The Gospel - Pt 6

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11 ESV).

Perhaps the most subtle of the errors in interpreting the meaning and impact of the gospel can be called the attention gospel. This is where we come to believe we are saved by remembering God more mindfully; where we are saved from ignoring that God exists; and, we are saved to live more conscious of God. Remember the three questions? The first deals with the mechanics of redemption, how we are redeemed. In this heresy the entire process begins with our approach to God. Somehow it has been turned to our move toward God in our sorrow and repentance. The truth is that we are dead in our sin. In that state of death there is no capacity to do anything, much less repent from our sin. Just as Lazarus needed the power of Jesus to come out of his grave, so we need the power of God to touch our lifeless hearts and call us out of our spiritual death. Our response can only begin with the reaching down of God to us. The second of our questions deals with what we are saved from. It is much more than the punishment of sin. It is that to be sure. However, it is the eternal separation from our created purpose. We are designed to be in a relationship with God. That cannot take place until we are reconciled. We must be restored to that position. That is accomplished only through the work of Christ. We cannot be more mindful of God until then. Our thoughts are so far removed from God when we are dead in our trespass that there is no hope. There aren’t enough inspirational books or articles in the world to accomplish that restoration. Only the blood of Jesus does that. And, further, we are only saved to magnify the great character and glory of God. We are not saved to live more conscious of the desires of God. We only become more aware of what we need to do by who we know. We are drawn into this relationship with our heavenly Father by the work of Christ and the quickening of the Holy Spirit so that we may glorify his eternal mercy. That’s the heart of our amazing grace! Now we can rejoice! That’s the gospel!