Semantics and the Gospel, Part 2 (Understanding God's Great Salvation #4)

The Bible says in Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Today's quote is from C.S. Lewis. He said: "Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."

Our topic today is titled "Semantics and the Gospel (Part 2)" from the book, "So Great Salvation: What it Means to Believe in Jesus Christ" by Dr. Charles Ryrie.

Observe this random sampling of expressions of the Gospel taken from tracts, sermons, books,  and radio and TV messages. I list them without documentation since the point is not who said these but to show what was said and to illustrate how varied and confusing these statements are. If we gave even half of them to an unsaved person, what would he be expected to believe?

Here they are:

1. Repent, believe, confess your sin to God, and confess Him before man and you will be saved.

2. The clearest statement of the Gospel in the New Testament is found in Luke 9:23: "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

3. Perhaps the most comprehensive invitation to salvation in the Epistles comes in James 4:7-10: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

4. May the Lord reveal to the sinners that the only way for them to be saved from their sins is to repent with a godly sorrow in their hearts to the Lord....