Though it doesn't make any sense, I'll go ahead and sing it...
"My gospel has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R...My gospel has a second name, it's M-A-Y-E-R. I love to preach it everyday, and if you ask me why I'll SAYYYYYY......'Cause Roger Olson has a way, with B-O-L-O-N-G-A' "
Just kidding.
But seriously, as it has been said many times before by ***past*** Christian leaders, how can you make sense of the "Good News", if you don't first explain the "Bad News"?
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and His disciples preached the Gospel about Him (which is an expansion of Jesus' Gospel). Yet, Jesus spoke of hell more often than any other speaker or writer recorded in the NT.
If there were no hell, then that would imply that God wouldn't have to judge sin. If God doesn't have to judge sin, then Christ didn't have to take the place of sinners on account of the punishment due sin. If Jesus didn't have to endure the punishment of sin, then He didn't have to suffer and die on the Cross. And if you don't have the Cross, then you don't have the Gospel.
Clearly, part of the truth of the Gospel is that God will one day judge the world. That would be a great thing if everyone were righteous. What makes it "negative" is the fact that many rational creatures are sinners (e.g. angels and men). The Good News (for humanity) is that Christ died in the place of human sinners such that if any human believed and trusted in Christ for their salvation, they would be saved.
Though it doesn't make any sense, I'll go ahead and sing it...
ReplyDelete"My gospel has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R...My gospel has a second name, it's M-A-Y-E-R. I love to preach it everyday, and if you ask me why I'll SAYYYYYY......'Cause Roger Olson has a way, with B-O-L-O-N-G-A' "
Just kidding.
But seriously, as it has been said many times before by ***past*** Christian leaders, how can you make sense of the "Good News", if you don't first explain the "Bad News"?
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and His disciples preached the Gospel about Him (which is an expansion of Jesus' Gospel). Yet, Jesus spoke of hell more often than any other speaker or writer recorded in the NT.
If there were no hell, then that would imply that God wouldn't have to judge sin. If God doesn't have to judge sin, then Christ didn't have to take the place of sinners on account of the punishment due sin. If Jesus didn't have to endure the punishment of sin, then He didn't have to suffer and die on the Cross. And if you don't have the Cross, then you don't have the Gospel.
Clearly, part of the truth of the Gospel is that God will one day judge the world. That would be a great thing if everyone were righteous. What makes it "negative" is the fact that many rational creatures are sinners (e.g. angels and men). The Good News (for humanity) is that Christ died in the place of human sinners such that if any human believed and trusted in Christ for their salvation, they would be saved.
"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." (Rom. 2: 16)
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Stephen