Blessings Secured by Christ

In his new book, Church Planter, Darrin Patrick takes some time to meditate on the gospel. Here is a particularly helpful list to meditate on from chapter 9 (idea: spend the next month meditating on one of these every day):

Through His cross-work, Christ has provided:

• Reconciliation to God (2 Cor 5:19).
• Forgiveness of sins (Col. 2:13).
• Propitiation (Rom. 3:25).
• Ability to live for God (2 Cor. 5:15).
• Eternal life (John 3:16).
• Justification (Rom 4:25).
• Inheritance in heaven (Eph. 1:11).
• Righteousness (Phil 3:9-10).
• Healing (1 Peter 2:24).
• Bodlily resurrection (1 Cor. 15:22).
• Intercession for the weak (Heb 7:25).
• Peace (Isa 53:5).
• Freedom (Gal 5:1).
• Unity among believers (Eph 2:11-22).
• An example (1 Peter 2:21).
• Redemption (Rom 3:24).
• Advocacy (1 John 2:1).
• Deliverance from fear of death (Heb 2:14-15).
• Hope (Rom 5:1-11).
• Wisdom (1 Cor 1:30).
• Regeneration (1 Peter 1:3).
• Access to God's presence (Heb 10:19).
• All things (Rom 8:32).

In short, Christ's death has given us God (1 Peter 3:18).

Gospel at the Grocery Store

This is good stuff to remind yourself of the gospel today. I remember reading this in Counsel from the Cross. Well worth reading.

Jesus is the Hero of the Gospel

I had the opportunity to speak about the gospel to the volunteers at the Wilson Pregnancy Center last night. Here is some of what I talked about from 1 Cor. 15:1-5:

1. The Gospel is of first importance.
2. Christians need to be reminded of the Gospel. We never move beyond our need for the gospel.
3. The Gospel is what saves and sanctifies us.
4. The Gospel must be continually embraced. The Christian life is not about a one-time decision. It’s about a life-long pursuit of repenting of our sin and trusting in the Savior.
5. The Gospel is first and foremost about Jesus Christ. He is the hero of the Gospel.

Jesus is breathtakingly amazing, able, and awesome.
He is endlessly delightful, dependable, and dazzling.
He is forever fantastic, fabulous, and faithful.
He is powerfully invincible, incomparable, and irresistible.
He is wonderfully marvelous, matchless, and magnificent.
He is victoriously preeminent, perfect, and precious.
He is unfailingly sufficient, supreme, and sovereign.

Jesus is the greatest treasure in the entire universe. And He is the One who died for our sins.

Gospel Implications for Evangelism

J. Mack Stiles gives us some implications of the gospel for personal evangelism. How does the message of the gospel inform our witness?

• The gospel shapes our view of people.
• We share our faith with joy, since our hearts are filled with gratitude about Christ's work in us.
• We can be generous with our faith since we know God's generous love.
• We do not fear the rejections of others since we know that we are accepted by God.
• We witness with humility since salvation is by grace through faith.
• We share without manipulation because true faith is from God alone and cannot be manipulated.
• We share freely with all because we know he redeemed us; as a result, there can't be difficult cases beyond the grace of God.
• Our proclamation of the gospel is filled with truth and grace because our message is filled with truth and grace.

Marks of the Messenger, pp. 57-58.

Believing the Gospel at the end of 2009

Can you believe that we are about to enter the year 2010? Can you believe it's already been 10 years since the year 2000? It seems like that was just yesterday.

The turning of the calendar to a new year provides us with an opportunity to evaluate our lives. This week is certainly an opportunity to look forward to all that God is going to do in our lives through this next year. Who knows, maybe 2010 will be the year that some of us see Jesus face-to-face. Or, maybe this is the year that Jesus returns and we ALL see Him face-to-face. Oh, I hope so.

We certainly should be looking forward with eager anticipation that the Lord is going to work in our lives this next year. But, there is something else that the end of a year should produce in us.

When you come to the end of a year, there should be a deep sense of remorse and guilt. We are sinners and we have fallen short in thousands of ways this year. For just a moment, think about how much you have dishonored your God this past year. Think of all the times you have chosen your own reputation over obeying God’s Word. Think of all the things we have been commanded to do that we have not done this year. If you can, mentally picture your selfishness this year piled up like a mountain. If you could do that, how big would your pile of selfishness be?

