Fullness of Joy

Excerpt from John Piper sermon:  God in Christ:  The Price and the Prize of the Gospel

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To unfold the meaning of this and to show how biblical it is I think it will be helpful to take three snapshots of the sermon title from three different places. One from Romans 5. One from church history. And one from 1 Corinthians 15.

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Price and Prize in 1 Corinthians 15

The third snapshot of our sermon title comes from 1 Corinthians 15. What I see here is that the gospel has six elements or six aspects, five of which are explicit in the text and one of which is implicit. Verses 1–4:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Six Indispensable Elements of the Gospel

Here we see six elements of the gospel. If any of these six was missing, there would be no gospel.

1. The gospel is a divine plan. Verse 3b: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” In accordance with the Scriptures written hundreds of years before he died. Which means the gospel was planned by God long before it took place.

2. The gospel is a historical event. Verse 3b: “Christ died.” The gospel is not mythology. It is not mere ideas or feelings. It is an event. And without the event there is no gospel.

3. The gospel is the divine achievements through that event — that death. Things God accomplished in the death of Jesus long before we ever existed. Verse 3b: “Christ died for our sins.” For our sins means this death had design in it. It was meant to accomplish something. It accomplished the covering of our sins (Colossians 2:14), the removal of God’s wrath (Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:13), the purchase of eternal life (John 3:16). These are objective achievements of the work of Christ before they are applied to anyone.

4. The gospel is a free offer of Christ for faith. Verses 1-2: “. . . the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” The good news of God’s achievements in Christ become ours by faith, by believing, by receiving. Not by giving a performance or by deserving or working. What God has done is free to all who will have it. It is received by faith. Without the free offer of Christ for faith there would be no gospel.

5. The gospel is an application to believers of what God achieved in the death of Jesus. So when we believe we are forgiven for our sins (Acts 10:43); we are justified (Romans 5:1); we receive eternal life (John 3:16) and dozens of other benefits (which is why I wrote a book called Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die). The gospel is the powerful personal application to us of what God achieved for us on the cross.

6. The gospel is the enjoyment of fellowship with God himself. This is implicit in the word “gospel,” good news. If you ask: What is the highest, deepest, most satisfying, all-encompassing good of the good news, the answer is: God himself known and enjoyed by his redeemed people. This is made explicit in 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” All the other gifts of the gospel exist to make this one possible. We are forgiven so that our guilt does not keep us away from God. We are justified so that our condemnation does not keep us away from God. We are given eternal life now, with new bodies in the resurrection, so that we have the capacities for enjoying God to the fullest. Test your heart. Why do you want forgiveness? Why do you want to be justified? Why do you want eternal life? Is the decisive answer: "because I want to enjoy God"?

In summary then, “God in Christ is The Price and the Prize of the Gospel.” The prize of the gospel is the Person who paid the price. The gospel-love God gives is ultimately the gift of himself. This is what we were made for. This is what we lost in our sin. This is what Christ came to restore. “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

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