Sermon Tone Analysis

! Dispensationalism

 

!! Good News

* *

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ It has often been stated that the so-called Four Gospels are actually four accounts of our Lord's earthly ministry as recorded by four different writers.

These four accounts are given to us in the Scripture, not as different gospels but as portrayals of our blessed Lord Himself in four different aspects.

Matthew portrays Him as King, Mark as Servant, Luke as Man and John as God; and each writer, while acknowledging the other aspects of Christ's person and place, keeps consistently to the particular aspect which he was inspired to portray.

\\ Some have suggested that one biography, one composite picture, so to speak, would have been better, but one might as well try to depict a house by one composite picture.

It would seem rather odd to have the mop, the refuse can, the milk box and the connection for the hose all showing up on the front porch!

And where in the picture would there be room for all the doors and windows on all four sides?

Similarly four separate accounts of our Lord's ministry were necessary to set forth the four aspects of His person, position and work.

\\ But while it is technically incorrect to call these four records four gospels, it is equally incorrect to say, as many have said, that the Scriptures present only one gospel.

\\ First, the word gospel (Gr.

evangelion) means simply good news and to say that the Bible presents only one gospel is like saying that God has sent man only one item of good news down through the ages.

/*

*This is precisely what I believe the Bible teaches.

There is only one item of good news that can be seen throughout the ages, since Adam first sinned in the garden of Eden.

Namely, the punishment for sin, death, has been atoned for and man no longer needs to fear what awaits him after he takes his final breath.

To have all the riches, health, and land this world contains will be of no value if, after a few decades, we leave it all to spend a Christless eternity in Hell.

Mark 8:36 /"For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul."/*

*Likewise, when the gospel is received and accepted, all of the pain and suffering in the world (even the concept of a life of utter poverty) will not cause despair in the heart of the believer, because of the realization that this life is but a vapor that appeareth for a short while and then vanisheth away and only that which is done for Christ will endure throughout eternity.

What good would a promise of land be to the Israelite, if he knew that he would someday die in his sin?

Death and what awaits man after its arrival has been the concern of man throughout the ages.

Death alone holds the fear of the unknown that men dread above all other fears and the good news, the gospel of Christ causes the believer to cry in victory /"Oh death where is thy sting?

Oh grave where is thy victory.

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."/

I Cor.15:55-57.*

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ Second, God uses distinctive terms to designate the various items of good news: e.g., "the gospel [good news] of the kingdom" (Matt.

9:35), "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of the uncircumcision" (Gal.

2:7), etc.  Surely if God distinguishes between these gospels they cannot be exactly the same.

/*

*They certainly can be exactly the same gospel.

Christ is known by many different names, the good Shepard, the door, the bread of life, the Son of God, the Son of Man, etc.

Does this mean there is more than one Christ or do the different names signify different aspects of the same person?

The gospel can be seen in the same way.

One way is in "The good news of the kingdom".

Christ's kingdom, the kingdom in which death and Hell have been conquered is set up on the earth.

The good news of the grace of God shows us another aspect of the one gospel.

That being, the aspect of membership.

It is only through God's grace that we can enter into this glorious kingdom.

The good news to the uncircumcision is that it is for Jew and Gentile alike another aspect of the same gospel.

The good news to the circumcision is that the law and the prophets have been fulfilled and there is no longer any need to be subject to them.

Still another benefit of the same good news.*

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ Next, it should be noted that God has revealed His good news to man progressively.

To Adam and Eve He proclaimed the gospel, or good news, that the woman's seed should some day crush the head of the Serpent (Gen.

3:15).

To Abraham He preached the gospel, or good news, that in him all nations should be blessed (Gal.

3:8).

And all down through the Old Testament Scriptures we find God proclaiming more and more good news to man.

Finally the Lord sent His apostles to proclaim "the gospel of the kingdom" (See Luke 9:1-6), but mark well: at that time they did not even know that Christ was to die.

In this connection read carefully, Luke 18:31-34: /*

*Look carefully at the scriptures the writer uses and you will not see the good news being given progressively but the same good news stated in different ways.

To Adam and Eve (actually to the Serpent if seen in the context of the verse) the promise is made that the power of sin will be broken by the seed of the woman.

The power of sin is death (Romans 6:28) and the Serpent is promised in the Garden of Eden that the seed of his life, that of sin and death, will someday be destroyed by the seed of the woman, Christ.

In Abraham's case the same thing is promised, i.e. that all of the nations of the earth will be blessed through his seed, Christ.

In each Old Testament case the prophecy is the same.

