gospel

Success At Last!

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Jesus shows you the goodness of God by sending him to succeed where you failed. You are in his triumphant procession. No longer do you have to work for God’s approval. If you are in Christ, God approves of you.

Adam in the garden failed, Israel in the wilderness failed, but where they couldn’t live up to God’s law, Jesus did. He is the better Adam, and he is the true Israel, who delighted to do God’s will. And that perfect record God has put into your account, so you are now as perfect as Jesus.

 

All Is Free

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Pardon, peace, spiritual life—all of them are gifts, divine gifts, brought down from heaven by the Son of God, presented personally to each needy sinner by God. They are not to be bought, but received; as men receive the sunshine, complete and sure and free. They are not to be earned or deserved by exertions or sufferings, or prayers or tears; but received at once as the purchase of the labors and sufferings of the great Substitute. They are not to be waited for—but taken on the spot without hesitation or distrust, as men take the loving gift of a generous friend.

— Horatius Bonar

A Happy Confession of Having No Merit

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This is my confession:

I was born into a believing family through no merit of my own at all.

I was given a mind to think and a heart to feel through no merit of my own at all.

I was brought into the hearing of the gospel through no merit of my own at all.

My rebellion was subdued, my hardness removed, my blindness overcome, and my deadness awakened through no merit of my own at all.

Thus I became a believer in Christ through no merit of my own at all.

And so I am an heir of God with Christ through no merit of my own at all.

Now when I put forward effort to please the Lord who bought me, this is to me no merit at all, because

…it is not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

…God is working in me that which is pleasing in his sight. (Hebrews 13:21)

…he fulfills every resolve for good by his power. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

And therefore there is no ground for boasting in myself, but only in God’s mighty grace.

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)

— By John Piper

Gospel Transformation

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“The gospel transforms us in heart, mind, will, and actions precisely because it is not itself a message about our transformation. Nothing that I am or that I feel, choose, or do qualifies as Good News. On my best days, my experience of transformation is weak, but the gospel is an announcement of a certain state of affairs that exists because of something in God, not something in me; something that God has done, not something that I have done; the love in God’s heart which he has shown in his Son, not the love in my heart that I exhibit in my relationships. Precisely as the Good News of a completed, sufficient, and perfect work of God in Christ accomplished for me and outside of me in history, the gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation’ not only at the beginning but throughout the Christian life. In fact, our sanctification is simply a lifelong process of letting that Good News sink in and responding appropriately; becoming the people whom God says that we already are in Christ.”

— Michael Horton

Was There Any Jesus in Church?

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If a Jewish rabbi could have preached the sermon you heard this past Sunday, you didn’t hear from God.

A biblical sermon is always about Christ and the gospel. It’s not about world affairs, personal stories, the latest movie, a list of helps, or a feel-good message.

It’s not, “Do this and live.”

“I don’t know about you, but if a person’s understanding of the gospel isn’t scandalous to my natural way of thinking, if it doesn’t call into question everything I think I know, if it doesn’t subvert the wisdom of this age, then when you preach it I can barely muster the energy to yawn.” — Jason Stellman

As Jesus said in Luke 24 to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the entire Old Testament is about him. The entire New Testament is about him. That means the entire bible points to him. He’s the protagonist of the story.

So not everything you hear in church in kosher.

Listen well.

How Content Are You?

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Q: What is real contentment?

A: An inner poise, a deep seated joy that can handle anything life throws at you.

It’s not detachment or resignation. It’s not a personality trait. It’s not rooted in your circumstances.

Paul had to learn to be content. (See Philippians 4: 10-23) So do you. It’s a life-long lesson, which is not learned overnight. (How wonderful because I’m a failure at it.)

Can your contentment deal with the highs and lows of life? Both the failures and the successes? (My kind takes me on a roller coaster ride every time.)

You try to change your circumstances or fix yourself believing that will make you  content. (A better spouse, a modern kitchen, a new body, flashier clothes, whiter teeth.)

Ask yourself next time you are unhappy: who or what has seized the title to your heart? Mark that as an idol and smash it.

Here’s what true about idols: Idols can’t deliver. They lie. They trap and enslave you. Idols don’t handle the weight of life.

Who is your God? Who are you trusting?

