BIBLE MESSAGES

Is the Gospel Outdated?

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" [Matthew 24:35].

Today there are many who think that the gospel is outdated. Those who think this forget the purpose of the gospel, and how it accomplished that purpose. The gospel is the good news of the salvation. The good news, the gospel, is concerned with the forgiveness of sins so that mankind will be worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

The first record we have of Satan's work is the approach he made to Eve in the garden of Eden. He said, "Yea, has God said you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?" Eve answered, "we may eat of every tree, but of the tree in the midst of the garden, we cannot eat of it or touch it lest we die." To this Satan answered, "you will not surely die, for God kn ows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" [Genesis 3:1-5]. Now look what Eve did. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eye, and was desired to make one wise, she took of it and did eat" [Genesis 3:6]. When God talked to Adam and Eve about what they had done, He then said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, band between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel" [Genesis 3:15]. There are only three means by which man can be tempted. One, the lust of the flesh; Two, the lust of the eye; and Three, the pride of life. That is how Satan tempted Eve. She said it was good for food, the desire of the flesh; she said it was pleasant to the eye, the desire of the eye; and would make one wise, the pride of life. For the sin which they committed they were driven from the garden. They lost their relationship with God, which was a spiritual death. We then have the patriarchal age and we have no record of it ceasing before Christ came. He chose the patriarch Abraham as the one through whom God would send the one who would bruise the serpent's head. Then God gave the Law of Moses to the descendants of Abraham which became the nation of Israel. These had a covenant relationship with God, but not like that which Adam and Eve had in the beginning. There was no forgiveness of sins under this covenatn, but the blood of Christ reached back to cleanse those who had kept the covenant which God had given them. Because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, "and for this reason, He is the mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance" [Heb. 9:15].

But, what about we who are living under the covenant of Christ? When Adam and Eve lost their spiritual relationship with God the only way for it to be regained was for something of equal value to that which they lost had to be paid. That meant a life had to be given as the redemptive price. No man could give his life for all men's sins. So God sent His Son to die. Before Christ ascended back to the Father, He gave the terms by which man could share in the salvation He purchased. He said through Peter, "repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" [Acts 2:38]. Paul explained to the Roman brethren what they did when they became Christians [Romans 6:2-6]. In verse 2, he asks, "how shall we who died to sin live any longer?" Then in verse 3 he asks, "Do you not know that when you were baptized into Christ, you were baptized into His death?" Based on these two facts he then says in verses 4 & 5, "therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, for if we have been united in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection" Look at what Paul says took place. "But God be thanked that through you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" [Romans 6:17,18]. They died to sin, were baptized, and were raised a new person to walk in newness of life. To demand another plan of salvation is to say to God, "we do not like the plan you made for us to be saved. We want to bypass Christ for it is too much to have to do what He said"! We still sin through the same senses, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. Man has not changed, why change the plan? Read what the writer of Hebrews wrote, "anyone who rejected Moses' law died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, 'the Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" [Hebrews 10:28-31]

Written by: Clifford Sims