Title The Gospel (2) The Gospel is power.
The Gospel (2) The Gospel is power.
Romans 1:16-17
Last week, I was studying the Bible in the women's discipleship class, and these days, the word 'sex offenders are all Christians' is floating around, so I searched the internet to see what was going on. It was an absurd story. It was 'groundless' and 'malicious manipulation'. It was such a malicious operation to drive the person who set fire to Rome as a Christian in Nero's time. This was the content of the article titled 'What Terrible Sex Offenders Have in Common'. First, the 'serial killer' and psychopath Hosun Kang, who brutally murdered 7 women, is a devout Christian who has attended church for more than 15 years, and kidnapped and raped women who went to the same church every week.
Second, Yoo Young-cheol, who killed more than 20 people, was a church choir from a devout Christian family. He asked the raped woman if she believed in God, and if she said she believed, she saved her, and if she said she didn't believe, she was cut and killed.
Third, Jung Seong-hyeon in the Anyang elementary school kidnapping and murder case allegedly raped and murdered Hyejin and Yesul, who attended the same church, using the advantage of being a church brother.
Fourth, Jo Doo-soon, who raped 8-year-old Na-young (pseudonym) at the time, took Na-yeong to her church and raped her.
Finally, because these criminals repented to the Lord and their sins were forgiven themselves, now they do not even feel guilty about their victims. All these horrific sex offenders commit the most terrible crimes as Christians, and live peacefully without feeling any guilt.
What do you think of a person who goes to church when you read this article? I'm ashamed. You cannot preach. I don't feel proud of the gospel I believe in.
However, all of the information in this article is not true and is completely contrived. It was created by the 'anti-Christian' forces to disparage Christianity. It was made in such a way that it could be mistaken for fact by packaging it plausibly. In reality it is said to be like this.
Kang Ho-soon divorced his first wife and went to church to marry his second wife, but after marriage, his wife continued to attend the church.
Yoo Yeong-cheol, who was said to be a maternal faith, was raised by a shaman when he was young and attended church from the 6th grade of elementary school to the first year of high school, but after a crime he denied God and converted to Buddhism through a letter from Yoo Young-chul.
Jung Sung-hyun is said to have nothing to do with the church or Christianity.
It is said that the media company that first reported the 'Restor Doo-Soon Cho's rumors acknowledged the misinformation and issued an apology and correction information.
If they had gone to church and experienced the power of the gospel, they would not have lived this life. The gospel does not make those who enter into it so ugly. Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, was not ashamed of the gospel. Paul said, “I count all things as loss, because the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord is the noblest, and for his sake I have lost everything and counted it as dung” (Philippians 3:8). “I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). He was more proud of the gospel than his Roman citizenship, his Jewish studies, and everything he had, and he preached the gospel, confessing the value of the gospel as his everything. Why are people ashamed of what they have? Why are you ashamed of what you believe? Because they think what they have is not worth it. Because they don't think what they believe is worthwhile.
Why is Paul proud of the gospel instead of being ashamed of it?
Look at the Bible verse today.
1. The gospel is the power of God to give salvation to those who believe.
Let's read verse 16 together. Why is Paul proud of the gospel and not ashamed of it?
1) Because it is the power of God.
There is the word “because” before verse 16 and the word “because” before this gospel. The reason we preach the gospel is because we are not ashamed of the gospel, and we are repeating the reason we are not ashamed of the gospel. It means that we are not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God. Because it is not the ability of a humble person. Because the gospel is the power of God, not philosophy, ethics, or morals. This is because the gospel is a legend or myth made up by man that comes from God. The God who created and provides the world came from and it belongs to God. Abilities have different abilities and different sizes depending on who has them. It's not worth being ashamed of.
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is euangelion in Greek, and good news in English is good news. This is a word related to war. In ancient times, when there was a war, there was no news of war. One day, a messenger comes running from the battlefield. Then the trumpet was blown and all the people of the city were gathered together. The herald brings the good news. "We won the war." Then there will be applause and cheers. Then, they slaughter the beasts, hold a feast, and greet the soldiers who return from victory. The good news of this victory is the gospel. The place where the Bible speaks about the gospel in one word is 1 Corinthians 15:3 4. “I first told you what I received, because Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)”
The Gospel is the historical fact that Christ died on the cross for suffering and atonement according to the Bible, was buried, and then rose again on the third day according to the Bible. The gospel is the event that God freed us from death through the cross. From Genesis to Revelation, God wrote a drama about this gospel. He created the story of God's salvation by mobilizing numerous events and people, and made Jesus Christ come to the pinnacle of history 2,000 years ago and die on the cross.
God said to Adam, who sinned, “I will make you hostile to the woman, and your descendants to her seed and enemies; and her offspring shall bruise you in the head, and you shall bruise her in the heel” (Genesis 3:15). The gospel is that Jesus Christ, the descendant of the woman, came as the Messiah and overthrew the power of Satan, the old serpent on the cross. He has conquered the power of death. It is the power of God revealed through the cross.
The word “ability” as used here is dunamis (δ