The Gospel
RO02-01

The Gospel

So, first of all, in this session, we're going to look at the message of the gospel – a summary of the gospel itself. Very frequently, people who want to witness, which is what we ought to do, do not know how to witness because they don't understand what is involved in the gospel. Many times people attend church, and they are very religious, and they view themselves as born-again people, which they are not, for the simple fact that they do not understand the gospel. They have come up with something that is a distortion of the good news that Paul is speaking of in this book.

A Summary of the Gospel

1. Good News

   So, as point number one in a summary of the gospel, let's look at the word "gospel" itself. It is the Greek word: "euaggelion." A good translation (we can't really do better) is simply "good news." God has provided a surefire solution that enables sinners to spend eternity in heaven. Now, that's good news. If you recognize that you're a sinner, and if you understand what the book of Romans is trying to make clear – that life requires righteousness, and because you are a sinner, there is no way for you to have righteousness; therefore, there is no way for you to have life in heaven, it is really good news to know that God has come up with a sure fire solution that enables any sinner, who chooses to do so, to spend his eternity in heaven.

2. Associated Doctrines

   There are many other doctrines which are associated with the message of the gospel, but these simply amplify it. They are not part of the gospel. They are not part of the good news.

   For example, there is the doctrine of propitiation – that God is satisfied concerning our sins. There is the doctrine of redemption – that we have been brought out of the slave market of sin. There is the doctrine of reconciliation – that man has been attuned to God. There is the doctrine of imputation – the fact that our sins have been taken from us and have been laid upon Christ. There is the doctrine of justification – the fact that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to our account. There is the doctrine of sanctification – that we can live a life which is a negative response to sin instead of a positive response. We never come to the place where we are perfectly sinless. Of course, the devil tells you that. The devil comes along, and he tries to zap you up because nobody likes to recognize that he is a sinner. And somehow, the devil likes to tear away your grace dependence by suggesting that you can come to where you never sin. But we do have sanctification as the result of the gospel, which means being set aside increasingly to an obedient life.

   Those doctrines are associated with the gospel, but they are not the gospel; nor, are the doctors to deal with the person of Christ, like His hypostatic union, where a human and divine nature are found in one person. There is His implacability – the fact that Christ was not able to sin, and He was perfectly sinless. These are associated with the gospel, but they are not the gospel message.

3. Uses of the Word "Gospel"

   The word "gospel," in the third place, is used in several ways in the New Testament. For example, in Romans 1:16-17, we have "the gospel of Christ." This is an emphasis on the person of whom the good news deals with; that is, the person of Jesus Christ. So, it is the gospel of Christ or about Him. In Romans 2:16, we have the expression "my gospel" used by Paul, which is to indicate his distinctive message which he preached. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, we have the expression "our gospel." Here the emphasis is on the fact that there is a single message for all witnessing work. You cannot witness for the Lord Jesus Christ unless you know what the gospel is. In Ephesians 6:15, we have the expression "gospel of peace." Here the emphasis is on reconciliation of man to God. We have been brought to peace with God. In Revelation 14:6, we have the expression "the everlasting gospel." Here the emphasis is on the permanence of the divine solution that God has provided for sin. In Matthew 24:14, we have the expression "the gospel of the kingdom." Here the emphasis is on the fulfillment of the unconditional covenants with Israel. That is the good news concerning eternal life that God has with the Jewish people.

   The Social Gospel

   In Galatians 1:6-9, we have the expression "another gospel." This is an emphasis on the human viewpoint expressions of the gospel. There are many human viewpoint expressions of the gospel. They are another gospel. They are not the true gospel. They are false gospel. For example, there is the social gospel that you have heard people speak of. The social gospel has to do with the fact that the liberal view of salvation is being an improvement of man's life here. To him, the gospel means getting a man a better house to live in; getting a job that pays better and has more vacation; getting more food on the table; getting better clothes to wear; and, all of these things that are improving our lifestyle. This is viewed as the gospel and salvation is participating in moving society to this improvement.

