What is the Gospel? Archives - Servants of Grace

Raised With Christ: Your Easter Story

Colossians 3:1-3, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with...

4 Crucial Truths the Gospel Presents

The Gospel in Romans 1–4 One of the best places to start looking for a basic explanation of the gospel is Paul’s letter to the Romans. Perhaps more clearly than any other book of the Bible, Romans contains a deliberate, step-by-step expression of what Paul understood...

Three Reasons Why Christ’s Ascension Matters to You

The ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven is one of the most important events recorded in the New Testament. But though it occupies an important place in Scripture, it doesn’t get a lot of attention today, even among Christians. My guess is that you probably haven’t...

Christ the Divine Son

John 1:1-4- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”...

Who is Jesus? The Most Fundamental Question of the Christian Faith

Mark 8:29 – “And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, ‘You are the Christ.’” Who is Jesus? This is a question that bears to be repeated and considered often. It is the most fundamental question of our faith. How we answer reveals our...

The Vertical Dimensions of the Cross

Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series on the atonement. The Scriptures give us a robust revelation about all that Jesus accomplished on the cross. As we go about seeking to categorize all of the various dimensions of the cross, we discover that there are both...

Why Is the Substitutionary Atonement Essential?

Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a series on the atonement.During the first decade of the twenty-first century, a number of prominent leaders in the emerging church movement asserted that the doctrine of substitutionary atonement is tantamount to “cosmic child...

Salvation According to His Word

Psalm 119:41, "Let Your mercies come also to me, O LORD— Your salvation according to Your word.” Notice that this stanza in Psalm 119:41-48 begins with a request. It begins with a cry for the mercies (or steadfast love) of Yahweh. And the Psalmist seems to know that...

I Thirst

At the crossroads of history, Jesus hung nailed to a cross. The loss of blood from the beating alone would have killed most men, but this was no ordinary man. This was the Son of God, and His death was ordained in covenant with His Father. The crowds gathered around...

Joy in the Journey

Introduction to The Reading The Psalms, from Psalm 120 to 134, are the sacred songs that the Hebrew people sang as they went up to Jerusalem for the three worship feasts of the year.[1] Concerning authorship, David wrote Psalm 122, 124, 131, and 133. Solomon wrote...

The Missing Piece of Christmas: The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Wonder of the Gospel

Amidst all of the fanfare, finery, and festivity of Christmastime, there could very well be something missing in your life. We are so thankful that the Word of God, the Holy Bible, speaks not only to the things that are but also to the things that are not and calls...

Christmas: A Time to Turn To God

It doesn’t make much sense to celebrate the coming of Christ into the world without acknowledging the very reason He came. He came to earth to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. It would be a tragedy to enjoy the presents, food, time with family and...

Something to Hate

Do you have any words you outlaw in your home? Perhaps you forbid words such as “shut up” or “stupid.” One of the words I limit in our house is the word “hate.” I can’t say that I hate the word because I think it's a powerful word that should be used properly. It...

Jesus Came to Bring Peace

Some Christmas cards are brightly colored red, green, or mystic-blue and golden beams, or Courier and Ives prints and unmistakably Christmastime greetings. Such cards remind me of Isaiah 40 and of the birth narratives in the Gospels. There's no mistaking the promise...

When They Saw the Child, They Worshiped

“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). There is a library full of lessons in this single verse of...

Where is He Now? Christ and His Session

Only a single word remained, “Croatoan.” It was all that Governor John White could find of the 115 people (including his own family) he left behind three years earlier in 1587. Roanoke colony had vanished. There were no bodies, no gravesites; even the buildings had...

A Son Is Given

God’s judgment is just as terrible as his salvation is wonderful. Nowhere is this made more apparent than in the ninth chapter of Isaiah, as the Lord describes in vivid detail the impending doom that he will bring to those who have continued in rebellion against him:...

Advent and the Genealogy of Christ

“And Asaph begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Uzziah; and Uzziah begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Ahaz; and Ahaz begat Hezekiah” (Matthew 1:8-9). Many devout Bible reader’s eyes have glazed over by the midpoint of the genealogy of Christ in...

Hope Is a Good Thing

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, Andy writes a letter to Red and includes the following remark, “Remember Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” If I could respond to Andy, I would simply say, “Amen.” The reason, of...

Christ, Our Substitute

2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” WHAT IS SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT? The cross of Jesus is where the substitutionary atonement happened. On the cross, Jesus served as our...

Christ, Forgiveness, and the Cross

“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34) Jesus Christ, the God-Man, committed the most scandalously humble act in human history: He made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born as a man who was obedient...

All This To Fulfill What the Lord Had Spoken

In the wonderfully heart-warming, spirit-lifting, worship-inducing story of the birth of Jesus, as it is related to us by Matthew, there is one crucial element of the whole event that is often overlooked. That a virgin would bring forth a son is astounding; that Jesus...

He Came to Bring Salvation

“Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself" (Psalm 80:17). Psalm 80 is written by Asaph. This is one of 12 Psalms written by this musical and liturgical leader appointed by David. Asaph's identity is...

God’s Law is Good

On one hand, the Apostle Paul teaches us that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, “have died to the law through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4) and on the other hand that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (12). Which is it? Paul...

Saved by Grace

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I remember when Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, died in February of 1991. Local and national cartoonists paid tribute to him in the next day’s newspapers, many of them showing him entering heaven “at the...

