[Biblemat] A) GOSPEL PREACHING

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Thursday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

GOSPEL PREACHING

     The Bible has one theme: it runs like a golden thread from
beginning to end, from paradise lost in Genesis to paradise
regained in Revelation.  That theme is redemption for lost mankind.  For the 
perceptive reader, it radiates from every
syllable of Scripture.  God delivers this subject matter under
three headings:  1. The Need Of Redemption.  2. The Means
Of Redemption.  3. The Conduct Of The Redeemed.

         It logically follows that gospel preaching comprises these three 
broad categories of study.  Any preaching that
does not pursue these themes, either singly or in combinat-
ion, cannot be called gospel preaching.

     The fist message of the good news is the bad news of man's need for 
salvation.  In the first six chapter of Genesis,
Moses describes the sin of Adam and Eve, Cain's murder of
his brother Abel, and the pervasive wickedness of all human-
kind.  Jesus promised that the first work of the Holy Spirit
would be to "convict the world of sin" (Jno. 16:8).  In Acts 2,
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, so convicted his hearers of
sin that they were "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37).  Romans,
Paul's magnificent treatise on salvation through the gospel,
opens with a three chapter declaration of the sinfulness of the world.  
Clearly, gospel preaching convicts sinners of their
sin.  But the story doesn't end there.

     Preaching is also the proclamation of God's saving work
through Jesus Christ.  He is the means of salvation.  That's
what puts the good in gospel.  True, we all sin, but "where sin
increased, grace increased the more" (Rom. 5:20).  Gospel
preaching covers sin AND grace, damnation AND redemption.
Jesus delivers us from the bondage and destruction of sin.

     Since the redeemed are raised to "walk in newness of life,"
gospel preaching must also address the character and con-
duct of Christians.  They may begin as "babes in Christ," but
God expects them to mature in the faith.  His means of accom-
plishing this is through the teaching and preaching of His Word.

     Preaching that does not convict sinners or hold them to
God's standard of righteousness may be popular and draw
crowds, but it is not good news.  It cannot save, because it is
not gospel preaching.    ----- The Lost River Bulletin, Vol. 57,
No. 1, 09/07.   </HTML>
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