   During recent years, because of some very prominent evangelists and religious leaders, the liberal world has fantastically intimidated fundamentalists and people who formerly were unashamed to call themselves fundamentalists. Fundamentalists have said, "No, that is not the gospel. That is another gospel. That's a false gospel (the social gospel). The gospel is simply informing people of the death of Christ bearing their sins, and the forgiveness of their sins, and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ so that a man can have eternal life in heaven. That's the gospel. This conversion will have many effects upon his life. It will cause social improvements in his own life.

   Where he used to walk up to a table, and sit down at meal time, and pitch in, and dive in like a hog, he'll stop and he'll thank God for the meal. That's a social improvement right there. He'll even begin using a napkin, and quit dripping on his tie. But that's not the gospel. That's not going to get you into heaven. That will never get you in heaven.

   However, evangelicals have become very intimidated. So, we are hearing this baloney now from religious leaders that we must, as evangelicals, be interested in the social improvement of society as well as the salvation of individuals. Well, you go ahead and search through your New Testament, and I have yet to see someone come up and be able to show me any place in the Word of God that the New Testament church went about with the vision and the mission that it was called to improve social conditions.

   The apostle Paul never even touched slavery, which was as horrendous a social problem as you could imagine. When he found a runaway slave, he sent him back to his master instead of hiding them and getting them into the underground to get him out of the country. That is idiocy. This is another gospel, and God condemns it.

   There's no such thing as a foursquare gospel either. ... That is kookiness. That's part of the idiocy and the apostasy of the Pentecostalists of the charismatic movement. And foursquare means that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died for your sins and your illness, too. So, the gospel that they're preaching to you also has the fact that you can have physical healing as a result of what took place upon the cross. We won't go into that text. We've done that before. Isaiah's statement in reference to that was fulfilled by the healing ministry of Christ while He was here on this earth, and the gospel itself does not ensure physical well-being for you. These are all "another gospel."

   Now, all the other gospel titles that we have mentioned are not different gospels. I don't want to seem to imply to you that all these other various expressions of the gospel are different gospels, because they are not. They are the same gospel, but they're viewed from various facets of that gospel. It's all salvation by grace through faith in God's revelation.

4. The Basics of the Gospel

   Well, the basics of the gospel, in the fourth place, is what you must know if you are going to be able to be a good witness for the Lord. These are the basics which were made very clear to us by the New Testament writers. You have it in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, where the apostle Paul says, "For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (that is, the Old Testament Scriptures that told that this was coming), and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." Again, that refers to the Old Testament Scriptures that had predicted that this would take place.

   Notice the three things. If you know this, you're ready to start going out and opening your mouth to somebody to get them into heaven. If you don't know these three things, you have nothing yet to say.

   1. Christ Died for our Sins

      Number one is that Christ died for our sins. He died as our substitute. He died spiritually upon the cross; and, He died physically upon that cross. He died as our substitute. He bore our sins in His own body, on the tree, in our place.

   2. Christ was Buried

      Secondly, it says that Christ was buried in the tomb. He died physically. He died spiritually; He died physically; and, He was buried in the tomb. This was to demonstrate whether that salvation was indeed provided – whether God the Father was satisfied with what God the Son had done.

   3. Christ Arose

      The third thing that you tell people is that He rose on the third day. He is alive. He came back to life, and He is our pattern of resurrection and our assurance of salvation.

   Now, that is the corral. That is the outline. That is the basics of the gospel, and this is what you tell people. Remember that nobody can be saved until you have done two things for that person. First, you must tell him the gospel. You must tell him these basic facts. Secondly, you must tell him what to do with it, and that is to believe it. Please don't tell him to invite Jesus into his heart, or even into his life. That is, again, neo-evangelical quackery in order to try to be updated in things that don't need to be updated, but just need to have the scriptural expressions used. The Bible says that if you want to go to heaven, then trust Christ as Savior: believe in Him; and, receive Him. And the way you receive Him is by believing in Him.

