Why preach the gospel to yourself

Here is one of the 31 reasons Milton Vincent gives in his book A Gospel Primer for Christians for believers to preach the gospel of Jesus to themselves:

The gospel encourages me to rest in my righteous standing with God (emphasis added), a standing which Christ Himself has accomplished and always maintains for me. I never have to do a moment’s labor to gain or maintain my justified status before God! Freed from the burden of such a task, I now can put my energies into enjoying God, pursuing holiness, and ministering God’s amazing grace to others.

The gospel also reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance, because my standing is based solely on the work of Jesus and not mine. On my worst days of sin and failure, the gospel encourages me with God’s unrelenting grace toward me. On my best days of victory and usefulness, the gospel keeps me relating to God solely on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness and not mine.

(Verses cited in part or whole: Matt. 11:28; Rom. 4:5, 5:1-2, 18-21, 6:1; Heb. 4:3, I John 2:1-2.)

When God became man: Day 5

The promises of His coming: The promise to a childless priest

It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

After hundreds of years of no revelation from God to his people, an angel of the Lord spoke to a priest, as recorded in Luke 1:5-25. Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, were not only childless but, because their age, were without any realistic hope of having a child. That changed when Zacharias presented an incense offering in the temple. The angel Gabriel appeared to him with a miraculous message. Zacharias’ wife would not only give birth to a son who would be named John, the angel said, but he would be a great man with a great mission – to go before the One who would be the Messiah and to prepare the people for His coming. God had spoken again. His promises from long ago were about to be fulfilled. A miraculous reproduction would prepare the way for an even more miraculous birth.

Song: “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

When God became man: Day 4

The promises of His coming: The promise of His birthplace

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2).

God’s ways are not man’s ways, as the Bible declares. An earthly king would want his son, his successor, to be born into elegance and prominence. God promised His Son would be born in a location so insignificant it would find no place “among the clans of Judah.” This One whom God would send forth to be “ruler in Israel,” however, would not reign over a temporary kingdom. He also would not begin His existence on the date of His birth in the little town of Bethlehem. Nor would He begin to exist at the moment of conception in His mother’s womb. No, He had existed “from the days of eternity.” There was no beginning to His existence. The One who would appear on that future day in Bethlehem would be the God of all ages who had made all things.

Song: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

When God became man: Day 3

The promises of His coming: The promise of a ruler like no other

For a child will be born to us; a son will be given to us; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace . . . (Is. 9:6-7a).

God promised he would establish a never-ending government upon the shoulders of a tiny child. This is another of the paradoxes of Scripture. How could a baby bear such weight? The question is a natural one; the answer is a supernatural one. No other child would bear such titles – “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” This is God in the person of a little boy. From the moment of His conception, God indwelt this embryo turned boy turned man. Because this child was God in the flesh, we can trust His rule will never end. He will reign as a benevolent monarch, bringing a peace that will go on into eternity. Notice whom this son is a gift to – us. Certainly, this applied to the Hebrews whom God had set apart, but it also is a particular promise to those of us who have received the gift of salvation – He has been given to us.

Song: “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” (from Handel’s “Messiah”)

Preparing for corporate worship December 4

Our King has come. He is not like other kings. Other kings are conceived and born, having a specific point at which they come into existence. Our King had no beginning; He has always existed. Other kings are born into splendor and riches, or obtain them when they usurp a throne. Our King left all the splendor and riches to be born into poverty. Other kings act to consolidate their power and to hold onto it at all cost. Our King limited the exercise of His power for a time. Other kings surrender their kingdoms through defeat or death. Our King established His kingdom through death, and, as a result, His kingdom will know no end. Indeed, our King has come, and He will reign forever and ever. Our King, His coming, and His kingdom are what the celebration known as Christmas should be about. We worship our King every week as we gather on the first day of the week. These four Sundays in December we will worship Him especially in light of His incarnation. Let us rejoice that our King has come, and may our singing, our praying, our thinking and our sharing reflect that joy.

When God became man: Day 2

The promises of His coming: The promise of a birth like no other

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (Is. 7:14).

When God became man, it was through a birth like no other. The prophecy reported by Isaiah said a virgin, a woman who had no natural means of reproducing, would give birth to a son. God had already promised in the garden it would be the seed of the woman, not the man, who would bruise the head of Satan. This miraculous conception and birth were necessary so the sin nature of man would not be passed on to this sinless seed. No mortal man would do as His father. The unblemished life He would live must be without stain from the start. This impossible pregnancy and birth would form a sign that God was fulfilling His promise. In a baby boy, the Promised One would come to earth.

Song: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

When God became man: Day 1

The promises of His coming: The first promise

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel (Gen. 3:15).

When the first man and woman sinned, there was no disarray in Heaven. Instead, God unveiled a promise that would be fulfilled thousands of years later when He would come to earth as a man. Satan, speaking through the serpent, had tempted the woman in the garden, and the man and she rebelled against their Creator by eating of the forbidden fruit. God pronounced judgment upon the evil one in the guise of the serpent. He promised Satan the seed of the woman would inflict upon him a crushing blow, though this conqueror would not go unharmed. This is called the “proto-evangelium,” the first gospel. We know this seed of the woman was God the Son. Even in mankind’s darkest hour, God provided hope for a fallen race – a hope that would be fulfilled through an unborn child in a young woman’s womb, through a baby born in Bethlehem, through a man who lived a perfect life and through a suffering servant who vanquished the evil one through His crucifixion and resurrection.

Song: “Angels From the Realms of Glory”