Greetings, dear listeners, to our third talk in our series on New Testament Survey. This is also the first of three sessions on the four gospels that are the first four books of the New Testament. The names of these books are in sequence: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Let me introduce the Gospels as the type of writing.

The word “gospel” has become the proper name for this particular type of writing that is found in the first four books of the New Testament. They are collectively distinguished by their purpose, content and general style of how they approach their subject matter. Let us then look at the content.

Each of the four Gospel record and presents to us the words and works of Jesus Christ. His words refer to His proclamation, teaching and commands to His disciples and to the world. His works refer to what He came to do by His life and ministry. His most important words are His revelation of who He is, of the fallen state of humankind in sin and our need for salvation, and that God in His great and merciful love has sent Him to save us. His most important work is His death and resurrection on the cross and rising again from the dead. His death paid for the sins of humankind so that we may be forgiven. His resurrection from the dead defeated sin, this fallen world, the devil and death so that we may have eternal life. These truths are recorded and highlighted in each of the four gospels. Each gospel presents to us the ministry of Jesus in Galilee and Jerusalem. These were the principles centres of His ministry on Earth, although He ministered beyond these areas, even into Gentile territory. Galilee was where He called 12 to be His disciples to receive his personal instruction and training by following Him wherever He ministered. He groomed them to be His apostles to continue His ministry after His death and resurrection. Jerusalem was where He spent the last days of His mission and brought His ministry to its climax. There, He cleansed the temple, sacrificed himself by His crucifixion and rose from the dead. All of these took place in the land of Israel, which was the nation with whom God made the national covenant through Moses at Mount Sinai. He is the Messiah of Israel, yet this salvation is for all humankind because He is none other than the one true God, the Lord and Saviour of all.

The message of the Gospel is reflected or expressed through its content, fundamental to all the four gospels is the common message of who Jesus is, what He proclaimed, and the supreme significance of his death and resurrection. Jesus Christ is God born to us as man. He is “Emmanuel” which means “God with us”. In Him, God came in person to meet us and reach out to us. He came to reveal God and his truth, through His public ministry. He proclaimed that the kingdom of God has arrived with His coming, yet He is more than a prophet or a teacher or a preacher. He is God Himself come in person to prophecy, teach and preach, to reveal to us the one true God. The one God is His father in Heaven with Himself as the eternal Son and the Holy Spirit who enabled His human birth, empowered His ministry on Earth and whom He sent with the Father to be with us after He completed His work on Earth.

The principle message which Jesus proclaimed when He was on earth was the call for Israel and all humankind to repent because the kingdom of Heaven or the kingdom of God has come. We need to turn from sin to return to the one true God who alone is to be worshipped and obeyed. He revealed that we and this world are in sin and under the power of the devil and destined for judgement and destruction. But He has come to offer God’s salvation by dying to pay for our sins. He rose from the dead to defeat sin, this fallen world and the devil so that we may receive in Him eternal life. Those who accept this offer by repenting of their sins and surrendering to Him as the Lord and God shall be cleansed of their sins and forgiven and are born again to receive a new nature, a new life that is free of sin and death. This is the meaning of the word “gospel”. It means “good news”. It is the good news that God has given us - a way out of sin, death and judgement. Those who accepts this message and receives Him for who He is and what He has done for us are saved. He taught a qualitatively different way of life that is the way for all who received Him to live.

Let us make a note of the writers of the Gospel as we have noted in our previous talk. There are four gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Holy Spirit in His wisdom gave us, through them, a four-dimensional account of His revelation. Our next talk shall introduce us to each of these four accounts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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