   Anything else that you include in the gospel message is extraneous. If we're going to have an evangelistic service here today, these three things are what we must talk about. If I start talking about the fact that some of you are boozing it up, and running around, and having a good time, and going to dirty movies, and playing at the racetrack, and stealing from the 7-Eleven, and whatever else you do, that's extraneous to the gospel. That's secondary. These are evils, but they are not the issue. The issue is that Christ bore our sins. He died spiritually; He died physically; He was buried in the tomb; and, He came back to life again. The price is paid.

5. Satan is the Enemy of the Gospel

   The prime enemy of the gospel is Satan, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 tells us. Satan is always going around with his demons to snatch out the gospel information from the minds of people to whom you witness. For a lot of Christians, who have been zapped up to witnessing, the devil doesn't even assign a demon, because they're so backward about their understanding of the gospel that they're never going to get the information to people anyhow. But if you are getting the information of the gospel, and you are telling people what to do with it, then the devil is going to be there to snatch it away.

   Perhaps you do get the right information about the gospel, but then you follow it all up by saying, "Now, if you'll come to church Sunday night, and walk forward during the invitation, you can get saved." Right then, you have deceived a person as to how he may go to heaven. And you have done them a great disservice. And a person may walk the aisle (as some of us have learned by personal experience), and never believe the gospel, because nobody ever told us that that's what we had to do with it.

6. Don't Be Ashamed of the Gospel

   Point number 6 is that the divine viewpoint attitude of the believer toward the gospel is that he is not to be ashamed of it (Romans 1:16-20, 1 Corinthians 1:17, 1 Corinthians 9:16). Turn in your Bibles for just a moment with me to the 1 Thessalonians 2, where we have an excellent example of Christian witnessing. This is an excellent example of the pattern by which you may conduct your personal ambassadorship for Jesus Christ this week. Sooner or later, you are going to run into someone who is headed for hell. That'll be easy enough to do. And sooner or later, you're going to find one of these people that is open to your testimony. God has prepared them. The Lord gives you an open door. He gives you a chance to come through to do the job which you've been called to do – to be His witness. And we're not badmouthing witnessing when we decry the fact that Christians do not understand the gospel. We're trying to interest you, as a matter of fact, in witnessing, but to do it in a way that God the Holy Spirit, can use your testimony.

   So, know that the gospel is to begin with. Know what it is that you have to tell people, and then know what it is you must tell them to do with it. Here's the pattern by which you will proceed. According to 1 Thessalonians, first you will have a presentation. Paul says, "For yourself, brethren, know our entrance in into you, that it was not in vain." Paul contacted the unbelievers, and it bore fruit: "But even after we had suffered before, and were shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention." Paul witnessed in the face of open opposition and suffering, such as he experienced at Philippi, and he went on.

   One of the problems of witnessing is that you get knocked down by the person you're talking to. Now, the first time somebody tells you to go to the place you're trying to keep him from going to, you are going to hesitate next time to go up and to start talking to someone else. That's exactly what the devil does. He's trying to shoot you down. He's trying to bruise you and to wound you. So, if you're a sensitive soul, and if your feelings are out on your sleeve, you're not ready for witnessing, because the unbeliever is going to bruise you, because you must understand what it is you've told him. No matter how nice the language is, and no matter how tactful your presentation is, you told him that he is headed for a destiny in eternity in hell, and he's going to be punished, and he's going to burn. And you've told him the reason for it is that he's not good enough to go to heaven.

   He looks at you, and he wants to see what's so hot about you that you're going there, and he's not. And he'll make that observation to you, too. Pretty soon, because the truth has gotten to him, he answers you by trying to compare himself to you or to somebody else, all of which doesn't make any difference. He may be much nicer and much better than you are. He may never drip on his tie at all when he eats, or anything else, but that's not going to make any difference with God. And that's what he has to understand.

   So, don't be wounded when people are harsh to you, and when they when they sock it to you. It is because the message is cutting, and because you have told them a startling thing. You have told them a horrendous thing about themselves. And unless they are ready to receive the solution, they will resent what God has provided, and they will resent you as a messenger.

