The Gospel and what it means to me.

One of the podcasts that I listen to and one that has meant a lot to me is the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast.  Brian, Nate, and JC are always focused on the Gospel and one of the things that they do on their podcast is they ask their guests to explain the Gospel.  Everyone has a different perspective on the Gospel based on how Holy Spirit has worked in their life.  So this is my perspective on the Gospel.

This last Sunday pastor Adam preached on I Corinthians 11:17-34, which is the passage on the Lord's Supper.  One of the purposes of observing the Lord’s Supper is for us as Christians is to remember what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross and rising from the tomb.  This is the Gospel.  The Good News that the debt of my sins is paid. 


For me the Gospel starts with understanding the God to whom I had a sin debt.  The passage that best shows is Isaiah 6:1-5.


“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭5‬‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/isa.6.1-5.ESV

 

God is so great that words can not describe how great and holy He is.  He is high and lifted up and glorious.  I only need to look at some of the sunsets that I see on my way home to see a little glimpse of His Glory.  I in my humanity cannot reach that level of beauty and perfection.  Being a just and righteous God He could not allow sin to go unpunished.  However God in His goodness sent His son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and pay the price of my sin debt.  


This idea that the God described in Isaiah 6 would invite me to come into that majestic throne room and present my requests to Him and that He would answer those prayers and send his Spirit to speak to me and that He would give me a written copy of the Living Book that is the Holy Scripture is unthinkable.  And yet that great and amazing God not only has given me that unprecedented access but he sent his Son Jesus to live a life that exemplifies how we are to live.  The compassion that Jesus showed to a sinner like me.  That fact that he gave us the living water of eternal life and all we must do to accept it is to simply do just that.  Accept it.  


One of the things that I have learned over the last several years is that the Gospel is not just something that is useful for Salvation and avoiding Hell.  The Gospel is active and alive inside me, the Living Water it you will, that works in me to lead me, to show me the truth in the Word.  It convinces me of sin.  It works in my life to show me how to be more like Jesus, to love others like Jesus did.  To show compassion like Jesus did.   


As I think about Calvary and what happened on that old rugged cross I am reminded of how Great of a God I serve and I Raise a Hallelujah to my God and my King!  





Next time I will continue with part 2 of Why I am Still Baptist. 

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