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"Gospel"
by Matt Campbell
from a Selah Moment at Colonial Baptist Church
As you sang these words, did your heart cry out within you?
"Yes, thank you for washing away my sin!"
Did you want to fall on your face in humility crying out?
"Yes, thank you for bearing the wrath meant for me."
Is your soul awakened to the truths of the good news that we've sung this morning?
If not, let me help awaken your soul to who Jesus is, and what the gospel is.
"Have you heard about Jesus? Do you know who He is?"
Or are you like the Samaritan woman was asleep and confused to who Jesus is?
"There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. . . .Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." [John 4]
He's given you real life.
"Have you heard about the gospel? Do you know what it is?"
The apostle Paul tells us clearly what the good news is:
“Now I would remind you, brothers [and sisters], of the gospel . . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” [1 Corinthians 15:1-4]
This is the best news we could ever hear.
Have you heard about Jesus? Do you know who He is?
The prophet Isaiah tells us about Him:
"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." [Isaiah 53:3-5]
He bore the wrath of God for us.
Have you heard about the gospel? Do you know what it is?
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." [Ephesians 2:4-9]
He has made us new; He has made us alive; He has awakened our souls to His grace.
So we say to one another this morning "Awake, O sleeper, for God is full of grace and mercy; Awake, for Christ has made us alive." Like a father gently rousing his child from sleep, so the Spirit desires to awaken your soul to the Gospel and to Jesus today. Pray that Christ would do this work in us today. There is nothing more glorious and satisfying than Jesus. We must cry out with great joy and humility,
"Yes, thank you.
Thank you for making us alive.
Thank you for washing us clean.
Thank you for freely forgiving us.
Thank you for sustaining us with the gospel.
Yes, thank you."
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