Embracing the Gospel: Truth, Grace, and Unity

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed good news about salvation, but it addresses the bad news of our sin and our guilt before God. And so, there is this sense in which the good news or glad tidings of the gospel is good news, bad news, worse news, all of those at the same time. The bad news is that we are sinners separated from a holy God, who we will have to give an account to. The worse news is that there is nothing we can do to reach God's righteous standard, and that leads us to the good news of the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ through His death at the cross and resurrection from the dead. [00:07:07]

I think the two primary ways to do that are prayer and the Scriptures. I would give those same two answers for a lot of areas of spiritual growth, spiritual discipline, spiritual development. I think, first of all, the more that I am taking in God's Word and God's Word is being for me, James 1:22 through 25, a mirror that causes me to see myself as I really am before God helps me to recognize my sinfulness and neediness for the grace of God. And then prayer, particularly prayer that includes the element of confession, which should be a regular part of the Christian practice, keeps before me my sinfulness and neediness before God. [00:03:45]

I believe there is a desire associated with it according to 1 Timothy chapter 3. I also feel that there is this, the word I use is just this "inescapable burden." From my own life my father advised me, "If you can keep from preaching, do it." I did not think that that was helpful advice when he said it, but I understood later what he meant. It's the spirit of what the Apostle Paul says when he says, "Necessity has been laid upon me, and woe unto me if I preach not the gospel." There are indeed matters of qualification that need to be factored in, but I believe that there is this call of God and a burden to preach that He places. [00:07:41]

I think there are a couple of big issues that I don't think this is... marks me as uniquely profound, I feel like the attacks are very obvious. And the two big things is that there's just this constant attack on the authority of the Bible, and I would say that the church has to know where it stands and why it stands where it stands. There is this attack against the authority of the Bible, and I think that attack against the authority of the Bible is tied to an attack on the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those two factors are the whole ballgame, if I may say it that way, and I think the challenges that we're going to see more openly in the years to come are those two things. [00:13:28]

I believe again this a great question, and I feel like the temptation is to find some exotic answer. But the two pillars of the Christian faith are prayer and the ministry of the Word. If you were ask me about Christian ministry, I would say the same thing "prayer and Scripture intake." And I think Psalm 1 comes to my mind, where the psalmist just begins the Psalms by just offering you a blessed life, and that blessed life is rooted in the Word of God, "one who delights in the Law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night." Prayer is one of the neglected resources of the Christian life. [00:24:01]

I would say that one of the reasons why prayer and Scripture intake are a struggle is because these are spiritual disciplines, as the language is, these are spiritual disciplines. And if you have not been, you know, in the gym, you don't just go in the gym and just pick up the biggest weights. It is as you are in the gym day in and day out, regularly doing the reps that muscle develops, and strength grows. And I really do feel like sometimes... it some seems like a crude answer, but I feel like some people find it hard to pray because we don't pray, and we find it hard to read the Bible because we don't read the Bible. [00:28:38]

I would say the Bible starts somewhere and the Bible ends somewhere, and I would say in that regard it's significant for us to understand Genesis and have an understanding of the Book of Revelation as well. So I think this is not a matter, and I think this is again Matthew 4:4 that "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God," and there is much that Scripture says about it, and as much as God's Word says about... says much about it, it should be our priority to know what it says. [00:51:47]

I think exposition matters because preaching reflects convictions about the Scripture. And I think that exposition is the most faithful way to let the Word of God speak for itself. [00:45:06]

I feel like in other instances, we put too much emphasis on our culture and our taste and our preference and so dishonor, I believe, the work that Christ has done to make us one. I also just think as brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a compassion toward each other and a love toward one another that should mark us and be evident to the watching world that unfortunately is missing as cultural, racial, and political stuff get tied up in there, and we lose the centrality of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:56:39]

I would say pray hard for God to soften that person's heart, and I would use every opportunity to talk to that person about what Jesus has done at the cross, which again is the basis, it's a little bit tied to what we were just talking about racism that God, who after all of our offense, who has forgiven us, is the grounds for forgiveness to others. And so I would just say pray for a softened heart and faithfully and winsomely share what Christ has done and trust God to do the rest. [01:01:09]

I think that for the growth of the believer, I need to be under the authority of shepherds in a local church, and I am being fed a consistent diet of God's Word. I need to be in fellowship with other believers so that Hebrews 10:24 and 25, I am having others to stir me up to love and good works. There is a level of maturity and service and obedience that I will not reach unless other believers are stirring me up. And also me exercising the gifts that God has placed in me for the building up and edifying of others, I think is a part of that process of my own spiritual development. [00:47:16]

I think that every member of the church should have the spirit of the Bereans, you know, in the Book of Acts where they are searching the Scriptures for themselves to see those things that are true. I believe that process is aided and helped and encouraged by faithful men who teach the Word of God, and I think it's a wonderful thing that access to so much good material is available like all of the resources available through Ligonier, but that should be a supplement, it should not replace your own time in the Word of God. [00:32:31]