Becoming More Gospel Saturated, Part 3

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all...it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
Isaiah 53:5-6,10

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25

Finally, a healthy church member takes seriously the responsibility of guarding the gospel from corruption and abandonment. The New Testament seems to place this responsibility ultimately on the congregation rather than on the pastors alone. When the churches at Galatia were unsettled by false teachers who were trying to add circumcision to the demands of the gospel, the apostle Paul wrote not to the pastors and elders but to the churches themselves. He addressed the membership and called them to guard the gospel he had preached to them. His instruction is strong:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be eternally accursed. (Gal. 1:8-9)

The Galatians, indeed all Christian church members, are to be careful concerning what they entertain in gospel preaching. The apostle John warns his readers that "if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked work" (2 John 10-11). Peter reminds his readers that those who follow the "shameful ways" of false teachers cause "the way of truth to be blasphemed" (2 Pet. 2:2). So it's understandable, then, that Jude exhorts his audience to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The healthy church and church member fight for and protect the apostolic gospel delivered and preserved in the pages of Scripture. When we don't accept that responsibility and are not vigilant in understanding and applying the gospel, we leave it to be corrupted, abused, and abandoned by unscrupulous teachers and the forces of the evil one.

--Thabiti Anyabwile, What Is A Healthy Church Member?, p.45-46

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...
1 Peter 3:18

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your glorious gospel. We plead with You to make us more saturated with it because we know that in all of our willing and running, You are the main doer. May guarding the gospel be a natural overflow of our being gospel saturated. May we know the gospel so well, may we be so conversant with it, that like a well-trained dog we might sniff out the slightest compromise or departure from it. But we don't want to just be barking dogs. And so my hope is that this gospel saturation would be so pervasive that it not only causes us to guard the gospel, but it is reflected in the very way we guard the gospel: as those who love You and love others humbly and genuinely, even in their ignorance or error. We don't want to just be barking dogs. But at the same time we don't want to be dogs who because of the fear of man and the desire to avoid conflict only whimper and stick their tails between their legs when they sense the gospel may be under compromise. Only by being saturated with Your gospel can we be something else. So make us more gospel saturated I pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.