The Gospel in Ten Words (23 page)
Read The Gospel in Ten Words Online
Authors: Paul Ellis
Does
the message I’m hearing bind me with heavy loads or does it give me a yoke that
is easy and light? Does it compel me to keep the commandments or to trust in the
One who fulfilled them on my behalf? Does it tie me up with cords of duty and
obligation, or does it liberate me to dance under the wide skies of my Father’s
love and grace?
Every gospel promises freedom but the counterfeits never
deliver. Those who swallow their toxic mixture of grace-plus-works become
burdened again with the yoke of slavery:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who
by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by
God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles?
Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? (Galatians 4:8–9)
Like the Galatians, many Christians have been sold into
slavery by “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6, KJV) They have been taken captive
to the law that binds us and told that Christ’s gift of freedom is for later,
not now; his salvation is for tomorrow, not today. The message they have heard
says, “If you behave yourself and stay out of trouble then maybe, one day, you
will be rewarded.” But when the blessings of the gospel are postponed to the
distant future, all that remains for the present are the enslaving bonds of
rules and traditions. When the Promised Land remains nothing but a promise, the
slaves stay put in Egypt.
The true gospel declares that wherever the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty
—
not when you die,
not tomorrow, but today. God’s will is for you to experience the freedom of
heaven here and now.
A true preacher of grace will fight fiercely for your
freedom. He will smack down any teaching or doctrine that seeks to deprive you
of the life and liberty that are yours in Christ, and he will draw lines in the
sand so you can clearly distinguish grace from ungrace. In short, he will sound
just like Paul:
Freedom is what we
have—Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow
yourselves to become slaves again. (Galatians 5:1, GNB)
Here’s the test. A counterfeit gospel will make you
conscious of some perceived debt to Christ in order to bind you to a lifetime
of indentured servitude. However,
t
he true
gospel will rip these chains off you by revealing a grace that leaves no debt
and a Savior who does the heavy lifting on your behalf. A counterfeit gospel
will teach you to fear authority making you a target for tyrants and manipulators.
But the true gospel declares,
“You were bought at a
price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23). A counterfeit gospel
will imprison you within the confining walls of rules and regulations, but the
true gospel proclaims, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”
(John 8:36).
So how did your
gospel do? If you honestly answered “No” to any of these four questions, then
you have been sold a toxic gospel. Discard it before it kills you! But don’t
shoot the messengers. As someone who used to preach a counterfeit gospel I have
nothing but grace for those who still do. Most of them love the Lord just as
much as you or I. So love them but don’t listen to them—not if they’re leading
you away from grace.
If
you answered “Yes” to all four questions then rejoice, for you are living on
pure, undiluted grace. You have gotten hold of the authentic gospel and you
will go far.
Grace
and ungrace don’t mix. How do you recognize the authentic gospel? It’s 100
percent good news. There’s no bad news in the good news. There’s no price tag
on the gift, no hooks in his love, and no shadows in the light. The gospel
proclaims that in union with Christ you are loved, forgiven, saved, accepted,
holy, righteous, dead to sin, new, and royal. The gospel is good news from
start to finish.
In this book we have looked at ten facets of the gospel
of grace. Here they are in summary form:
1. The gospel is not a solicitation to impress God with your love;
it is the passionate declaration of your Father’s undying love for you.
2. The gospel is not
an appeal to engage in soul-searching and fault-finding; it is the emphatic
declaration that you have been completely and eternally forgiven through the
blood of the Lamb.
3.
The gospel is not merely a promise of a ticket to heaven; it is the power of
God to bless you with his saving and abundant life here and now.
4. The
gospel
is not an advertising brochure for the treasures of the
kingdom; it is the thrilling revelation that the Lover of your soul desires to
share his life in wedded union with you forever.
5.
The gospel is not an invitation to accept Jesus; it is the stunning
announcement that he accepts you.
6.
The gospel is not a sign-up sheet for sanctification classes; it is the
definitive announcement that in Christ you are holy indeed.
7. The gospel is not a list of things
y
ou must do to inherit eternal life; it is the blessed
announcement that the righteousness you need to enter the kingdom of heaven
comes to us as a free gift through faith.
8. The
gospel is not a reform program for bad people; it is the liberating declaration
of new life for those who have died.
9.
The gospel is not a half-baked hope that you can extend your old, broken life indefinitely;
it is the joyful announcement that in Christ the old has gone and the new has
come.
10. The gospel is not a vague notion that you get to rule and
reign after you die; it is the royal announcement that
the reign of the King
is
within the reach of faith. The kingdom of God
is
at hand.
Two
thousand years ago Grace personified proclaimed the gospel to some folks in
Nazareth. As we come to the end of this book, let us imagine ourselves sitting
in the synagogue listening to Jesus speak these words:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor … Today this scripture is fulfilled in
your hearing. (Luke 4:18
–19,
21)
The good news is the best news you ever heard. The good
news declares that no matter who you are or where you have come from, today is
the day of your salvation, and this is the year of the Lord’s favor.
The adventure of living loved has just begun!
