What is the Gospel? -- Part 4

We are working through a discussion of the question “What is the Gospel?” Earlier postings can be found here. We’ve been discussing the fact that for the gospel to be accepted as the good news that it is, we need to understand the depth of the problem that the gospel is meant to solve. If we don’t think we have a problem, then we won’t be very interested in hearing the solution and it won’t seem like good news to us.

I posted several articles relating to the depth of our sin problem. And then, because it’s hard to wade through so much negative news at once, I summarized in part 3 how God has provided an external righteousness for us to replace our unrighteousness.

Because of the fact that there is a tendency in our culture to look at ourselves as pretty good, it is necessary to continue the review of God’s assessment. It’s not a pretty picture so read at your own risk, keeping in mind the good news that I began to unfold for us last time.

Genesis 6:5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Jeremiah 30:12 “For thus says the Lord: ‘Your affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe.

Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

Ephesians 2:1-3 you …were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

This represents a portion of those passages from the Bible that tell us of our predicament. This is why we need the grace of God and His gift of righteousness. We cannot produce it on our own and if we persist in offering God our own efforts as evidence on Judgment day, we will find ourselves being condemned because our own goodness can never measure up.