We are enemies of God and objects of his wrath. We have this thought in our minds that we can change our statuses before God...No sinner can choose good and no dead person can come to life on their own. The Gospel confronts us with the hopelessness of our sin conditions. We take a step back from the Bible because we don't like the way that it addresses our sin. We live in a land of self-improvement and that there are steps to making ourselves better...so we modify what the gospel says about us. There are 2 types of gospels now a days. The modern-day gospel says, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved." The biblical gospel says, "You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do." The gospel reveals the depth of our need for him. He shows us that there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we can do to come to him. We can't manufacture salvation, program it, produce it, and can't even initiate it. God has to open our eyes, set us free, overcome our evil, and appease his wrath. He has to come to us!!!!
The gospel demands and enables us to turn from our sin, to take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and to follow Jesus. Salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity, and the desperation of our need for his grace. Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our [immediate and total surrender.] God's gift of grace=a new heart, new desires, and new longings..We should want God, need God, and have a love for him like no other because when we seek after him, we will find him and discover that he is indeed the great reward of our salvation. We aren't saved to be forgiven of our sin or to be assured of our eternity, but to KNOW God. When we know him, it leaves us no choice but to yearn for Him!! We should want Him so much that we abandon everything else just to experience him. That is the only response to the revelation of God. I know that for myself, I am hungry for something more. I want more God! We need to refuse to gorge our spiritual stomachs on the pleasures of this world because we are choosing to find our satisfaction in eternal treasures of His Word.
Be prayerful of an awakening in your heart and a deep and abiding passion for the gospel as the grand revelation of God! Don't settle for anything less than a God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-denying gospel.
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