Or, what if you had to add up all the time you wasted this year? How many days, weeks, months were squandered on trivial things?

What if just your sins of thought and attitude in 2009 were listed up here on a big screen for everyone to see? How long would your list be? I know it would take a year to scroll through all of the grumbling, complaining, impatience, pride, and fear in my heart from this past year.

This is a painful exercise, isn’t it? If we are honest with ourselves, 2009 has involved more sin than it has righteousness.

And, the change of the calendar from 2009 to 2010 does not atone for our sin. Our sin is not wiped away because we purchased a new calendar. And, resolving to do better next year will not make up for failing this year. Friends, even if you lived a perfect life from this day forward, you would still have that mountain of selfishness in your account.

Which is why, here at the end of 2009, we need to be reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have failed to honor God as we should in 2009 and we will fail to honor God as we should in 2010. Thus, we need a Savior. We don’t need the perfect New Year’s Resolution to finally commend us to God. We need a Savior to bear our sins and give us His very own righteousness. More than ever, we need Jesus Christ.

The Gospel and Parenting

William Farley gives 7 ways the gospel affects parents in chapter 2 of Gospel-Powered Parenting:

The gospel makes parents effective in seven ways:

1. The gospel teaches Christian parents to fear God.

2. The gospel motivates parents to lead by example.

3. The gospel centers families in their male servant leaders.

4. The gospel teaches and motivates parents to discipline their children.

5. The gospel motivates parents to teach their children.

6. The gospel motivates parents to lavish their children with love and affection.

7. The gospel is the solution for inadequate parents.

The A to Z of the Christian Life

"The gospel is not just the ABCs of the Christian life, but the A to Z of the Christian life. Our problems arise largely because we don't continually return to the gospel to work it in and live it out."

-Tim Keller, The Prodigal God.

One of the Best New Books I've Read: Counsel from the Cross

Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ is one of the best new books I've read. This is a good and helpful book that should find a place on your reading list very soon. Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson team up to expose the power of the Cross in helping ourselves and others grow in grace.

They write, "When we lose the centrality of the cross, Christianity morphs into a religion of self-improvement and becomes about us, about our accomplishments, and about getting our act together."

In this book you will find solid Biblical exposition, helpful illustrations, gripping case studies, nitty gritty application, and rich gospel content. If the gospel of Jesus Christ has become stale and boring, you need this book. The authors remind us again and again how Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension relate to everything in our lives.

Get and read this book. You won't be disappointed.

10 Reasons We Need to be Reminded of the Gospel Everyday (about the gospel)

The gospel message itself contains the most powerful reasons why we need to constantly remind ourselves of it.

1. The gospel reveals the Glory of God.
2. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
3. The gospel protects us from Satan.
4. The gospel sanctifies us.
5. The gospel enables us to obey God rightly.
6. The gospel enables us to love others.
7. The gospel cultivates humility.
8. The gospel frees me from condemnation.
9. The gospel liberates me from legalism.
10. The gospel smashes our idols.

10 Reasons We Need to be Reminded of the Gospel Everyday (about ourselves)

The gospel is the good news that Christ died for our sins and rose victoriously from the grave. Our sins have separated us from God and God has drawn us to Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We need to remind ourselves of this message everyday. Here are 10 reasons about ourselves that make constantly reminding ourselves of the gospel a necessity.

1. We quickly forget the gospel.
2. We doubt the power of the gospel to transform us.
3. We think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
4. We are easily distracted.
5. We need the gospel just as much today as we did yesterday.
6. We hope in the wrong things.
7. We are hard-hearted and stiff-necked.
8. We are suspicious of God's intentions.
9. We are stingy.
10. We are full of idols.

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

In The Bookends of the Christian Life, Bridges and Bevington give some very practical advice about how to preach the gospel to yourself. This is how they do it: They take a different gospel promise each day of the week and apply it to their own sins.

Here are some examples (Notice the personal pronouns):

Sunday: But he was wounded for my transgressions of ____________; he was crushed for my iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought me peace, and with his stripes I am healed. Like a sheep, I have gone astray; I have turned to my own way; and the Lord has laid on him my iniquity (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Tuesday: Blessed am I, whose lawless deeds of ___________ are forgiven, and my sins are covered; blessed am I against whom the Lord will not count my sin (Rom. 4:7-8).

