THE CERTIFIED GOSPEL

INTRODUCTION

Lets talk about certification. We could not survive in the bureaucratic contemporary world without the principle of certification. In my wallet I carry several cards of certification. They range all the way from a driver's license to a rental card at the video store.

Certification is required for many of the things we want to do. If I go out of the country I have to show my passport. You can't teach school, practice law or medicine, ride a motorcycle, fly a plane, hunt in the woods, fish in the rivers, drive a truck or build a house without certification.

Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that the gospel we preach is a certified message? In verse 11, Paul laid claim to certification. He said, " I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up."

In the King James Version, he said, "I certify you brethren that the gospel preached of me is not after man."

MAKE SURE WHAT YOU PREACH IS GOSPEL

Galatians 1:6-7

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

The term "gospel" appears about 60 times in the writings of Paul. It means "good news" or "glad tidings." We don't always use the word "gospel" to mean good news. Paul was concerned because some people were preaching a different gospel, but it wasn't really a gospel. Good news brings joy. These Galatian Christians were hearing a message that brought them confusion, pain and conflict. That's not gospel.

In contemporary context the word "gospel" is often spoken frequently, but its true meaning is often drained from the term.

Some people equate their own personal viewpoint with the gospel. I have a friend with whom I share a mutual understanding of the gospel. We both believe that Christ died for our sins. We believe that he paid the penalty for our sins and the blood that was shed redeemed us from sin. We share a mutual conviction about how one responds to the gospel. We both believe faith, repentance and baptism are divine appointments, that we must yield to those appointments to have the assurance of living under the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. All of that is gospel.

But we have some significant differences of viewpoint on questions that are of lesser importance. We are able to share fellowship with each other, but there are probably some people here who don't consider him a faithful gospel preacher and I know there are people in his church who don't consider me a faithful gospel preacher. The problem is not the preaching of the gospel, but a mentality that equates issues of lesser importance with the gospel.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to give instructions on subjects that are negative in nature and that negative preaching may well be given along side the gospel, but it is not gospel. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul said, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction." There are two negatives in that verse "correction" and "rebuke." However, we need to notice that Paul said "Preach the Word." He did not use the term, "gospel." I've heard sermons that were devoted almost entirely to condemning and criticizing things that were contrary to the speaker's viewpoints. If he was good with words and sounded persuasive to his audience, people would go away saying, "That's real gospel preaching," but by definition it is not "gospel preaching" at all because it has no good news.

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