The importance of the Gospel

The gospel has always been controversial and attacked.

This afternoon I began listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon "Christianity — the Only Hope" preached a generation ago. And his lament in that day was largely the same as today — a concern over a declining interest in the truth, the power of the Word of God and the clarity of the gospel.

It's always been that way. So we should hardly be shocked when it is attacked now. That ecuminism and the arguments over penal substitution and emergent theology and openness theology are taken seriously and given credibility by so many is to be sadly expected.

We should not be surprised — but voices should also be raised in clearly articulated arguments and defenses against these attacks against the centrality of the gospel. So we should be grateful for faithful men and new institutions like The Gospel Coalition, which are being raised up to defend the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This coalition is a new organization of pastors and theologians committed to preserving the accuracy of the gospel — salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone:

We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Of the plenary messages at the initial conference in May, the addresses by D. A. Carson ("What is the Gospel?") and Tim Keller ("What Does Gospel Centered Ministry Look Like ") were especially helpful and well worth hearing (I will be listening to Keller's message again later this week).

We do well to keep abreast of these attacks against the gospel. Our faith stands or falls on the reality of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, coming again — Savior and substitute. There is no salvation except in Christ and His righteousness, alone. We have been placed at this station of life in this time for the defense and proclamation of that very truth. Defend it and speak it we must and we will.