Men Moved Toward God by the Gospel

 

A Healthy Church Is a Gospel-Centric Church

A healthy church should be easy to identify. First, men are regularly brought or led to Christ; second, men are drawn to or put faith in Christ; and, third, men are saved or made whole by the power of Christ. These are definite signs that a church is alive and growing. What makes all these possible? the Gospel. As a healthy man breathes oxygen, so a healthy church breathes the Gospel. Notice the connection God makes in the following verses. Men are moved toward God by the Gospel:

 

1. “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).

2. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom. 2:4).

3. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Jn. 12:32).

4. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (Jn. 6:44).

5. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

6. “The gospel of Christ… is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16).

7. “The preaching of the cross is…unto us which are saved…the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18).

8. “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mk. 2:17).

As you read these verses you should have noticed two important things: (1) The Gospel was emphasized, and (2) men were moved by it. All local churches are designed by God to have power to influence, but that power is to be Gospel power. It is true that there are things which move men, but unlike the Gospel, they do not move men toward God. These verses hold steadfast the truth that only the Gospel moves men toward God.

 

A Summary of the Gospel

What is the Gospel? The Gospel is made up of various truths, ten of which are mentioned in these verses: (1) the Law, (2) justification by faith, (3) Christ, (4) the goodness of God, (5) repentance, (6) Christ’s crucifixion, (7) the work of God on the heart, (8) the hearing the Word of God, (9) the preaching of the cross, and (10) a sinner needing help. Regularly people confuse the word Gospel with the word Bible, and still others only associate the term with a musical style among Christians. The word Gospel, however, actually means good news. The good news is that though man is sinfully separated from God without hope in himself, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, died for that sin and arose from the dead to give salvation and eternal life to all those who believe in Him. This is the central message of God’s people today.

 

The Gospel in the Bible

The Gospel is the central emphasis of the Bible. It is easy, therefore, to understand people who confuse the Bible with the Gospel. Students of the Bible soon learn that though the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not technically the Bible, and that the name of Jesus is not found on every page, yet one will still find Jesus Christ from cover to cover. It has been said, “Wherever you cut the Bible it will bleed with the blood of Jesus Christ.”

 

The Bible, therefore, though not the Gospel is the Gospel’s greatest spokesman. Everything God wants man to know about the Gospel is recorded in it. Some find the Bible a book of such size that they hardly make effort to read it. The size, however, should not discourage but rather encourage us to read it. Just think how much God really wants us to know about Him, His Son and His Gospel! In a sense, the Bible is a library of Gospel truth. Each shelf in the library may contain stories, or lessons, or proverbs, or songs, or prayers, or letters, or prophecies, or commands, or warnings, or legal documents, or genealogies, or other types of writing, but the end of each is to better acquaint man with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s greatest expression of Himself to man. The Bible is itself a progressive revelation of God to man, but that revelation is culminated in the Gospel. The deeper a man dives into the Gospel the richer will be his knowledge of God.

 

Forfeiting the Power of the Gospel

Churches that neglect the Gospel, forfeit its power. There are a great many churches which, for one reason or another, suppose that Gospel preaching is ineffective today; as if, God’s message is outdated, and a new methodology needs to be introduced.  Many Christian leaders have sought to attract and keep membership in their churches through other things, usually (1) heightened entertainment and/or (2) the removal of holy standards. There are yet other churches that have not changed in these areas, but still seek to move people in the pew by something other than the Gospel. One example is found in churches which drive their members by pulpit-ranting on modern political, social, economic or religious issues. The people in the pew are motivated, to be sure, but only by their disgust with the sins of others. They may even feel superior to others, or that they are the last true believers whose duties are left to defending everything from everyone else. Typically, however, they are not moving toward God because the drive is not the Gospel; rather, the force comes from peripheral matters, which are always less important than Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Dr. Frank Sells, a late Bible teacher, said you cannot make a goal out of a byproduct; it weakens the goal. When men do not emphasize the Gospel, it weakens its importance in the hearts and minds of people and also denies the people the experience of its power.

