There are four Gospels in the
Bible, written by four different evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. And to have a good understanding
of life and the teaching of Jesus, you have to read the four Gospels. Today, and for a few weeks to
come, I would like to draw your attention to the first chapter
of the Gospel of Mark and to the very first verse where we
read, "...the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of
God." Notice that the evangelist Mark very clearly specifies that
the Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God. have invented many religions
and rites that still exist in the world. But the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is unique in that it is of divine origin. This
is precisely what distinguishes, among other things, the evangelical
faith from the Catholic dogmas. Evangelical faith is based solely
on the revelation that God gives us in the Bible, while the Catholic
dogmas are based both on the Bible and on the tradition of
the Church, because the Catholic Church accepts two sources of
authority, the Bible and the tradition of the Church. There
are many examples of this. Take, for example, two dogmas. The dogma of the Assumption of
Mary is that of the infallibility of the Pope. Neither one nor
the other is found in the Bible. They come only from the tradition
of the Church. But the evangelist Mark tells
us very clearly that the Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
Son of God. It is the Gospel of salvation,
and the Bible teaches us several things about salvation. Firstly,
it is divine in its origin. God was not obliged to save men. He decided to do it without any
pressure from anyone, or of any origin whatsoever, God was not
obliged to save the sinners. He could have condemned them,
precisely, but He did not. For reasons that we cannot understand,
if it is only to glorify Himself through the salvation of sinners,
God decided to save men. Man is not saved because of his
merit. He is saved only by the grace
of God. The origin of salvation is in
the eternal designs of God, who wants to redeem a people to glorify
his own name. Notice, if he had wanted to redeem
all men, But He did not. Why? We do not know. The Bible does not reveal it.
But we know that all that God wanted to redeem, He did indeed
by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is the message of the grace
of God, which is divine in its origin. In second place, Salvation
is divine in its execution. God sent his own Son to die for
the sins of men. The one who died on the cross
was indeed the Son of God. If he had been a man, he would
not have been able to redeem a people for the glory of God.
He was God. The salvation, I repeat, was
divine in its origin, and even those who crucified Him did so
according to the will of God. Allow me to read to you only
two verses of the Gospels that indicate this. In the Gospel
of Matthew, chapter 26 and verse 51, we read, and I will read
it up to verse 54, And behold, one of those who
were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew out his sword.
He struck the servant of the Supreme Sacrificer and carried
it to his ear. Then Jesus said to him, Put your
sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish
by the sword. Do you think that I cannot invoke
my Father, who would give me at the moment more than twelve
angels, How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled according
to which they ought to be so? It was the plan of God that these
things should be accomplished in this way. And again, in the
Gospel of John, chapter 19, and in verse 11, we read, it is Jesus
who speaks, You would have no power over me, says he to Pilate,
if he had not given you from above. This is why the one who gives
me to you commits a greater sin. Pilate said, You would have no
power over me if I had not given you from above. It is the will
of God, my Father, that you have accomplished. Even if you do
not know it, even if you think you are doing your own will,
through your will, it is the will of my Father that you have
accomplished. Salvation is divine in its fulfillment. Thirdly, salvation is divine
in its application. It is God who applies salvation
to His chosen ones. Man is completely corrupted by
nature and does not desire the things of God. It is God who
changes his heart so that he desires salvation. Left to himself, man would pursue
his own path and would have no desire to repent and turn to
God. It is through the action of the
Holy Spirit that God convinces of sin and leads man to repent. Of course, it is man who repents,
but it is God who gives him the power to do so. The Bible tells
us in Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9, The heart is tortuous above
all, and it is wicked. And again in Esaias 6, verse
6, we were all wandering like sheep, each one following his
own way. And again in the New Testament,
in Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapter 2, verse 25, for all
have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. This is
the state of man before God intervenes to give him the desire and the
power to repent. In fourth place, salvation is
divine in its fulfillment. Christ has not only come to make
salvation possible. He has come, as we read in the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 19 and verse 10, to seek and save what
was lost. Two things, seek and save. Not only to make salvation possible,
no, to save. What He came to do, He actually
accomplished. The Gospel is divine in its fulfillment. It is this Gospel that the Evangelist
Mark speaks of in his Gospel when he says, The Gospel of Jesus
Christ, Son of God. It is this Gospel that we announce
to you. And, like the Evangelist Mark,
we call you to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ, who
alone is the Savior of men. We want to help you. This is
why we invite you to write to us. If you have a spiritual problem,
do not hesitate to write to us. We will be very happy to answer
you and to help you. Here is the address to which
you have to write. Echo of Truth Postal Box 505
71322 Chalon-sur-Saône, it is written
C-H-A-L-O-N, France. I repeat this address. Echo de
la Vérité, mailbox 505-71322, Chalon-sur-Saône, France. Jésus chante aujourd'hui Jésus
chante aujourd'hui Que d'accord à notre bonheur On relâche notre
parole foreign