The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. When the Gospel is proclaimed as God gave it, it has the power to either save the soul or further harden it. It has been proclaimed once for all. There will be no additions to it – no more new revelation, no more new Scripture. Once Jesus rose from the dead, all that was left was to proclaim it and teach how to live in light of regeneration and then how things would end. There is nothing more to be said. And as Christians, we are commanded to preach the Gospel as God gave it, with no changes, exactly as it was given, and there is a hefty price for failing to do so.
We are to preach the Gospel regardless of how it is accepted or not. If no one receives it, that’s not our problem as long as we were faithful to the message given. We still give God glory. If everyone receives it, then we have two scenarios: we were faithful and God gave a special blessing, or we were not faithful and we got man’s praise.
We will never be able to preach the full Gospel in one sitting, let alone in our lifetime, so preach the parts we can that specifically address the situations we are facing. But the end goal is still Christ and the solution to all problems is still the cross because all problems are from one thing: sin. That said, any extras, any ‘secondary’ doctrines we deal with, need to be correct too because nothing tells an audience your story is baloney if you need to lead them to a lie in order to expose them to the truth. It does no one any good to load up your talk on totally extraneous stuff and then say, “By the way, Jesus loves you.” It needs to be connected.
Preaching the Gospel is not a competition. That is one thing I despise seeing in the Christian community. And I’ll get on my fellow “young earth creationists” for it as well as “campus ministries” where I have seen it too. They seem to carry that attitude more than some others, where other ministries are competition instead of partners in the same war. Jesus told His disciples to not stop a man preaching in Jesus’ name because he was not against Jesus. There is no need to be part of your “clique” to be able to preach the Gospel. If the Gospel is being preached, praise the Lord.
But what about those who have false doctrines and yet somehow preach the Gospel correctly from time to time and people get saved? We praise the Lord that the Gospel was preached, but that does not mean we endorse the false teacher. We still mark such a person, and we still avoid them, but we do not deny God’s sovereign power to work even through a heretic. We are not to endorse or support said teacher even if some people happened to have gotten saved because they did get the Gospel right on occasion if most of the time, they aren’t preaching the Gospel. They are preaching their own message, so be careful. Endorse those who preach the message correctly, expose those who do not, and praise the Lord anytime the Gospel is proclaimed regardless of who it is from.
Preach a correct response to the Gospel as well. Do not leave someone ready to meet the Lord hanging, but do not seek any manipulative means to get more people to the altar. Provide an opportunity to respond after the message, but if someone is going to respond right then and there, let them do it. Always include the correct response of repentance and faith and be sure the people understand that Christianity is a life of denial of self and a lifting up of God and living with His heart for this world.
The Gospel is not a “Get out of hell free” card, though getting out of hell is a benefit. The Gospel is about the life-changing transformation from a sinner in rebellion against God into a submissive, obedient child of God. The benefits that come with it are just bonuses. We will get to rule, we will get to paradise, and we will get to judge angels, but those are all side effects of being a child of God whose first and foremost purpose is to worship, glorify, and enjoy God forever.
The Gospel is not about heaven. We can talk about heaven, but it’s not about heaven. The Gospel is about the relationship between Jesus and His bride, the Church. It is about the true marriage between Jesus and the believer. That is one thing I have noticed in many of the “heavenly tourism” proclamations: a lack of focus on Jesus and the Father. Many do mention Him, but very casually and rather nonchalantly. When Isaiah and John saw their glimpses of heaven, the majesty and glory of God were all they could think about, as well as their own unworthiness to be there. When these “tourists” go to “visit heaven,” there is no solemnity and the focus is all on the joyous, fun things we get to do. It’s not about God. And worse is when they barely give a mention of how to get there, because they presume their audience is already going. That’s not the Gospel. The Gospel is about God, for God, and towards God, and we simply get to enjoy the side benefits of being there.
As I conclude this series, the Gospel needs to be the focus of every believer – preaching it to others and living it out. If our lives did not change, we did not hear the Gospel, even if it was preached correctly. We did not receive it. Do not worry about what others say about the Gospel. Let God deal with them, whether they receive it or not. And when it is all said and done, let our attitude be, “I am but a humble servant; I have only done that which I ought.”
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