6 THE GOSPEL WE PREACH

Since the beginning of the sixties, we noticed that there were abnormal developments in the field of evangelism. We saw that the doctrine of justification by faith was gradually misinterpreted. Gospel messages stressed only on the love and forgiveness of God, while His righteousness and judgment were neglected. An honest act of faith had turned into a carefree acceptance. Many evangelical organizations offer a man-pleasing and non-challenging salvation. There is no contrition for sins, no demand for self-denial to follow the Lord and no evidence of abundant new life from the converted. For the sake of the members of this Church, we have a pressing desire to declare the gospel which we have believed in (according to the Bible), which we have kept, and which we have preached, in order that our members are kept in faith by God, and will “correctly handle the words of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

The epistle to the Ephesians tells us: God had predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ before the creation of the world, and to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Him, according to His predestined time, to the praise of the glory of His grace. It means that God wants to demonstrate the abundance and glory of His grace through His creation and redemption. With this fundamental view in mind, we can then perceive the profundity of God’s plan: That the achievements of Christ on the cross was not only to bear our sins and to solve the fate of life and death, but even more so, for the restoration of the fallen human race, reconciling them to God, enabling them to be free from the limitations as created beings and to partake in the life and nature of the Creator.

The Gospel itself is an historical event showing precisely and directly the grace and power of God to every generation. The message of the Gospel is simple and straightforward: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day. (1 Cor.15: 3-4). The content of the Gospel is the whole process of salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus. Broadly speaking, His entire life on earth was preset by God for the salvation of mankind. In one aspect, He fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament; in another aspect, He executed and accomplished God’s plan of redemption. Narrowly speaking, the suffering and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross have provided the pivotal turning point of the God - Man relationship. He was offered as a sacrifice for our wages of sin that whoever repents and believes in Him has the surety of forgiveness of sins. He can be justified by God in Christ, and can receive life through His resurrection.

The Gospel itself is not a mystery. But it has a mysterious effect: That God, through the work of salvation, has obtained a new race for the building of the Church. God claims Her as His inheritance, as His dwelling place, as the body of Christ and worthy to be His bride. God takes pride in the Church. In the eternal ages, the Church becomes the exhibition of God’s wisdom, power and love. And this is the ultimate objective of the Gospel.

As pointed out previously, the object of the Gospel is the fallen, sinful mankind. However, the purpose of the Gospel is that God be glorified. The theme of evangelism cannot drift away from this fundamental goal. If there is any deviation from this goal and mankind is made as the centre, then the way of preaching, the attitude towards the non-believers, as well as the expectations from evangelism will all change as a result. Time and again, modern evangelism concentrates on visible church development and membership growth as the predominant issues. Churches go along with the worldly concepts, measuring their success only by being “large” and “many”. The quantity of the congregation is preferred over its quality. When numerical growth becomes the focus, it is easy for evangelical workers to neglect the Biblical demand on fundamental faith, and to follow the tide of world thinking, even to the point that sin is seldom addressed, repentance is not mentioned, and people are not challenged to follow God through self-denial.

We consider church growth to be solely the work of God. Our service is to learn to fit in God’s plan. Quality is God’s desire for the Church, while quantity is decided according to His planning. The Church needs not follow the worldly concepts in Her development. Her commission is to make disciples for God of all nations. Therefore, evangelism is not for the mere expansion of the visible church, but to bring the converts to discipleship through firm salvation, not only in believing, but also in following Him decidedly.

It is unnecessary for the Church to deliberately partake in social activities in order to gain social acceptance, for She is called to be separated from the world by God. The Church should not attract people with worldly bliss only, for this will mislead them away from the true objective of their belief. We should not rely on eloquent or persuasive words in our preaching to convince people, so that their faith does not spring from an impulsive decision. We ought to follow the Biblical teaching to “resolve to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1Cor.2: 2).

