By Larry Chambers

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:16,17. Anyone who has a real understanding of the gospel will not be shamed if he trusts in it nor ashamed to speak of it, because it truly is a wonderful manifestation of the awesome power of God to save all sinners from sin and make them righteous.

Gospel means good news. One example of good news would be if we heard of a new therapy with a hundred percent cure rate for an otherwise terminal disease that we were plagued with. The gospel of Christ is far greater, with more far-reaching consequences than any news of a cure for any physical disease could ever be. The good news of Christ is that He has the spiritual remedy for every spiritual disease that plagues all of humankind, and has made it freely accessible to everyone who desires it. The only currency required to purchase the remedy is repentance and faith. The currency is freely given to everyone by the only one that, at great personal cost, possesses the remedy.

The diagnosis is sin, the spiritual disease that all of mankind suffers. The prognosis, without exception, is suffering and eternal death. The gospel of Christ is the only remedy, and when faithfully applied, has a one hundred percent cure rate.

Before we ever really make the effort to accept the remedy, we need to be awakened to our desperate, diseased condition -- we need to be made aware of the nature of our disease. At its inception sin was a bad choice to transgress God's law -- the law that was written into their original genes. 1 John 3:4. Once the choice was acted upon, the genes were reprogrammed to lean towards disobedience. This results in wrong thinking, disease and death. Adam and Eve were created with perfect genes and were inclined to obedience until they disobeyed. Then all of their offspring's genes were perverted as the result of that first sin. Throughout the centuries, the defilement of humanities' genes has been added to by generations of sinners. If it were not for the remedial offer of the gospel of Christ from the start, the human race would have sinned itself into extinction centuries ago.

The remedy is universally applicable but individually applied. Every person has to make a personal choice to be healed before they can be healed. The remedy is forced on nobody. The saddest thing in the world is that only a few will accept the good news of Christ because few will ever accept their own true diagnosis and, as a result, continue to turn away from the only sure remedy. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew 7:13-15.

In the future, we shall focus on the diagnosis, prognosis and the remedy for the terminal illness that plagues us all.

Last time we introduced the diagnosis, prognosis, and 100% cure rate of God's remedy for the terminal illness of sin. The universal remedy is the gospel of Christ and must be individually applied. Our theme text is: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:16, 17.

Humanity was originally created in the perfect image of God; every faculty of the being was in perfect harmony with God and his law of love. But when man made the choice to disobey God's law, the ravaging disease of sin completely took over man's genes and damaged his moral behavior and destroyed the perfect unity that he enjoyed with God.

God immediately introduced the good news of Christ as the remedy. Genesis 3:15. The penalty for sin is death; Christ came and paid the penalty for sin which is death that rightfully belongs to us, that we might have the eternal life that rightfully belongs to Him. John 3:16; Romans 6:23. In Jesus we are reunited with God and our relationship of love is resumed through the living mediation of Christ. This reunion has often been called reconciliation or justification and becomes active as soon as we individually accept the gospel of Christ by faith. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1.

Once we have accepted Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins, we are justified -- accepted back into favor with God as though we had never sinned. As a result of this reunion with God, His Spirit becomes a force in our minds so we can think the thoughts of God and His moral image is duplicated in us. Romans 8:29. The sin-damaged genes, that influence our inner thoughts and behavior, begin to be healed. The focus of our life becomes love for God and others rather than self. This is called sanctification -- a setting apart of one's self for the glory of God. This work of sanctification progresses as the believer cooperates with the Holy Spirit by continuing to live life by faith. "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

Notice that the gospel of Christ has two main effects: It repairs the broken relationship with God. As a result of this healed union, God's infinite resources are available to the believer, enabling him to bring glory to God in all that he says, thinks and does. Then the soul is made fit to obtain immortality at Christ's second coming so that it will be able to live in perfect union with our Holy God throughout eternity. 1 Corinthians 15:52-54. Finally, the disease of sin, with all of its horrendous side effects, will be forever banished from the universe and the complete plan of salvation will have been fulfilled.

In the previous two columns we presented the power of the gospel of Christ to heal the damage caused by the malignancy of sin on the soul. Romans 1:16,17. This column will define the purpose of God's law of love as it relates to the gospel. The content of this article will require thoughtful reading.

