HopeLives365

Mark Finley: What is the gospel? It's Christ identifying with us fully and completely so that we can identify with Him. It's Christ dying for us totally and absolutely so we could live for Him.

Martin Luther tells a very fascinating story. One night while he was sleeping, he had a dream. In that dream, the devil appeared before him and opened a scroll with a catalog of Martin Luther's sins.

He said to Luther, "Martin, are these your sins?" Luther had to admit, "Yes, they are." "Is the wages of sin death?" "Yes, it is." "Are you condemned to death by your sins?" "Yes, I am." Luther said he just sat there trembling.

Then he noticed that the devil had his hand over a particular portion of that scroll. Luther said to the devil, "Move your hand." The devil said, "No." "Move your hand in the name of Jesus, move your hand." Finally, the devil moves his hand and it says, "And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses Martin Luther from all his sins."

That's the gospel, isn't it? The gospel is the good news of the grace of God that pardons us from sin. In the book of Revelation, God's end-time message is a message of the gospel.

Let's study this message that prepares a people for the coming of Jesus. We're going to study it phrase by phrase over the next few programs. In Revelation 14:6, I read, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

Let's look at this end-time message here, this message of the everlasting gospel. It says, "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven," so this must be an urgent message because the angel flies, he doesn't float. He has the everlasting gospel, so it's an everlasting or eternal message. It goes to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, so it's a universal message. Here we have God's end-time message as a message that is urgent, a message that's eternal, and a message that is universal.

When the scripture says here, "I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven," the word for angel there is angelos, and that is a message. This is a heavenly appointed message that goes to the ends of the earth. But the question we have to raise is, if this is the everlasting gospel, why is it the everlasting gospel?

The gospel is not a new invention. When God created Adam and Eve, because God is all-knowing, He's omniscient, He knew that the human race would sin. The only way to keep that from happening is to take away freedom of choice. If you take away from freedom of choice, you take away the opportunity truly to love, because love can never be forced or coerced.

If you take away the freedom of choice, human beings become mere robots. They become mere puppets, mere marionettes. So God gave the human race the freedom of choice. He believed that by revealing His character to them, they would see the beauty of His character and serve Him. But He also knew that they would rebel.

In the far reaches of the universe, remember the Bible says that Jesus in Revelation 13 is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Peter talks about the plan of salvation put into effect in ages past. So the heart of a loving God planned for man's fall.

The gospel is not a new invention. It's everlasting, it's eternal. But it's also everlasting in another sense: it applies at all times to all peoples. There is never a generation that the gospel does not apply to. There's never a generation that does not need forgiveness, grace, and mercy. There's never a generation that does not need God's love. So the gospel is everlasting in that sense that it is not only for all people, but it's for all time.

But then this leads us to another question: what is the gospel? How do you clearly define the gospel? Let's take a look from scripture and notice exactly how the Bible defines the gospel. We begin in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It's here that God Himself defines for us the gospel.

Starting with verse one, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you've received, wherein you stand." These Corinthians heard the gospel preached to them and they stood in that gospel. "By which you're saved, if you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures."

What is the gospel? The gospel is the living and dying of Christ for our behalf. Jesus lived for us. He faced Satan's temptations head-on, and He did not yield to those temptations. He did not flinch in those temptations. He who knew no sin, the Bible says, became sin for us. Christ never sinned. The book of Hebrews says He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.

Jesus lived for us; He met the temptations of Satan head-on. Then the Bible says that He died for us. There on the cross, Jesus bore the guilt, shame, and condemnation of our sin. The death of Christ on the cross is not simply the physical pain that Jesus went through. It's not simply the nails driven through His hands, or the crown of thorns jammed upon His head. It is rather the mental agony of bearing the weight of the sins of the world.

Let's look at some passages which help us to understand this even more deeply in the Bible. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21, here the apostle Paul speaks about the eternal gospel. What is this gospel? "For He," that is God, "made Him," that is Christ, "to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

Christ bore the guilt of sin. He bore the shame of sin. He bore the condemnation of sin. "He has made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." Did Jesus ever sin? Never sinned. But did Jesus become sin for us? The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so Jesus bore the guilt of all of our sin.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, so on the cross, bearing the guilt and shame of our sin, Jesus became our curse. He became cursed for us. Galatians chapter 3: we should have borne the curse, but Jesus bore the curse. Was Jesus cursed? He was. Not because He had sinned, but because we had sinned. Not because He fell short, but because we fell short.

