Friday, March 06, 2009

Study the Gospel

Everyone is an expert in something. I challenge you to become a gospel expert. Wherever you are, whatever you know, why not pursue from this day forward to become an expert in the gospel?

Martin Luther said the gospel cannot be grasped well enough.
So, no matter how much gospel knowledge and affection you have, admit today that you have not arrived. You do not have a firm enough grasp on the gospel (and neither do I).

So, study the gospel, friends, study the gospel. Develop and enlarge your knowledge of and affection for the fact that Christ died for our sins.

One of the ways you can seek to strengthen your grip on the gospel is to read Bible-saturated books that seek to explain the gospel.

Here are some basic recommendations to get you started:

Beginners who are just beginning:
3. Outrageous Mercy by William Farley
4. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges

Beginners who have already begun:
1. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
3. God is the Gospel by John Piper
4. The Great Exchange by Jerry Bridges
5. In My Place Condemned He Stood by Packer and Dever
(This final book will then serve to point you to hundreds of other resources on the Gospel.)

4 comments:

Justin Nale said...

Great list! I'd like to add MacArthur's "The Gospel According to Jesus" because of its help to me so many years ago in understanding both the content of the gospel and especially what it means to genuinely receive the gospel.

BoldLion said...

Great Post! Thank you for sharing this with others! I will have to add a link to this on my blog and facebook to encourage other to read it and Study the Gospel.

The Beginners: I had read
1)Living the Cross Centered Life
5)Fifty Reason Why Jesus Came to Die (skim through).

Beginner who have already begun:
I had read
1) The Cross of Christ (This does required a PH.D Degree.) I will have to read it again later.
3) I just finish reading God is the Gospel (I love it and outstanding book to read. I learned a lot from this book too.)

I do have A Gospel Primer for Christian, and I will read that as well as a mountain of books that I need to catch up too.

Hungry to eat His Word,
'Guerite ~ BoldLion

Erik said...

Fantastic list of top notch, quality, books!

If we could only get these books into some Christian bookstores in place of the "Christianity-lite" that permeates so much of these places, believers would be deeper and more mature in their walks with Christ.

Keep up the insightful postings on your blog.

Martin LaBar said...

I see that you used one of my photos.