The Relevance of the Gospel

WHY SHOULD I TRUST GOD?

The gospel gives us seven reasons to trust God.  They are the following:

1) God loves us unconditionally. (Ephesians 2:1-5; Romans 5:6-8)

2) He loves us while we are yet in our trespasses and sins and enemies of God. (Ephesians 2:1-5; Romans 5:6-8)

3) He loves us so much that he died for us. (John 3:16; John 15:13; Matthew 26:26-28; Matthew 20:28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; John 6:51; John 10:11; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Romans 6:23; Leviticus 17:11)

4) He forgives those who repent with a repentance that is evidenced by a contrite heart and confession of sins and a turning away from sin. (2 Corinthians 7:10; Psalm 51; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Matthew 3:2; 4:17)

5) He desires to fellowship with us (1 Corinthian 1:9; 1 John 1:1-4) and

6) He removed the obstacle to that fellowship by taking the penalty of our sin upon himself. (Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:25-26; Hebrews 10:11-14; Isaiah 53; 7:24-25)

7) Salvation is not the result of something we do; it is something that is done for us and to us, and God did it all:

  a) He became man; so, he was able to represent us as priest and offered up the sacrifice for our sins. (John 1:1, 14; Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 5:1-10)

  b) He was the sacrifice—he gave up his life for us. (Hebrews 7:27)

  c) He is God; so, he was able to be sinless, thereby having enough righteousness to meet the requirements necessary to pay for our sins as a sacrifice for sin. (John 20:28)

  d) He is the God who loves us; hence, he doesn't want to punish us. (John 15:13)

  e) Yet, he is the God who is just who must punish sin. (2 Thessalonians 1:6)

  f)  He is the God who resolved this Problem by becoming man, representing man, dying for man, rising and defeating death and sin for man, ascending and interceding for man eternally so that man has nothing to do but receive the finished work of the loving and just God who did all the righteous work needed to earn man's entrance into God's Kingdom.  There is nothing for man to do but to trust God, because “it is finished”. (Ephesians 2:8, John 19:30)

 Who would not trust a God like that?

Our job is to preach the gospel with clarity (Colossians 4:3-4).  After all,

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good  news!’’...Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14, 15, 17).

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--From the pages of Oh! I Didn't Know You Were a Christian by Warrior Richardson