03 - GUARANTEED TRUTH

I once received an advertisement from a firm that said in large print, “Our projectors are guaranteed until Jesus come.” Have you ever heard of such a warranty on any appliance? The men who manage this particular firm believe that the second coming of Jesus is near, and that their projectors will operate until then.

Are you aware that the gospel Jesus has sent you carries a double warranty: Guaranteed to be all truth, and guaranteed for eternity? The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s guarantee that when you receive Jesus as your personal Saviour, He forgives all your past sins and changes you into a new person on the inside by a spiritual rebirth. Then He takes up residence in your renewed heart by the Holy Spirit, to live in you a life of obedience to God. The warranty never fails when there is cooperation on your part by true faith and a continuing surrender to the Lord Jesus.

This super warranty for eternity is spelled out in words such as this: “He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:10).

Some declare there was no gospel of salvation until Jesus came to be borne at Bethlehem and to die upon the cross for the sins of all mankind. Some think that God had different gospels for the various ages in the history of man. These concepts are unscriptural; they are not the truth.

There cannot be different ways of salvation. There is only one true God and one true Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa. 43:11; Acts 4:12). So there has been only one true gospel of Christ from the day Adam sinned until the day of salvation ends.

The Galatian Christians turned from the one true gospel of salvation by faith to salvation by the works of he law. They thought they had advanced into another gospel. Paul declared that this so-called gospel was not another gospel (Gal. 1:6, 7). It was simply a perversion being urge upon them by false teachers.

Some ask, “Doesn’t the Bible mention several different gospels?” Eight different terms are applied to the one true gospel: “the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16); “the gospel of God” (Rom. 15:16); “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24); “this gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 24:14); “the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15); “the everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6); “the gospel of the uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7); and “the gospel of the circumcision” (Gal. 2:7). The last two refer to the good news for the Gentiles and the Jews, respectively.

These designations do not imply that there are eight different gospels any more than the many names applied in the Bible to Christ imply there are numerous Christs. As there is only one true Christ set forth in the Bible, so there is only one true gospel from Genesis to Revelation. The various descriptive terms are various facets of the one super diamond of truth in the gospel.

This one true gospel has been presented in every age in the form appropriate for hat time or circumstance, and in harmony with the progressive unfolding of God’s eternal purpose for humanity. And the gospel has always had as its canter Christ, the only Saviour. Its saving message has always been justification by faith through Him.

The Old and the New Testaments are the two complementary rails on which the gospel train is travelling to the grand union station of the New Jerusalem, bearing the saved of all generations to their heavenly destination.

The Santa Fe Railway has one continuous line from Chicago to Los Angeles. The passenger train that leaves Chicago is the same all the way to Los Angeles. People in different cities along the route get on board for the union station in Los Angeles.

God’s gospel train started when Adam and Eve sinned. They got on board. So did Abel. Cain was left behind. When the Flood came, Noah and seven of his family got on board. All the others in the world perished. In every age God’s obedient people have climbed abroad. Soon Jesus will come to gather the faithful of all generations, and the gospel train will roll into the great union station of the New Jerusalem. Make sure you are on board now by being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul equates “the word of truth” with “the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). In the broadest sense, the preaching of the Word of God is preaching the gospel. So we read, “The word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).

Many expect this present world order to continue for centuries. On the other hand, not a few scientists and nonreligious people, in addition to many Christians, believe we are now in the final days of earth’s history.

The magazine One World, for October, 1977, said: “Short of a miracle, our world is about to end. The evidence comes not from wild-eyed, long-haired prophets, but short-back-and-sided, soberminded scientists, armed to the teeth with Ph. D.`s and slide rules. If evangelists talk about sin without mentioning the balance of nuclear terror, then they shortchange the truth about evil.”

Can we discover the appropriate truth needed for such a time as our own? Yes. As we continue our study, we shall find that the crux of the true gospel for our day is set forth in a threefold message in Revelation 14:6-12. this message is called “an eternal gospel” in verse 6.

Many say, “There is no gospel in the Old Testament; the first time the term is found is in the New Testament, where we have the heading “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” Actually, the most ancient of the extant Greek manuscripts for this book simply has “According to Matthew.” Later the term gospel, meaning “good tidings,” was added. It refers to the salvation that comes through Jesus. That salvation is described throughout the whole Bible.

There is an inseparable connection between the gospel and God’s pre-Creation plan. Paul declared that the gospel of Jesus Christ is “according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest… by the scriptures of the prophets” (Rom. 16:25, 26). The gospel by which we are saved is called “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16) and “the mystery of Christ…which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4, 5).

How these words should enhance our appreciation of the salvation we enjoy by Christ Jesus! Our salvation is according to “a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification” (1 Cor. 2:7).

The gospel, God’s plan to save man should he sin, was worked out through Jesus and was part of God’s pre-Creation plan. We are saved “according to his (God’s) own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9). In keeping with this, Christ preached the gospel to Adam and Eve on the day they sinned, by giving them the promise of a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15).

The gospel was preached to Abraham nineteen hundred years before Jesus` incarnation. We read in Galatians 3:8, “The scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

In Hebrews 4:2 we learn that the gospel was preached to the Israelites in the days of Moses: “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

The gospel was always proclaimed in the appropriate setting for each particular time in accordance with the progressive unfolding of God’s pre-Creation plan. And every lamb sacrificed as a sin offering was proclaiming the gospel message: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Every soul admitted through the gates of the eternal city will be saved through the gospel – the grace of God shown through Jesus Christ – and not by good works. So it is written: “For by grace are ye save through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9).