Special Message

The Hope of the Gospel

Col. 1.23

Many people think the Gospel is just the basics of the Faith, something either for unbelievers or perhaps for new believers who still need to grow up. Surely the Gospel is the milk, not the meat of the Word? Once you become a Christian and get the basics down, you move on to something more profound, like theology, and you learn how to live a moral life, and to be a good Church member. But when you read the epistles, like Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the Gospel is not treated as an introduction only but as the very heart and center of Christianity, something that Christians are to never forsake and are to always keep coming back to. In fact, the book of Colossians was written because those early believers were leaving the Gospel for something else they thought was needed, when everything they really needed they already had in the Gospel. The Gospel is central to everything in the Christian life, from the beginning of our faith to the very end of this life and our entrance into eternity.

But too many people go to the Bible to study some topic in which they are interested, usually something that concerns their earthly life, like money or marriage. But the Gospel is not primarily concerned with our lives in this world and helping us to be successful here and now. The Gospel is really about something else that is coming in the future that is beyond life in this present world and for which we must be prepared. Hope is the anticipation or expectation of something good coming in the future. And this hope in the Gospel is not a mere desire or some kind of wishful thinking.

Christian hope for the future is based on the promises of God and what has already been done in Christ, which is declared in the Gospel. The Gospel alone can give us hope!

I. Hope for the Forgiveness of Sins

We must begin with this: we have in the Gospel the hope that our sins can be forgiven. Now that is probably the very first thing that we hear when we hear the Gospel. It is the thing that moves us toward Christ. There is no good news if God were only angry and vengeful, waiting only to strike us down and then send us to eternal hellfire. If God in Christ is willing to receive me and to forgive me of my sins, then I have some hope. If there is no forgiveness of sins, then there is no hope at all.

But we live in an Age where the knowledge of sin is almost gone and forgotten. People today do not think of themselves as sinners in the hands of a God who hates evil and can judge them. People today think of God as being too loving to do anything about their sin. Surely God loves us anyway, in spite of all our faults and flaws, which most people do not think are all that bad anyway.

But the Bible takes sin, all sin, very seriously. And sin is not just the things we do that are wrong, it is a state that we are in. We are dead in our trespasses and sins: we are dead to God and we act as if He does not even exist.

We are slaves to sin. We think we are doing what we want, but that kind of selfish living is actually the greatest kind of slavery. We ought to serve God but we serve our own desires instead.

Not only are we slaves to our sinful desires, we are also under the influence of Satan and his kingdom of darkness that rules this present, evil world. We were actually serving the Devil and doing his will, though we thought it was our own will. No one is simply free to do what he wants.

Sin actually alienates us from God, or makes us God’s enemies. Sinners are hostile to God and are rebels by nature. Because we are in this state we deserve the opposition of a holy God. God must be opposed to sin, otherwise God Himself would be on the side of evil. He ought to even punish sinners for their rebellion. Anyone who is offended by that ought to consider the fact that this is exactly what we do with people who rebel against our human laws. If we think it is right for men to punish other men for breaking human laws, then why would anyone be offended at the idea that a just God ought to punish sinners for breaking His law and rebelling against Him?

At some point we have to come to the conclusion that we are sinners and that we deserve God’s wrath.

But when we come to that point, we are then ready to hear some good news: rather than punishing every sinner as he or she deserves, God has instead made a way to forgive sinners, and to do that in a way that does not in any way compromise His own just and righteous character. It is important to realize that God needs a just or righteous reason to forgive sinners. God can’t simply ignore sin or pretend that it never happened. That would mean compromising His own integrity as a righteous and holy God.

            There are various words in the New Testament to speak about what Jesus did on the Cross: redemption, reconciliation, atonement, sacrifice, propitiation. These words point to the fact that there was a problem between God and man that had to be properly rectified or resolved BEFORE man could be received back into Divine fellowship and favor. Something had to be done, a price had to be paid, a transaction had to be completed, so that the account was settled and everything was made right. And this transaction was costly and painful, as forgiveness always is. The price has been paid, but not by us. God Himself absorbed the cost of our forgiveness in Christ on the Cross.

We are not talking about a petty, arbitrary, pagan deity who must be appeased through blood sacrifice. We are talking about a God who is perfectly righteous yet also good and kind, not wanting to simply destroy sinners. The Cross allows God to be both righteous and merciful to mankind, without compromising anything in the Divine nature. The sacrificial death of Christ shows us that God is impeccably holy and righteous, that our sin against Him is a serious matter, but that He loves us and has Himself absorbed the cost of our offenses.

So we have this hope: any sinner can be forgiven of any sin because all sins have been paid for and covered by the death of Jesus. That is perhaps the best part of the Gospel and we should never lose our gratitude for the forgiveness of our sins.

Now there are some people today who think that this forgiveness of sins is given automatically to each and every person and that everyone is going to be saved. This is called Universalism and is a theory gaining popularity in the Church.

