The Gospel
Why Hell Is Integral to the Gospel
By Greg Gilbert | 9Marks Journal: Hell: Remembering the Awful Reality | 08.20.2010Why is it that when people think about hell, they always conclude that God must be at fault and not themselves?
Book Review: Love that Rescues, by Eric Bargerhuff
Review by Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: Hell: Remembering the Awful Reality | 08.02.2010This book makes one point: church discipline, in spite of our expectations to the contrary, is all about God’s loving work of rescuing sinners from their sin.
What is the Gospel? (with C.J. Mahaney and Greg Gilbert)
By C. J. Mahaney, G. Gilbert | 06.25.2010The gospel. The cross. The kingdom. The church. Greg Gilbert and C.J. Mahaney discuss all this and more.
On what basis can a person be declared right in God’s sight?
9Marks
Not by our works: The Bible teaches that there is no way we can be declared righteous in God’s sight by doing good works (Rom. 3:19-20). We can’t fulfill God’s law (Rom. 8:5-8). We can’t live in a way that is pleasing to God and so earn a righteous status in God’s sight. We deserve only condemnation.
What is the place of good works in salvation?
9Marks
The short answer: The Reformers summarized the Bible’s teaching on this subject by saying that we are justified (counted righteous in God’s sight) by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone.
Justified by faith alone…: We are justified by faith apart from works of the law (Rom.3:28). God counts us as righteous because he credits the very righteousness of Christ tous (Phil. 3:9, Rom. 5:17). All this happens by faith alone, apart from any good works we do (Rom. 4:4-5).
Is repentance necessary for salvation?
9Marks
The claim: Some people say that you can believe in Jesus as “Savior” but not as “Lord.” That is, you can believe in him but never repent of your sin. You can believe in him and be saved even if your life goes on just as it was before you became a Christian. Or so the claim goes.
Is faith in Christ the only way to be saved?
9Marks
The cultural challenge: People today love to be inclusive. We want everybody to be right. In fact we think that the only way to be wrong is to think that anyone could ever be wrong about anything. So when it comes to religion we say, “All paths lead to God. There’s no one right way. The right thing to believe is whatever works for you.” But is that what the Bible says?