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law." What's the curse of the law? That's death. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs upon the tree." I want you to see the significance of this. When Jesus hung upon Calvary's cross, He bore the guilt, the shame, the condemnation of the sins of the entire human race.

He died the death we deserved so we could live the life He deserved. He took upon our unrighteousness so we could take upon His righteousness.

In the book of Hebrews, I'm having a wonderful experience with the Lord now reading the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9, "But we see Jesus." Who do we see? Jesus. "Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man."

Jesus hung upon the cross. He could not see the glory of the Father's face. He hung there in the darkness of that day. He hung there condemned, condemned for sins which He had never committed. All the guilt of every descendant of Adam was weighing upon His soul. All the guilt of every human being was crushing out His life. He tasted death for every man. The pain of every person's death that would ever be lost was placed upon Jesus on the cross. He bore your death; He bore my death.

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Mark Finley: It is the incredible good news that Jesus died the death we deserved so that we could live the life He deserves. It is the good news that Christ would rather go into the grave and, if it need be, never come out to redeem us. But praise God, He was resurrected from the dead because you can't keep divinity in the grave.

Whatever it would have taken to save you, whatever it would have taken to save me, Jesus was willing to do that. That's why we are not saved by our works, but we're saved by His works. We're not saved by the life we live; we're saved by the death He died.

Throughout the New Testament we find this. For example, in the book of Romans, Romans the fifth chapter. Verse one, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into His grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Then if you look down to verse six, "For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

We are justified by what He has done for us. Here's the incredible good news: you can come with all of your weakness. You can come with all of your frailty. You can come with all the condemnation of sin, and you can say, "Jesus, I am coming just as I am. I'm coming as a sinner. I confess my sin to You. I open my heart to You. Lord, You died for me, and I want to live for You."

When the Holy Spirit works in our hearts, it's the Holy Spirit that's leading us to Jesus. Jesus always takes the initiative in our salvation. So the Holy Spirit brings to us conviction. The Holy Spirit brings to us this sense of our need of Christ. God takes the initiative, just as the shepherd went after the lost sheep, God's coming after you. Just as the woman sweeps the house looking for the golden coin, Jesus is looking for you. Just as the father in that parable had his arms wide open to receive the prodigal son back, Jesus has His arms wide open for you.

For the last 60 years, I've been preaching Christ and His love, His goodness, and His power. I've been preaching about the cross of Calvary and its ability to change lives, and I've seen what God has done. I remember one night I was preaching outside of Boston, Massachusetts, a little place called Stoneham. We were in the Holiday Inn.

That night was about the second or third night of our meetings. I began to preach. There were four or five hundred people in the ballroom. As I began to preach, there were kids standing in the lobby and they were mocking me. I'd raise my hand one way, and they'd raise their hands. I would gesture, and they would gesture. They were just laughing and cutting up.

I knew those boys were up to no good, and one of them pulled the fire alarm. It was so loud in my meeting. People couldn't hear anything. In that Holiday Inn hotel where we were, the meeting rooms began to empty out. The bars emptied out. Fourteen fire trucks were on their way. I stood looking at my audience. I said to one of my ushers, "Find out if this is a real fire or not." I knew if I dismissed the audience that we'd never get them back.

My usher came back and said, "No, it's a false alarm." So I stood there and I just said, "False alarm, false alarm." People sat. It took about 30 or 35 minutes to get everything back in order. By now it was about 10:00 to 9:00. Our meeting had started and we had had our singing and our announcements, and I had just begun to preach.

What do you do when it's 10:00 to 9:00 and you have a 45-minute message? If you know New Englanders at all, they are prompt. They like to be on time. If I would keep them till 10:15 or 10:00, they wouldn't come back the next night for my meeting or the next night because I had multiple-night meetings. I was holding a whole series of meetings, 20 or 25 meetings in that series, four nights a week for five or six weeks.

The Lord impressed me: "Speak from your heart about the controversy between good and evil. Speak from your heart about Christ and Satan. Speak from your heart about the cross of Calvary. Speak from your heart about Jesus Christ dying on the cross."

There was a young woman who was one of my Bible instructors, and I had heard her sing a song in the car called "Who am I that the King should come and die for me?" I went down and I said, "Sing this song for us. We need it right now. I need to change the atmosphere." She said, "Pastor, I don't remember the words." I said, "Sister, get up and sing, 'Who am I that the King should come and die for me?'" She said, "But there's no piano." I said, "Sister, get up and sing."

