Notes From What it the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, Part 1: God the Righteous Creator

What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert, Part 1: God the Righteous Creator

2 maint points we must make clear from the get-go: God is Creator & He is holy and righteous

God the Creator

- book of Genesis opens with story of God creating the world
- all of it came about through His spoken word, all of it came from nothing
- bible tells how creation testifies to God's glory and power
Psalm 19:1

Roman 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are with out excuse.

- We are not all there is!
- God created light, the sea, land, moon and sun, birds and fishes, animals, then man & woman

Genesis 1:27
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God created the world & created you => everything in the universe has a purpose- including human beings
- we are not an accident, x just a results of random chance, genetic mutations, gene reassortments, chromosomal accidents
- we are created, everyone of us- the result of and idea, plan & action of God himself! => meaning & responsibility to human life
- we are not autonomous *key fact to understanding gospel; we are created, made, therefore owned
- b/c God created us He has the right to tell us how to live- in garden of Eden told Adam & Eve not to eat of tree of knowledge of good & evil

Genesis 2: 16-17
The Lord God commanded the man saying, "from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

- God x on power trip, He knows what is best for His people- gave laws to increase happiness & well-being
(gospel is response to bad news of sin: a person's rejection of God's Creator-rights over him)

GOD CREATED US, AND THEREFORE OWNS US

God the Holy and Righteous One

How to describe God's character in a few words?- loving, kind, compassionate, forgiving? yes, but also holy & righteous

Exodus 34:6-7
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished visiting the iniquity of fathers on children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

- God's love does not cancel out His justice & righteousness
Psalm 89:14; 97:2
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Habakuk 1:13
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.

* to understand just how glorious & life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ us- we have to understand that this loving & compassionate God is also holy & righteous- He cannot overlook, ignore/ tolerate sin