GOSPEL TALK | THE GOSPEL | A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

[00:00:01] Hello, world of Podcast listeners. Thank you so much for leaning in to listen to the Mark8.27 podcast. This is Darrell Irby. I am the producer and the host of the Mark827 podcast. And I am more than elated that you decided to stop by for this episode of Gospel Talk. [00:00:23] And this episode is a very important episode to me, because in this episode I'm going to reveal to you and talk to you about my biblical theology. [00:00:38] The title of this episode is going to be the Gospel Biblical Theology, because that's what I call my biblical theology, the Gospel Biblical Theology. I believe that the Gospel is an actual biblical theology. And I'm going to explain to you in this episode why I believe that is the case. [00:01:08] So what is theology? [00:01:12] The prefix theo means God and the suffix ology means, means the study of. [00:01:22] Just like bio refers to life and ology refers to the study of. So biology is the study of life. [00:01:36] So theology is the study of God. [00:01:42] And theology is basically divided into three different disciplines. That is systematic theology, and then there is biblical theology, and then there is historical theology. [00:02:02] So systematic theology is divided into multiple different divisions. [00:02:11] And those divisions are theology proper, which is the study of God, that is theology. [00:02:23] And then after that you have the study of revelation. [00:02:30] And then after that you have the study of Christ, that is Christology. [00:02:40] And then following that you have the study of the Holy Spirit, which is pneumatology. [00:02:48] And then you have the study of man, which is anthropology. [00:02:55] And then you have the study of sin, which I believe is partiality. [00:03:04] And then you have the study of salvation, which is soteriology. [00:03:12] And then you have the study of angels, which is angiology. [00:03:17] And there is a subdivision under angiology for the study of fallen angels who are demons, demonology. [00:03:27] So systematic theology is systematically divided into those multiple divisions to help us to gain a clearer understanding of all things God. [00:03:45] But then there is historical theology, which is the study of church history, which looks at the church fathers from the first century forward and what their theological positions were, what their theological understandings were, how they understood the Bible, how they understood the church, how they did church, how they did theology. [00:04:27] It's. It's all about church history. [00:04:32] But then you have what I find to be the most important theology, and that is biblical theology. Biblical theology looks at theology from a high level perspective, from a large picture perspective. Biblical theology looks at what is God doing and was God doing, and has God been doing in this earth with human beings, through Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, what is God doing? What's he up to what has he been up to? [00:05:27] And when you gain an understanding of what God is doing, what God is up to what God has been doing, then you can determine how you can partner with God in what God is doing. [00:05:46] I mean, really, it would seem to me that any real believer in God would want to align their pursuits and their activities and their goals and their aspirations with what gods are. [00:06:10] Because God is sovereign. God is all powerful. God cannot fail. [00:06:16] God does not fail. [00:06:19] And so if you want a full proof way to be successful, align your activities and your pursuits with what God's activities and pursuits are. [00:06:34] Be used by God as an instrument, as a tool as he is accomplishing what he's accomplishing, and you will definitely be a part of a per. Of a successful pursuit. [00:06:53] So biblical theology looks at God to be valued. [00:07:02] What has God been doing? What is God doing? [00:07:06] What will God. [00:07:08] What is God up to? [00:07:10] And I believe that the Bible gives us the answer. It's, it's biblical theology. [00:07:19] And so the answer to what is biblical theology ought to be located in the body. [00:07:29] So let's look first at second Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 18. [00:07:42] There it says, and all things are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. [00:08:15] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. [00:08:25] We pray you in Christ said, be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. [00:08:44] So that is, I believe, in a nutshell, summarized the gospel. [00:08:53] But for me, and I believe for any other serious believer who wants to have a foolproof biblical theology, biblical belief system, I believe that this would be your biblical theology as well, because it is the gospel. [00:09:20] And I believe that the gospel is God's biblical theology. What has God been doing? What is God up to? What, what, what will God be up to? I believe that God has been accomplishing the gospel, that