Preaching the Gospel to Yourself (Week 4)

A New Sermon Series on the Reality of Grace in a Save-Yourself World

Tim Keller, The Gospel in Life

What makes you a sexually faithful spouse, a generous—not avaricious—person, a good parent and/or child is not just redoubled effort to follow the
example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out the changes that understanding makes in your heart–the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, and our view of the world. It changes our hearts. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting (26).

Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer

The gospel is so foolish (according to my natural wisdom), so scandalous (according to my conscience), and so incredible (according to my timid heart), that it is a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemnings of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsings of the gospel (14).

Here are the Life Group study guides to accompany yesterday’s sermon from The Gospel Lived:

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself
Preaching the Gospel to Yourself (Leader’s Guide)

Also, don’t forget: you can pick-up a copy of Milton Vincent’s excellent book, A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love, at the church office or on Sunday morning for just $5. As a staff, we simply can’t recommend a better, more straight-forward, more practical, or more powerful book that focuses on actually living in light of the gospel.