The Book's Purpose

• Reveal that God Himself is the greatest gift and ultimate goal of the gospel
• Demonstrate why everything God has given us through the gospel is meant to draw us closer to Jesus and not to be an end in itself
• Draw Christians into a place of hungering for Jesus and His glory above all else
• Provide motivation for proclaiming God’s pure gospel

The Book's Message

There is no greater story than how the God of the universe sent His very own Son to die and then come back to life to redeem mankind. This is the gospel~the good news for all who receive it. But many receive it for all the wrong reasons. Until we understand that the gospel’s many benefits, including God’s mercy, grace, and love that overflow from it, are not its ultimate goal, we cannot delight in the true aim of the gospel: God Himself and His glory.

The Meaning of the Gospel

The gospel is God’s good news of how He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. It encompasses basic foundational truths, such as God’s authority on earth, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the promise of the Holy Spirit. Central to all of the gospel is God’s grace toward mankind. But none of the truths of the gospel, its effects on man, or its root of grace constitute its main purpose.

Good News

The New Testament word for gospel means “good news.” In biblical times, a good news message was delivered in person as an announcement, and when it arrived, there was often a sense of celebration. In Luke 2:10-11, the good news message was delivered by an angel who announced Jesus’ birth and, with it, a new era in history. Having good news delivered brings hope to its hearers. As Christians, we have hope that Christ has come, our enemy has been defeated, and we will reign with God forever in heaven. The gospel is not only good news. It is also doctrine~teaching and clarifying. God’s good news must be explained as well as announced so the hearer may understand it. Doctrine defines and describes the fullness of the gospel. As the gospel is announced and explained, we can lead others into the ultimate good and goal of God’s good news.

Biblical Definition of the Gospel

What is the Bible actually referring to when it speaks of the gospel? Is it everything good about the Christian message? In Scripture we find certain elements that define the scope of the gospel:

• It includes the truth that there is a living God. In Acts 14:15, Paul preached in Lystra, “You should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth.” The truth of a living God who created the universe is foundational to the good news message.
• It includes the truth of God’s authority on earth. Isaiah prophesied that God’s sovereign rule would one day come to earth (Isaiah 52:7). Mark 1:14 tells us that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” “In a world so full of brokenness and sin, there simply can be no good news if God does not break in with kingly authority.”
• It includes the truth that God has come to be a Savior to mankind. In Acts 8:12, Philip “preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” The kingdom of God and the coming of Jesus were the same. Part of the good news is that the King of the universe came to earth to be a Savior to His people.
• It includes the truth that Jesus died on the cross for our sin. “The Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Mankind needed a Savior because of sin. The good news is that Jesus became our Savior when He died on the cross to pay the price for that sin.
• It includes the truth that Jesus didn’t stay dead. Paul said to the Corinthian church, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). The King of the universe cannot rule unless He is alive; if He is not ruling, there can be no gospel.

• It includes the truth of the promise of the Spirit. John the Baptist preached that Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:16). Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came He would be the Spirit of Christ (John 14:18). He is the presence and power of Jesus Himself. The Holy Spirit gives us a present experience of the fullness of joy we will experience in heaven. The promise of the Holy Spirit helps make the gospel good news.

How Is Salvation Related to the Gospel?

Salvation describes what God does for us and in us~the effects of His good news. This includes the promise of healing, peace, eternal life, and seeing the glory of God, among other things. But is salvation a result of the gospel or only part of the gospel? Based on Romans 1:16, “the gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” The promise of salvation is part of the gospel, but the experience of salvation is a result of the gospel. The good news is that salvation will come to all who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The cross of Christ is paramount for salvation. It must be the foundation of the gospel, whereas the blessings of the gospel should only be included in the good news message as they relate to the cross.

God’s Grace Is the Good News

The basis for the gospel is the grace of God. The Bible refers to the gospel as “the word of his grace” and “the gospel of the grace of God.” “The gospel is the good news of what God’s grace promises to sinners and how he achieves it through Christ.” The reason it is good news is that we cannot do anything to attain it~it must come from God Himself. This means that anyone is eligible to receive it. But we even need grace to receive from God.

It is because of the grace of God that He sent Jesus to atone for our sins. Without God’s grace there would be no salvation. Therefore, all of the blessings of the gospel also flow from this fountain of grace: our justification, forgiveness, help, comfort, hope, ability to endure affliction, and the ability to glorify Jesus in ourselves.

