THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

Part Two

Raphael Oye Taiwo

The good news of grace

Acts 20:24

‘Grace’ means ‘the unmerited favor of God.’

Romans 3:23-24 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Because of the original sin, everyone born of man is a sinner deserving the terrible judgment of God, which is eternal suffering in hell.

Man tried to revise this judgment through various means: religion, religious works, moral deeds, heroic deeds, self torture and what have you.

But the judgment of God upon every man remained unmovable. The gate of hell remained wide open. And the devil remained the master of man. Man was hopeless. Then Jesus Christ left the throne of God, stripped Himself of the glory of God and became man. He took upon Himself the sin of man and suffered and died for it.

God judged Jesus for the sin of every man on the cross of Calvary so that you and I could be free from the sin and the judgment for sin that were sending us to hell.

This is grace. We did not do anything to deserve the mercy and favor of God. But God graciously showed us His unmerited mercy and favor.

Because of God’s grace, not only can I say, “I am free from sin and saved from eternal suffering in hell.” I can also shout with glee, “I have become a child of God, a joint-heir with Christ.”  

The Gospel announces to us the good news that every human being is now qualified for the unmerited favor, kindness and mercy of God through the Calvary work of Jesus.

The good news of Deliverance

When Adam sinned, he sold his seeds into slavery. Everyone born of Adam became a slave to Satan.

Ah, slavery! It is hard for us in the twenty-first century to really understand the horror of the life of a slave.

Slaves could be held against their will from the time of their capture. They could be sold and bought like goats. They were deprived of the right to leave their masters. They could not refuse, for any reason, to work. And they could not demand payment for anything they did for their masters. In some societies it was legal for an owner to kill a slave.

A family was caught during a slave raid in Africa. There were five of them: a man, the head of the family; the wife and three children, a boy and two daughters.

Their hands were tied with chains. They were made to walk one hundred miles to the coast. Many were the beatings they received from their masters. They were fed just enough to keep them alive and be able to walk.

The journey to the Atlantic coast took them many terrible days. But they made it. They were packed into a slave ship anchored offshore.

If they thought they had suffered enough, they soon realized their suffering was just beginning. The ship was not fit for a pig to live in.

With hundreds of other slaves, they were packed into a lower deck of the ship. Their lodging rooms were about five feet high – the height was divided toward the middle for the miserable slaves to lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close together like sardine in a tin. Every slave was allowed a space six feet long by sixteen inches wide and usually about two feet, seven inches high.

The stench was loathsome and repugnant enough to make a dog violently sick.  The yell of the women and the children, the sigh of the young and the older men, the groans of the sick and the dying, made the atmosphere in the ship highly intolerable.

Many were cruelly flogged and forced to eat who would rather die than eat. Many were severely punished who tried to secure their release from their miserable life of slavery by suicide.

At last, after suffering untold numbers of indignities and horrible treatments, the slaves’ ship finally reached port. Soon the slaves were put up for sale.

The members of the family who were caught during a slave raid in Africa were separated. Before the man, the head of the family, was bought and taken away, he saw his wife and three children bought and taken away by different cruel-looking men to where he knew not. And he dared not utter a word of protest.

He himself soon found himself in a plantation where he suffered severely from cruel task masters.

For the most trivial offence he was loaded with chains. When his master really got pissed off with him, as often happened, instruments of torture were used to give him the works!

The punishments of slaves were unbelievably gruesome!

Before you become too sorry for the slaves, remember that every man, through Adam, became the devil’s slave at the time of birth. And the devil is a worse slave master than any man could be.

Every person is forced to do his evil will and bear a terrible burden of sin – until the person comes to Jesus for freedom.

Now, look at a slave at a slave market.

This slave knelt chained to a large pillar by a cuff around his left ankle. His hands were fastened behind his back in leather cuffs connected by a chain.

His master was expecting the dreaded slave buyer who had promised to come and buy him.

The slave to be sold had heard a lot about this slave buyer. The man was sulfuric acid to his slaves. He showed no mercy for the slightest offense. His whips and torture machines were always being put to use.

Then a very important-looking man came to the slave master and talked to him about the slave.

Suddenly, the slave heard the man spoke to him in a soft and kind voice: “Man, do you want me to ransom you?”

“Yes, Mister,” the slave said, hardly believing he had heard correctly. “Please ransom me.”

This important man paid a very large price for the slave – much more than any slave buyer could pay for a slave. He ordered the slave to be released and brought into his golden carriage.

The slave buyer took the slave to where he lived, a beautiful and large mansion which type the slave had never seen or heard of.

The slave was thoroughly washed. Perfumed olive oil was applied to his body. He was dressed in fine expensive clothes, as if he was the son of a powerful and rich king. Then he was given a sumptuous feast.

After a good rest, the slave was brought before the throne of the one who had bought him.

“Have no fear,” the man on the throne said softly in a most kind voice. “I am the king of a vast kingdom. I have taken it upon myself to redeem any slave who allowed me to. There is a multitude of redeemed slaves in this empire who are now your brothers and sisters. From now on, you are no longer a slave, but my adopted son. You have all the rights that my children have.”

The slave represents you and I. The slave master is the devil. The slave market is the sinful world. The dreaded slave buyer to whom the slave master – the devil - was expecting to sell us is hell. The one who bought us back, who redeemed us from sin and Satan, who sits on the throne, is Jesus Christ, the King of God’s kingdom.

The gospel tells us about this Redeemer and Deliverer. The gospel tells us that we can be ransomed, redeemed and delivered by Him if we want to.

The good news of joy

 Luke 2:10

Nothing inspires joy as the assurance of salvation and peace. The gospel assures us of eternal salvation and peace, heaven and every good thing in it. The gospel is indeed a good news of great joy.

The gospel of Jesus - Part One
The gospel of Jesus - Part two
The gospel of Jesus - Part three