Some people even point to the Apostle Paul’s words in support of this doctrine: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV). So there it is: ALL THINGS have been reconciled. Some have even speculated that the Devil himself will eventually be reconciled to God!

But this doctrine of universalism is easily refuted by Paul’s own words, right there in the same context. You are reconciled, said the Apostle Paul, “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (Colossians 1:23 ESV). Clearly, not every person is reconciled but only those who cling by faith to the hope of the Gospel.

Yes, forgiveness of sins is possible because of the death of Christ. But this forgiveness must be received and appropriated through faith in the blood of Christ. There is a place of forgiveness and peace with God, but it is only in Christ. Stay in the place of peace and safety in Christ by faith. Do not wander away from the Gospel that has brought you into this reconciliation! There is no place of peace and safety apart from or outside of this Gospel that saved you. This forgiveness was full and complete in Christ. But the forgiveness of sins is just the beginning of everything God has for us in the Gospel.

II. Hope for becoming New Creations in Christ

The Gospel also gives us hope of becoming new creations in Christ. It is misleading to teach that the Gospel is just a way of getting off the hook for our sins. But many preach just that message: Christians are forgiven but basically still sinners like everyone else. What kind of salvation leaves a person unchanged and in slavery to sin and the Devil?

The Gospel says that we can not only be LEGALLY forgiven of our sins but also EXPERIENTIALLY and PERSONALLY delivered from sin’s dominion and made into an entirely new kind of person in Christ.

We have moved now from that aspect of the Gospel that is called JUSTIFICATION to that aspect of the Gospel that is called REGENERATION. Unfortunately, the REGENERATION promised in the Gospel is usually left out of most Gospel presentations today, leaving the impression that a person can be saved and still be the same, old man. But the objective of the Gospel is to create new creatures, or an entirely new kind of person.

When Paul said that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1.16) he meant that the Gospel has the power to make men new, or regenerate them. Jesus Himself taught the necessity of the new birth and regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3.3-5). Unless we are made new, or born again of the Spirit, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

Some preach that the good news is that God loves us JUST THE WAY WE ARE and accepts us no matter what. While it is true that Christ died for us even while we were yet sinners, the message of the Gospel is that we cannot remain as we were and enter the eternal Kingdom of God. The good news is that God has provided a way for us to be made new in Christ.

One of the greatest misunderstandings of salvation is that God is simply reforming sinners in order to save them. In other words, to be saved, all you must do is clean up your act a little, add some religious routines, get some new habits, and you are ready for heaven. All of this is based on the assumption that we are not really in that bad of a condition. We are perhaps like a silver tea set that just needs a good polishing but is still usable and valuable.

And so we have devised all kinds of ways to reform people and improve their lives and character. Some of these reform efforts are secular and some are religious. I have no doubt that people really do want to change and to do better. Most people are not satisfied with themselves and their lives and want to improve in some way. But there are two significant problems here with this kind of thinking:

First, the Gospel does not teach reformation, it proclaims transformation. The message of the Gospel is not that we must reform but that we must be completely transformed into something else, just like a caterpillar goes into a cocoon and emerges a completely different creature. Nothing associated with Adam is acceptable to God. The old man is corrupt, weak, earthly and incompatible with the heavenly order. You can come as you are, but you can’t stay what you were and enter the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, all of our reformation efforts fail to go deep enough. We usually focus only on externals and behavior. But it is the nature, or heart of man that is corrupt. And that is precisely the part we can’t change but desperately need changed. Our only hope is a kind of radical, spiritual surgery that only God can perform.

This radical surgery is described by Paul in Colossians using the imagery of Old Covenant circumcision (Col. 2.11-12). The Old Man of sin was cut away and something new was created in the believer. This was a spiritual operation, or work, that God had to perform in us. It could not be done by man. The good news is that it can be done and that it has in fact been done to every believer in Christ. This new creation, or new man, is not describing some kind of moral goal that we are to aspire to. The New Man is a living reality in every believer in Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, he IS a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!”

The New Man is Christ, just as the Old Man was Adam. All of us who are human have born the likeness of our father Adam, meaning we are all sinners who are subject to death. But just as we were once in Adam, or in solidarity with him, we are now in Christ and are made to be like Him. There are two humanities: Adam’s line and Christ’s line. Believers have become a part of Christ’s lineage. God only recognizes one man: Christ. Adam’s line has been written off, so to speak. Christ is the first of a whole new humanity, an entirely new creation.

The life of Christ has gotten into us, sort of like a good kind of infection, as C.S. Lewis called it. The very life of Christ, which is Divine life, is at work in every believer. We have been raised to life, made alive in Christ. And this is not some kind of elaborate metaphor or charade. You really have been made new. There is a new life in you that is growing and being renewed every day. This New Man is created in the likeness of Christ Himself. So you can see that the Gospel is radically different from reformation or moralism. We are talking about an essential change, a change of nature.

