Book Review: God's Word of Today...The Gospel by John Stott

The gospel is God's message to all people on what it takes to be made right with God. A lot of times, Christians have gotten to the gospel wrong. We think Jesus came to give us a better life or make all our problems go away. As Christians living in the 21sr century, we need to get the gospel right. We need to have a Biblical understanding of what the good news truly is.

Years ago, John Stott wrote a book called The Contemporary Christian, which helped Christians engaging and living in the world around them. Tim Chester has graciously update this book and divided into five books into a series called, "God's Word of Today." This particular one I am reviewing is on the gospel.

Stott wrote that Christianity is not a religion, but it is God's good news for the world. The gospel does have a divine origin that comes from God, while it also has a human relative which speaks about our condition. In the book, Stott speaks of our human condition meaning that we are sinful and there is no good in us. Yes, we are made in the image of God, but that image has been marred thanks to the Fall.

Stott addresses the freedoms the gospel gives us. We are free from the guilt of our sins, ourselves, and from fear. However, the Bible also says we are free to serve one another and living the live God has designed for us by His grace. Stott addresses the cross of Christ and why it is important in the gospel message. Finally, we see the relevance of the resurrection which we all know, if the resurrection never happened then we are still in our sins.

Stott's book on the gospel is a simple book for everyone to read whether you are a new believer or one that has been in the faith for some time. I do recommend it for small group Bible study.

Thanks InterVarsity Press for letting me review this book.