God does not have to save any guilty sinner, and that means any of us. He would be just and righteous if he condemned us all without exception. This is what we merit. But the gospel states clearly (and this is the “good news”) that God chose to save some. Why some and not all? To that question there is no answer, for God has not revealed it to us. Even the apostle Paul did not have the answer. People in his day were asking the same question, “Why doth he (God) yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” and Paul replies with a reprimand, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:19-20). The marvel is that God chose to save any. In the day of judgment no condemned sinner will be able to say that God is unjust and that he does not merit God’s righteous condemnation. Nor will any saved sinner be able to say that he merited the salvation which God provided for him in grace and mercy. Could God have saved all fallen sinners if He so desired? He certainly could, but he chose not to.
A Substitute
The “good news” of the gospel is that there is a substitute who has stood in the place of every repentant sinner and bore the wrath of God in his place. He did this for all whom the Father had given him from all eternity. It is for them that he prays in John 17. They are “His Sheep.” The Father gave them to him; and he died for them (John 10:15, 29). Substitution is at the very heart of the gospel. Christ did not simply give his life to make salvation possible for those who contribute their part to what he has done by repenting and trusting Christ. He it is that gives repentance and faith (2 Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8). Christ did not say to the religious Jews of his day that they were not of his “sheep” because they did not believe; rather, he says, “Ye believe not because you are not of my sheep.” If they had been his sheep they would have believed. The “good news” is that all whom the Father has given to the Son, and for whom he died will believe and manifest true repentance and faith. This they will do willingly and with gratitude in their hearts. It is God’s work. He cannot fail.
The Only True Gospel
All this is very different from what we are being told today. Today’s “gospels” are centered on man and what he has to do to make the work of Christ effective for him. The good news is that God has done all that is required to satisfy his righteousness and justice, and that all who come to Christ have eternal life through the work of Christ, their substitute, alone. This is the gospel, the only gospel, and we cannot and must not unite with those who do not proclaim it. Anything else is not the gospel.
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