The Gospel Is God’s Plan to Bring You Back | Season 04, Episode 05 | Simple Truth Podcast

Do you ever feel guilty, ashamed, or even afraid of God? Many Christians feel overwhelmed by their own shortcomings. They feel like they're always failing, and they deep down wonder, "Is God disappointed in me? Can I really come back to him after what I've done?" But when we go back to the very first sin with Adam and Eve, we see something powerful. Sin, it brought shame, guilt, and fear. But God did not walk away. From the very beginning, God began revealing his plan to rescue us, restore us, and reconcile us back to himself. In this episode, we're going to look at God's plan for reconciliation through the gospel. We'll see how sin introduced hostility and separation, and yet God promised a savior from the very beginning. We'll see how Jesus Christ reconciles us back to God by believing in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. In other words, the gospel is God's plan to bring you back. You're not going to want to miss this. Let's get into it in this episode of the Simple Truth. Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast, where we open the Bible to uncover simple, biblical, and essential truths that can transform your life. And now, here's your host, Ted Ross. Hi, my name is Ted Ross and this is the Simple Truth Podcast, your home for biblical truth clearly taught and freely given. We are in season 4, episode 5, where we talk about God's plan. What plan? God's plan to bring you and me back. God's plan of reconciliation. Let's get into it. Why does this episode matter? Well, first of all, many Christians, they're overwhelmed by their shortcomings and their sin. But when we look at the very first sin in Genesis 3 of Adam and Eve, we see that God never abandons humanity. Even when we sin, he begins this plan- a plan to rescue and reconcile us back to himself. And that's what we're going to be learning about today. Many Christians, they don't fully understand the gospel. They don't realize that reconciliation has been God's plan from the very beginning. And because of that, believers, they too often, they feel trapped in shame or in guilt or in fear or in hopelessness. And they're not even realizing what God has already restored. In this episode, you will see how the gospel is God's rescue plan for you and for me and how Jesus Christ reconciled us back to God through his death, burial, and his resurrection. Excellent. So, it starts off first with this big word, reconciliation. What exactly does it mean? Well, reconciliation is the removal of hostility and separation. So, we had separation and hostility between us and God. But it's not just the removal of the hostility and a removal of the separation. It's restoration of our relationship and of favor. Praise God. So when we're talking about being reconciled to God, it means that there was sin and there was a barrier, something that created hostility, created conflict between us and God. And God removed it. And he removed that separation, that distance between us and him. and he restored the relationship we have and favor back into our lives. That's why this is an important topic. So, let's take a look. That brings us to simple truth number 51. Humanity sin introduced hostility and separation with God. Genesis 3 verses 6-13. Remember, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version. So, we're going to see in Genesis 3:6 the exact moment, the unfortunate moment that humanity rejects God's wisdom in favor of its own desires, which is the wrong move, the wrong exchange. Genesis 3:6, quote, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and she ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." unfortunate. So when the woman saw, when she perceived, when she evaluated that the tree was what she thought was good for food, remember that tree was not good for food, it was not something good, it wasn't beneficial. But from her perception, she perceived, she analyzed within herself and she said, "Oh," she desired after it and she said, "That would be something good for me." And she said that the tree was pleasant to the eyes. So for her, it created cravings. It created a strong appeal. And so she went ahead and followed after the cravings and those desires instead of obeying what she clearly knew God wanted her to do. Watch out everybody for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We saw in 1 John 2:16. I think it's so interesting that in the New Testament, they talked about what the world has. And we see it right here at the fall where she thought the tree was good for food and it was the lust of the flesh. And she thought it was pleasant to the eyes. was the lust of the eyes. And she said, "It's desirable to make me wise, which is the pride of life." Though God said otherwise, Adam and Eve desired the fruit and disobeyed God. And by doing so, it introduced sin into humanity. So, let's see the result. Genesis 3:7, we're going to see the immediate effect of sin on people. Shame, guilt, and a severely broken relationship with God. Genesis 3:7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Verse eight. And they heard the sounds of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Wow. Both of their eyes were opened. It means they were uncovered. They became aware and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves. They made themselves coverings because they were suffering from shame, right? And they heard the sounds of the Lord God. And so they hid themselves from the presence of God. That means they hid from God's face. They hid from the nearness of God. Here you're seeing guilt and even fear. And you're seeing them distancing themselves from God the Father. This explains some things in our lives, doesn't it? From the beginning, we see why we all desperately need a reconciliation with God. When we do those things that we know we shouldn't do, when we fall short, when we we transgress, when we know what we're supposed to be doing and we go and do the other thing and we do it because something looks beneficial or it's we think we want to satisfy cravings within ourselves, we know that we end up falling into something where our conscience convicts us and we know that that