of this earth shall be the kingdoms of our Lord.

It is called the EVERLASTING GOSPEL (Rev. 14:6), because God through the gospel bring eternal salvation. It is based on an eternal covenant through Christ’s blood (Heb. 13:29). To all who receive it, the gospel brings eternal salvation (Isa. 45:17), eternal life (John 5:24), eternal love (Jer. 31:3), eternal joy (Isa. 61:7), eternal peace (Isa. 9:7), eternal pleasure (Psalm 16:11), eternal righteousness (Psalm 119:142), and eternal consolation (II Thess. 2:16). The Gospel never loses its value, never loses its significance, and never loses its power. It benefits will flow to us for all eternity.

In light of the events of recent days how we should recognize anew the importance of preaching the gospel. Paul said “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel of Christ.” Paul also says the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 1:16) and “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. And what are we to believe? The gospel! In I Corinthians Paul declares I deliver unto you that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” He who was dead, was buried, has risen and is alive forever more. Surely, we must be in the last days and this is the only message that will change and transform lives, that will give them a future and a hope, for it is truly the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13). Preach the gospel! Love the gospel! Support the gospel! Share the gospel!