When humankind was first created, their physical, moral and spiritual powers were in perfect health. They had no inclination to sin (disobey God's law). But after they yielded to Satan's temptation to sin, their natures became corrupted and they found it impossible to keep God's law perfectly. The law requires perfect obedience before anyone can be justified by it; since all have sinned, all are held under its condemnation except those who, by faith, have accepted the gospel of Christ. The penalty for disobedience is death; the Gospel has provided the only qualified substitute (Christ) to die in our place. Since He did not die for any sin that He ever did, death was not able to hold him and He now lives to minister as our priest in heaven and send the Holy Spirit to heal the ravages of the sin-afflicted soul.

The following text helps to explain the purpose of the law in the gospel: "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:22-26.

To "be kept under the law" for the sinner who hasn't accepted Christ means to be locked up in condemnation. The word used to illustrate this relationship is the "schoolmaster" which in the original Greek, in which the New Testament was written, really means guardian or jailer. The knowledge of the law defines sin, which brings conviction and holds the sinner in condemnation because it is incapable of forgiving or making the sinner obedient. The relentless condemnation the law brings to the sinner is essential in driving a person to seek the gospel of Christ, the only solution for his guilt problem. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,… For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4. (It is helpful to realize the explanations of the gospel in the book of Romans are an expansion of the book of Galatians.)

Conclusion: The righteousness of the law which is fulfilled in us mentioned in Romans 8:4, is the same as the righteousness of God revealed in us who believe the gospel mentioned in Romans 1:16,17. In other words, the righteousness (right doing) of God is the same as the righteousness described in the law. When our lives harmonize with principles stated in the law, our lives are in harmony with God. The harmony of man's character with God's character is made possible by faith in the Gospel of Christ. Thus the promise of the new covenant that the law of God would be written on the hearts of all who believe is fulfilled. Jeremiah 31:31-34. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law [in the heart]." Romans 3:31. Thus, the damage inflicted on the character of man by sin is healed by faith in the gospel of Christ.

We will continue with "the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation" to see how the law is written in the heart through the gospel. Romans 1:16. Salvation, that results from receiving the gospel through faith, means to be saved from sin, not in sin. Matthew 1:21. "He was manifested to take away our sins." 1 John 3:5. "I write these things unto you that you sin not." 1 John 2:1. He that continually abides in Christ does not continue in sin. 1 John 3:6. Since sin means to disobey God's law, not to sin means to be obedient to God's law. 1 John 3:4; 2:3,4.

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:2,3. This quote correlates loving God with keeping His commandments. It is impossible to love God and not keep His commandments. It is also impossible to keep His commandments without His love because love is what keeps the commandments. Romans 13:10. Since we have the love of God influencing our thoughts and feelings through the Holy Spirit that abides in us, we do not find it grievous but natural to love God which is to keep God's commandments. Once we have yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, instead of finding God's law a yoke of bondage, we find it to be a law of liberty. Galatians 5:1; James 2:12. It was not the law of God that changed, but the yielding to the Holy Spirit that made the difference in our relationship to the law. Romans 8:4, 8, 9, 14.

"… The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Romans 5:5. But how may we aquire the Holy Spirit so that we may have the love of God and not sin but be obeying God's commandments? Answer: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13. We know that God hears our prayers when we ask according to His will and that it is His will to give us the Holy Spirit when we ask because that is the very thing that He has promised. 1 John 5:14,15. But we must ask in faith without doubting otherwise we will not receive anything of the Lord. James 1:6. This is why the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation only to those that truly believe without doubting. Romans 1:16.

The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe because Jesus brought to us everything that we need that pertains to salvation: He brought us forgiveness. He paid the penalty for all the sin of the world. He came as God in the form of sinful man to reveal the character of God to all who study His life. He personally demonstrated before the human race on earth what perfect obedience is and how to perform it through faith in the infinite power of God. He has become the mediator between us and the Father that we may have access to all the abundant resources of God to meet every need. Philippians 4:19.

There are some things we must do in cooperating with the Holy Spirit to change our characters and make us like Christ. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18. It is a law of our being that what our minds dwell upon most is what influences our thoughts and outward behavior most. This is why we don't have time for what Hollywood produces. Since the righteousness (right doing) of God and the righteousness of the law are the same, whether we meditate on the law of God or the life of Christ, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit we become righteous in thought and action. Romans 8:4; Romans 1:17. Thus the law of God becomes ingrained in our character -- this is part of the process by which the new covenant promise of the law written in the heart is fulfilled.