The Gospel Clear

Steven R. Cook

www.christonly.com

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

The Bible is clear when it states that the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is the good news that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Salvation is never what the we do for God, but rather what God has done for us by sending His Son to die in our place and bear the wrath for sin that was due to us (Isa. 53). We are helpless to save ourselves because we are damaged by sin (Rom. 5:12; 6:23); therefore, salvation comes to us only as a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5). Jesus paid the price for our sin, and we need only to trust Him for salvation (John 3:16, 20:31; Rom. 3:25; 5:8).

We do not earn nor deserve salvation. The Scripture declares:

Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

God never provided salvation because of some beauty or worthiness in us, for the Scripture declares that we are all sinners, and we have fallen short of God’s perfect standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:23; 5:8; 5:12, 17-19). God, by His grace, treats us better than we deserve. In graciousness God offers us His righteousness as a free gift, and we need only trust Him as savior to receive it.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 10:3-4 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Philippians 3:7-9 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

No one ever deserves salvation. No one can ever work enough to please God. Only what Christ did on the cross satisfies God’s righteousness (Rom. 3:25; 1 Jo. 2:2). Too often people ask “how a loving God could send a sinner to the lake of fire?” The real question is “how can a righteous God allow a rotten sinner into heaven?” The answer is simple: Because God accepts as perfect the person who trusts in Jesus alone for salvation (Rom. 10:3-4; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:8-9).

Romans 8:1-4 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The hymn writer Augustus M. Toplady (1740-1778) wrote the song Rock of Ages, and in it he captured the truth that salvation is completely the work of Jesus on the cross:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure;

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labors of my hands

Can fulfill thy law's commands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress;

Helpless, look to thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When mine eyes shall close in death,

When I soar to worlds unknown,

See thee on thy judgment throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.

Trusting in Jesus means that we realize we cannot save ourselves, and that we cling only to the work of Christ on the cross. Like the hymn writer, we say “nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” We trust that what Jesus did on the cross will save us forever because it is sufficient to satisfy God’s righteous demands toward our sin and to declare us righteous in His sight. We do not trust at all in our ability to be good, or in the work of any other man, but only in Jesus and His work on the cross.

Again, The Bible is clear when it states that the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is the good news that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Do you believe this? If you believe the gospel, then you have salvation.