   Verse 3: "For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile." The gospel message was not compromised. It was not converted into a social gospel or a foursquare gospel. It was not diluted to fit the opinions of people. If somebody says, "Well, you know, I'm really trying to be good," you don't dilute the gospel and say, "Well, keep up the good work. Maybe you'll make it." It is not good people who go to heaven. Good people go to hell. It is regenerated people that go to heaven. Paul did not play deceit. He did not try with guile. And Guile includes emotional manipulation. I know you're not going to do this.

   The preacher does this. At the appropriate point in the service, he starts telling the story about your poor mother who has put the candle in the window, and wouldn't you like to come home? And then he looks over at the organist, and she starts playing, "Going home, going home." Then the choir in the background begins swooning and swaying, and pretty soon the cockles of your heart begin fluttering. And it's pretty hard to stay out of heaven, you know, when you get all of that going for you. That is guile, and that's what Paul said, "I didn't come around with that fandango stuff like that.

   Verse 4: "And as we were allowed of God (all of this is your first step of the presentation of the gospel, now), to be put in trust with the gospel, even so, we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts." They've been entrusted with the gospel by the Lord. They speak the gospel honestly without flattery or appeals to the old sin nature: "For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is our witness." The gospel was not used as a cloak for the fact that there was money in this. It was not used by Paul because he was covetous, and he knew that if he could play these people emotionally, they would shell out with the dough: "Nor did we seek glory of men; neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ." It is better to err by offending people than to offend God by your witness.

   Verse 7: "But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children." You treat the lost with "agape" love: "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we are willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us." They gave the gospel information, but they had to give a part of their lives to the lost in order to do it.

   Remember that when you have given a person the gospel, you have given him part of your life, because time is what life is made of. Some of you have not learned that. And that's why you spend precious moments of your life talking about things that are trivial; that are pointless; and, that are senseless. That's why you spend your life inquiring about things such that, after you find out about them, they don't mean a thing. But every minute you have used in some fashion like that is a part of your life that is gone. So, when you witness for the Lord, you are paying for it with your very life. You're using minutes of your life that are bringing you closer to the end than when you begin that conversation with the lost – minutes that you can never again recover. Paul says, "We didn't only want to give you the gospel. We wanted to give you our very own souls. We wanted to give you everything that we were, including our life.

   Verse 9: "For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God." No one could claim that Paul had permitted money to stand in the way of his ministry. That was the great thing that he's referring to here. If he had to teach during the day, and work during the night to earn his keep, that's what he did, and he did it many times. And he was not going to let money stand in the way of his witnessing.

   That is one of Satan's greatest temptations – that he keeps us from exercising our gifts; he keeps us from witnessing; and, he keeps us from serving in order that we can secure money. There's a certain point beyond which you should not pursue that at the expense of personal service.

   Verse 10: "And you are witnesses, and God also, of how devoutly and rightly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you that believe." The personal conduct of their witnessing was that of a right example: "As you know, how we exhorted and encouraged and charge everyone one of you as a father does a child." After they found converts, they followed them up with doctrine. They instructed them. They did not leave these little babies spiritually loose, wandering in the woods.

   Verse 12 completes the presentation: "That you would walk worthy of God who has called you into His kingdom and glory." The goal of Paul was to bring these people into temporal fellowship (into the inner circle of fellowship) and to keep them going there.

   So, if you read the first twelve verses, more at your leisure again, you will find some very significant points on how to present the gospel – the attitudes; the outlooks; and, the procedures which you should follow.

   In verse 13-16, we have the response: "For this cause also, we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe." These people received the gospel; they received the Bible doctrine instruction that came subsequently; they entered into God's divine viewpoint; and, they recognize that Paul was not passing off something that he thought, but he was telling them what God thought. And they received it as God's thinking.

   Verse 14: "For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." Positive response to the Word of God brought suffering. As this suffering had been experienced by these Jewish Christians, so these gentile Christians experienced that. Your response to the gospel will bring you suffering from your family and from your friends. Your standing for the truth will bring suffering.