is not what we should have been doing and it was unhealthy and it was inappropriate for us. And we know that we all need desperately a reconciliation with God. And even though you and I may not have sinned the same sin as Adam and Eve, we know there are areas in where we can fall short. And we understand that reconciliation is critical for each of us. Genesis 3:9 here we're going to see that sin introduced hostility and separation between us and God. Quote, "Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you?" Verse 10, "So he said, I heard your voice in the garden." This is Adam speaking. and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Then the Lord God called Adam. He summoned him. He invited him and said to him, "Where are you?" God knew who he was. This is a question for Adam to be able to answer. It's to basically say, "What have you done? Where are you? How have you distanced yourself? Why have you distanced yourself from God?" Right? And it says, "I heard your voice in the garden." Adam said, "And I was afraid." He was never afraid of God before. He had fear. He has dread. He was terrified. And he says, "Because I was naked." All of a sudden, because of what he did, it's now exposed. It's revealed to him things in which he was almost like a child. He had great confidence and great faith and great comfort in who he was. And yet, because of this sin, because of this transgression, he now feels exposed. He feels uncovered. He feels vulnerable. These were feelings he never felt before. And so, he hid. He withdrew from the sight or the presence of God. He concealed himself. This is an example of what sin does, folks. Adam's sin didn't just affect his relationship with God. It introduced sin into the entire human race. And humanity willingly continued in sin. Not the same sin of Adam, but many other sins. Let's take a look at Romans 5:12 and 14. And we see here that sin may have started with Adam, but humanity continued in many other sins and fell into a bondage of death and of separation from God. Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, that would be Adam. And death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because we all sinned. Verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him who was to come. Says, "Therefore, just as through one man's sin, to sin is to miss the mark. It's to fall short of God's standard." God said, "Don't eat of that tree." And they said, "Looks good to me. I desire after it." And they went ahead and did it. There's so many things in life that operate like that where we know it's not right with God. We don't feel right when we do it and we still look at it sometimes and says, "Well, it still satisfies something inside the flesh, so I think I'll go ahead and pursue it." That's the cycle that we need to break, folks. We need to receive God's love and we need to repent of that behavior. It does us no favors. It does us no favors. God wants us to be blessed and to prosper and to be healthy and to fulfill our purpose. But those behaviors, they don't do any of those things. They just ruin us. And so God says, "I'm going to convince you and I'm going to convict you and you're going to feel it in your conscience because I want you to repent of it and to seek me." Praise God. There is good news that is on the other side of this folks. And so he says that sin entered the world. Sin gained access to us through this behavior, through this initial sin. And it says and death through sin. Death is spiritual and physical death. And it includes separation. We know about a physical death when someone's, you know, gives up their spirit and someone passes away. But it's describing a physical and a spiritual death. That's why there was a separation. And you may remember in Genesis that after that sin, they were kicked out of the garden. They were separated. They hid themselves from God first and foremost. They separated themselves from God. And then they were out of the Garden of Eden. And it says that nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even those who hadn't sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam. People after Adam like you and me, we sinned in other ways, right? And it shows this ongoing sinful condition across humanity. It is exactly the reason why Jesus Christ, spoiler alert, it's exactly the reason why Jesus Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day. to break that cycle that there was a power to forgive us and to save us and deliver us and so we could be reconciled. Praise God. We're going to get to that. Romans 7 verses 18 and 19. Here we're going to see that sin has deeply affected humanity. It's producing ongoing internal conflict and separation from God. Just so many bad things across the world. Romans 7:18, for I know that in me, this is Paul writing, "That is in my flesh, nothing good dwells." Right? In that flesh, in your body, in your unregenerated soul, nothing good dwells. And Paul says, "For to will is present with me." Paul says he knew what he was supposed to do. But how to perform what is good, I do not find. Verse 19, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil that I will not to do, that I practice. Right? This shows the the the conflict, the the problem that we're having here in this body and our own souls. Much like Eve, we see things and we desire after them that we know are bad, right? And that is our flesh in us. It's not God's spirit in us. It's not our spirit. It's not our regenerated part of our soul. It's our our body and our unregenerated soul. These are the things that desire after that. So Paul says, "I know that it is in me that is in my flesh, in my sinful nature." He's saying his desire is apart from God. Nothing good dwells. Nothing morally good, nothing upright, nothing beneficial dwells in that. Right? He says, "For the will is present. To desire to intend to do the right thing is there." He said, "But how to perform that which is good, he does not find. For the good that he wills to do, he does not do. But the evil, those harmful things, those morally wrong things, those destructive behaviors, those things that he wills not to do, those things he practices too often. He performs them habitually or continually does." This