Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why the Gospel was Treason | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 4.43

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're learning what it looks like to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. If someone asked you, what's the Gospel? What would you say in return? If you want to do an interesting experiment, just ask your Christian friends to answer that question for you. you will really quickly discover that there isn't actually much consensus on the answer. These are some of the answers people have given me. The gospel is that we're saved by grace.

Starting point is 00:00:43 The gospel is that we're justified by faith, not works. The gospel is that Jesus died so that we can go to heaven. The gospel is that our sins are forgiven. The gospel is that we need to invite Jesus into our hearts. Now, a lot of these ideas are true. They're wonderful truths. We are really saved by grace. We are really justified by faith, not works.

Starting point is 00:01:07 But these truths, they aren't the gospel itself. Some of these ideas, on the other hand, can be a little bit misdirected. Jesus died so we can go to heaven. We need to invite Jesus into our hearts. Now, these might be true in their own way, but the Bible hardly speaks about them. Now, other parts of these ideas that people have given me are really genuine. parts of the good news of the gospel. For example, our sins are forgiven. But none of these things that I said are the gospel itself or by itself. At least they aren't the gospel that the Bible talks about. So maybe we

Starting point is 00:01:43 should just step back and ask a question. What does gospel mean? The English word gospel simply means good news. The gospel is not good advice. It's not a good theological system. The gospel's not a good idea. No, the gospel is good news. The gospel is a news flash. It's a proclamation that something good has happened in real life human history. So according to the Bible, what is the good news? What events or series of events can properly be called the gospel? Well, I think the best place to start with that question is with Jesus. Luke 443, I must proclaim the good news or the gospel of the kingdom of God to other towns because that is why I was sent. Did you catch it? Jesus proclaimed the good news of what? He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God, whatever in the world that means. And here's what's

Starting point is 00:02:43 crazy. If you read through the rest of Luke and through the rest of the Gospels, you'll discover that this is Jesus' favorite way of summarizing the gospel. Matthew 423. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 2414, Jesus said, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Luke 8.1. After this, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Mark 1.15, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

Starting point is 00:03:34 I could keep going here, but you'd end up shutting off the podcast because you'd get bored with me reading the same verses over and over and over again. But you get the idea, right? The kingdom of God is right at the heart of the gospel. So here's what I find striking. When you ask the average Christian, what's the gospel? You hardly ever hear the word kingdom or king. but Jesus cannot talk about the gospel without the word kingdom or king. So if you're like me, then you're sitting here thinking, well, what is Jesus getting at?

Starting point is 00:04:04 What is the gospel, the good news of the kingdom? In many ways, this actually goes back to the root meaning of the gospel, that it's good news. You see, in the Old Testament, when a messenger came declaring good news, it was usually royal good news. It was news that a king or a kingdom had been defeated. and that a new king or a new kingdom had begun. In other words, it was often good news that people had been saved from a foreign oppressor, and they'd been placed under the rule of their rightful king. This usage of good news of gospel, it actually expanded outside of Israel.

Starting point is 00:04:42 For example, the Caesar, who was ruling at the time of Jesus' birth, was named Augustus. Listen to this inscription, which was written after Caesar, Augustus, ascended to the throne. In the inscription, it looks retrospectively back on the day of Caesar's birth, and it describes it as the day when he was born as a God in the flesh. This is what it says. Providence has brought our life to the climax of perfection in giving us the Emperor Augustus, who being sent to us and our descendants as Savior has put an end to war, and has put all things in order. Having become God manifest, Caesar has fulfilled all the hopes of earth. earlier times, the birthday of the God Augustus has been for the whole world, the beginning of the good

Starting point is 00:05:30 news concerning him. The birthday of Augustus was good news, gospel, for the world, because his birthday announced that their enemies would be defeated and that the rightful king, Caesar Augustus, would finally sit on the throne. Now you might be beginning to see why the message of the good news of the kingdom could be dangerous, even subversive. It could even be treasonous. To say that Jesus was announcing the good news of a different kingdom was to say that Caesar was not king, that a different kingdom was coming to defeat Caesar, to unthrown Caesar, that the entire earth was about to come under the rightful rule and reign of its rightful king. All of this brings us to an incredibly important passage in the prophet Isaiah. You see, Isaiah foretold a future day when Israel's greatest enemy,

Starting point is 00:06:27 the empire of Babylon, would fall and God himself would return to Israel as king. And in this prophecy, he sees a messenger and he's running from Babylon, he's running in the distance, and he's getting near. And as he gets near, he's proclaiming Babylon is fallen. Babylon is fallen. He's running and he's getting to Jerusalem to share this good news. Isaiah 52-7, how beautiful on the mountains are are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, to Jerusalem, your God reigns.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Did you hear the good news according to Isaiah? It's straightforward. Your God reigns. That's the good news that Jesus came to proclaim, that the timer was clicking down for the powers of darkness, that Babylon, in all of its future form, whether it was Rome or other empires, that they would fall. And more importantly, that the dark powers behind Babylon, the dark powers behind Rome, powers like Satan, sin and death, that they would be removed

Starting point is 00:07:32 from their throne. And finally, the good news is that the rightful heir to the throne of all creation was finally going to take his seat. God, God himself would return to reign. But that's the most shocking bit, isn't it? Because Jesus is also claiming to be the king. He's claiming to be the one in whom God returns to defeat his enemies and take up his throne. That's the gospel of the kingdom. That God had returned in Jesus to defeat his enemies and to take up his rightful throne. That's what Jesus was announcing during his life. That's what Jesus was enacting in his lifetime, the return of God's reign on earth as in heaven. The question for us is, again, one of allegiance. Have we given our faithful, loyal allegiance to King Jesus? Have we bowed our knees to the creator of all

Starting point is 00:08:27 creation? You see, Jesus didn't come to rescue people for a disembodied life in heaven. No, he came to announce the good news of God's kingdom and called people to give him their allegiance so that through them he could continue to spread his kingdom throughout all the earth. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why the Gospel was Treason | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 4.43

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.