I am currently reading and enjoying Jared Wilson's book Gospel Wakefulness. The book is packed with gospel-centering challenges and gospel-celebrating insights. Here are a few quotes from my reading.
"An implied gospel is a gospel FAIL. This is why it's crucial to center our teaching, our worship, our service, and the rest of all our lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ. It can take it; it will hold up."--Page 18Lord, give me greater sight of the glories of the gospel. Awaken my heart to the blazing centrality of your cross.
"To honestly proclaim the greatness of Christ requires honestly confessing the bankruptcy of our own souls." Page 41
"J. Gresham Machen writes: 'If you want to find an instance of true gratitude for the infinite grace of God, do not go to those who think of God's love as something that cost nothing, but go rather to those who in agony of soul have faced the awful fact of the guilt of sin, and then have come to know with a trembling wonder that the miracle of all miracles has been accomplished, and that the eternal Son has died in their stead.'" Page 52
"In doggedly centering on the gospel of Jesus in my ministry, what I have discovered, then is that grace is sounding new not just to the unchurched; it's sounding "new again" to the churched....It is a joy to see the first sparkle of freedom in their eyes when, usually after much "gospeling," they finally grasp the end of their duties and realize Christ has been dutiful for them. The color comes back into their faces. They sit up straighter. Their smiles come back. They see the Scriptures with new eyes. they don't stop wanting to obey, of course! But now they want to obey in the enjoyment of Christ's perfect obedience" Page 110
"What gospel wakefulness presupposes is that wherever a person tops out emotionally, they do so at the gospel. We all naturally understand affections. An old man may not give two cents about the gospel, but he sure knows he feels really good when his grandkids come over. A guy who spends sixty hours a week in a dimly-lit cubicle may sit through a Sunday morning church service absolutely unmoved by songs and teaching that his wife insists he show up for, but he leaps off the couch in joy that afternoon when his team scores a much-needed touchdown. A young woman may read the Sermon on the Mount and find it very impressive, but she really lights up when there are sales at the mall. All of us are moved by something. When I say gospel wakefulness is about feelings, I only mean that what should move you most is the reality that Christ died and rose for you." Page 148
"Gospel wakefulness results in a tender heart and a thick skin." Page 175
"Gospel confidence is this: Because of the finished work of Christ, God is utterly and eternally for those who trust in him; indeed, all the promises of God are ours for the enjoyment and the glory through the supremacy and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be satisfied with Christ, then, is to be confident in his gospel." Page 182