is not an excuse for sin. This is Paul describing the conflict and the tension that human beings have inside of them. Paul was a man who was converted. Paul rejected and overcame all sorts of things, all sorts of bad habits he had. He was no longer walking in them. And he is an example among other examples in the scriptures for you and for me. Humanity cannot save itself. We saw it with Adam. We see it written by Paul. We need a plan. We need something from God to be reconciled from this terrible cycle and this foolish behavior. Which brings us to simple truth number 52. When sin entered the world, God had a plan to rescue us. Praise God. That's the good news. Remember, this is a teaching on the gospel. So, yeah, we have to talk about what happened with sin. We have to talk about the fall humanity. We have to talk about the effects of sin so that we can then bring in the good news, right? Bring in the good message, bring in what God did about it. And we're getting there, folks. Genesis 3:14 and 15. We're going to see here that the moment sin entered the world, God revealed his plan to defeat evil and to rescue humanity. So notice that we're jumping back to Genesis 3 and we're picking up at verse 14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, so after what happened happened, God moved into judgment. He judged. He was not going to allow the Garden of Eden. He was not going to allow his presence. He was not going to allow his purpose to be ruined. And so God went ahead and he judged. And he did so because he did so out of the love of his heart. He need to benefit. He need to separate. He need to pull aside Adam and Eve. He need to bless humanity. He need to be able to reconcile people back. And so he took action. And so he said to the serpent, quote, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. He looked at the devil. He looked at Satan, that deceiver, and he went in and he judged him. Amen. That serpent, it literally means the word snake, but it's not a snake. It's implying deception. It's implying Satan's influence in the Garden of Eden. And he says, "You were cursed. You were bound under judgment. You were devoted to destruction." God said, "Amen. and more than any beast of the field. And it says on your belly you shall go. That word belly, it means stomach, but it describes a crawling position. It implies humiliation. That's what God is getting at. You will be humiliated. You'll be judged. You'll be destroyed. And you'll be humiliated. It is foolish, folks, to think that the devil has some kind of power above God. The devil's a created being. God is the creator. There's no power that Satan, the devil, has over the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He gives a perception of power because of people and their sin and their weakness. But that is just a perception. It's smoking mirrors. God has power and he shows it right here from the very beginning. He curses the the serpent and he humiliates the serpent all in the same statement. And so what began as judgment in the garden now becomes the very first promise of the gospel. Let's see how that happens. Genesis 3 verse 15. Here we're going to see that immediately after humanity's sin, God reveals his plan of redemption and reconciliation through the gospel. Quote, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman." He's talking to the serpent. "And between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." He says, "I will put emnity. I'll put opposition. I'll put a conflict between you the serpent, you devil, and demonic forces and the woman and specifically between your seed and her seed. Right? Seed is offspring. It's those carrying your nature or influence. The devil doesn't birth babies. That's not how that goes. But there are definitely there's influence and those who are walking according to the nature of those spirits. And so he says that he is going to put conflict between the devil and all his beings, all those demons that are with him, and the seed of the woman, seed singular, we're going to see h interesting, a descendant. And it says that he, that seed of the woman, will bruise your head to the serpent. He will crush your authority. He will destroy your source of rule. God says to the serpent, "And you shall bruise his heel." a most puzzling statement for those who are back in the Old Testament of exactly what God is talking about. It says that this seed of the woman, the one that is put into conflict, there's going to be conflict and opposition throughout the earth as people who submit themselves to God resist the devil, right? And it says that that seed, that specific seed, will crush the devil's authority and crush his source of rule. And yet the devil will strike his heel. And to strike a heel, it's it's low. So, it's a nonfatal wound, but it's still something, right? This promised seed of Genesis 3:15, this promised seed arrives, and it's described in Mark 1, preaching repentance and the gospel of the kingdom of God. Let's see Mark 1 verses 14 15. Jesus, his very first act of ministry, was announcing publicly that long-awaited time of God's redemptive plan, God's reconciliation has arrived. And it arrived through the gospel. Mark 1:14, after John was put in prison, that's John the Baptist, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel, the kingdom of God. Verse 15, and saying, "The time is fulfilled in the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel says Jesus came preaching the gospel, the kingdom of God, preaching the good news, preaching the good message, right, of the kingdom, of God's rule, God's reign, of the authority of God." And he says, "The time is fulfilled. The time has been completed. The time has arrived. The time that was first described in Genesis chapter 3, right? That time has come and the kingdom of God is at hand. So repent, think differently, change your mind. Stop doing what you were doing. Have another mind," Jesus is saying. And believe in the gospel. Put your trust in. Have confidence and rely on the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's Genesis chapter 3 promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who crushed Satan's authority and rescued us through his death, his burial, and his resurrection. Remember, he crushed Satan's head and Satan wounded his heel. Jesus went, he submitted himself to the death on the cross. It was a humiliating death. It was disgusting. Jesus didn't want anything of it. He was beaten. He was stabbed. He was humiliated. He was naked. Everything about it was unsavory and disgusting. All of our sin was put on him at that time. And he didn't want it. And he went to the garden of Gethsemane and said, "If I could pass this cup in any way, I will." And he says, "But nevertheless, not my will, but your be done, Father." And he went ahead and he did it. And Satan wounded his heel. And in doing so, Jesus crushed the devil's head and submitted him to judgment. Hallelujah. Galatians 3 verses 8 and 16. The gospel preached was not even a new idea. It was a fulfillment of the promise that God declared long ago to Abraham. Right? And we're going to see this in Galatians. Galatians 3:8. