The Words Of This Life

From the earliest days of the church’s witness believers were persecuted and punished for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. No sooner had the Lord returned to heaven following His Resurrection than His disciples took up the Lord’s message and began to preach it widely and boldly in Jerusalem. Sometimes thousands were converted in a day and the church grew rapidly. We are told the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

‘Your doctrine’

The Jewish leaders were not happy. Actually, they were envious. They realised the preaching of Peter and the ministry of the Apostles was having a powerful and transforming effect on the people of the city. They accused the Apostles of causing trouble. Their complaint was, ‘ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us’. So concerned were the Sadducees about this new movement they decided to nip it in the bud, they arrested the Apostles and locked them up to prevent them from preaching any more.

Go! Stand! Speak!

The Lord sent an angel to secure the Apostles’ release. He opened the prison doors and brought them out, saying, ‘Go, stand and speak in the temple to all people all the words of this life’. The instruction of the angel of the Lord was not ambiguous. ‘Go, stand and speak’ is the God ordained means of communicating the gospel. It is the church’s duty to carry the God-given gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth as a declared message of truth.

The whole counsel of God

The Apostles were to preach ‘all the words of this life’. What a lovely phrase and description that is of the gospel. All the words of this life are to be preached. A preacher is not doing his job if any of the words of this life, any of the doctrines of this gospel, are passed over or set aside. Some preachers resist telling their congregations they are sinners dead in their sins. Some never preach the doctrine of election, even though it is in the Bible. Some say Christ died for everyone which is not in the Bible.

Jesus Christ crucified

Paul’s ministry is a fine example of positively preaching ‘all the words of this life’. He preached the whole counsel of God. He told Ephesians, in Acts 20:27 ‘For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God’, all the words of this life. He told the Corinthians, ‘For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified’. Gospel truths are the words of life because they explain what true life is and where it can be found; gospel truths point to Christ, lead to Christ and bring men and women to Christ. Our Lord Jesus told His disciples ‘I am the Life’. 

What we believe

The Lord added in John 10:10, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly’. The life the Lord gives is a holy, spiritual and eternal life. Two words, largely summarise this life-giving work; substitution and imputation. Christ has taken our death as our Substitute and freely gives us His holy life in its place. 1Pe 2:24  speaks of Him, ‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed’. 

Grace and goodness

As my Substitute Christ took my place. When He died on the cross He was bearing my sin. He took my guilt, my bondage, my death. In return He gave me His life and His holiness. He suffered my death and gave me His life. My sin was laid on Him by imputation and His righteousness was imputed to me in its place. The Lord Jesus does not dangle eternal life in front of impotent man. He puts it in our heart and in our hands. It is His gift to His children, His grace to dead sinners, His goodness to the people He loves. He does this by His Substitutionary death in our place.

A declaration, not an offer

People talk about offering Christ to sinners. That is neither scriptural language nor sound doctrine. It is not what the disciples were told to preach. We are not offering Christ to sinners, nor indeed offering them salvation. Jesus never offered salvation to any, nor should we. Christ came to save His people from their sins, to lay down His life for His friends, to ransom the captives, recover the lost and redeem those sold under sin with His own precious blood. That is why He came, it is what He accomplished, it is what we preach.

Amen.