CRIPTURE
I
NDEX
Genesis 1:26, 28,
17:6, 16, 35:11
Leviticus 11:7,
13:45, 19:17, 20–22, 28
Numbers 15:22–28
Deuteronomy 28:12,
13, 29:19–20
1 Samuel 30:1–19
2 Chronicles 7:14,
20:12
Job 1:13–15, 20, 2:8,
8:21, 35:2, 8, 36:16, 37:14
Psalms 1:3, 17:8,
27:4, 30:5, 32:5, 34:10, 42:1, 115:16, 126:2
Proverbs 4:18, 12:5,
28:1
Ecclesiastes 8:4
Song of Songs 3:1–2,
5:6, 6:3
Isaiah 6:3, 12:1–3,
24:16, 40:31, 43:2, 25, 44:22, 46:4, 49:15, 54:5, 8–10, 57:12, 61:10, 64:6
Jeremiah 17:8, 23:5,
31:3, 33–34, 33:15
Ezekiel 3:20,
18:24–26, 33:13, 36:26
Daniel 11:32
Matthew 3:17, 5:6,
13, 14, 20, 23, 29–30, 6:14–15, 33, 7:15–23, 9:22, 10:1, 8, 35–36, 11:28,
12:28, 16:24, 17:5, 18:35, 20:28, 26:28, 50, 28:18, 19, 20
Mark 3:29, 4:26–28,
5:34, 10:15, 11:25–26, 16:16, 17–20
Luke 1:47, 77, 2:10,
4:6, 18–21, 10:19, 40, 13:23–24, 14:33, 17:4, 22:31–34, 24:44–45, 46–47
John 1:17, 3:15, 16,
5:42, 45, 6:35, 47, 63, 8:12, 36, 10:9, 10, 12:4–6, 14:6, 12, 16–17, 20, 23,
15:2, 5, 8, 19, 16:7, 8–10, 17:19, 19:28,30, 20:23
Acts 2:21, 36, 4:12,
5:31, 10:9–28, 13:38, 16:31, 17:30, 19:11–12, 26:18
Romans 1:16, 17,
3:23, 4:7–8, 5:1, 5, 8, 12, 17, 6:3, 4, 5, 6–7, 8, 10–11, 14, 23, 7:4, 5, 9,
17, 8:1, 3, 9, 15–16, 17, 31–32, 37, 38–39, 10:1–3, 4, 9–13, 14, 17, 23, 15:7,
30, 16:20
1 Corinthians 1:2, 5,
9, 30–31, 2:1–5, 3:4, 6:9–11, 15, 17, 19, 7:23, 13:2, 7–8, 15:2, 10, 25, 31–32,
57
2 Corinthians 2:14,
15, 3:6, 7–9, 4:5, 5:14, 17, 18–19, 20, 21, 8:9
Galatians 1:6–9,
2:11–13, 16–21, 3:3, 28, 4:8–9, 15, 29, 5:1, 6:14
Ephesians 1:1, 3, 4,
6, 7, 13, 15–23, 2:5, 6, 8, 3:14–19, 20, 4:24, 32, 5:1, 10
Philippians 1:1,
2:10, 12–13, 15, 3:9, 13, 4:6, 19, 21
Colossians 1:8, 12,
22–23, 2:6–7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 20, 3:3, 12, 13
1 Thessalonians 2:13,
4:3, 5:5–6
1 Timothy 1:11, 2:4
2 Timothy 1:7, 8–9,
2:10, 11, 13
Titus 2:11, 12, 3:5
Philemon 1:6
Hebrews 2:14–15, 4:3,
10, 11, 16, 5:6, 8–10, 6:19, 7:1, 19, 24–25, 26, 8:10–12, 9:12, 26, 10:1–14,
16–17, 12:14, 13:5
1 Peter 1:13, 15, 23,
2:5, 9, 24
2 Peter 2:1–3
1 John 1:2–3, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 2:1, 2, 6, 12, 27, 28–29, 3:1, 6, 9, 10, 23, 4:1–3, 13, 15, 17, 5:4,
11–12, 19
2 John 1:4
3 John 1:2
Jude 1:3, 4
Revelation 1:6,
2:1–7, 3:1–6, 16, 4:8, 5:10, 12:10, 21:8
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have been the
beneficiary of God’s grace my entire life. Through family, friends, and
sometimes complete strangers, I have long enjoyed the unmerited favor of my
heavenly Father. But if I was to single out my earliest exposure to the gospel
of grace, it would be a VHS taped message I first saw in 1996. The preacher on
the tape was a fiery South African who had such a way with words he could’ve
been a poet. Not long after that I met Rob Rufus in person and we have been
friends ever since. Thanks, Rob, for being as dogged and passionate as the
Apostle Paul in your preaching of the gospel of grace.
Every chapter in this
book was read by at least three other people prior to publication. The
multinational group of reviewers involved in this process included: Steve
Barker, Michael Beil, Chris Blackeby, Steve Hackman, Tammy Hackman, Febe Kuey,
Cornel Marais, Andre van der Merwe, Brandon Petrowski, Ryan Rhoades, Ryan
Rufus, Gaye Stradwick, Peter Wilson, and Gerry Zitzmann. I greatly appreciate
the feedback and encouragement provided by my brothers and sisters in grace. Of
course, any errors that remain in the book are my fault, not theirs. I am also
grateful to
Adrienne Morris who
proofread the
whole manuscript.
I want to thank the
many hundreds of people who have written to me privately and via discussion threads
on my blog to encourage, criticize, debate, and otherwise push me towards a
deeper understanding of God’s love and grace. I would also like to thank those
of you who had nothing to say but who encouraged me nonetheless by clicking the
“Share” buttons under my posts. It never ceases to amaze me that with the click
of a button one can send an encouraging word of grace all around the world.
My biggest thanks goes
to my wife Camilla who provided me with a quiet environment in which to write.
She was also the first to read every word written and she painstakingly checked
the accuracy of all 454 scriptures references in this book. Everyone blessed by
my writings owes a debt of gratitude to Camilla for she is my sounding board.
She is the first to hear every revelation I get. If what I say makes her smile,
you hear it; if it doesn’t, you don’t. Camilla is my daily reminder of God’s
grace and a shining light to all who know her.
Silver
Medal Winner!
2015
Illumination Book Awards
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?
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