Only Jesus Christ delivers what he promises. He gives you the meaning to the details of your life, even your suffering.

Q: What are the marks of contentment?

A: Gratitude to God for rescuing you from sin and death and giving you new life in his Son, and generosity toward your neighbor.

Contentment is found only in the gospel.

Can You Say This?

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We can put it this way: the man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking to himself. He has ceased to say, “Ah yes, I have committed terrible sins but I have done this and that…” He stops saying that. If he goes on saying that, he has not got faith…Faith speaks in an entirely different manner and makes a man say, “Yes, I have sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin…yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own, my righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and God has put that to my account.”

– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

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Q: What is a Christian?

A: A Christian is someone who has shredded his religious resume.

In Paul’s experience, in Philippians chapter three, he had a sterling resume: he was born a Jew, studied under the best rabbis, obeyed God’s laws, and was religiously zealous to the point of persecuting Christians.

Today, a religious resume might include: faithful church attendance, a daily devotional time, running a good Christian home, serving the community or the church, being a good neighbor, and loving your family.

Everybody is building a resume. This world exists on resumes. You need one for a job, to get into a prestigious school, to become a professional sports player, to join an exclusive club. It’s a way of presenting your best qualities for the utmost impact in order to be accepted.

Paul, whose pedigree outshone most people of his day, declared his resume worthless in comparison to what he gained in Christ. He said that he had only one thing on his resume: Jesus Christ and his righteousness. Everything else was spiritual bankruptcy, dung.

Stop trying to be a good Christian!

If you’re counting on your best traits, your sterling character, and your amazing accomplishments to make God accept you, you’re trusting in the dung pile. These are the very things that hinder you from embracing the all-sufficient righteousness that is yours in Christ.

Conversely, if you think you’re so depraved and worthless that God could never accept you, you’re also trusting in the dung pile. You’re unworthiness is no match for God’s grace. Christ came to save sinners just like you.

The truth is there is no righteousness outside of Christ, even if you were perfect in yourself (which you are not) or unworthy in yourself (which you are).

As a Christian, your resume is an alien resume. God gives it to you as a free gift. It’s 100% acceptable in God’s sight. You didn’t earn it. Christ did. And you don’t maintain it. Christ does.

Tell somebody!

 

Get Over Yourself

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Quit looking  at your sanctification to prove to yourself (and to others) that you are a Christian.

You are a Christian because of the gospel. God found you. God saved you. God changed you.

You are united to Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. Everything that Jesus is you now are, too. Since Jesus is holy, so are you by virtue of your union in him. And it’s the Holy Spirit in you that continues to make you holy.

What did you do to accomplish that? Nothing. It’s a gift.

What are you doing now to sustain this? Nothing. It’s a gift.

What are you doing to insure your safe arrival in heaven? Nothing. It’s a gift.

You’re probably thinking by now, “But wait a minute, what about obedience?”

What about it?

Are you obeying God because you think it’s your way of working toward holiness? Are you obeying God because if you don’t you feel guilty? Are you obeying God because it’s your duty to do so, otherwise how can you call yourself a Christian?

You are a Christian because of what God has done to you. You are a Christian because you are in Christ. God put you there. And you are holy for the same reasons.

It’s out of this new relationship in Christ that we live out our holiness. How? By living a life of gratitude to God and loving our neighbor.

And lo and behold, we are obeying the two greatest commandments!

Quit taking your spiritual temperature. Look to Jesus who has done it all.

And relax.

Gripped by Grace

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What does it look like to be gripped by grace? According to the book of Philippians, chapter two, it begins with thinking of yourself less and thinking of others with more honor. Jesus didn’t hog his rightful place in heaven with God. Instead he left heaven willingly and came to earth as a servant and to die as a criminal. Jesus rejected the honors right, and poured himself out for wicked, selfish and rebellious people who hated him.

What does this tell you?  That the greatest communication about God is being a servant. Jesus spent his capital for the sake of his enemies, men and women who should have been his friends, but instead were traitors. He was the ultimate promiscuous giver of his grace, his life and his death.

Without him, we’d continue in our sins and be stranded without hope.

With him, we are made new in his death, burial and resurrection. We are the only people on earth with hope and a future.

Tell somebody!