Daily Gospel Insights

By Shon Bruellman and Mike Cleveland

What does the Bible really teach? What is its main message? Is there any key to helping us understand it?

There is one central message in the Bible, and that message is the key that unlocks every passage to our understanding. Without this key the Bible is a locked book, confusing at best, entirely unable to be understood, and open to all kinds of misinterpretations.

This one message should be the subject of all your study of the Bible, it should be the main subject of every sermon preached, and should be the central subject of small group discussion. What is this one message, this key that unlocks the entire Bible? It is the Gospel.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4

This is a book about the Gospel because there is no subject greater that we could speak on. It is our hope that in this book we will be able unwrap texts in both the Old and New Testament that reveal the beauty of the Gospel, the power of the Gospel, and the hope of the Gospel for all mankind. Young or old; religious or agnostic this book is intended to encourage, inspire, and instill a heart of worship within the reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483535807

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Day 1

What does the Bible really teach? What is its main message? Is there any key to helping us understand it?

There is one central message in the Bible, and that message is the key that unlocks every passage to our understanding. Without this key the Bible is a locked book, confusing at best, entirely unable to be understood, and open to all kinds of misinterpretations.

This one message should be the subject of all your study of the Bible, it should be the main subject of every sermon preached, and should be the central subject of small group discussion.

What is this one message, this key that unlocks the entire Bible? It is the gospel. Here is what one writer said about it: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 This message is of first importance, as it is the key to every passage.

But doesn't the gospel begin in the Book of Matthew in the New Testament? No, the gospel is all through the Bible.

"The gospel begins, not in Matthew 1:1, but in Genesis 3:15..Let us never forget that, and so let us go to our Old Testament and look for the gospel. You will find it there almost everywhere in a most astounding manner, and it is our business, as well as our privilege, to seek it and to rejoice in it as we find it there.

...the Bible teaches very clearly that there is only one gospel; the gospel is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New. Again, I am surprised when a preacher does not see it in the Old Testament, for if a man does not see it there, I doubt if he understands the gospel in the New Testament. Take the gospel that was preached by God in the Garden of Eden and also the promise made to Abraham; that is the essence of the gospel. Look at all the types and shadows; look at the various offerings described in Leviticus and elsewhere. Look even at the very furniture of the tabernacle. All these things preach the gospel; they are the types of the gospel and its message." Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

I want to close by showing how we find the gospel in the Old Testament, in hopes that you might take this method to every Scripture you read. Just take a passage at random and see how the gospel illuminates it. Let's take Psalm 103:9-12 for example:

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:9-12

First: God will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever. He no longer accuses you of your sin, for He accused Jesus of your sin and then put Him to death in your place. Now He harbors no anger for you because He poured out all His anger on Jesus instead of you.

Second: He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. The reason is because He treated Jesus as our sins deserve and repaid Him according to our sins.

Third: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. God sent His Son from heaven to earth because of His great love. Jesus then spread His hands from East to West, had nails pierced through them, and died to remove our transgressions from us.

Notice the verbal imagery of the cross in that passage? Heaven to earth, and east to West?

This is the message of the Bible. Learn it well. Look for it always. Rejoice in it everywhere. If you do, your Bible will come alive, you will have the key to understanding every passage, and you will captivated by Jesus Christ, Who loved you and gave Himself for you (Galatians 2:20).

Mike Cleveland

Day 2

Psalm 56:1-4 To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; (2) my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. (3) When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (4) In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall ...not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

I wanted to focus today on verse 2 above which says My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly and look at how this applies to temptation. And most specifically the tiny, little nagging temptations and sins you and I both face that seem to continually gnaw at our heels and tug at our flesh. If you are like most people, it's not the major scandalous sins that hinder your walk or keep you in captivity, but the little things that wear you down and slowly dull your passions for the things of the Lord. If you doubt this, consider the effect of a tiny grain of sand in your eye, or a single barb in your shoe. Such a small thing that slows the gait or hinders the vision!

David was speaking of literal enemies who were pursuing him to take him captive, but in some ways the enemies we fight against are even more dangerous and deadly for they are internal and go with us wherever we go. He could avoid his enemies; we can't. Therefore, to escape that which seeks to master and defile is in not going to be accomplished by flight, but by