Here is what I understand the good news to be: the good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him. But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him. In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God. Now that is good news.-Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism
I don't want to ever grow weary of knowing and believing these truths. May we cherish the gospel together today.
(HT: T-Wax)
1 comment:
So clear and simple-- this is the Gospel. We are saved by Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, as those who trust in Him. As someone who grew up in a somewhat legalistic, works-oriented culture in the Deep South, I find that it is *so* important to be clear about this, especially in a country where many people think they are Christians and put their hope in what *they* do. This is a serious problem in my view (as is the fact that some professing Christians *don't* do many good works for others). Our doing of good deeds commends the Gospel to non-Christians, but good works are *not* the Gospel itself. We *will* do good works for others if we are truly saved and in Christ-- and that truth does need to be stressed more in some circles-- but those good works are not the basis for our standing before God. One would think that in church-saturated America, most professing Christians would understand this well... but when I listen to Christian shows like The White Horse Inn, where the hosts go to conferences and ask Christians about the basis of their standing before God, many of the answers are dismaying. Even many professing Christians think that God looks upon them favourably primarily because they "do good things." May we preach the Gospel AND do good works, because these works evidence love for God and others, and they glorify God-- but may we also remember that *no* amount of good works makes us righteous before God. Christ alone is our righteousness! How amazing that unworthy sinners like us should be even be offered such a gift!
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