The Recovery of the Gospel

In his introduction to John Owen's "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ," Dr. J. I. Packer says, “One of the most urgent tasks facing the evangelical church today is the recovery of the Gospel.”


Dr. Packer first made this statement in 1958, but I do believe that that is still true and probably even more urgent now than before. I thank the Lord that there is an increasing interest in many churches today, especially among young people, in learning gospel truths.


There is also a growing movement within the evangelical community that aims at recovering and propagating the old gospel truth that centers on God and His redemptive work in the person and work of Christ. Books, blogs, podcasts, and internet articles about the gospel are reaching many people in our time opening their eyes and ears to the amazing grace of God in saving sinners through the finished work of Jesus Christ.


Instrumental in popularizing these gospel truths among the evangelical youth and young ministers of today are Michael Horton, the late R. C. Sproul and James Montgomery Boice, John MacArthur, John Piper, J. I. Packer, Paul Washer, Joel Beeke, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Jones, Tim Challies, and many others, including the works of Ligonier Ministries, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, TGC, and several ministries. Through the writings and publications of these authors and gospel-centered organizations there is an ongoing revival of the truths of the gospel in the lives of many people in our generation.


It is my prayer that the Spirit of God would sustain this steady stream of gospel-centered preaching and teaching in the church of Jesus Christ all over the world. I hope that the urgent task that Dr. Packer was talking about some 60 years ago will be fulfilled in our time, that is, the recovery and the propagation of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of many to the glory of God.


This gospel, in one of its multi-faceted truths, tells us that the God who created the world, this sovereign and holy God has provided for us sinners a substitute sin-bearer in the person of His Son. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son is the perfect high priest who made a once-for-all sacrifice for our sin. He carried all our sin upon his shoulder and nail them at the cross canceling all our debts and reconciled us back to this holy God. He offered himself in our place at the cross to save us who deserve the wrath and just condemnation of God.


Like a precious diamond, the gospel is a many-faceted truth. It is taught and proclaimed in the pages of the Holy Scripture. It is also portrayed through various stories in the Bible, the written Word of God, of which the Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of my favorite narratives.


In one controversial book written in history, the author explains the gospel by saying, “[T]he Gospel is a doctrine revealed from heaven by the Son of God, immediately after the fall of mankind into sin and death; and afterwards it was manifested more clearly and fully to the patriarchs and prophets, to the evangelists and apostles, and by them it was spread abroad to others. In this gospel, freedom from sin, from the curse of the law, from the wrath of God, death, and hell, is freely promised for Christ’s sake to all who truly believe on his name” (Edward Fisher, “The Marrow of Modern Divinity,” 208).