The Gospel Is Not M.T.D.

The Gospel is really great news; it is NOT moralistic, therapeutic deism. It's not trying hard to be better so that God will accept you, because that's impossible. 

It's not "be nice, and don't hang around with bad people!"  That is "moralism" and it's about as far away from the Gospel as you can possibly get.  

 And it's NOT "God wants you to be really happy and live fulfilled lives, and here's how."  It's not ten steps to a better marriage.  That's therapy.

 And it's not “God started it all and will judge you in the end, but in the meantime he's far, far away and not involved with you much at all.” That's deism.

And it's not a business relationship or contract:  "Be really good and figure out what God likes, do it well, and God will be obligated to bless you and make your life go the way you want." That's manipulation and we've got nothing to bargain with  - except our neediness.

No, the really great news is that we cannot ever be good enough; we cannot get our act together.  We don't just need help from the One who created us; we don't need advice from him; we don't need newer or stronger commands.  

What we need is a new heart - we need to have the hard heart (self-centeredness) taken out and a new heart that treasures GOD first, to be given to us.  Given who he is, he deserves nothing less!  And only God can do that.  God actually wants a loving, close relationship with you NOW.  And his love for you is so great that Jesus came here from Heaven, lived the life (in your place) that you never could have lived, and he did it perfectly.  Then he died the death you and I deserved, taking the punishment we deserved; he was crucified, dead, and buried, and then rose from the dead 3 days later, ascended to Heaven again where he reigns in sovereign power and love.  He planted himself, by his Holy Spirit, inside us to be close to us and give us his strength to live.  And Jesus will come again and get us and we get to be with him forever, from now until then and beyond.  

 And we enter into this Life through faith and repentance, knowing that we NEED it.  We get to enjoy a dependent, fulfilled life with God right now, not by virtue of our performance, but CHRIST's.  That is a big HALLELUJAH!! And so much more.