   Now, what's your response going to be to that? Verse 15 says, "Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us. And they do not please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost." These people resented their even doing the work of witnessing. They had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and now they were trying to stop the very mouths of the apostles. This is what the unbeliever seeks to do, and this is what you must be prepared to have people seek to do to you. But the response of some will be positive. Your business is giving the gospel. Your business is not whether they believe it or not. Your business is not to plead and to cajole and to talk them into it. Your business is to give a clear testimony, and inform them what to do with that information. And then it is up to the Lord to bring conviction.

   Evangelism

   That's what evangelism is. That's what witnessing is. Witnessing is not being able to storm in the church and say, "Look, I've got five converts trailing in with me." If you have – great. And that's exactly what you should bring them. But the point of witnessing in evangelism is giving the gospel. That is your duty. It is God's responsibility to go from there. And if you try to get into the act at that point, you will simply muddy up the waters and confuse people. And many people will not make the decision that they would have made had you not interjected yourself in some human level way.

   There was a reward for all this. Verses 17-20: "But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore, we would have come to you; even I, Paul." These witnesses longed to see their converts again, and to share their fellowship once more. It is a great delight to meet someone that you know has entered eternal life because of your testimony. That is a great experience.

   Paul those on verse in 18 and says, "Wherefore, we would have come unto you; even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us." Satan actively seeks to hinder the nurturing of the converts – the informing of the unbeliever.

   Verse 19: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" What is your real hope? What is your real joy as a believer? It should be the converts that you see in heaven. It should be the people that you have informed with the Word of God: the Christians who are in heaven, and that you see greatly rewarded because you have given them the Word of God.

   Ambassadors

   We are ambassadors. Part of our message is the gospel to a certain element of humanity – the unbelievers. But we are also ambassadors with the Word of God – with the truth of God to those who are believers. That's why I like to remind you that what goes on through the tape ministry of Berean Memorial church is a fantastically marvelous thing that puts me in great awe before God. I have more of my time occupied increasingly with letters; with phone calls; and, with people who are coming by as the direct result of the tapes.

   A man yesterday spoke to me in great relief because his wife was coming around to spiritual things. And he said, "It's because she has been willing to listen to the tapes. She's getting a frame of reference. She's beginning to see things. And I am so relieved."

   There's nothing so miserable as being incompatible spiritually with a husband or wife. And I'll tell you, if you're not married, and you want to create for yourself one really miserable, hellish situation in life, you just start off your relationships with somebody at the other end of the line. You are supposed to start it off on the spiritual compatibility level that the Word of God instructs you to do. That means no hand-holding, no sharing Certs and testing each other's breath, or any other of cute thing you may think of. You are to be hands-off, and you develop a spiritual relationship.

   It comes as quite a shock to people who think that they're going to develop a spiritual relationship after they started off on the physical body level, and then got to the soul, incidentally; and, then they're going to get (after marriage) to their spiritual relationships, and they discover that the person that they're with wasn't compatible with them on that basis. Suddenly here's a husband or wife, and she doesn't understand, or he doesn't understand why the mate is so negative to the Word of God; and, why gradually there's a cooling off between them, because one of them has now tried to become interested in the things of God when they pretended before that they were rather neutral toward it and indifferent. They didn't realize that they had built a negative compatibility toward God's word. And now, one of them wants to change.

   I cannot tell you how many men I have seen who have come to me, and they sit there crying as they described to me the resistance of their wives. And there are a few people sitting here today who can happily say, "My resistant wife came around." There are a lot of people out there who aren't even here today who can only say in grief, "She never came through," or "he never came around."

   The Word of God tells us that our hope is to inform people. If they are not informed on the Word of God, there is no hope. It is our tapes, as this man came to me, that are making the difference. If in the next few months, the Palestine Liberation Organization decides to storm across and take the West Bank on the Jordan, and to take back the old part of Jerusalem, and Israel turns loose with her nuclear weapons, we may not have much time to be around. But do you know what's going to be left? Every one of those little cassette tapes that goes out of that room. Can you imagine how much information from the Word of God that you have heard in this place is scattered around this nation? It's hidden in all kinds of places, and in all kinds of homes. And as fast as we can get presses rolling, it's going to be hidden in printed form.

