Caloundra
Australia


Dear Friend

May I speak as though I would never speak again, as a dying man to dying fellow travellers?

The one certainty is death - some do avoid taxes. But Scripture adds another inevitability for all: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment" Hebrews 9:27. How shall we fare in that great day? Rare is that man or woman who asks themselves the crucial question: "Where will I be in 100 years time, and how will it be with me?"

The answer to these most pressing questions is not to be found in our intelligence, or virtue, or in governments or in science. The answers are to be found only in the gospel.

What is the Gospel?

What is the gospel? It is not advice (not "Here's how to raise yourself to heaven by pulling on your bootstraps"). It is not good views (that you can be saved if you understand all these doctrines and attend the right church).

It is Good News

It is Good News. News is about something that has happened, it is about someone else. The good news of the gospel is that God the Son took our nature to pay the debt we owe to righteousness, to remove the barrier between earth and heaven.

The good news is that all that is necessary for salvation has already been accomplished and it only remains for us to accept it. This is the meaning of the words from Calvary: "It is finished." Christ was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as He deserves. Thus John 3:16.

Only Two Religions

There are and always have been only two religions in the world. The most popular religion is where humans endeavour to make themselves good enough for God to accept. It preaches: "Be holy and God will love you."

But the true religion of the gospel proclaims: "this man (the God-man) receives sinners" Luke 15:2; God "justifies the ungodly": Romans 4:5; for Christ goes to be guest with those who acknowledge themselves as sinners: Luke 19:7.

• False religion majors in law and minors in love.
• True religion majors in love and minors in law.

• The first majors in what God requires of us.
• The second majors in what God has done for us.

• One religion puts all its stress on Christ our example.
• The other puts its stress on Christ our substitute and representative.

• One is a religion that leads to bondage, despair and death.
• The other is a religion that leads to joy, salvation and life everlasting.

Scripture says that we were all ruined without asking for it and that we inherited a sinful nature. But the gospel teaches that we have all been saved without asking for it in the atoning work of Jesus our Lord. See 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. Romans 5:10, Romans 5:18-19.

Crucified With Christ

The good news is that our sins were crucified with Christ and nailed to his cross. Therefore, the law has no more power to condemn us than to condemn Christ.

If we do not see our complete death in Him, sin will reign in us. No sin can be crucified either in heart or behaviour unless it has been first pardoned in conscience through the precious blood of Christ. When the guilt of sin is not removed, the power of sin cannot be subdued. Sin ceases to reign in us only after we have received the forgiveness of sin: Romans 6:14. Because of the cross, "whosoever will" may come and be counted righteous for "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." Matthew 12:31. "...whoever comes to me I will never drive away." John 6:37.

By Grace Alone

We are saved by grace alone received through faith (trust) alone because of the work of Christ alone as revealed in the only infallible teacher of truth - the Word of God alone.

The moment we believe, Christ's own perfect righteousness is imputed to us and remains ours for all our days provided we continue to look to Him, despite a hundred or a thousand failures.

At all stages of our experience we are saved by faith alone, though the faith that saves is never alone. We are not saved by faith plus works but by a faith that works. For the whole truth compare Galatians 5:6; Galatians 6:15 and 1 Corinthians 7:19. Even on Judgment Day we will be saved by faith alone though our works will testify to the reality of that faith despite their infinite imperfections.

The gospel is the sweetest melody from human lips, "the good, glad and merry tidings that makes a man's heart to sing and his feet to dance."


Your friend in Christ

Des