God, the God from Whom all blessings flow, to Whom all power belongs, and from Whom life proceeds, is the source of the gospel. It is the gospel of God,” as we are reminded by the very first verse of the great gospel-epistle of Paul to the Romans. God alone, Who “is light,” and Who “is love,” could be the source of the “gospel of God.” What heart but a divine could devise and form that vast and wondrous plan of salvation for rebellious sinners, to be accomplished upon the cross, the preaching of which is foolishness both to the wise and to the religionists of this world! All the wisest, most ingenious, and most productive minds, all the kindest, most benevolent, and loving hearts of men, if welded into one, could never have devised or formed such a salvation. Such a mind or heart, however creative, to speak after the manner of men, would be still that of a creature, and of a sinful creature to boot.
And as there was only One Who could conceive and form such a plan, so there was only One Who could perform it and carry it out, even the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and men—"the Word made flesh,” and “God manifest in the flesh” —the Son of God, Who became the Son of man, and was made a little lower than the angels, to die as the “Lamb of God” upon the cross, where He suffered, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.” If all the righteous men that ever lived on earth from Abel to Nathanael under the fig-tree could have been concentrated and made into one just man, that just man could not as a substitute have suffered for the unjust, to bring them onto God, even if he had been willing to do so; for he would be still a man subject to like passions as we are.
And as there was only One Who could carry out that wondrous plan of salvation, even the obedient Son of the Father, Who when about to exchange His glorious heavenly home for this world, the home of sin and misery and rebellion, said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God;” so there is only One Who can testify that that vast plan has been carried into effect and accomplished. God the Spirit alone could and can bear that testimony, even the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven to preach the gospel by His messengers. He Who glorifies Christ receives of His and shows it unto us, bears witness of Christ Jesus and His accomplished work of an eternal redemption, in the word written by that same Spirit of truth.
All the united wisdom of the universities of the world, and of their professors and “divines” so-called, would be powerless to bear a true and effectual testimony of what Jesus has done and is for poor sinners. The spirit of the world cannot make known or teach the things that are freely given to us of God.
Man's wisdom cannot teach or learn them, but only the Holy Ghost. For “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, because they are spiritually discerned.”
There are many preachers now-a-days, but not many true evangelists, who go forth on their blessed errand, conscious of being sent by the Lord, having drunk well and deeply of that divine fountain of the “God of all grace” and the “God of peace,” which stands ever open for thirsty souls and for those who truly thirst for souls. All His fullness dwelleth in Christ bodily, “of Whose fullness we all have received, and grace for grace,” and “in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” By the Spirit we are united to Him, “one spirit with the Lord,” that we might draw from His fullness everything we need here below to glorify Him in our walk and testimony. “He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”
I cannot forbear here to give the words of an aged devoted evangelist, who not long ago entered into his Master's joy and rest.
He writes:
“ We must not forget one great secret of success in preaching the gospel. It is one that has impressed me all my life, and never more so than at present, after more than fifty-three years, through much failure, in preaching the word of God. Long have I noticed how the apostle Paul takes care to show that he was not the servant of any party; neither did he derive authority from any human source, not even from the apostles at Jerusalem. He could say, ‘Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead.’ See the whole context of this verse (Galatians 1:1-24). No doubt the Holy Ghost foresaw the authority that men would assume in the place of Christ as to this.
“But is it not as important for the humblest servant of Christ to be the servant of Jesus Christ now as for Paul to be so then? Think what it is to receive your commission from Christ Himself, and to be His servant alone, whatever may be the state of the church! 'Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Jesus Christ.' These are searching words. Who can say them from the heart? Surely they do not set aside the blessedness of the fellowship of saints. But the church does not give authority to the servant of the Lord to preach the word, as is clearly seen in the above scriptures. Well then, if I am the servant of Christ, what would He have His servant do in any place to which He may send him? What is the heart's desire of Christ as to all that are His in that place? What is the will of God as to the whole world, or the unconverted in that district? “
All our resources are in that divine source of light, life, love, grace, joy, peace, power and wisdom, and every blessing in Christ Jesus. May we enjoy more truly the drafts of refreshment in joy and peace flowing from that fountain, in communion with the Father and the Son in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, and so realize more our only safety and strength in dependence upon our Lord Jesus Christ, Who holds not only the keys of death and hades, but of service also.