   This is fantastic. You should consider yourself a privileged congregation. I consider myself privileged – that in this town, we are one of the places (and maybe the only one, for all I know) that is operating a consistent long-range tape ministry. So, when we ask you to pray about that; when we ask editors to stay on the job; and, when we ask for your prayers to have time to get this job done (because we're all part time at it), we are asking for something that we may not have a lot of time to do. That's part of our ambassadorship, and you have a partnership with every state that's mailed.

   So, Paul says in verse 20: "For you are our glory and joy." It is the people to whom we have brought the Word of God; those who have been won to Christ; and, those who have gone on in the Christian life – these are the real honors and happiness. If you understand that, and that's what makes you happy, then the Lord is going to use your testimony. But if the things that make you happy are secondary, trivial things that are sometime things that come and go, then you are going to get to heaven, and your joy and your happiness is going to be considerably less because you zeroed in on the wrong things.

   So, here you have a presentation; you have a response; and, you have a reminder of the rewards that are involved. Wise are the people who serve as the Lord's ambassadors. Read over 1 Thessalonians 2 at your leisure.

Jesus Christ our Lord

Have you made Christ your Lord? Now, we could stop right here in the service and get something really good going with just the very mention of the Lord. We could ask you to raise your hand: "How many of you have made Christ Lord of your life? You know if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all." Have you heard that one? I want to tell you something. Jesus Christ, at the point of salvation, is automatically your Lord – period. He is your Lord. Thus, in Acts 2:36, Peter says, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." He is now Lord of the church. He is your Lord as a member of the Body of Christ. That is something that He has already been made.

The apostle Paul, in Romans 10:9, says the same thing: "If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall I believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved."

The apostle John, in writing the book of the Revelation, in Revelation 17:14 says the same thing: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and they that are with him are called chosen and faithful." Jesus Christ is your Lord at the point of salvation.

Now, it is true that in your experience you may not be recognizing Him as Lord. You may not be treating Him as Lord. Remember our diagram of concentric circles. We have our large circle which indicates eternal fellowship. The inner circle which indicates temporal fellowship. When you are in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit, you are filled with the Spirit, so you are in fellowship with the Father. You are filled with the Spirit because all known sins are confessed. You are in the inner circle. Here you are spiritual. And at this point, in your experience, Christ is Lord. He is Lord automatically in the outer circle by your simple trust in Him as Savior. He is already your Lord. You can't make Him your Lord, but you cannot treat Him as the one who should be Lord in your life. When you are in the inner circle, He is Lord of your life. When you have sinned and stepped out of the circle, and moved into the place of carnality, then you are not treating Him as Lord in your experience. In your position, He is still Lord, but in your experience He is not Lord.

Position vs. Experience

The Hypostatic Union

It refers to the seed of David. That refers to this human line of descent. Who was Christ's legal parent? Joseph. Who was Joseph descended from? From King David? Through whose line? Through David's son Solomon. Bathsheba and David had the son Solomon, who followed David to the throne. Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, came through the line of Solomon. However, Mary, the actual parent of Jesus Christ, of whom Christ was made (not born, but was made) through a supernatural act of God – she also was a descendant of King David, but she was through Bathsheba and David's younger son Nathan. And it was through the line of Nathan that Jesus Christ was born.

Anti-Semitism

Also, please remember that all the world is made up of: Jews descended from Adam and Abraham (that specialized line); gentiles descended from Adam, but not through Abraham; and, the third are Christians. Today, you are in one of the three categories. You're either a Jew; a gentile; or, a Christian. And you can only be in one of these. If you are a Jew and you believe in Christ as Savior, you're out of the Jewish category, and you become a Christian. If you're a gentile, and you receive Christ, you're out of the gentile category, and you become a Christian. The Lord Jesus Christ had to qualify as a full Jew in order to fulfill the Davidic covenant spoken of in 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89. Christ's mother had a sin nature since, but since He had no human father, she did not pass it on to Him.

Of the Seed of David

Next time, we will look at the other side of His nature, which Paul immediately presents in the form of His deity.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1975

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