{"id":791,"date":"2010-06-04T12:22:20","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T18:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=791"},"modified":"2010-06-04T12:22:21","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T18:22:21","slug":"the-glorious-implications-of-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/the-glorious-implications-of-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glorious Implications of the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/\">The Gospel Coalition<\/a> website has a <a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/resources\/a\/the_transforming_power_of_the_gospel\">great article by Elyse Fitzpatrick<\/a>. Here&#8217;s a sample:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Because of the <em>incarnation<\/em>, Jesus Christ knows exactly what it is to live in a sin-cursed world with people who break the rules\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6like me. I am a rule-breaker but He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loved me and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experienced every trial I face. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with me. He sympathizes with my weakness (Hebrews 4:15). This understanding of His love in the face of my sin drains my anger at my rule-breaking neighbor. I can love her because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been loved and I am just like her.<\/p>\n<p>Because of His <em>sinless life<\/em>, I now have a perfect record of loving my neighbor. He perfectly loved rule-breakers. This record of perfect love for my rule-breaking neighbor is mine now; knowing this relieves my guilt. Even though I continue to fail to love, His record is mine.<\/p>\n<p>Because of His <em>substitutionary death<\/em>, I am completely forgiven for my sin\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6even the sins that I seem to fall into at the slightest provocation. God has no wrath left for me because He poured it all out on His Son. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not disappointed or irritated. He welcomes me as a beloved daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Because of His <em>resurrection<\/em> (and the justification it brings), I know that the power of sin in my life has been broken. Yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve failed again, but I can have the courage to continue to fight sin because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no longer a slave to it. This replaces despair with faith to wage war against my selfishness and pride.<\/p>\n<p>Because of His <em>ascension and reign<\/em>, I know that this situation isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a mere chance happening. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s orchestrated it so that I will remember Him and be blessed by the gospel again. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ruling over my life and interceding for me right now. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a slave to chaos or chance. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my Sovereign King and I can rest in His loving plan today and rejoice in Him.<\/p>\n<p>And, because of His <em>promised return<\/em>, I know that all the doubt, injustice and struggle will one day come to an end. This line in this grocery store and my plans for dinner isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all there is. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the great good news of the gospel. I can go home now and share with my family and guests how Jesus met me at the grocery store and we can rejoice together in His work on our behalf.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you&#8217;re unfamiliar with Elyse&#8217;s writing, you should remedy that post-haste. Some very gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, hope-giving meditations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1433503174\/desesprichur-20\">Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ<\/a><\/em> (co-written with Dennis Johnson)<\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1433502836\/desesprichur-20\">Comforts from the Cross: Celebrating the Gospel One Day at a Time<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/158134905X\/desesprichur-20\">Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms our Daily Lives<\/a> <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gospel Coalition website has a great article by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Here&#8217;s a sample: Because of the incarnation,&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/the-glorious-implications-of-the-gospel\/\">Continue Reading &rsaquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43,36,39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":792,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}