2. ITS CHARACTER.
The character of the gospel is that of grace, peace, and glory. It is the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Grace is its very keynote, even the glory of God's sovereign, and the riches of His saving and pardoning, grace in and through Christ Jesus (Acts 2:41, 47). Saved by grace, we are to be “to the praise of the glory of His grace” and of the “riches of His grace.” Both we find mentioned in the first chapter of that grand church-epistle to the Ephesians, though it is especially the sovereign glory of God's grace which appears in the first chapter, whilst the second particularly speaks of the treasury of the riches of that grace, reminding us of the pit whence we have been digged, and of the rock whence we have been hewn. First the “basket of first-fruits” (chapter 1.), then “a Syrian ready to perish was my father” (ch. 2.). This is divine order. It is the deep sense both of the glory and the riches of that grace, which we behold so beautifully evinced in the apostle of the gospel and of the church, and which imparted such an exquisite character and savor to his ministry both in the gospel and the church. The very next chapter (Ephesians 3) furnishes us with a precious instance of how deeply and thoroughly his soul was imbued with the sense of his entire indebtedness to that rich and sovereign grace of God in and through Christ Jesus. The sense of that grace was ever present to him, and lost none of its intensity even when disclosing the wonderful truths of the mystery confided to him alone of all the apostles (ch. 3. 8, 9; comp. 1 Corinthians 15:9, 10; 1 Timothy 2. 12-16). It was at the same time the living and constant sense of that divine, rich, and glorious grace that “establisheth the heart,” which enabled that “mighty man of valor” to brave the “bonds and afflictions” awaiting him, and made him say, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” A preacher of the gospel of that grace who has never had a deep sense of sin, nor consequently of grace, can be but a sorry evangelist.
A further character of the gospel is that of peace, as has been mentioned already. Peter preached it as such in the first preaching to the Gentiles, to Cornelius and to his household. In the same way we find it mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 2:17 that portion so abounding with grace and peace (in an especial way applied to Gentile believers in that chapter). But the express term, “gospel of peace,” we find in the closing chapter of the same Epistle (Ephesians 6:15), “and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Here (Ephesians 6) it is not a question of preaching the gospel to poor sinners, but of the believer's contest with the hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenlies, who oppose the saint's progress in the realization of our blessings in the heavenly Canaan. It would be just as absurd here, where we have to do battle with wicked spirits, to talk of the evangelist ready to preach the gospel, as it would be to transpose the “breastplate of faith and love” from 1 Thessalonians 5 into Ephesians 6.
But what is then the meaning of “your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace”? It simply means that the feet of the soldier of Christ, i.e., every believer, to stand his ground in such contest, must be steadied and strengthened with the preparation which the gospel of peace gives us. In short, it means that to stand his ground in that contest, the believer must have “peace with God,” which is the fruit of believing the gospel of peace. Only think of a soldier going slipshod into the battle, or with torn boots, especially over stony or muddy ground! How can he stand his ground against the enemy with his feet blistered and wounded?
For one who has no peace, it is a dangerous thing to preach the gospel of peace to others, thus giving out and commending to others what he has not got nor knows himself. But how shall he be able (if it were not for the preserving grace and mercy of God) to stand his ground and contend against those terrible powers and principalities, even the hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, if he has no peace with God and does not know his standing and acceptance in Christ? None of those parts of the “whole armor of God” in that important closing chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians must be absent in such a contest, the “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” as little as the rest.
But the gospel of the God of all grace and of peace has further the character of glory. It is the “gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is especially with regard to this character of the gospel that Satan, the god of this sin-benighted world, as we learn from this passage of holy writ, is so busy to blind the minds of them that believe not. It was the Lord, Whose glory, brighter than the sun at noon, had shone upon the apostle on his way to Damascus, when, in the zenith of his religious reputation, he had to make that all-over-powering, crushing discovery that to be a zealous Jew was to be at open war with Jehovah, Whom he thought to serve so well. The Lord, Whose glory had blinded Saul's eyes, that God might “shine into his heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” had entrusted Paul with the gospel, not only of grace and peace, but especially with the “gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God.” This was in an especial way the gospel of Paul the apostle of glory. Saul's natural eyes, blinded by the splendor of that glory, were re-opened when Ananias came to him, and “there fell from his eyes as it had been scales;” but the eyes of Paul's mind were thenceforth forever blind to the vain glories and natural attractions both of the open and religious world. Forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, he pressed toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He followed after, if that he might apprehend that for which he had been apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Such was the effect of the gospel of the glory of Christ upon the apostle and evangelist Paul. Like his fellow-apostles, the elegant scholar and whilom disciple of Gamaliel and most honored Pharisee was “made the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things.” In him grace, peace, and glory were beautifully blended into one harmonious accord, reflecting the character of the gospel he so well and faithfully preached and sealed with his life-blood.
Dear brother and fellow-laborer in the gospel, fellow-pilgrim and fellow-heir of glory, what effect has the gospel of grace, peace, and glory on us? And how far are our lives as well as our ministry the reflectors of it? Depend upon it, if our own hearts are not daily imbibing the refreshment and strength of the gospel of grace and peace we preach to others, and the eye of faith be not steadily upwards to that glory held out by that gospel, the delivery of it may be accompanied by liberty and power (as being connected with the gift of the evangelist), but it will not be in the power and demonstration of the Spirit, and must lack the unction of the Holy Ghost, not being the effect of living communion with the Father and the Son. It will, even in the style and way of its ministration, sooner or later fall in with the low tone and character of the preachers of these days, pandering to the carnal taste of the multitude who have “itching ears,” and will assume the soft character of so many “popular preachers” —grace without truth, peace without righteousness, and love without holiness, leaving out glory altogether, except self-glorification.
In my next paper a few words, if the Lord will, on the subject, object, and effect of the gospel.