Friday: As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove my transgressions of ________ from me (Psalm 103:12).

Every day: God, be merciful to me, the sinner! (Luke 18:13).
Every day: Christ's work for me is finished! (John 19:30).

Strength Through the Gospel

I love how Paul concludes the letter to the Romans.

"Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ...to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen"

Paul defined his gospel in this letter. And notice what he says now about this gospel: God strengthens Christians according to this gospel and the preaching of it.

Christians are strengthened through the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Do you see the implications of such a truth?

If this is true,
1. the gospel is not just for unbelievers. Christians need to hear and embrace the gospel. It is vital for their strengthening.

2. preaching should be gospel-soaked and Christ-centered. God strengthens His church by the gospel. This should inform what the preacher proclaims if he wants a strong church.

3. strong Christians are those who have learned to apply the gospel. Our growth is directly related to our intake of and grip of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Piper: Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller

Piper's latest post is a must read: Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller.

He exhorts, "Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it."

Imponderable Wonder

Isaiah 53:10: "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him and cause him to suffer."

Romans 8:32: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all..."

2 Cor. 5:21: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us..."

How Great Thou Art:
And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin."

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:

1. Living the Cross-Centered Life by CJ Mahaney

2. A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent

3. Outrageous Mercy by William Farley

4. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges

5. Fifity Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper

Beginners who have already begun:

1. The Cross of Christ by John Stott

2. Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray

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.)

Not Fit for the Dunghill

"A bloodless, Christless gospel is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; it neither honours God nor converts the sons of men."

-CH Spurgeon (Dark Gethsemane, p. 220)

Learning to Preach the Gospel to Myself

I am still learning what it means to preach the gospel to myself daily. I am a legalist at heart. My tendency is to base my standing with God on what I do and don't do.

I got fresh freedom this morning as I contemplated Christ's finished work on my behalf. He has accomplished all the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4).

Where is your confidence today? In what you can accomplish? Or, in what has been accomplished for you?

The Gospel in Revelation 20

I have been massively encouraged this week studying Revelation 20 for Wed evening. It is easy to get bogged down in the debate about the millennium and miss the gospel.

Something taken from us: we don't have to expereince the second death (Hell).
Something given to us: we will reign and judge with Christ as priests (imputed righteousness!).
So that we can have Christ Himself!

What Christ saved us from: the second death and lake of fire.
What Christ saved us to: reign and judge with Him.
What Christ saved us for: Himself.

Christ didn't just die to resue us from Hell (amazing as that is). Christ died so that we could enjoy all the blessings provided by His precious blood, greatest of which is the ability to be with Him.

Becoming a Gospel-Motivated Servant

I really loved studying and preparing for the sermon on John 13:1-20 this week. I was rebuked daily by Jesus' example of humbled-hearted service. This is one of the clearest passages on the relationship between the gospel and how we serve one another. Jesus' washing away of our sins on the cross is the source and pattern of our service to one another. The only response to the cross is to be a gospel-motivated servant of others.

Here was one of the questions that challenged me this week: When you enter a room with others (i.e. church on Sundays), who is the least important person in the room? The answer should always be the same no matter who else is present in that room. Paul said we are to look out for the interests of others and consider others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2).

Do you immediately see yourself as the least important person, there to serve others? Or, do you subtly think that everyone else should recognize how blessed they are to know you?

So, what are some ways we can grow in actually becoming a servant?

The Gospel Is...

I am enjoying reading through Driscoll's Death by Love. Each chapter is a reminder that the gospel is intended to actually change people's lives. Chapter 4 is the best one so far. In it, Driscoll writes a letter to a man who assumes he is a Christian but does not have a functional understanding of the gospel.

Here is how Driscoll exposits 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:

The gospel is:

1. Continual (we need to continually be reminded of it).

2. Proclamational (it must be preached to us often).

3. Personal (we must personally receive it by faith).

4. Essential (we must cling to it for the assurance of our salvation).

5. Central (most important).

6. Christological (it is about the person and work of Jesus).

7. Penal (the wage for sin was paid).

8. Substitutional (Jesus died in our place).

9. Biblical (in fulfillment of the Scriptures).

10. Eschatological (our future hope is in Jesus' resurrection).