Although God’s grace is central to all of the provisions of the gospel, grace itself is not the final good of the gospel. “If the hearers of the gospel do not see the glory of Christ, the image of God, in all the events and gifts of the gospel, they do not see what finally makes the gospel good news.” All of the effects of the gospel point to one goal: to behold the glory of God in Christ in order to treasure God above all else.

The Gospel's Greatest Gift

Preachers can teach on all the great aspects of the gospel without helping people reach its true goal. Likewise, people can read all about the good news in their Bibles, yet miss its main point: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

The Great Exchange

It can easily be argued that justification is the true heart or center of the gospel. After all, what greater need does man have than his sins being forgiven and exchanged for God’s righteousness? Without justification we live under God’s wrath. In ourselves, we could never change God’s anger toward us because divine holiness will never tolerate sin. And we could never pay the debt of our sin by ourselves. But Jesus gave Himself for us and became sin for us. In exchange, He has given us His righteousness. Because of this, justification is the foundation of all the other gospel attributes. But what is the point of justification? What makes it such great news? If the answer is simply that a person can avoid hell because of it, or because having one’s sins forgiven alleviates the conscience, then the real reason for justification has just been missed. Justification must lead us to a place of hungering for God Himself~not only for His benefits. “If God is not treasured as the ultimate gift of the gospel, none of his gifts will be gospel, good news.”

Justification, forgiveness of sin, and entrance into heaven are not the highest goals of the gospel. Seeing God and being changed into the image of Jesus is the gospel’s greatest gift. Every aspect of the gospel should move us closer to God.

Seeing the Glory of God

The greatest goal of the gospel is what Moses asked for in Exodus 33:18 and what David asked for in Psalm 27:4, 8~to see God’s glory. God told us that no man can see His face and live (Exodus 33:20). So, in the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through means such as visions, angels, and His Word. But the Old Testament foretold of a time when God’s glory would be seen in a new way.

John 1:14 tells us “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” When people saw Jesus, they saw the glory of God. There were many, however, who saw Him but did not see God at all. He was too much in human form for many to believe He truly was God. Jesus said that if you don’t believe, you won’t see the glory of God (John 11:40). To see Christ’s glory, we must have a change of heart~we must be born again (John 3:3). “When we are born again by the Spirit of God, our spirits are made alive, and we are able to perceive selfauthenticating spiritual beauty in the person and work of Christ.”

If we are not able to see Christ in His glory, we are missing the greatest good of the gospel. The removal of our sin and God’s wrath against us is what the gospel is for. But it is only a means to an end. That end is us being able to see God as our absolute most precious gift.

The Spiritual Battle over the Light of the Gospel

Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The gospel of Christ shines forth a light, which brings people from spiritual darkness into freedom in Jesus Christ. When the eyes of the spiritually blind have been opened and they see the light of the gospel, Satan’s power over them becomes broken.

Satan hates the gospel because he knows it has the power to lead those who dare to believe it straight into God’s glory. His mission is to keep people blinded to the light of the gospel. He does this by preventing the preaching of the gospel through persecution, by discouraging people, or by deceiving people into preaching a “different gospel” (Acts 20:30).

He also accomplishes his mission by keeping people from correctly perceiving the gospel. Many people hear and understand the gospel but have no conviction of its truth. Satan doesn’t necessarily mind that we hear the words of the gospel, as long as we don’t see its light. Light signifies revelation. Having head knowledge of the gospel is not enough. For a person to be truly set free and come to the glory of Christ through the gospel, the light of the gospel must be seen through the eyes of the spirit. When this happens, Satan has been defeated in that person’s life.

The Foundation of Faith in the Gospel

The glory of God in the gospel produces a revelation that causes an unshakeable faith in Jesus. Even for those in centuries past who didn’t have Bible apologetics as we have today, the gospel alone has been their foundation of faith in the Lord. This is possible because the Holy Spirit gives us witness to its truth and because the gospel is self-authenticating.

The Internal Testimony of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit helps us believe the gospel and bears witness to its truth by awakening us to the reality of the glory of God inherent in the gospel. The Holy Spirit does not add any new information to the gospel but simply illuminates the truth that is already contained in it. John Calvin wrote: “Illumined by [the Spirit’s] power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but … we affirm with utter certainty … that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God.”

