What is the gospel?



This morning I preaching on Proverbs 7 which is basically a diatribe against adultery. It describes a simple young man in the bad part of town who gets seduced by a promiscuous woman. He ends up dead or as Proverbs graphically puts it "slaughtered like an ox".

The sermon  was actually about life and death. At the beginning of Proverbs 7 the writer boldly proclaims "keep my commands and you will live". Completely audacious claim. I preached about adherence to the Word of God is an entry into life and will keep us from spiritual death.
But, then I went on to discuss how the gospel has been weakened and cheapened in America.

The gospel as preached in pulpits across America is basically a variation of this:

Got a bad life? Accept Jesus. Have a better life.

Got a troubled marriage? Accept Jesus. Get a better marriage.

Job problems? Accept Jesus. He'll help you out.

This is not the gospel. This is a crime. This is taking the greatest news in the world and domesticating it.  The gospel does in fact animate and invade every part of our lives, but life improvement is not the primary work of the gospel.

The gospel is that Jesus Christ died on the Cross absorbing into his death, your sin and my sin. And then humanity is offered the free gift of forgiveness of all their sins based on acceptance of this gift.

Now .... do you see what the gospel is?
Jesus did not die on the cross to make bad people good.
Jesus died on the cross to make dead people ALIVE.

When I came to Jesus, I was not a bad person becoming good. I was a dead person becoming alive.

And I don't want to ever be dead again.

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