We have here
I. A recommendation of the Gospel; and this we see lies in two things, in its having such an Author; it is "the Gospel of the blessed God"; and, secondly, in its being in itself of such a nature or character; it is "the glorious Gospel." Here are two points that lie much across the line of our present thinking, which tends to make little of God, and to put the universe in the place of God, and also to make little of the Gospel, and see in it no glory. But as Christians we are bound to resist these tendencies, and to exalt the Gospel as having such an Author, and also as being what it is in its own nature. The Gospel is glorious (1) in its doctrines, (2) in its morals, (3) in its ordinances.
II. Consider our duty towards the Gospel. It was, says Paul, committed to my trust. He was a steward, and a good steward of the manifold grace of God. How manifold has that grace been in, and with him. He is still, after eighteen hundred years, a front actor in the scene of human things. His words are carried, by those who will themselves be immortal, into the darkest places of the world's sin and misery. How shall we who are Christians meet this duty of stewardship? There is (1).the duty of preservation. Is he a steward who suffers the property to be wasted and dilapidated, with which he is entrusted? Let us remember Paul's own words here, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2) The duty of transmission. We are to do what we can to bring more truth out of God's word; but we shall never succeed if we break our succession with the past, and do not hand on its treasures to the future. (3) The duty of diffusion.
J. Cairns, Christ the Morning Star,p. 352.
I. The Gospel declares itself to be God's greatest answer to man's greatest want. The Gospel does not profess to be one answer among many. It claims to be the one answer which God makes to the problem of sin, and the agony of sorrow. The Gospel does not speak with hesitating, diffident tone. It does not put itself in an excusatory attitude. It does not ask to be heard on sufferance, and to be judged by some modified law of criticism. It stands clear out in the daylight. It says, in personal language, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." So far it establishes some claim on our attention, if not upon our confidence, by its very boldness, by the heroic sentiment that is in it. It is one of two things. The issue is an issue sharply defined. Either the Gospel is the most gigantic and self-convicting imposition, or it merits the epithet "glorious," as describing its scope, and its Divine meaning. The Gospel of the blessed God claims to be as necessary to redemption, and sanctification, and glorification of the soul as the sun, the air, the dew, the earth claim to be necessary to the growth of your food, and to the maintenance of your physical system.
II. Being God's greatest answer to man's greatest want, the Gospel must supply that which is most needful to man. Let us suppose that it is admitted that man is a sinner. The thing most acceptable to man under such circumstances is pardon. This is precisely what the Gospel proposes to give to all who accept it. Through this Man, Christ Jesus, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. He who sees and feels the darkness of guilt will best comprehend, and most truly appreciate the lustre and dazzling effulgence of God's great offer of redemption. Pardon is not enough. When God pardons, there is another step involved, and another element enters into consideration. Man becomes not only pardoned he becomes also holy. When a man sees the possibility of holiness, when he sees through Christ what men may become, then he tramples under foot all theories, all morals, all human suggestions and desires, and fixing his eye upon Christ and His truth, he says, There, and there only, have I found the glorious Gospel.
Parker, City Temple,1871, p. 85.
References: 1 Timothy 1:11. A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart,p. 271; H. P. Liddon, Advent Sermons,vol. i., p. 126; Homilist,2nd series, vol. i., p. 47; A. Maclaren, Christian World Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 376; Ibid.,vol. xxxiii., p. 342; Preacher's Monthly,vol. x., p. 101.