Sample Three—Excerpt from Chapter ten of Real Grace for Real People

Matthew 11:5

Some, like those elsewhere mentioned, want to limit their definition of the gospel to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. However, Jesus did not. Messengers came from John the Baptist to Jesus. There was consternation because Jesus had not yet made Himself king and run the Romans out of Israel. Why had He not done this?

Impatient for the expected action, they asked Jesus: Was He the Messiah or not? He told them to sit down and watch. As they watched, oh, what they saw! The blind received their vision, those carried to Jesus or limping into His presence were healed, lepers were cleansed of their disease before their eyes, some of the deaf heard for the first time, and Jesus even raised the dead. Now listen! According to Jesus, “the poor” were having “the gospel preached to them”!

Every miracle was a picture of the true restoration God planned for the human race. His repair of the ruin from sin was worked out over and over again. Yet, did you notice? While these people were drawn toward Jesus, they did not stop at mere wishing to come. They came.They came into His presence; they came into contact. There was touch; there was life. They were not healed before they came. Not after they left. It was in the moment of contact with Jesus that they were restored.

The death and resurrection of Jesus was still future. None yet but Jesus envisioned His eventual death upon the Cross. However, the gospel was being preached to them! Clearly then, the gospel is more broadly defined than only the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Remember, by Jesus’ stripes “we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). This healing is the gospel.

Let us reiterate the substance of this point. If the gospel is held strictly as Jesus’ sacrifice upon the Cross outside of me to pay the penalty for sin in my place, salvation can be limited to one's legal standing before God. Now, we see that such a limitation is artificial and unbiblical.

The poor had the gospel preached to them through Jesus’ work of healing. True, there is a linkage with the Cross in that the penalty for sin had to be paid. It is with Jesus’ sacrifice in our place that our healing becomes accessible. Yet the fact remains that Jesus’ own words indicate that the meaning of heaven's gospel is more than a concern limited strictly to laws and penalties, sentences and accounting. Jesus is the great Physician, not the great accountant. The gospel includes regeneration.

Matthew 14:28-31

Then we recall the story of Jesus walking on the water. Or is it the story of Peter walking on the water? Jesus walking on the water does not surprise us. Peter walking on the water—that surprises us. At first the disciples had been afraid; but then they understood that it really was Jesus. As usual, Peter was the first to speak:

Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come.And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

This is an especially telling incident. It reminds us that Jesus draws us to Himself. When Peter saw the Lord he was drawn to Him. “Ask me to come to you on the water,” was his request. Then Jesus did ask! Peter stepped out of the boat! Step after step hit the water. He was approaching His Lord. But somehow he took his eyes off of the Lord and became anxious at the swirling wind and waves. Immediately the connection between himself and Jesus was breaking.

“Lord, save me!” he screamed, plunging downward toward the depths. Jesus answered his plea, plucked him out of the water, and lovingly rebuked him for his lack of faith. Peter was in connection with God and the supernatural was actively occurring in his experience. For a moment at least.

Had the disciples ever seen Jesus walking on the water before that night? Not as far as we know. Peter's reaction (“Ask me to come to you on the water!”) reminds us that the first desire of the disciple is to emulate his Lord. Likewise, the first response of the Lord to this desire, is “Come!” When we want to live above sin like Jesus, His first response for us will also be “Come!” Jesus did not interrupt Peter's zeal with a lecture about how we are not saved by our works. He empowered him to walk on the water. Grace is about living above the tumultuous surface. It has never been about drowning in bondage to sinful practice. When we connect to Jesus through faith we may have the victory.