ICS Daily Devotions
The Gospel of Grace
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
What is the gospel to you? Is the gospel a means for us to be rich, to be successful, to have a good life and a ticket to heaven? While there is nothing wrong to be living well, all these earthly blessings are just temporal and not eternal. All these blessings are rather self-centered and not focused on what God has called us as an individual and as a church fulfilling the great commission together. The gospel is the salvation plan of God to save each and every one who believes!
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Who is qualified to be saved? The gospel is good news to the ungodly and sinners. There is hope for the worst colleague, the womanizer, the corrupt, the adulterer, the drinker, the chain smoker, the schemer and the betrayer. There is hope for all.
Therefore, we need to tell the sinner that Jesus came to qualify us for His love! Jesus did not come to call the righteous but the sinners. The healthy does not need a physician but those who are sick need a physician!
John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the gospel that God gave away; His only begotten Son so that we who are sinful will not perish. God does not want to condemn us but He only wants to redeem us.
God is just, holy and righteous. He has to judge sin but He loves the sinner. Therefore, He had to deal with the consequence of sin that separated the sinner from God. He had to choose to either destroy man completely because of the sin in his or her life or to take the punishment for us. He chose to send His Son to take our place, to be judged and to die for our sins to satisfy His holy, righteous and just wrath on sin. He thus dealt with our past, present, and future sins! He wants us to have eternal life so we can spend eternity in His presence. Jesus came to pave the new and living way for us. He is the only way back to the Father. Anyone who believes in this gospel will not perish but have eternal life with God.
Titus 3:5-7 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,7 that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Our justification is by grace and not by works. It is an unmerited favor from God. God is not waiting for us to turn holy in order to receive us as we cannot become holy based on our own strength. The ability to live a sanctified life is through the power of the Holy Spirit. The salvation plan of God called the gospel has power in itself because it is the Word of God. It promises deliverance from sin, forgiveness of sin and the ability to live a life that pleases God. Let us stand up as the church and preach the good news so that as many as possible can hear it and be saved!
Sermon Series: The Ministry of Reconciliation
