The Good News

I like it to be simple and focus on the main thing. And for me, the gospel is the main thing. Even how common we hear about the gospel, we often miss it out by cluttering it with the trivial things and religion itself.

So, here’s what I believe is the pure gospel. Everything that I do, everything that I believe in, everything that I dream of doing in the future — it all revolves around and decided within the framework of this simple truth about the gospel.

What is the gospel?

The gospel is that there is an infinite, almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful creator God who created all things for his glory and you and I have belittled that, belittled his name belittled His glory. Every one of us have at one time or another actually currently believe that our way is better than God. We fail to acknowledge and give Him glory for the gifts he’s given us. We question his rule and his authority while at the same time doing that with the brain he gave us, that altogether, and the lungs and the air that he gave us to breathe with.

This is the great blasphemy of the universe.

So we’ve all belittled God and God being just, right and holy is not going to allow the belittlement of his name.

God then not being able to spare wrath sent Christ in the flesh and crushes him. And in so doing pours out his wrath against the children of God onto the Son killing him. And God raises him from the dead and that same power that raised Christ from the dead are now at work to those who believe.

This is the gospel, that you and I have right standing before God not by our efforts, not by our works, not by our skills, not by whether or not we cuss or don’t cuss, drink this or don’t drink this, watch this or don’t watch this, do this or don’t do that. Justified before God by the cross of Christ alone.

Your lust, you’re not gonna be able to fix it. Your bitterness — you’re not going to be able to fix it. Your rage, your anger, those deviances is that have been following you around… You don’t posses the power of life and death — you can’t resurrect anything.

Christ can.

That’s the good news. So we don’t celebrate us. We continually celebrate him! We boast in the cross and the cross alone. The same power that is at work in raising Christ from the dead is at work in me, and at work in all who believe.

This is the gospel.

(Matt Chandler)