No Longer I: The Power of the Gospel Like You Have Never Heard It Before

Description

This is not a book about more doing. This is a book about better believing.

If you are a Christian, you can probably relate to the feeling that you need to do more to live up to your calling. Yet somehow, no matter how hard you try, you continue to fall short.

Maybe you’re a parent who wants to be more gentle and loving with your kids, but you find yourself almost incapable of going a day without an outburst of anger. Or maybe you’re a spouse who wants to be more present and thoughtful, but the pressures of work or the cares of life always get the best of your attention. Maybe you genuinely want to forgive and move on, but within you is a bitterness that is seemingly too sweet to leave behind. We all have planned to be done with that “thing”—overeating, substance abuse, pornography, laziness, negativity, you name it—only to find ourselves doing it again within days or weeks.

When will we finally be done? When will we finally conquer? If the gospel promises so much, then why does it often deliver so little? Why do believers still struggle with the things that God is supposed to have saved them from?

The primary reason for this is likely not what you would expect. It is not a lack of self-discipline, prayer, bible study, etc. Nor is it simply an unwillingness to repent. The problem, at its core, is that we do not fully understand what Christ has done.

To put it frankly, there is a crucial piece of the gospel that even most Christians have never heard. “[T]he truth will set you free” (John 8:32), and this book is meant to show you how.

Here are some of the common misconceptions that will be cleared up along the way:

• To obey God more, we need to love him more.
• Sin is always the product of an evil heart.
• We must pray and wait for deliverance from sin.
• We are just “sinners saved by grace,” and this will always be the case.
• We need to die to ourselves more and more every day.
• We must be careful not to abuse God’s grace.
• The gospel is every bit as powerful as you have always known it ought to be, and its victory is for everyone who simply believes.

This book is biblical, it is practical, and it is utterly good news.