 

The Danger of Neglecting the Gospel

There is a great danger in neglecting the Gospel. Since the Gospel is the culminating revelation of God, then a church neglecting the Gospel will not reveal God correctly. His person and message will be perverted. When a body of believers shouts “amen” on a secondary issue, but will not so much as grunt when the Gospel is preached, something is wrong—terribly wrong. First, the church is not properly emphasizing the Gospel, and secondly, the church is wrongly portraying her Saviour. A church correctly shows God to the world when her greatest joy is in God and what He has done for her through the Gospel of His Son. In fact the Bible says, “Then will I go…unto God my exceeding joy” (Ps. 43:4). We do not want to belabor the point. We only desire to show that a church which verbalizes her interests in secondary matters but remains silent toward the Gospel is an unhealthy church dangerously distorting the image of God.

 

This brings up three important groups that should now be introduced. These are three groups of religious gatherers: (1) the local church, (2) a cultic church, and (3) a cult. At one pole is the local church, and at the other are the cults; the former preaches the clear Gospel while the latter corrupts it. What then, is a cultic church? A cultic church is a legitimate church, whose members for the most part understand and believe a sound Gospel, but whose emphasis has slightly or radically departed from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, believers immediately see the danger in this when plainly stated, but when a person is in the heart of such a church, he may have little to no idea that as the locus of motivation drifts from Christ to someone or something else, he could actually be in something very similar to a cult. This local church built to proclaim Christ could actually become antagonistic to Christ. In fact, soulwinning may continue and other good Christian deeds may remain, but the general spirit of the people does not draw men to God through Christ, but either repels men or draws them rather to a spirit (or, attitude) which is not holy.

 

Along with this idea is what is called a personality cult. This is not the same idea as just mentioned, but parallel to it. It is possible that people will gather around a man, not because of God’s hand on His Gospel ministry, but because of that man’s winsome personality. Often, such an accusation is wrongly put upon a man whose ministry has grown significantly by God’s blessing, but, nevertheless, the potential is there; people will follow people they like. What has happened to a church which has done this? The people are centered on a man and not on God through Christ. What will happen when that man leaves or passes away?

 

The Gospel Gives Health to a Church

Needless to say, when a church is healthy, the Gospel is center, and the people will not be swayed by the ups and downs of church leaders or the wind of current issues. Anchored on the Gospel, they will remain steadfast on its doctrine and ministry.

 

Healthy churches know that the Gospel is power. They thrive, though maybe not exactly as others might expect. Their members may not be many, but their members want to be drawn close to God, want to point others to Christ and want to keep it that way. A healthy church, with a steady diet of Gospel doctrine, has young people who are rooted and grounded in the truth of Christ. They do not drift and reject it later in life; oh, they may struggle, but they do not simply reject Christ, as if they never really knew Him. Further, the people as a whole function as Christ intended. There is motivation and initiative. God wants a Gospel-saturated church. This is what makes it healthy.

 

The Gospel and the Holy Spirit

Gospel power, then, is not restricted to salvation; this is just the beginning. The Gospel continues as the energizing force of the church which anchors, mobilizes and governs the believers. You can be sure that a church devoted to the Gospel is a church that God will want to bless. God will empower them by the Holy Spirit whose main duty is to exalt the Christ of the Gospel. If, of course, a church looks for power elsewhere, you can be sure that, that church is giving the Holy Spirit little with which to work.

 

A great evangelist once said, “We have discovered that for the most part people are more gospel-ignorant than gospel hardened.” This is a significant statement because there is certainly something attractive about believers filled with Gospel truth. They are humble, compassionate, patient, selfless, zealous, considerate and sincere. They testify of Christ, smile when He is exalted and weep when men do not have Him. What is there not to like about people like this? There are nations, cities and towns across our world, which are not hardened to the Gospel; rather, they are simply ignorant of it and its power to change lives.

 

When a local church has a healthy diet of Gospel truth, which, by the working of the Holy Spirit, penetrates the believers, their homes, their work, and their decisions, it is going to change things and affect the community.

 

The Gospel Anchors Believers

Hebrews 2:1 warns, “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” In other words, we must be dedicated to the Gospel or it will slip away from us. Men need to anchor themselves to the Gospel, so the Gospel anchors them to God.

