Abraham and the Gospel

Friday, August 23, 2024

by Dr. Paul Chappell

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Galatians 3:6-8

Although the full plan of the gospel was not revealed until the New Testament, the reality of God's plan was set in motion long before the angels appeared to shepherds outside of Bethlehem to announce the birth of Christ. The first promise of the coming Messiah was given to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15), and through the years that followed, God continued to confirm to those who believed and followed Him that He had a plan for their ultimate redemption. Paul describes God's promise to Abraham as the gospel, and it truly was not just good news but the best news.

A. B. Simpson said, “The gospel tells rebellious men that God is reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for, that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the sinner cancelled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of hell closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.”

The gospel has the power to change lives and save the lost which nothing else can do. But that power only changes those lives if the gospel is shared with them. That is the responsibility God has given to us as His children, and it is a task we must faithfully execute. Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). Having received the gospel gives us both the obligation and the privilege to share it with others. No matter where we are, everyone we meet needs to hear it.

Today's Growth Principle
God only has one way of salvation, and His purpose and plan is for His children to take that message to the whole world.

Old Testament Reading

Psalm 113-115

PSALM 113

¹ Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. ² Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. ³ From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised. ⁴ The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. ⁵ Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, ⁶ Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! ⁷ He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; ⁸ That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. ⁹ He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

PSALM 114

¹ When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; ² Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. ³ The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. ⁴ The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. ⁵ What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? ⁶ Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? ⁷ Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; ⁸ Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

PSALM 115

¹ Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. ² Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? ³ But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. ⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: ⁶ They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: ⁷ They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. ⁸ They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

⁹ O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. ¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. ¹¹ Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. ¹² The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. ¹³ He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. ¹⁴ The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. ¹⁵ Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. ¹⁷ The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. ¹⁸ But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

New Testament Reading

1 Corinthians 6

CHAPTER 6

¹ Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? ² Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³ Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? ⁴ If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. ⁵ I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶ But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. ⁷ Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? ⁸ Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

⁹ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, ¹⁰ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

¹² All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. ¹³ Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. ¹⁵ Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. ¹⁶ What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. ¹⁷ But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. ¹⁸ Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. ¹⁹ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? ²⁰ For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 23

¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: ² And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. ³ Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. ⁴ Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. ⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. ⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: ⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. ⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. ⁹ Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. ¹⁰ Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: ¹¹ For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee. ¹² Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. ¹³ Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴ Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. ¹⁵ My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. ¹⁶ Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things. ¹⁷ Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. ¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. ²⁰ Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: ²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. ²² Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. ²³ Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. ²⁵ Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. ²⁶ My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. ²⁷ For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸ She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. ²⁹ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? ³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. ³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. ³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. ³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴ Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. ³⁵ They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.