God is accomplishing the gospel, and that moving forward, God will be accomplishing the gospel. [00:09:50] So what do I mean when I say the gospel? What is the gospel? Well, we're going to look at a couple of scriptures here that's going to help us to understand a little bit more of what the gospel is. But right here where we're at in second corinthians chapter five. We have the gospel where we began to read. It says, and all things are of God who have reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. [00:10:22] So what caused us to need to be reconciled? [00:10:28] If you need to be reconciled, then there's been a separation, there's been a division, there's been a disagreement. [00:10:36] There's been something that has broken the relationship. [00:10:42] And we know that that something that has broken the relationship is sin. [00:10:49] Because God cannot tolerate sin. He is holy, he is righteous, he is perfect. And so sin separates from God. [00:11:02] And so because we all sinned in Adam, then we were born separated from God. [00:11:14] We were born with the disease of sin. [00:11:20] So somebody would say, well, how could I be born guilty of sin? And I hadn't even had an opportunity to commit a sin yet. [00:11:30] Because the disease of sin also separates from God. [00:11:37] It's filth, it's dirt, it's impurity, it's unholiness, it's unrighteousness, it's iniquity. [00:11:51] And it separates from God because God, God is holy. [00:11:57] And so we are born separated from God. [00:12:02] We are born needing to be reconciled to God. [00:12:09] And the Bible says here that God decided to take this step himself. That's how much he loved us. [00:12:21] He decided to take the step Himself to flawlessly accomplish the reconciliation so that we could be saved from eternal damnation. [00:12:37] And so the Scripture says that he was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. [00:12:56] So because of what Jesus did when he died on the cross, that caused then God not to impute our sins unto us, he put our sins on His Son, Jesus Christ, so that he would not have to place our sins upon us. [00:13:25] Because the wages of sin is death. [00:13:30] And so if we had had to bear our own sins, then we would have had to pay the penalty of death. [00:13:41] Instead, God sent His only begotten Son in order to bear those sins for us and to suffer the consequences of those sins by dying. [00:13:56] That is the reason why when Jesus was on the cross, he said, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? [00:14:05] And it is because he was so laden and covered with our sin that his Father could not stand to look at him. And for that moment turned his face, turned his back on him, forsook him. [00:14:30] It wasn't him that he forsook. It was the sin that he bore that God was forsaking. That's why the Bible says that he became sin for us. It does not say that he became a sinner. It says that he became sin. [00:14:55] He was so covered with all of humanity's sin that he actually became sin. [00:15:09] And God forsook that sin, not his son, but he forsook that sin and he allowed his son to die in our stead. [00:15:25] And because his son died in our stead, then our trespasses are not imputed unto us and we have been reconciled to God. And now look at that 19th and 20th verse where the Apostle Paul says that now he has given to us. [00:15:51] He has committed unto us the ministry, the word of reconciliation. [00:15:59] He has called us, all of us believers, not just preachers, not just pastors, not just evangelists, not just missionaries. He has called all of us to be ambassadors before Christ. [00:16:18] An ambassador is an emissary. An ambassador is someone that a leader sends to another country with a message. [00:16:30] We are ambassadors. The King has sent us with a message to mankind who has been separated by sin from God, that they can be reconciled to God by simply accepting the sacrifice that God provided on Calvary in order to forgive them of their sins so that they can be reconciled to God. [00:17:08] That's the gospel message. [00:17:10] And that is, I believe, biblical theology. I believe that that is what God has been, is, and will always be accomplishing. He's reconciling men to himself because his desire is that no man would perish, but that all will come to a knowledge of him. [00:17:37] He doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants everybody to be saved. He wants everyone to have eternal life. He made that clear when he sent his Son to die for the sins of the whole world. [00:17:54] Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. John 3:16, familiar scripture. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [00:18:13] And so biblical theology speaks to what has God been up to and what is God up to? And what will God be up to? It is the big picture. [00:18:26] Now, I believe that your biblical theology also has to be solid, systematically. [00:18:39] So what do I mean by that? Is that not only is it a big picture perspective, you don't just arrive at this out of nowhere, but it must agree with what is proper theology and what is proper Christology and what is proper soteriology and what is proper Pneumatology. [00:19:01] It has to agree with what is proper systematic theology. [00:19:09] And then historical theology has to be in agreement with both a solid biblical theology and a solid systematic theology. Now I have to be Honest with you regarding biblical theology. [00:19:30] I'm not as astute in that area as I have become and am becoming in the areas of systematic theology and biblical theology. Full transparency. The reason why is because historical theology looks at men and what those men believed and what those men thought and what those men taught, what those men understood. [00:20:02] And many times man is just wrong. [00:20:08] Man many times does not have it right. [00:20:11] Man's understanding many times is just twisted. [00:20:17] And so I believe that there is a value in studying historical theology. [00:20:24] There is a value in knowing what other men, other theologians, and other students of the Bible have thought God was doing from a biblical theology perspective and have thought about systematic theology divisions. [00:20:48] It is valuable to know what they thought so that you can bounce what they thought up against what you think up against what the Bible says to be, to arrive at a solid position, a definite position as to what your belief system will be. I mean, you actually get to arrive at your own biblical theology. I'm encouraging you today to continue to study God's Word, to continue to come to the Mark 8:27 podcast for the gospel talks and the church talk, and to learn as much as you can about God's word so that you can eventually say, this is what I believe. [00:21:46] This is my theology. [00:21:49] Peter said that we should always be ready to give an account of the hope that lies within us. If someone comes up to you and says, what do you believe about God? [00:22:02] You should be able to, just as I'm doing with you right now. And I don't have a piece of paper in front of me. I have my Bible in front of me. I have made a few notes of scripture references that I need to go to. [00:22:18] But I know in whom I have believed, I know what I believe, and I know what I don't believe. [00:22:27] Nobody can just tell me anything about my God. [00:22:32] Nobody can just tell me anything about what my God has said. [00:22:38] Nobody can just tell me anything about what my God did, is doing or will do. [00:22:45] That must be in agreement with my systematic theology understanding of God. That is my theology proper. [00:22:56] And it must agree with what my understanding is of biblical theology, what God has been doing throughout history as he's been doing what he's been doing. [00:23:12] And so nobody can just tell me anything, because I know what my biblical theology is, and it is the gospel. It's very simple, it cannot be wrong. [00:23:25] My biblical theology is the gospel. So all I actually have to do is to reiterate what the Bible says is the Gospel. And that is my biblical theology. [00:23:39] And the reason why I've selected that as my biblical theology is because I believe that that is God's biblical theology. [00:23:50] Let's look at another familiar scripture, First Corinthians, chapter 15, beginning at that first verse. [00:23:59] Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. [00:24:24] For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. [00:24:30] How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part were remain until this present. [00:24:58] But some are falling asleep. [00:25:02] So that's the gospel in a nutshell. The Apostle Paul says that I first received the gospel, and then after I received the gospel, then I delivered that gospel. Of primary importance. [00:25:19] The gospel is of primary importance. [00:25:25] I find it difficult to understand how people go to church, and they go to church. [00:25:43] They. [00:25:44] They go to church. [00:25:46] But if you ask them to explain the gospel to you or to tell you what is the gospel, they're not able to tell you what the gospel is. [00:26:00] All believers should be able to give an answer as to what is the gospel. All believers should be willing to give an account for the hope that lies within you. [00:26:15] Hang around with us a little while longer, do some reading so that you know what you believe, why you believe it, and you can help someone else to believe it. [00:26:29] So the gospel in the original language comes from a word pronounced euangelion. [00:26:38] It is eu, and then a N, G, E, L, I, O, n. [00:26:45] And so the. The eu at the beginning of it is a word that basically means good, positive it. I mean, we use that prefix eu for a eulogy for someone when they pass away, because a eulogy are good words, kind words, gentle words about a person. [00:27:11] So the euangelion, which is the original word for the word gospel, is. [00:27:21] It is good. [00:27:22] And then you got angelion, which is the same word that is used for the word angel. [00:27:33] And