The seed of Adam, Abraham, and David is coming and He will set up a kingdom on the earth in which sin and death no longer reign.*

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ Note carefully that after the apostles had been preaching "the gospel" for some time (perhaps two or more years) they did not have the slightest idea what the Lord was talking about when He predicted His death.1 Obviously, then, "the gospel" which they preached was not "the gospel" which Paul later preached or "the gospel" by which we are saved (See I Cor.

15:1-4).

"The gospel" which they preached was "the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt.

9:35 cf.

Luke 9:2), not "the preaching of the cross" (I Cor.

1:18).

/*

*The problem that the author seems to face is exactly the same problem that the children of Israel faced.

The children of Israel, the disciples included, expected a physical reign of Christ on the earth.

They desired to have all nations in subjection to them in the physical realm.

Was this oversight on the part of the prophets?

According to the verses in question it was not, because we see that Christ tells the disciples, /"and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man SHALL be accomplished.

For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death: and the third day He shall rise again."/*

*This is the saving gospel which Paul speaks about in I Cor. 15.

The gospel, which in Paul's words, shall make all men alive, (I Cor.15:22) even those which up until Christ’s time were asleep vs.20.

The children of Israel knew that a Messianic kingdom was to be established, the disciples knew a Messianic kingdom was to be established, and proclaimed it was near.

The fact of their inability to understand HOW it was to be established does not negate its establishment.*

*We as believers know that Christ will return to the earth some day and we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

We don't know when, we don't know how, we only know that the scriptures promise it and through faith we are brought to believe it.

Does it follow then, that since we don't know the particular aspects of His second coming we cannot proclaim it as fact?

Of course not, just because these things are hidden for the time being does not mean that the action of Christ's return will not be accomplished.*

*This is the same thing that happened to the disciples, it was revealed to them that the kingdom of God was at hand, this they proclaimed.

It didn't matter if they knew how it was to be accomplished, what mattered was that it was accomplished.

There is not one verse of scripture which states that the disciples went about proclaiming how the kingdom was to be established.

They may have had many different ideas, we have many different ideas about how Christ will return again, all the scriptures state is that they preached the gospel or the "good news" or the kingdom of God.

The Messiah, about whom the prophets foretold in the Old Testament, has come to set up His kingdom and redeem His people.

*

*Now that the action of redemption has been completed, do we preach a different gospel?

No, ours is still the same, the Messiah about whom the prophets foretold in the Old Testament, the one who would crush the serpents head, the one through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed, has come to set up His kingdom and redeem His people.

We now, through the power of the Holy Spirit, know how He did it but we do not preach a different gospel.*

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ Such terms as "the gospel of the kingdom" and "the gospel of the grace of God" are relatively easy to understand but it is doubtful whether one believer in a thousand has any idea of the meaning of the term "the gospel [or good news] of the circumcision" (Gal 2:7).

\\ This gospel takes us back before David to the great Abrahamic Covenant, for the "sign" of circumcision was given to Abraham, not only to separate him and his seed from the ungodly and licentious Gentiles, and as a "seal" of the righteousness of faith (Rom.

4:11), but also, and mainly, as a token of God's covenant with him (Gen.

17:11).

\\ According to this covenant, Abraham's multiplied seed (later called "the Circumcision") was to become a blessing to all nations.

There was much more than this, but this is the particular part of the covenant which concerns us here.

It was after Abraham had offered to God his beloved son Isaac, that God promised: /*

*In his zeal to promote his theology the writer has once more found it necessary to leave the Biblical translation of this verse for one that is more adaptable to his own desires.

As is the case for many Old Testament scriptures, the translation for this passage of scripture is found in the New Testament.

Gal.

3:16 tells us who the "seed" was that God referred to in his promise to Abraham in Gen. 22:17,18.*

*We must learn to build our theological beliefs on the Word of God not on the presumptions of man which, although many times done in good faith, run contrary to God's Word.

A rule of thumb which I have adopted concerning the study of the scriptures is this: Never presume what the Bible does not clearly state.

Many times what we desire to see the Bible imply, is never implied by the Word of God.*

*Basing his theology on this false foundation the writer now builds, but unfortunately his building cannot stand the test of God's Word and he must presume more and more in his efforts to make the scriptures make sense.*

*/Mr Stam tells us: \\ The "gospel of the circumcision," then, was the good news based on this covenant.

We read in Gal.

2:7 that "the gospel of the circumcision,5 was [committed] unto Peter" and we find him preaching it in Acts 3:25,26: /*

*Is this the case, or do these verses prove that Christ was the seed God promised in Gen. 22.

Let us look at the verse in question for a moment.

/"Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindred’s of the earth be blessed.

"Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent Him to BLESS you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."/*

*All we need to do is ask this question.