The gospel (that is, good tidings, good news for guilty, helpless sinners), in the largest sense of the word, means, the whole revelation made to men by Jesus Christ; and sometimes the whole account of what our Lord did and suffered while he tabernacled among men.
The substance of all is,
‘Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners’; or
‘God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son, to the end that we might not perish, but have
everlasting life’; or
‘He was bruised for our
transgressions, He was wounded for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.’
112 words
John Wesley lived his entire life in the 1700s. Under his leadership and the power of the Holy Spirit, a massive spiritual movement took hold called Methodism. Wesley was an evangelist, and the method of Methodism was his way of turning converts into disciples.
In the opening sentence Wesley equates the gospel with “good news for guilty, helpless sinners.” We need the gospel, and it’s just what we need! You will not hear the gospel as good news until you realize who you are and what you need.
Wesley lifts up two important New Testament uses of the word “gospel.” One refers to all that Jesus said, his “whole revelation to us.” The other refers to all of Jesus’s life, “the whole account of what our Lord did and suffered.” When we tell others what Jesus said and did, we are sharing the gospel.
Then Wesley quotes three Bible verses, each of which summarizes the gospel: 1 Timothy 1:15; John 3:16; Isaiah 53:5. I encourage you to look them up in your own Bible and commit them to memory.
Please share your comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Next post: “Jesus Is Lord of All” from Corey Jenkins
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