The Gospel

From the aspect of knowledge and understanding i am no expert in the gospel, in the same way a unschooled farmer is not an expert in botany.  It is still funny though how someone with 2 Phd's on the subject could spend a lifetime and never know as much about plants as that farmer.  The farmers knowledge, in this case, comes from living a life reliant on knowing his plants.  Although i have never had formal teaching on the Gospel and the list of what i don't know is much longer than the list of what i do know, in the words of John Newton "i know 2 things, i am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior."  No i say all this to get to the point we must all know the gospel.  not in a sense of having all the right answers but getting our life from it in the same way the farmer does. 

So here we go....

In the beginning God.... We must start here.  In solving a problem you always start with assumptions,  like throwing a football you assume gravity will bring it back to the ground so you can worry about trajectory to get it where you want it.  But why can we assume the gravity will be there?  Because there has never been a point to prove it wont provide the 32.2 ft/s^2.  In the same way God has never been proven unfaithful and non-existent. This is why we must start with the Gospel here.  Rather you believe in God or not, he exist in a glorious loving sovereign matter.  Back to the gravity analogy.  If you fall off a building, rather you believe gravity is true or not, you will still hit the ground. 

Secondly, once on the foundation God exists, in order to be God he must contain certain attributes.  He must be sovereign.  He must be all knowing.  He must be all powerful.  He must be ever ware.  Therefore he created this earth, for his own glory.  The crown of that creation however is humans.  We are created in God image, wonderfully and fearfully made!  Each of us is a unique, beautiful creation...whether we are in a state of bearing Gods image or not.  This is why Jesus spent so much time with the prostitutes, crippled and tax collectors.  He saw them as created in Gods(His) image.

Soon after creation mankind fell into sin by disobeying the one thing God commanded them not to do.  And with this sin and death entered the world.  This was not just a bad thing or a slap on the wrist for humanity, but an act of outright hatred and contempt to a Holy, Perfect Creator.  God knows all though, and knowing we would choose our pride, knowledge, selfishness and idols over Him, He used our chose to give Himself the most glory possible.

The logical question then is how could God get the glory due His name by creating a creation he knew would fall into sin?  The answer to that is Jesus Christ!  Jesus came to live the life that we could not (perfectly submitted to God the Father's will in everything), in order to die the death we deserved due to our hatred to the Holy, Just God.  In doing this not just Gods justice and sovereignty are seen, but His grace, mercy and love are.

And this is the glorious news of the gospel.  God created for His glory; man rejected for their own glory; and then God saves and restores all of creation unto Himself for His glory!  And what do we need to do to obtain this great salvation?  Repent and believe.  Which is only possible by Gods grace in opening your eyes to your NEED of Him!