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. These are non-Jews, non-Jewish people, people who weren't a part of the law of Moses, who weren't a part of of this chosen people who were interacting and fellowshipping with God. It says that God would justify the Gentiles. That's the rest of us. And it says justify them by faith. He preached God preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying in you all the nations shall be blessed. Verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say and to seeds. God did not say to seeds plural as of many but as one and to your seed who is Christ. Okay, there's a lot of meaning put into this. It says the scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. That is what you and I are under now. We are declared right. We are acquitted by faith by putting our trust in by having confidence in God's word and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says that he preached the gospel. He announced the good news all the way back to Abraham. And he did so in saying, "And you all the nations shall be blessed. Every nation shall be blessed greatly and bestowed with favor." And he's saying this to a person who did not have a child and who was too old to bear a child. But yet he was preaching the gospel. He said that through you and the child that you will bear through one of your offspring, one of your seeds, right? a specific seed, but one of your seeds down the descendancy, God would bless every nation, not just the Jewish people. Amen. And it says, "And to your seed, who is Christ?" God's promise of reconciliation was fulfilled through one promised seed, Jesus Christ. So believe in Jesus Christ. Put all your hope in him. He won't let you down. Take it from me. If don't take it from me, take it from millions of other Christians around the world. So let's take a moment. Let's be real. We see the effects of humanity's sin all around us. Pride, anger, rebellion, lust, brokenness. That's just to name a few. And it's destroying the world around us. But we saw from the very beginning that God promised that a savior would come who would defeat evil, who would rescue humanity. That's you and me. So, we must repent and believe in his redemptive power. That's the call. That's the message. You say you trust Jesus. You say you follow Jesus. So repent and believe the gospel. Which brings us to simple truth number 53. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus reconciles us to God. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians 5 18- 21. And here we're going to see because of sin, we were all separated from God. But through the gospel of Christ, God no longer counts our rebellion against us. 2 Corinthians 5:18 quote now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us this is Paul and his group the ministry of reconciliation verse 19 that is so he's explaining what this the ministry of reconciliation is that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us Paul and his crew. The word of reconciliation. There is a lot of good meaning in this. So it says, "Now all things are of God who has reconciled us. To be reconciled is to restored to relationship, to be brought back in favor." Remember, it's a elimination of hostility, an elimination of separation, and then it's a restoration of relationship and a restoration of favor. Praise God. The favor Adam and Eve had before the fall. That's what he's getting after. And it says who has given us a ministry of reconciliation. So not only was Paul reconciled, Paul then was put on a burden on him to then go reconcile other people to minister and to bear witness of all the things that God had done through him. And he says that is that God was in Christ reconciling the word to himself. Not imputing, that is not counting, not charging against their accounts, their trespasses. That means people who behaved outside of God's ways, who were in rebellion, who were falling short. It says that because of the reconciliation that Jesus did, God would not count it against them. He would not charge it against their accounts. For many of us, we go into a store and we say, "Can I please have this? And if so, I will use a credit card to charge." And they charge our credit card and they let us walk out of the store. We're not shoplifting, right? And so we're able to take it because it's charged against us. And yet when we have trespasses and sins, because of the work that Jesus Christ did, it doesn't show up on our credit card. It doesn't get charged against us. We deserve for it to be charged against our credit card. A just God would charge it against our credit card. And yet, because of the price paid by our Lord Jesus Christ, it does not show up on our credit card bill. That is a blessing. That is the good news of the gospel. That's the good message for us to believe him. After reconciling us, God tells us to share this reconciliation with others. That's why that word of reconciliation was committed to Paul. 2 Corinthians 5:20. Here we're going to see that Jesus had no sin. He did nothing wrong. And yet he took our sins upon himself at the cross so that we would be reconciled and made right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Verse 21, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Praise God. It says now then we are ambassadors. Paul's