On the vital issue regarding a person believing in Jesus Christ, the Church ought to emphasize on the need of repentance as the first step to receive salvation, as Lord Jesus proclaimed: “Repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). The modern evangelical movements work hard to preach a cheap, easy and man-pleasing mode of salvation. The message is easy because the requirement of repentance is deleted. People need not repent and can still accept Jesus’ dying for sins. It pleases man, for it preaches “eternal life” as an unconditional gift, offering people a sense of religious belonging. It is cheap, for it does not demand the believers to commit themselves to follow the Lord. We recognize that confession and repentance from a sinner are essential, for these verify his willingness to deal with his sins before God. Since the Lord Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for sinners, so anyone who did not genuinely repent has not truly received the Lord who sacrificed His life for him, and has never experienced the change in life. In fact, people who have acquired “Christianity” in this way are not truly saved or regenerated.

For those who believe in the Gospel, we desire that they would have a whole-hearted commitment to the Lord Jesus. The Scriptures clearly state that the Gospel is the power of God, sufficient to deliver us from the power of Satan to enter into God’s dominion, and from being slaves of sin to being slaves of righteousness. This is not merely a change in status. The Gospel actually accomplished the transfer of authority of our life. Once we were under Satan’s control in the fear of death, now in Christ, we claim God as our Lord of life. To put it simply, we have been changed to serve a new Master, and from Him we obtain our new life and nature. So, we ought to have a whole-hearted commitment to obey Him, to follow Him, and to love Him. In contrast, most modern evangelism movements present Jesus only as a “savior”; few mention that He is “Lord”. Consequently, most people who “believe” will accept a sin-solving “Savior”, but few will confess Jesus as “Lord”. Such believers will not surrender their will to Him; they will not follow Him in their daily living; nor will they come close to serving Him at all. The fact that we encounter so many believers like these in the Church is often the result of such inaccurate gospel preaching.

The Gospel proclaims the life of God, declaring eternal life to whoever believes in the Son of God. Perdition is the destination for a sinful mankind, but eternal life is the gift subsequent to the forgiveness of sins. Eternal life is not an unlimited extension of our physical life and nature, but rather the life and nature that comes from God. The world does not know eternal life and always imagines it as a state of incorruptible physical life. Also, there are many believers who, being unable to comprehend the nature of eternal life, misunderstand it as a state of perpetual existence of our natural life, as being free from the threat of physical death. Thus, they do not know the boundless power of the life from God or how to tap into its power in daily living. As a result, they are still under the control of their old selves in every aspect of their lives, in decisions and in worldly affections. This is the most damaging cause for the failure of present day believers. Actually, the Bible reveals that mankind, having fallen in sin, has become filthy in nature and substance, and are unfit and unworthy for eternal existence. The only destiny will be destruction and death. However, a believer, through faith, is dead with Jesus by dying with Him, and again through faith lives with Him. Therefore a true believer is a new creation in Christ. We must grasp the spiritual fact that “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ.... is our life” (Col. 3:3-4). With a true faith we receive the spiritual life, and with a correct spiritual understanding, we can exercise the mighty power of this new life. Only then, will Christian living be different from that of the world; and our practice of faith will be on a winning foundation.

These are the messages, based on Biblical principles, which we solemnly present to our members, addressing issues on the purpose, demand and effect of gospel preaching. Amid all the various eye-catching modern evangelical movements, we pray that God will give us a clear perception and insight, so that we may not drift along with the tide. In one aspect, we receive and enjoy life through true understanding of the gospel; we follow Him with sacrifice through sincere commitment; and we are confident of the glorious reward through faith unfeigned. In another aspect, we ought to safeguard the principle of believing through repentance without deviation or misinterpretation, that the word of life may be passed on to every yearning heart without discrepancy; that the full number of the Gentiles be gathered, that the building of the Church be completed, and above all that the manifold wisdom of God may be magnified. “To Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Eph.3: 21).