R.C. Sproul

But that wasn't all.

also associated with the gospel was the good news of what this work of Christ does for our benefit and how we can gain the benefits from it.

So that the whole concept of receiving the benefits of the work of Christ

by faith becomes an extremely important element of the gospel as we will examine in our next session.

We have seen a basic introduction today of the meaning of the term gospel.

That is that it has to do with the announcement of the good news of the person and work of Christ.

And it is by the gospel that the church became established in the first century.

And the church understood her mission to be chiefly involved in the proclamation of that message.

Now the gospel that is preached in the New Testament is not a novelty as if there were no hints of it in the Old Testament.

We look at the prophets and the teachings of the Old Testament, and they give us a foreshadowing of the gospel that is to come.

Before I sign off today, though, there is something I'd like to say to those of you who are listening.

Recently somebody told me that's involved in Christian radio.

that for every 150 people who listen to a program, one person will contact the ministry.

And I don't know how true that is, but if you are among the 149 that are listening to this program who have never contacted us, I do hope that today you'll take an opportunity

give us a call and tell us that you're listening to the program or that you're interested in the things of this program, because we do need to hear from you to know that these lectures are ministering to you.

The knowledge of God is so high that the most brilliant of scholars hardly ever scratches the surface of our understanding of who God is.

At the beginning of chapter 3 here, Paul continues his exposition of the theme to which he gave great attention already in chapter 2, which had to do with the revelation of this mysterion or mystery that once had been concealed but now has been revealed.

And that theme, though, for many ways, lay dormant throughout Old Testament days, at least.

It was not front and center.

But with the advent of Christ and his work of redemption, now that which had been hidden