describing him and the people with them. They're representatives. All of us are. We're representatives. We're messengers on God's behalf. And he says as though God were pleading through us. When you're talking to a person, it's as if God himself is pleading through us to that person. Be reconciled to God. Have your relationship restored. Be brought back into favor. God's not going to force you to be reconciled to him. But if you repent and believe God, you will definitely be reconciled to him. And it says in verse 21, for he made him who knew no sin. He never missed the mark. He never fell short of God's standard. He was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He didn't sin. He never touched sin. He didn't know sin. He didn't participate in sin. And yet, he became sin. And what does that mean to become sin? That means he took the punishment of sin. He took the price of sin. And that is what's evidenced on the cross. He was beaten. He had open wounds. He was stabbed with a spear. He was naked. He was humiliated. There were so he had insults and curses thrown at him. Jesus didn't deserve that. Jesus didn't deserve that. In fact, the devil tempted him repeatedly by doing all those things. He was trying to basically say, "Why don't you go ahead and send in your angels and and stop this now?" He was putting pressure. The devil's putting pressure on Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane to not even go through with it. And yet Jesus had to go through with it. Jesus had to become sin for us because that would make us the righteousness of God in him. That means he became sin for us that we could have a right standing with God and that we could walk in right behavior with God. Praise God. Jesus paid the debt for sin so that we could be reconciled. So receive the gift. You don't earn the gift. It's a gift. But you got to receive the gift. So receive the gift. Receive it and thank God for the gift. Walk in that gift. Walk in that reconciliation. Walk in that reconciliation power. And you will see your entire life be transformed. Amen. Colossians 1 verses 19- 22. Here we're going to see that our sins created a separation from God, but Jesus made peace through the blood that he shed at the cross. You're seeing the theme here, folks. You and I screwed up royally. Sometimes we continue to screw up. And God says, "Ask for forgiveness. Repent of your screw-ups. Change your behavior. Change your mind. And thank God that Jesus made peace through the blood that he shed at the cross." Colossians 1:19. For it pleased the father that in him, in Christ, all the fullness should dwell. Verse 20. and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. We do not have peace with God if it weren't for the blood of the cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus. It says it pleased the father that in him all the fullness should dwell, completeness, the totality of God dwelt in Jesus Christ. He was the son of God. He is the son of God. and by him to reconcile all things. There's that word again, reconcile. To completely restore the relationship. It pleased God that Jesus completely restored the relationship. It pleased God that he made peace through the blood of his cross. It pleased God. Do you understand? That's a good thing. God's proud of what Jesus did. It's a good thing. Thank God. And it says that he made peace. He gave harmony. He restored fellowship through the blood of his cross. Through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, he restored peace. And what was the effect of the gospel of the kingdom of God towards restoring our relationship with God, our reconciliation? Well, let's see. Colossians 1 verses 21 and 22. The cross was not a defeat. It was God's plan to reconcile humanity back to himself. You know, the people at the time, including the disciples, they thought that everything went off the rails. They were really enjoying what Jesus was teaching. He was going around. There were healings. The message was powerful. I mean, they were just amazed. There were multitudes. So, when he got got grabbed, when they imprisoned him, when they grabbed him and they tortured him and they beat him and they murdered him, they were scared. Jesus kept telling them this was going to happen, right? He kept telling them this was going to happen. So much so that Peter said, "I will never allow it to happen." And Jesus said, "Yeah, well, the cockerel will crow three times and you'll have rejected me." Right? And so the cross was not a defeat. Colossians 1:21. It felt like it to some people there. And that's when Jesus rose from the dead and they were like, "Oh my gosh." Right? Colossians 1:21. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. Verse 22. in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. There's some powerful words in there. It says, "And you who once were alienated, you were separated. You were estranged and you were enemies. You were hostile. You were opposed to God. You were in conflict with God." You might be saying, "No, no, I loved God with all my heart." You were in conflict. You were in sin. You were hostile to God. You opposed what he did and you did not stand for what he stood for. Okay? and says that you were enemies in your mind by wicked works. You had evil actions, corrupt deeds, sinful works. I think it's amazing that, you know, there's so many different kinds of sin in the world. Uh sometimes it's easy for someone to look at one kind of sin and well, they say that's a sin, but they don't ignore the sin that they're doing, right? And so there's sins like pride and haughtiness and arrogance and those are sin. And then there's other sins, you know, I don't need to list them off, folks, but there's physical sins. There's things that people do with their body. There's things that people do inside of their heart. There's a variety of sins out there. And we don't need to be teaching or preaching all the different kinds of sins. They're usually pretty obvious. So, because of our wicked works, right, our evil actions, our corrupt deeds, our sinful works. And yet, in the body of his flesh, he reconciled us. He has reconciled us. He completely restored the relationship even though we were alienated and we were