 

This passage also states, “We ought to give the more earnest heed.” There should be intensity in our effort to know the Gospel. The author of Hebrews continues to speak of people who drift away from Gospel truth. Men who are anchored cannot drift; men steadfast to the Gospel cannot get far from God.

 

Children need the Gospel clearly and thoroughly presented to them. They should understand that they are sinful by nature, breakers of God’s law, already guilty and in need of Jesus Christ. They should understand who Jesus Christ is, what He did, where He is now and how He represents believers before God. They should be shown the Law and what it means to them. They need to sense the awfulness of their sin, the brightness of God’s holiness and the grace of God made available to them through Christ. They should understand the eternality of Hell, the blessedness of Heaven and the finality of death. They need to know the Gospel clearly and thoroughly. Anchoring a child’s small craft to these truths will be much easier than trying to anchor a man’s ship later in life. But, whether a person is young or not, the surest anchor—the only anchor—is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

The Gospel Mobilizes Believers

A Christian who better understands his salvation will better appreciate his Saviour. The apostle John said it this way, “We love him, because he first loved us” (I Jn. 4:19). The better we understand that love, the better we appreciate Him who loves us. Since people devote time to their interests it makes perfect sense that those who are interested in salvation will devote themselves to their Saviour. A man, however, we knows relatively little about the magnitude of God’s love, the depth of his own personal sin, the purpose of the cross, the blessings of the new life, and so on will not concern himself with these things. God designed the local church to bring people face to face with the love of God in Christ and to compassionately keep it before them. When the church exalts Christ and His salvation people are bound to respond. Jesus Christ said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Jn. 12:32).

 

Man does what man loves; if his love is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then he will do Gospel ministry. This is not to say that only pastors, missionaries and evangelists love the Gospel, but to say that when men love it, men are mobilized by it. A dormant church is a Gospel ignorant church. Give the people a steady diet of Jesus Christ and His glorious Gospel and a change must occur.

 

To clarify, we do not mean a preacher or teacher must only say, “You have sinned; God loves you and sent Jesus to die for you. When you trust Him then you will be saved.” This is good and necessary, but the Gospel has not only breadth, but also depth. Tell men about the cross of Christ, tell men about the heavenly places in Christ, tell men about being joint-heirs with Him, about the blood, about propitiation, sanctification, justification and redemption. Give to people not only the clear Gospel—give to them the thorough Gospel! Oh, how little God’s people realize the importance of grace, of forgiveness, of having a Heavenly advocate, of mercy, of joy, of sacrificial love, of God’s eternal purpose in Christ! When men see Christ, they will be motivated to move toward God through Him.

 

The Gospel Keeps Believers on Track

"I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev.3:4, 5). Here is a church that was rebuked for being off track. They had once loved Christ, but now they have left him. They had once stood; now, they are fallen. What happened? They became a cultic church. How dangerous was this? They were soon to lose the power of the Holy Spirit, pictured by the candlestick, because He was left with nothing with which to work. God does not continue to bless a church which is off track; rather, He warns it.

 

Those who stay true to the Gospel and keep it front and center in their lives believe in its power. The apostle Paul said, “The preaching of the cross is…unto us which are saved…the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18). He was speaking about believers. They know the power of the Gospel. They do not doubt it, the emphasize it. They do not replace it, they exalt it.

 

Conclusion

The Gospel anchors, mobilizes and keep believers on track. No one has to live an ineffective life that slowly drifts from Gospel truth. Young people do not have to walk out the church doors, when they become of age, to never return. Adults do not need to sit idle in the pews. The Gospel has power against these situations.

 

Renew your commitment to the Gospel. Seek God to show you the Gospel, both its breadth and depth. Know not only that Jesus died for you, but why. Understand not only that you have salvation, but also that you have regeneration, justification, redemption and a coming glorification. Not only will you better appreciate your Lord, but you will be empowered to serve in Gospel ministry for the sake of those who do not. Remember, the better you understand your salvation, the better you will appreciate your Saviour.