John wrote in 1 John 5:6-11 that the Holy Spirit can testify because He is truth, and His testimony is greater than any man’s judgment, including our own. The testimony spoken of is the eternal life that God gives us. When we believe and receive the gospel as truth, God’s Spirit causes us to realize we have been awakened. It’s not something we can reason, but rather something we just know has happened. Along with this knowing comes the revelation of God’s glory in the gospel. It’s because the gospel is self-authenticating that the Indians on the New England frontier were able to have the kind of faith they would die for. How else could such a faith be produced in them if the gospel itself didn’t bear witness of the glory of Jesus Christ?

Our Conviction Must Be Reasonable and Spiritual

It is not uncommon for people to have faith in Jesus because of other’s opinions or mere tradition. If this is the case, their faith has not been built upon solid ground, and it is not saving faith. Jonathan Edwards wrote that saving faith in Christ is based upon “real evidence, or upon that which is a good reason, or just ground of conviction.” A person’s persuasion that the gospel is true must be founded on real evidence. This is what makes the conviction reasonable.

This reasonable conviction must, in turn, come from a spiritual revelation of God’s glory in the gospel. It cannot come from our own human knowledge or judgment but must come from the Holy Spirit awakening and illuminating our minds. This is confirmed by 2 Corinthians 4:6, which states, “[God] has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

True conversion~passing from darkness into light~cannot take place unless a person’s convictions are based on real evidence enlightened by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It is in the gospel, in which the glory of God shines most brightly, that the necessary evidence of Jesus’ death and resurrection are found.

The Sorrow Produced by the Gospel

Many Christians do not seem to act as though they have been forgiven. This is because they truly have not been brokenhearted, nor have they despaired over their sin. In fact, their only grief comes from the guilt their sin has produced and not the sin itself. But those who have been broken over their sin in light of the gospel will truly see the glory of God as the highest good of the gospel.

First Delight, Then Sorrow

If people are to be truly broken over their sin and come to a place of genuine repentance, it is imperative that they see the God of the gospel as their all-satisfying treasure. When the gospel is revealed, those who had previously been blinded to it will see the glory of Christ in its fullness. As people are enlightened to God’s glory and beauty, they become delighted in discovering all that God is.

The sorrow and contrition of heart comes when they realize their sin has previously kept them away from such delight and that they have never before known that God was their all-satisfying treasure~that which they have always searched for. It is not until the goodness of God is realized that a true godly sorrow can be produced in a person’s heart.

This means that, when preaching the gospel, people must be led to God Himself as the highest good of the gospel. Otherwise, the sorrow produced is based only on people wanting to avoid hell or attempting to have a better life. But this is not the type of godly sorrow that leads to true repentance. “The sweetness of seeing God in the gospel is a prerequisite for godly sorrow for so long scorning that sweetness.”

Why Satan Is Still Around

Why hasn’t God gotten rid of Satan and his demons by now? He certainly has the power to do so, and we know that one day He will. So, in light of how much harm Satan causes, why is he still here? The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 4:4~“The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

God wants to magnify Christ’s glory. His aim is to defeat Satan so that Christ’s power, beauty, and worth will all be glorified.

If God eliminated Satan, it would showcase His power, but it would not reveal Jesus’ tremendous worth, beauty, and meekness compared to what Satan has to offer.

Jesus shines much more brightly when people turn from all that Satan stands for and come into the glory of Christ as revealed by the gospel. When the gospel message is clearly seen, Satan’s power can be broken. Then people can see for themselves that God’s glory is much greater than all that Satan could ever offer.

The Many Gifts of the Gospel

If God is the greatest gift of the gospel, where do all the gifts He gives us fit in? God’s gifts are both painful and pleasant, both spiritual and material. How can we enjoy God’s gifts without falling into idolatry? We can when we realize they were given to us solely for the purpose of drawing us closer to Him.

God’s Painful Gifts

God suffered greatly to bring us His amazing gifts of predestination, incarnation, and reconciliation. Through Jesus’ death, God “predestined us for adoption” (Ephesians 1:5), enabled Jesus to become our sin offering through the Incarnation, and made a way for us to fellowship with Him without condemnation. We can rejoice in these gifts because they all point to some aspect of the glory of God. Many people embrace the good news but don’t necessarily embrace God. “The evidence that we have been changed is that we want these things because they bring us to the enjoyment of God … This is the greatest good in the good news.”

Along with these gifts, God has given us His endless mercy and His love, which Romans 8:35-37 promises will make us more than conquerors in every circumstance. God has also given us death, as promised in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23: “all things are yours, whether … the world or life or death,” meaning death has become our servant. Paul said that for him, “to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). This is because death gives us entrance into the eternal presence of God.