Good News for the Unwanted

Good News for the Unwanted Exclusion, expulsion, alienation, and forsakenness—these were major themes in the ancient Jewish world.[1] The “impure” could be expelled from the community. The carcasses of sacrificed animals had to be burned outside the camp. The...

Salvation Is Unflattering

As part of a Wednesday night summer series, our church has been studying some of the "salvation words" that are found in Scripture. As we've worked our way through concepts like substitution, reconciliation, and redemption a particular truth with which I have been...

Gluttony

The saying goes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and for me, this has proven to be true on more than one occasion. I love food. I love cooking food, creating dishes, and mimicking cooking techniques of some of my favorite celebrity chefs like...

Expiation, Good Friday and the Wonder of the Cross

At my local church, we have a Good Friday service where we nail a piece of paper with our sins to the Cross. This event is symbolic of what Christ has accomplished for us. It is about more than just subscribing to our belief in the sufficiency of Christ finished work...

Easter: Pathetic Or Genius?

Jesus didn’t stutter when he said that he is the truth: I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he said, “no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). Why did Jesus claim to be the truth, versus one single truth among many other truths? Why did he say...

The Deceptive Draw of Greed

The Deceptive Draw of Greed In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas’ character, Gordon Gekko, says “Greed is good!” He lies, deceives, and cheats his way to riches only to be convicted and sentenced to prison by the end of the movie. But this is only a movie right;...

A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath

Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” I don’t know about you, but I readily admit to suffering on repeated instances from bouts with anger. Mind you this is not anger that results in being physically abusive, throwing things...

Pride The Foe of Joy

Perhaps the fiercest and most hostile arch-nemesis to joy is Pride. It may be no surprise to us when we often hear that pride is the root of all sin. You can trace Pride’s evil touch in everything else, after all. It is, as one called it, “the chief vice.” It may also...

The Gospel: A Message of Redemption and Restoration

The word gospel has experienced a bit of a resurgence of late. All one has to do is take a walk. down the aisle of their favorite Christian bookstore or go to their favorite blogger's website to see this term utilized in seemingly every book or blog post title. We are...

The Story of Redemption

Nothing serves to strengthen our faith so much as seeing the various patterns which God has woven into the pages of Scriptures in order to form a beautiful tapestry of His redeeming grace in Christ. It is not uncommon for theologians to refer to the meta-narrative, or...

He is Risen, Indeed: The Resurrection as Fact

In approaching Easter, we come closer to the day in which many will pile into churches across the land, singing songs about Jesus being alive, and powerful accounts from the Gospels will loudly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. It is a magnificent story, a...

The Destiny of the Unevangelized and the Nature of Hell

The Destiny of the Unevangelized and the Nature of Hell In order to explicate the destiny of the unevangelized, one must ascertain a biblical exegesis of the term “unevangelized” to determine if it is within the bounds of scriptural exposition. Psalm 19:1 declares...

Justification

INTRODUCTION The issue of justification has had a lasting influence on the Christian understanding of the topic of salvation and its relationship to eternal security. Biblical scholars have developed numerous stances on this theological understanding often resulting...

Deity of Christ Series Recap

Over the month of June, we have posted many articles here at Servants of Grace as part of a series on the Deity of Christ. The purpose of this series is to help Christians think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. This series...

The Human Growth of Jesus

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

A Balanced Study of the God-Man

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Jesus The Resurrection and the Life

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Four Important Implications of Jesus’ Claim to Be One with God

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Beholding the Glory of Christ in Prayer

I had to learn the hard way. Isn’t that sometimes the best way though? I remember as a child learning the importance of prayer. Bowing your head, folding your hands, and closing your eyes were all key elements. My friends and I made a game out of the process,...

Responding to the Claims of Deity by Jesus

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

WHY DID GOD COME AS MAN? [PART 3]

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

WHY DID GOD COME AS MAN? [PART 2]

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Deity of Christ: Jesus’ Growth in Knowledge and Wisdom

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

WHY DID GOD COME AS MAN? [PART 1]

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Killing Arianism With a Cross: Why Christ’s Deity Matters

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Jesus, the True Light of the World That We Are to Follow

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

The Strongest Evidence for the Deity of the Son

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

Jesus, the True Light of the World

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Nick wrote on the...

The Revelation of the Father and the Son

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Dave wrote on seeing but not believing. Today Nick writes on...

Seeing But Not Believing

Editor's note: The purpose of this series is to help our readers think through what the deity of Christ and it's importance to the Christian faith. Dave opened our series by looking at Jesus the Divine Word. Today Dave writes on seeing but not believing....

Jesus, Servant of Sinners

Augustine once wrote, “Thou wouldst perhaps be ashamed to imitate a lowly man; then at least imitate the lowly God. The Son of God came in the character of man and was made low…He, since He was God, became man; do thou, O man, recognize that thou art man? Thy entire...

Nine Bible Passages For Meditating On The Gospel

The Christian never graduates from the Gospel. It is the very “grace of God in truth” that serves as the foundation for our new life in Christ. Therefore, we should remember, rehearse, and recite the Gospel regularly. Here are Nine Bible passages on the Gospel that...

Sin Series Recap

Over the month of March, we considered the topic of sin here at Servants of Grace. As we’ve looked at this topic, I’ve received a number of email’s and responses to this series in particular on how helpful it was. I appreciate those comments. We aim with each series...