She began to sing acapella, "Who am I that the King should come and die for me?" There was a sweetness in the audience. There was a calm in the audience. I got up and talked about the fact that there's a battle between good and evil. There's a battle between Christ and Satan, and Jesus wants to do more than anything else to save you. You can come to Him. Your whole life can be changed through the grace and power of Jesus Christ. He will be the one who forgives your sins. He'll be the one who delivers you from condemnation. He's the one who can give you the gift of eternal life.

I made an appeal for people to stand to come to Christ. Sixty people stood that night. A young student at Northeastern University gave his life to Jesus. A woman, a director of nurses at a large hospital, gave her life to Jesus. Key people gave their lives to Jesus Christ that night. We saw the power of the gospel. The devil wanted to interrupt our meeting with that fire alarm and those boys, but God knew that through the power of the gospel, lives could be changed and hearts could be touched, and men and women could be won for the kingdom of God.

The gospel is a simple story. Christ came. He left the glories of heaven. He left the worship of the angels. He left the adoration of heavenly beings. He came, was born in the womb of Mary. He was brought up as a baby, kept by His mother's knee, taught by mom, taught by Mary the scriptures.

At twelve years old, He was in the temple sharing with the rabbis and the Pharisees. Christ then faced every possible temptation that you could face, that I could face. Somebody says, "But wait a minute, Pastor Mark. How could that possibly be true? Jesus never struggled with drug addiction. How can He help a drug addict? Jesus never smoked. How can He help somebody overcome smoking? He never was an alcoholic. Jesus never was betrayed by a man who left his wife for somebody else. How could Jesus ever know what I'm going through because He did not face everything that I face?"

Well, there's an amazing Bible text. Let me explain this to you. Hebrews chapter 4. See, the gospel has to do with Christ coming, Christ living, Christ dying, Christ identifying with us. It says in Hebrews 4:15, "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

How can Jesus help the drug addict if He never had drugs? How can Jesus help the alcoholic if He never drank? Here's how: in the wilderness when Christ fasted for 40 days, the physical cravings that He had were greater than the physical cravings of any drug addict, greater than the physical cravings of any alcoholic, greater than the physical cravings for any type of food.

So Jesus in 40 days fasted, and He had greater physical intensity than any physical addiction that anybody might have, and He had victory over it. Therefore, He understands you. You say, "But wait a minute, He never was married, so how could He understand a wife whose husband ran off with somebody else?" Because He was betrayed too.

When He hung on that cross, the Bible says the disciples forsook Him and fled. You think of Judas betraying Him. You think of the Jews rebelling and crucifying their Messiah. It's very true that many of the Jews later accepted Jesus. But here you find that Christ came to His own and His own didn't receive Him. So He understands rejection. He understands heartache. He understands sorrow. He understands physical pain. He may not have gone through the pain that you go through with cancer treatment or physical therapy, but He went through the pain of nails through His hands. So in type, whether it is mental pain, emotional pain, or physical pain, Jesus has gone through that.

What is the gospel? It's Christ identifying with us fully and completely so that we can identify with Him. It's Christ dying for us totally and absolutely so we could live for Him. It's Christ resurrected for us and living in eternity for us right now.

What is the gospel? It is the absolute incredible good news that the divine Son of God knows you. He understands you. He has died for you. He lives for you. He's made every provision for your salvation. The gospel is good news. It's the best news ever. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God sent His Son not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: God wants to do for you more than you can imagine. Jesus has His arms wide open for you right now. He says, "He that comes to Me I'll in no wise cast out." I don't know what your relationship with Jesus is, but the good news of the gospel is that you can be saved.

The good news of the gospel is that there's no temptation taken unto you, no temptation you'll ever face that Christ has not already faced and already conquered for you. The incredible good news is you can live forever and ever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. The good news of the gospel of Christ living, Christ dying, Christ delivering us from condemnation, Christ giving us eternal life, that good news of the gospel is for you, my friend. Will you accept it? Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank You with all of our hearts for the good news of the gospel. Thank You for Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior. Thank You, Lord, that we can live for Him because He lived for us. Thank You we need not die the eternal death because He gives to us eternal life. I pray for somebody right now, Lord, that's struggling with this whole concept of grace, of eternal life. May their hearts be opened to the beauty of the gospel and may their lives be transformed by Your grace in Jesus' name, Amen.