enemies. And he did so in the body of his flesh through death. And he did so to present us holy. That's a word. That's a strong word to set us apart, to devote us to God. We didn't make ourselves holy. We don't bring anything to this table. We don't show up. This is not some kind of potluck where we bring a dish and say, "Look, God, I brought my dish. I brought my righteousness to this equation. There's nothing for you and me to bring." All we could do is receive the gift. All we can do is repent and believe the gospel. And when we do, God sets us apart. He devotes us to him. He has made us holy and it makes us above reproach in his sight and it makes us blameless. The gospel changes us from separated enemies to reconciled children. So let's take a moment. Our sins separate us from God, but the gospel of Jesus Christ restores peace, relationship, and reconciliation with him. Jesus had no sin and yet he took our sin upon himself at the cross so we would be forgiven. We'd be reconciled and we'd be made right with God. Now, this isn't a future thing. It's immediate. He did it at the cross. He did at the resurrection. All power, the scripture says, is given to me in heaven and earth, Jesus said after he was resurrected. Okay? You can have that now. This isn't a future statement. And the gospel, it does more than forgive sin. It restores what humanity lost when sin entered the world. Which brings us to simple truth number 54. The gospel restores all of the blessing was lost through sin. Let's take a look at Romans 5:17 and 18. Here we're going to see, remember Genesis 3. Remember Genesis 3, Adam's sin brought shame, guilt, fear, separation from God. But Jesus restored us through the gospel. Okay. Romans 5:17. Quote, "For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the one, that's Adam, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ." Verse 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act. That's Jesus. The free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Paul is creating a very strong contrast between Adam and his sin that brought condemnation into humanity and the last Adam Jesus Christ who had a righteous act his death his burial and his resurrection which then brought justification to humanity declared us right acquitted us praise God says if by one man's offense one man who behaved outside of God's ways rebelled his sin right death reigned through the on and we fast forward and say how much more through one man's righteous act that's the gospel of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ came to all men would result in justification of life to be declared right by God to be acquitted by God let's see what shame guilt fear and separation were replaced by remember at that first sin we saw the introduction of shame guilt fear and separation things that Adam never experienced and Eve you've never experienced with God before. But these were now brought into the world. So what has shame, guilt, fear, and separation been replaced by through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, first through the gospel, shame is replaced by acceptance. Thank you, Lord. First Peter chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. Here we're going to see that the gospel replaces shame and rejection with acceptance, identity, and belonging in God's family. 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen generation." He's talking to you folks, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Verse 10, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. These are gracious words. And you know there's a lot of there's a lot of people who followed God. Peter followed God. Peter knew Jesus. Peter had a lot to say about these topics, right? Says, "But you are a chosen generation." What does it mean to be chosen? Means to be selected, picked out by God. Believe that, folks. There are some of you listening to this podcast right now who would say, "Well, that couldn't be me." It is you. It's exactly you. And here's the problem. Soon as God says something about you. He says, "You're chosen. You're selected. You're picked out by God. Your heart wants to then reject it and resist it. Don't let your heart do that. Remind yourself of this. This is truth. This is God's truth. Doesn't matter how you feel about it. It's still true. Okay? You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, right? His own special people. That means you're part of his community. You're a nation belonging together. It also means that you're a part of a community of people with other Christians. It doesn't matter what race they are. Doesn't matter how tall they are. Doesn't matter where where they live, what continent they're a part of. Doesn't matter what they look like or what language that they speak. They're all a part of the same community. They're all part of the same nation as you. They are a brother, a sister in Christ. Praise God. We once lived in darkness. We lived in rejection. We lived in alienation. But we are now brought into God's light. We're brought into God's mercy. And we're brought into God's family through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the gospel, guilt is replaced by forgiveness. I'll take it. Ephesians 1:7. Here we see that the gospel removes the guilt of sin through the forgiveness purchased by Jesus's own blood. That's a really steep price to pay. And that was the price that was required. Thank you, Jesus. Ephesians 1:7. In him, that's in Christ. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So in Christ we have redemption. We have release. We have deliverance. He has purchased our freedom. He paid a price to purchase our freedom. Thank you Lord. The forgiveness of sins. That's the full pardon, a full release from guilt. Thank you God of our sins, our trespasses. It's, you know, there's several words for sin. And this one specifically is the one for trespass. It's actually the scripture that we saw the same word in the verses that we saw just prior to this. And it says that we have forgiveness of our trespasses, which means when we behaved outside of God's way, when we knew what we're supposed to do and we rebelled against it, we have forgiveness for that. We have full pardon. We have a full release from guilt. That's a good exchange. The only thing it requires is for you to give your life. Totally worth it. Give your life to God. Totally worth it. according to the riches of his grace. Riches, the abundance, the wealth, the overflowing supply of God's grace. That's his unearned favor, his kindness, his enabling power. Remember that reconciliation is a removal of hostility. It's a removal of separation. And then it also means that you're brought close to God and then you're also restored with favor. So there's a relationship and then there's favor. God. For those of you who experience God's grace, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing. You're experiencing it now. But for those of you who actually see it, right? You see when it's happening, you didn't earn the favor. You didn't earn the kindness. And God still granted it. That is praiseworthy. That is a great God. Humanity's guilt and trespasses, they can't be removed through human effort. There's no amount of things you can do. You know, one of my concerns when we taught the five disciplines, I was always a little concerned that someone would look and say, "Well, I'm if I do all of these things, I'll somehow earn extra grace with God." You don't earn grace. You do those things because you want to build a better relationship with him. And by the way, you should totally do those things. But it's never going to change the fact that it's the death, burial, and resurrection, which you and I didn't do. It's his act. It's what he did. It's that wonderful thing he did for us that brings God's grace to our lives and the forgiveness of sins. Don't try to ever take glory away from God. Give him all the credit. Give him all the honor. Give him all the glory. He's totally worth it. And by the way, read your Bible, meditate on the scriptures, pray, fast, right? Be led by the spirit because those are wonderful, powerful things to convert your soul to better hear God, better submit to God, and better serve God. But it doesn't add you one more lick of grace in your life. doesn't give you any more mercy because that's already been given through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through the gospel. Fear is replaced by peace with God. Okay. Romans 5:1 the gospel here it replaces fear and hostility with peace and a restored relationship. Romans 5:1 quote, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." It says, "Therefore, having been justified, having been made right with God, having been acquitted," some powerful words. "And we're justified by faith, we're justified by belief, by trust, by a reliance upon God." We are called to rely on God. We're called to believe in God. We're called to trust in God. And that justifies us because as we put faith in God, much like Abraham put faith in God, to believe God for that promise, which if I recall correctly took 25 years for Abraham to have a child, and yet he believed God, he had faith in God. Much like Abraham had to believe God, we believe God. We believe God for our provision. We believe God for our forgiveness. We believe God for our purpose. We believe God for so many things. We believe the gospel. We put our trust in it. We rely on it. We live according to the gospel. And I'll tell you right now, I've never seen anybody put their faith in the gospel and ended up being rejected. I've never seen anybody who put their faith in the gospel who ended up being ashamed. You'll go through. Your faith will be tested and you will be tried. But I guarantee you, every single person I've seen who's put their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they come out victorious because putting it in that is putting their faith in God. God will never allow anybody to sincerely come to him and put their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and do anything else other than be completely and utterly victorious. Because that's what God's word says. I've seen it in my life. I've seen it in my family's life. I've seen in other people's lives. And that's why I take the time to do this podcast because I'm so excited about what I've seen both in my life and the life of others that like Paul, we are given a word of reconciliation. And I'm more than happy to speak according to my faith and according to my understanding. And it says we have peace with God. We have harmony. We have a restored relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when we sin, we fear judgment because our conscience recognizes wrongdoing. But instead of running to God, like Adam and Eve, we tend to run from God. And that's the wrong response, folks. But through the gospel, we are acquitted. We're made right before God. We're justified. So, we have to trust and believe that we are truly forgiven. God says we're forgiven, but we may have something inside of us that resists us. And that is going to require you to apply faith. Right? The book of Hebrews chap 11, it talks over and over again about the importance of faith. We need to trust what God says through the gospel more than what guilt or feelings say to us. And you know what's quite often with the Christian is one day we're really feeling it. We're really feeling faith. And the next day we're not. The truth is the truth. The day you feel that God is good, he's good. And the day you don't feel that God is good and that the gospel has forgiven you, he's still good and you're still forgiven. Through the gospel, separation is replaced by access to God. Thank God. Ephesians 2:13. Through Jesus Christ, we who were once distant from God are now have direct access to God and we can have a close relationship with him. That's fantastic. Ephesians 2:13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. To be far off is to be distant. It's to be far away. It's to be separated. We were once separated and far away from God. But we were brought near. We were brought close. We were made near. We're given access. Why or how? By the blood of Christ. By the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. That's why believing in the gospel is so important. Everything we're literally talking about is putting your trust in and believing the death, burial, and resurrection because of all that is it accomplished. This is why the gospel