It's the Gospel: October 10

The Apostles Preaching the Gospel by Gustav Dore

The latest collection of gospel related posts:

• Field Stone Cottage: Dorothy says,

  …almost all of the hymns that I love relate back to the subject of the gospel.

  So she posts the words to My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less.



• Thoughts from the Teahouse: Lisa posts two quotes from Jerry Bridges’ The Great Exchange relating to the effect of the Gospel in the believer’s life. Thanks Lisa, for reminding us that the gospel is not, as D. A. Carson says, just “a narrow set of teachings about the death and resurrection of Christ, which, rightly believed, tip people into the kingdom.”

• Burned at Both Ends: Deanna share the gospel in Which Path Are You On?

• Bible Drive-Thru: Violet has a blog of daily devotionals for children from which she contributes Get Out of Jail Free.

• Hiraeth: Speaking of kids, Kim shares a poem called Tell the World about Jesus written by a little girl in her Sunday School class .
  

• The Upward Call: With a little help from Jerry Bridges, Kim explains how the gospel is active and useful in the here and now as we battle sin in our lives.

• Reformation Theology: Here you’ll find two quotes on the sufficiency of Christ.

• A Complete Thought: Lisa points out that the gospel is a command to be obeyed and by failing to see this we minimize sin, trivialize discipleship, rob God of his glory, and delude some into thinking that all is well with their souls.

• Me? I posted a quote from J. Gresham Machen on the historical and doctrinal nature of the gospel.

Thanks to you all! I’m thrilled that so many have joined in to celebrate the good news and I hoping that we can keep this up through the whole month.

At Rebecca Writes, we’re celebrating the gospel during the month of October. Twice a week, at least, I’ll be posting something pertaining to the gospel, which, in a nutshell is the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sin and was raised from the dead, so that through faith, we are united with Christ and receive every blessing merited by his work. Still not sure what the gospel is? There are a few links in this post that might help.

As always, you are invited to participate with me. On Tuesdays and Fridays throughout the month, I’ll post a collection of links to gospel related posts. If you post a quote, verse, poem, story, book review, or essay, etc. on a subject connected in some way to the gospel, send me an email with your link (You’ll find the address by clicking the contact button in the sidebar.) and I’ll link back to your post (or posts) on the next Tuesday or Friday. There are no limits, really, on the form or  number of your post, just the subject. You may want to to contribute a link to a post on someone else’s post, too, and that’s okay by me.

I’ll be posting the next round up of gospel themed posts will be Tuesday, October 14.

The Gospel is Historical and Doctrinal

So said J. Gresham Machen, as quoted in Contending for Our All by John Piper.

From the beginning, the Christian gospel, as indeed the name “gospel” or “good news” implies, consisted in an account of something that had happened. And from the beginning, the meaning of the happening was set forth; and when the meaning of the happening was set forth then there was Christian doctrine. “Christ died”—that is history; “Christ died for our sins”—that is doctrine. Without these two elements joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity.

And so says D. A. Carson in his sermon What Is the Gospel?

My Desktop Photo 28 : Lake Bennett in Early October

Photo by Andrew Stark (click for larger view)