D. L. Moody's Testimony to the Gospel

"Paul says in the 15th of the 1st of Corinthians what the gospel is. He says, 'I declare unto you the gospel.' And the first thing he states in the declaration to these Corinthians is this: 'Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.' That was the old-fashioned gospel. I hope we never will get away from it. I don't want anything but that old, old story. Some people have itching ears for something new. Bear in mind there is no new gospel. Christ died for our sins. If He did not, how are we going to get rid of them? Would you insult the Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail body to atone for sin? If Christ did not die for our sins, what is going to become of our souls? And then he goes on to tell that Christ was buried, and that Christ rose again.

He burst asunder the bands of death. Death could not hold Him. I can imagine, when they laid Him in Joseph's sepulcher, if our eyes could have been there, we should have seen Death sitting over that sepulcher, saying, 'I have Him; He is my victim. He said He was the resurrection and the life. Now I have hold of Him in my cold embrace. Look at Him. There He is; He has had to pay tribute to me. Some thought He was never going to die. Some thought I would not get Him. But He is mine.' But look again. The glorious morning comes, and the Son of Man burst asunder the bands of death, and came out of the sepulcher. We do not worship a dead God, but a Saviour who still lives. Yes; He rose from the grave; and then they saw Him ascend. That is what Paul calls the gospel."¹

ENDNOTES:

¹ Moody, "WHAT 'THE GOSPEL' IS," Moody and Sankey; Their Lives and Labors [London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, 1876], 2 Parts, Part 2, pp. 67-68.