is the most important topic in the entire Bible. Scripture after scripture that we are describing is showing that not only Jesus Christ but the great work the righteous act that it says in the scripture that is what has transformed our lives in humanity. That is the ministry of reconciliation. That's the word of reconciliation. And that is what restored our relationship and our favor with God. And that is why we're so bold and so confident in it. The gospel removes and resolves the separation and it restores access to God through our reconciliation in Christ. God's plan of reconciliation worked. Like I mentioned before, just look at millions of Christians around the world who are living transformed lives through Jesus Christ. You are no different. You are absolutely a part of that group. And there's nothing that prevents you from living a life fully reconciled to God and to have a transformed life, fulfilling your purpose and seeing everything that God has in store for you. So what should I do now? Well, first of all, stop running from God and come back to him through the gospel. We see that sin, one of the first things as a result of sin is people run. They hide. They conceal themselves in the guilt and in the shame. That just keeps you in trouble. So stop running from God and come back to him through the gospel. Sin makes us hide in shame, guilt, and fear. But Jesus died for your sins so you could be reconciled back to God. So repent from your old ways. Stop doing it. You know it displeases God. You know you feel terrible afterwards. So stop doing it and have faith in the gospel. Number two, believe what God says about you more than what guilt or feelings might be saying. Right? You and I, we've both done terrible things. And this still may haunt us. And it may feel hard to believe that we were forgiven of that thing we did. We may have done it to ourselves. We may have done it to others. It could have been coldblooded as they say. It does not matter. We definitely are forgiven. So repent. Repent from the terrible things that you did or you will do and accept everything God has to say about you. Number three, live like somebody who has been reconciled to God. Walk in your new identity. Draw near to God boldly and show that the gospel of Jesus Christ restores what sin has destroyed. Everything that we were looking at in the Bible through the entirety of this episode, next episode of Simple Truth. Okay, we're covering powerful topics. I hope you've been enjoying season 4 on the gospel of the kingdom and there's more to go. So, we've seen that the gospel is God's plan to bring you back and to reconcile us to himself. But how exactly did Jesus accomplish that reconciliation? He did it through the cross. He did it through the cross and his resurrection. So, don't miss next episode. We'll show you what Jesus accomplished on the cross and how it changed everything. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Simple Truth Podcast. Today we saw that the gospel is God's plan to bring you and me back to himself. Sin, it introduced shame and guilt and fear and death and separation from God. But God did not abandon us. From the beginning, he promised us a savior. And through Jesus Christ, through specifically his death, his burial, and his resurrection, God reconciles us back to himself. That means the gospel does more than forgive sin. It restores what sin destroyed. So, what should you do differently in your life now that you know this? Well, I challenge you to do this for the next seven days. First, no more running from God. You can't get away from him even if you try. Accept the fact that disobeying God, it makes us feel shame and guilt and even fear. But Jesus died for our sins so you could be reconciled to God. So if you know you are doing something that God doesn't want you to do, today is the day to repent. Today is the day to stop it and to thank God for his tremendous power for us to move on from it. Second, believe what God says about you. You may still be remembering your failures, but the gospel says you are forgiven. You're accepted and you're made right before God. He doesn't hold it against you. And he certainly isn't talking about it. So cast it into the lake and move on. You are forgiven. Third, live like someone who has been reconciled to God. Walk in your new identity. Be the person that God says you are. Which means you're going to need to read the Bible daily to remind yourself what he says about you and stop listening to your feelings. Every day this week, remind yourself through Jesus Christ, I have been reconciled to God. Tell it to yourself several times a day. Let your life show that Jesus really does restore what sin destroyed. When shame tries to speak to you, tell it that you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's own special people from 1 Peter chapter 2. When guilt speaks, remind yourself that we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins from Ephesians chapter 1. If fears tries to speak to you, answer it with the fact that you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ from Romans chapter 5. And if you feel far from God, tell yourself that once you were a far off, but you've been brought near by the blood of Christ from Ephesians chapter 2. I'm so glad that you've listened to this episode and can hear the good news of the gospel message. Let us know in the comments what God is showing you and how this topic is helping your walk with him. And share this episode with someone who feels trapped in shame, in guilt, in fear, or in distance from God and needs to know that the gospel was God's plan to bring them on back. And they have immediate access to God through the gospel. If this episode helped you, please be sure to like and to subscribe. Next episode, we're going to get into what Jesus accomplished on the cross. And I'll tell you now, it changed everything. It's been a real pleasure talking about the Bible with you. And I pray God bless you and God keep you and God help you walk every day in the restored relationship you have with God through the gospel of the kingdom of God. Until next time, thank you for listening to the Simple Truth Podcast. For additional episodes, visit us at www.simpletruth.org.