2 Corinthians 4:3,4. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
A saviour of life unto life, or of death unto death: such is the alternative put solemnly before us by the God of the gospel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When welcomed, the gospel becomes a saviour of life unto life – it brings life from the living God and imparts it to us, teaching us to say, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. But when it is rejected, the gospel becomes the perverted cause of the second death; the soul is left to remediless woe for ever. “There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement.”
My soul, how is it with you? Have you welcomed the gospel in spirit and in truth; or have you only fawned upon it, while in your heart you could trample upon it and despise all its dowry of glories? Do not forget that if the gospel seems a dark and a mysterious thing to you, it is because you are lost, God being witness. If its glories have not won your love for the true God, it is because you are a dupe of the god of this world. If God’s last dispensation for the saving of sinners has failed to produce the desired effect in you, then do not be deceived; God is not mocked; what you sow you must reap – either the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, or the blackness of darkness for ever; either the Son of God received and rested on, or everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord; either an interest in Him of whom you read, “Fury is not in Me”, or, the “fiery indignation which shall consume the adversaries”.
And is it not a cause of joy that the gospel is so simple in itself? Men may argue and dispute, till the very truth of God seems to become a questionable thing; but, amid all that, the gospel in all its unutterable simplicity remains still the same. It does not consist in a doctrine, nor a series of doctrines. These may be welcomed, and yet the gospel may remain unfelt. It is all contained in Christ, and the receiving of Him is the grand turning point in the history of every saved soul.
Taken, with editing, from Tweedie’s volume, Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace*.