an angel is a messenger. [00:27:39] So not only does that word angelion refer to a messenger, but it also refers to a message. [00:27:51] And so the gospel, the eangelion, is not only the message, but it is also the delivering of that message. [00:28:09] The messenger delivers the eangelion message. [00:28:16] That's why when you look in Revelation and I believe it's Revelation chapter three, where the the churches of Asia are addressed. [00:28:30] When they are addressed, the message is given to the angel of that church. [00:28:38] And I don't believe that it's necessarily talking about a spiritual angel. I believe it's talking about in a representative way, the individuals that were the overseers of those church churches, the angels, the messengers of those churches. [00:29:03] And so, and so you got to know what the evangelion is. You got to know what the Gospel is. What the Apostle Paul said that I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. [00:29:20] I mean, the Gospel is so key, it is so critical, it is so central to our faith that you have to know what the gospel is. [00:29:34] And in my opinion, the gospel, the whole gospel ought to be your biblical theology. [00:29:44] That ought to be your understanding, your big picture understanding of what's going on in the Bible, of what's going on in the kingdom, of what's going on in the church, of what was God doing is God doing, and what will God be doing? It's. It's all wrapped up in the Gospel. [00:30:07] And then what should I be doing? What should you be doing? [00:30:13] The work of the gospel. [00:30:16] The gospel. [00:30:18] The gospel. [00:30:20] St. John, chapter one. [00:30:24] And let's look down in that first chapter, and let's start reading at verse six. [00:30:31] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. That's John the Baptist. [00:30:36] The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. [00:30:45] He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. [00:31:02] He came unto his own, and his own received him not as many as did receive him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. [00:31:25] And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. There's the gospel again. [00:31:38] That Jesus came, His own did not receive him. [00:31:45] And so anyone else who did receive him, he gave to them the power to be reconciled to God, to become the sons of God, to be adopted into the family of God, to be grafted into the vine. Remember, Jesus said that I am the true vine and you are the branches. [00:32:15] You, you must be in him. You have to abide in Him, Jesus said, in order for that branch to survive, even when you look at a tree out in your front yard, if you cut the branch off from the tree, then the branch has been cut off from its source of nourishment and that branch will die. [00:32:42] And so in Christ, God gave us the privilege to be reconciled to him, even though our sin, our sinfulness had separated us from Him. [00:32:56] He gave to us this awesome privilege to be reconciled to him and to be reconciled to him as sons, as daughters, as his actual children, as family members. [00:33:16] Wow. [00:33:18] Participate with him as he does it. [00:33:22] Join Him. [00:33:24] Be an ambassador for Christ. [00:33:28] Join him as he does it. And I want to close this out with another one of my favorite scriptures. [00:33:36] Back In Isaiah, chapter 53 and beginning with verse 4, there it says, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we didn't esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. [00:34:08] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed all. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord have laid on him the iniquity of us all. [00:34:33] God has been reconciling mankind to Himself the whole time. [00:34:41] And all the time right now, God is reconciling men unto Himself. And until he returns, God is reconciling men unto Himself. [00:35:00] Let's participate in that reconciliation project. [00:35:05] That is the reason that I do all that I do. That's the reason that I do the podcast that I do that. That is the reason that I do the YouTube pages that I do. [00:35:18] I'm looking forward to also having a radio broadcast for Mark 8:27. [00:35:26] That will be the reason that I will do that. [00:35:30] Because my biblical theology is the gospel. [00:35:35] And the Gospel says that I am an ambassador for Christ, that I get saved and then I help someone else to get saved. [00:35:49] I've been reconciled. [00:35:51] Now I must help someone else to become reconciled so that they can help someone else to become reconciled, so that they can help someone else to become reconciled. [00:36:07] Well, this went longer than we normally go. It looks like we're longer than 40 minutes now. And I definitely hope that you are still here. If you are, thank you so much. And I trust that you are still here because you are still have gained some value as a result of being here. For the Mark 8:27 podcast Gospel Talk series, please be blessed and stand out because of your Excellence.