In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of Godβs grace that he lavished on us (Ephesians 1:7β8)
Forgiveness is the beating heart of the Gospel. It is what pumps its life-giving power throughout the world. In fact, that the Gospel is all about forgiveness. Everything else that the Gospel is about stems from forgiveness.
Itβs taken me a long time to realise this truth. Thatβs because all of my religious experience was about the Gospel being something difficult to understand. And itβs because all my life I was taught that we get what we deserve. Well, we donβt. Not from God when we are under his grace.
I used to think that the Bible was all about the grandest sweep of history, and grand philosophy and prophecy, and about advice about how to live. But while all those things are there, thatβs not what the Bible is all about. The Bible, from the beginning to the end, is all about Godβs forgiving grace (Isa 53; Luke 1:76β78; 3:1β3; Acts 2:38; 13:38β40).
Letβs not complicate the Gospel. We need to see afresh the sacrificial love of Christ, so that we can understand that what we need is forgiveness, and then we need to simply accept it as Godβs gracious gift. And everything else just flows from there
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