God is the Gospel -- Chapter 8

• One surprising way to see that God is the gospel is by penetrating
  into the soul of gospel-awakened contrition. Those who have
  dealt deeply with their own sin in relation to the gospel know the
  paradox that the good news of forgiveness awakens the pain of
  remorse as well as the joy of release.
• Only an artificial joy does not pass through sorrow for sin on its way to the thrill of being
  forgiven.
• One of the reasons that many Christians seem to have no thrill
  at being forgiven through the gospel is that they have not been brokenhearted
  over their sin. They have not despaired. They have not
  wrestled with warranted self-loathing. They have not grieved over
  their sin because of its moral repugnance, but have grieved only
  because of guilt feelings and threats of hell.
• God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.1 Which means that
  you never have to choose between your greatest joy and God’s greatest
  glory.
• If the great good of the gospel is savoring the glory
  of God in the gospel, how can it also produce sorrow? By asking
  this question we put our previous conclusions to the test. If we are
  on the right track about God and the gospel, the result should be
  confirmation.
• True sorrow over sin is shown by the gospel to be what it really is—the result
  of failing to savor “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
  (2 Cor. 4:6).
• The sweetness of seeing God in the gospel is a prerequisite for godly sorrow
  for so long scorning that sweetness.
• One of the reasons for dealing in this chapter with the nature and
  foundation of Christian contrition is that it enables me to caution
  against triumphalism. I am aware that when I use the language of
  prizing and treasuring and delighting and cherishing and being satisfied
  by the glory of God in the face of Christ, it could sound to
  some as if all brokenness and suffering and pain and sorrow have
  been left behind. That is not true.
• The Christian never gets beyond the battle with indwelling sin.10 Life is not all joy above sorrow; life is a battle for joy in the midst of sorrow.11 The banner that flies
  over my life and over this book is Paul’s paradoxical maxim in
  2 Corinthians 6:10, “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”
• In fact, God is so intentional about revealing the glory of the crucified
  Christ in the gospel, and producing Christians who are conformed
  to Christ’s self-emptying love (2 Cor. 3:18), that not only
  does he make the cross the central revelation of his glory in this age,
  but he also leaves Satan in the world to magnify the power and wisdom
  and beauty of meekness.
• Have you ever wondered why God does not simply snuff Satan
  and his demons out of existence now?14 It is strange that God, with
  total sovereign rights over Satan, his archenemy, would allow him
  to do so much harm. God has the right and power to throw him into
  the lake of fire. God will one day do away with Satan altogether
  (Rev. 20:3, 10). That will be no injustice to Satan. Nor would it be
  unjust for God to do it today. So why doesn’t he, in view of how
  much misery Satan causes?
• Why then does God tolerate Satan? We find the key in remembering
  that Satan hates the gospel. “The god of this world [Satan]
  has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing
  the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). This is a
  clue to why God gives Satan so much leash. God’s aim is to magnify
  the glory of Christ through the gospel.
• If Christ obliterated all demons now (which he could do), his sheer power would be seen as
  glorious, but his superior beauty and worth would not shine so
  brightly as when God’s people renounce the promises of Satan, trust
  in Christ’s blood and righteousness, and take pleasure in the greater
  glory of Jesus revealed in the gospel.
• So let us preach and live the gospel so as to display Christ. Let
  us take up arms and defeat the devil by being bold and glad in the
  superior glory of the Son of God! I do not say it is easy. It is very
  costly. The path of love that leads from the cross of Christ to the
  glory of Christ is a road of sacrifice. Christ’s superior beauty over
  Satan and sin is seen best when we are willing to suffer for it. One
  of the greatest blows against the power of darkness comes from the
  blood of martyrs. “They have conquered him [Satan!] by the blood
  of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not
  their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11). This is the kind of life that
  grows from seeing God as the gospel.