So here is where the Gospel becomes practical. By practical I mean something that is put into practice. The Gospel is not just an idea or something completely spiritual. The Gospel makes a claim on every aspect of our lives, including what we do with our physical bodies.

Paul tells the Colossians that Christians must put off the Old Man and put on the New Man (3.5-10). Now Paul is not speaking of something mystical but of our DEEDS. There are things that the Old Man did which must be stopped, or put to death, and denied expression. There are things, on the other hand, that the New Man must do and put into practice. Putting on the New Man is equivalent to picking up a tool and using it, or putting on a new suit of clothes.

The Christian is no longer a helpless slave to sin, like the unregenerate man. The Christian can simply put the Old Man aside just as you might lay aside an old, dirty garment. The Gospel is God’s complete recovery program and nothing else is needed in the struggle against sin. The Gospel not only offers forgiveness of sins but also power over sin’s domination. No believer in Christ has to be bullied by the Old Man. And if you are lacking confidence just remember that the Old Man is not who you are. You are a New Creation in Christ. That New Man is your new self, your new life. So become the new creation you have been made to be in Christ! Don’t settle for anything less than this newness of life.

III. Hope for Eternal Glory from God

Finally, the Gospel gives us hope for eternal glory from God. There is a natural progression in salvation. First, there is the forgiveness of sins, or justification, where our guilt is removed. But there is also regeneration that enables us to overcome the old life of sin in the flesh. And the process is not finished. There is one more step.

The final step in salvation is glorification. The forgiveness of sins and becoming a new creation is in order to prepare us for the final stage of salvation. And if we don’t make it all the way through to this final stage it has all been in vain. And there is a danger of not finishing this process, if we abandon the Gospel of our salvation. In some sense we are saved, but in another sense we are not saved yet. The process is not finished as long as we remain in this body and in this world. In this world the saints are a work in process. And this process has a purpose that will be realized in the future. God is preparing us for something that is to come. You have been saved with the future, God’s future purpose, in mind. We were not saved just for this world but for something else entirely.

But one of the great follies of our time in the Church world is an inordinate focus on this world and this life. Almost all of the preaching seems to be in this direction: how God wants to help you and improve your life here and now. People are only interested in those Biblical topics that touch some aspect of life in the world, such as marriage and family, political issues, careers, or Church organization and structure. It is not that all of these concerns are illegitimate. All of those issues have their place and our addressed in Scripture. But as someone once said, the main thing is to keep the main the main thing. The main thing is the Gospel. And the main thing about the Gospel is getting us ready to be with the Lord in the world to come.

This world and this life are going to pass away, either when we personally die and leave the world and the body, or when the Lord Himself descends from heaven and the world passes away. So why would God give us a Gospel and a salvation that emphasizes the things that are going to pass away?

You can think of this physical world as something like a veil. Remember in the Tabernacle there was a veil that covered the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God? In the same way there is a veil that separates us, mercifully, from the full presence of God. That veil is the physical world, including our physical, mortal bodies.

At some time in the future, we know not the day or the hour, Christ is going to appear. He is going to pierce that veil separating heaven and earth and His glory is going to be revealed. When that happens it will be the end of this world as we know it and the beginning of something new. The New Creation, even a New Earth, is going to appear at that time. And then there is going to be a final separation, or purge, that will take place.

Everything and everyone that is not fit, or not compatible, with this New Creation will be permanently removed from it. The last chapters of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, give us a glimpse of this new world. It is permeated by the presence of God. And anything or anyone not reconciled to God will be cast out forever. We have been made new to fit in that New World. The idea that we could go through life in this world while ignoring and avoiding God and then be happy in a world where the main feature and reality IS the presence of God is a false hope!

A day is coming when everyone who has ever lived will have to appear before the presence of God to be inspected. Being able to pass that inspection, and to actually be a creature that is pleasing to God, to even receive praise from God, is the kind of eternal glory that is being offered to us in the Gospel. The only hope we have of passing that inspection is for God Himself to make us ready for it. The only work that will pass through the Fire is the work that He Himself has done. And that work must begin now, just as the stones for Solomon’s Temple were hewn in the quarry before being set in place. This world is a place of preparation where the saints are being made fit for glory. Is there any hope that we can be ready?

Christ in you today is the hope of glory on that final day. In some sense, the future has already come and we have already seen a glimpse of that eternal glory in Christ. If Christ is in us now, then by His grace we can be made ready for that day. The only people who will pass that inspection on that Day will be those who have in this life been united with Christ. This union with Christ is so complete that it can be said that the believer has died. We no longer live but Christ is living in us, making us into glorious new creatures that bear His likeness. So when God one day turns His holy gaze toward us He will see His Son in us and we will be recognized by God as His sons.

Someday we are going to be revealed, made known, for what we really are and have become in Christ. That is the hope of glory. Only the Gospel gives us hope of hearing the very same words that were once pronounced from heaven over Christ: “this is my beloved son. With him I am well-pleased.”