DOUBLE SIDED GOSPEL

Psalm 32              Acts 13.42-52

Double Sided Gospel

Good news or bad news?

To tell someone that there is nothing we can do to put ourselves right right with God can be either good news or bad news. This depends on what is going on inside the hearer.

The hearer translates this as good news if he or she is aware that in every way this is true and then looks to God for the solution.

It is bad news for the one who is self righteous and believes he or she is  good and obedient  and pleases God generally. This person likes to think they can save themselves and the idea of God saving them solely by His  own mercy is offensive. Pride in themselves is in this case a blockage to a relationship with the true God who is known by grace alone, faith alone through Christ alone.

Therefore the Gospel is double-sided. If we deny God’s proposal of relying only on His undeserved  grace then we condemn ourselves in our pride and boasting. Yet, if we accept  Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior as God’s only provision for being right with Himself then we shall be saved. If we accept that God does not save us for any reason within ourselves or merit of our performance, then we shall be saved. If we abandon all hope in our own righteousness and rely fully on Christ’s righteousness lived out by Him for us, then we shall be saved.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor which we receive from God as a gift of love in spite of our sinfulness, rebellion, rejection and transgressions against Him. It is God’s way of looking kindly on us  and giving us new life because He sees Jesus Christ in our place. It is Jesus death and His resurrection that alone satisfies Gods expectations.We are therefore justified by grace alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone.

“Because of his great love for for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved…..

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no-one can boast.” (Ephesians 2. 4-9)