I’ve been asked why I love hearing the Gospel message preached so often and why I constantly find a way to link it to almost every Biblical topic. It’s because the Gospel never ceases to astound me. The fact that God’s love for us is so vast that He sent His Son as the sacrifice to bring us to Him is something that truly amazes me. I can’t hear it or read it enough.
Ephesians 2 lists what is, in my opinion, the most straightforward presentation of the Gospel. Verses 1-3:
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
We are hopeless, helpless beings. We cannot obtain perfection because of our fallen, sinful nature. It is impossible. Nothing we can do can please God for everything we do is through the fallen world. We are, quite simply, lost.
But God…
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
But God…
Those two words change everything. Through Christ, the payment has been made. The debt is cleared and the stains are washed away. Through Christ, God cleanses us and adopts us as His children, never to be separated from Him for eternity. Only Christ can save us, and only God could have made the way for us to be saved.
Folks, that simple message there gives me more hope than anything this world offers can. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (below) reaffirms this. Our focus isn’t on the things of the world, but on the things of God. If this isn’t the same for you, then you need to recheck your priorities.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
On a side note, linked here is my favorite presentation of the Gospel message. This is from my home church in Cary, North Carolina; First Baptist Church (www.caryfbc.org). Check it out when you get a chance.
http://www.caryfbcext.org/audio/sermons/20100228-1800.mp3
Pursuing the Everlasting 