Additionally, God has promised us “all things” (Romans 8:32). These are the same “all things” He works together for our good in Romans 8:28. Although many of these things~distress, persecution, danger, and the like~are not good news to us, God uses them for His highest good~to bring us closer to Him. The gospel does not promise us a pain-free existence. It has a much higher goal.

God’s Pleasant Gifts

The “all things” of Romans 8:32 does not only refer to the painful gifts of the gospel. It includes all of God’s wonderful, pleasant blessings as well. One of His greatest gifts of this category is the ability to pray and to get our prayers answered. All of our answered prayers are because of the blood of Jesus, by which we may enter boldly into God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). The caution is to not use prayer simply to obtain God’s gifts. God wants our delight to be in Him not in what He can give us.

God has displayed His marvelous glory for us to see in the form of His creation. This is another of His pleasant gifts. He created our material world~including us~for our enjoyment and to behold His power and beauty. He used this same material world to work redemption in His people after the Fall. Many look on the material world God created as evil. Instead we must see it as an expression of His glory to us.

God’s gift of spiritual power may also entice us to love the gifts more than the Giver. “Like all of God’s gifts, signs and wonders witness to the nature and character of God … but, as with material gifts, miraculous gifts may lure our hearts to themselves and not to God.”

Miracles are for helping others see the glory of God so they may worship Him. Miracles are not to be an end in and of themselves. The point is not to simply believe it, which even demons do, but to follow Christ because of it.

Any of God’s wonderful gifts come with the temptation of our desiring them more than God. But once we clearly see God as the greatest good of the gospel, even the gospel itself, then we will gladly receive any of His gifts~painful or pleasant.

The God-Centered Love of the Gospel

God’s love and natural love are very different. The only hope for mankind is to receive God’s love and allow it to destroy all human selflove. Only when a person genuinely comes to Christ and allows the glory of the gospel to shine its light of revelation will this happen. But when it does, that person will begin to conform to the image of Christ and will ultimately savor and display God’s glory.

God-Centered vs. Self-Centered Love

The God-centered love contained in the gospel is drastically different from the me-centered love of the world. Natural love makes us feel good, and there is no change in us that is required for us to experience this type of love. With natural love, the love totally revolves around us. People who are the center of their own happiness can easily become religious people without becoming converted to Christ. All their religious efforts never change the fact that they are still the foundation of their happiness.

It’s possible, when hearing about God’s love, that these people are willing to be God-centered as long as God is seen as helping to exalt themselves. But this is not spiritual love. In this case, God is nothing more than a servant of our self-love.

True conversion is the only thing that can destroy our need for selflove. As we receive God’s love and see Him as our greatest gift, He becomes the center of our love and joy, replacing self.

How Lazarus Teaches Us About God’s Love

In John 11:1-6, Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus’, died and had to wait four days for Jesus to resurrect him. Jesus purposely waited until Lazarus died “so the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Jesus wanted to show Lazarus’ friends and family not only His glory and power, but also the depth of His love for them.

Jesus understood what most people do not: love is not simply magnifying human well-being above all else. Rather, “love is doing whatever you need to do to help people see and savor the glory of God in Christ forever and ever.” Jesus showed Lazarus’ friends and family His love by raising Lazarus from the dead and offering them the revelation of Himself. Love will always keep God central, even at the expense of human value and comfort.

Seeing Glory and Being Glorious

God has created us in His image. He has restored us to Himself after the Fall. And He has transformed us into the image of Christ. As we progressively conform to Christ’s image, we share in His glory: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we take on the glory of Christ, we receive praise and delight from God.

We see the beauty of God and reflect the beauty of God. We see glory, and we are glorious. To the degree that we see Him and His glory, we will reflect all He is. In order to know Him and see Him, we must walk in His character and likeness. As we become more like Jesus, we will have the ability to be totally in awe of Him and to savor His glory. Therefore, to become like Christ is not our ultimate goal. Doing so is the means to bring us the greater goal of seeing and enjoying His glory.

In our pursuit of being like Jesus, it’s important that our motivation is not to make ourselves better, but to free ourselves from things that would keep us from seeing God’s glory. Jesus said in John 17:26 that when we see Him, we will love Him with the same love the Father has for Him. This is the aim of the gospel~to savor God’s love and glory.

Through savoring, we can then display His glory for the world to see. We have been created to visibly reflect God’s glory through the joy in our hearts and our outward deeds. As we overflow with God’s glory, we will be able to point others to the greatest good of the gospel~God Himself.