Spurgeon implies that there is the one true gospel and that are false gospels taught by false teachers. The false teachers speak of a sugared gospel- its the gospel Paul warned about in Galatians that seeks to work its way to right standing with God through circumcision or the law, or the gospel that Paul warned Timothy against, where false teachers tell their hearers what their itching ears want to hear. This is not the true gospel. The true gospel says that I cannot work my way to right standing with God. It is not what our ears want to hear.
We do not want to be told that our sinfulness is so boundless, so far-reaching, so rampant... that our hearts are so wicked, that we cannot make ourselves even the least bit right with God. We want to believe that we're good. The gospel tells us otherwise. And even those who have accepted the truth of the gospel as their joy must still be told that they cannot make themselves right with God. We want to believe that we can do good, and thus make the Father love us more, accept us more. We even go so far as to believe that if we sin, the Father is angry with us. Yet Jesus has drank the full wrath of the Father for us! The gospel tells us we can only rely upon what Jesus did.
The gospel tells us that we are so wicked that not only can we not make ourselves right with God, but that Jesus, the only obedient one, had to die in order to fix what we have done. The Father's wrath was rightfully upon us (and is still upon those who haven't trusted Jesus), but Jesus drank the full cup of the Father's wrath on behalf of humanity. This is yet another blow to our prideful egos.
Thus, the question of how the gospel tears us apart is easily understood in the context of Scripture. It shows us the depths of our sins. Something we never wanted to admit or even know about ourselves. It takes away all of our self-dependence and places everything in Jesus Christ, the lamb who was slain.
Yet the gospel repairs. It brings us to the lowest point we can come to, to a state of absolute hopelessness. And that's where the Father could have justly left us. Yet he didn't. The gospel then brings us to the light and the hope and the joy of Jesus Christ. We are shown that his life was lived in perfect obedience, fulfilling every bit of the law that we could not. He earned perfect obedience for us in his life. He died our death, drinking the full wrath of the Father. Thus, for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no longer any wrath to drink. Not a drop. Jesus drank all of it. He was buried, and rose three days later. He ascended to the right hand of the Father where he is interceding for us.
The gospel shows us the depth of our sin, the sheer wickedness of our heart. The gospel brings us hope in Jesus, and Jesus only. And it does this not only for the person who just accepted Jesus but for every believer, the youngest and the oldest, for it is our very foundation. As of late, I have been praying that I realize the wickedness of my heart and the fullness of Jesus' salvation for me, for I know that I do not begin to understand it as I should. Like Spurgeon suggests, I'm asking the Lord that this gospel would soak deep into my soul as the rain does the ground.
Boom. That's the stuff, my friend. Well said.
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