Sermon on the Necessity of the Gospel

     Adam Kendrick has posted a link to my talk from Sunday night, March 25th, on the other blog that I contribute to, Soli Deo Gloria. My two-part post on responding to the Gospel came out of this talk. So if you’re interested in hearing the message in it’s entirety, check out this post.

Responding to the Gospel (Pt. 2)

     This is the second, and last, part of my previous post on our response, as believers, to the truth of the Gospel. When I talk about our response to the Gospel, what I’m talking about is how we live out the truth of our salvation. How does the fact that you have been justified in the sight of God come out in your life? Can people tell that the righteousness of the perfect Son of God has been imputed to you? These are the kinds of things I’m talking about; we have receieved salvation through faith in Christ, but are we living that way? Here are the last 5 of the 10 responses:

6. Forgiveness of Others: If we truly the grasp the gravity of the Gospel, then we will see how much we’ve truly been forgiven. As a result, how can you know how much you’ve been forgiven and then look at the sin of another person and even think about not forgiving them?

7. Strength in Trials: The Gospel that unites us with Christ gives us hope that nothing can separate us from Him. We look to the promise of Romans 8, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers; nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (verses 38,39)

8. Power in Temptation: We see our identity in Christ through the lens of the Gospel. We are justified, righteous and holy. This is a truth that we use to battle Satan in the midst of temptation. We stand on the solid rock of Christ’s salvation and who that saving work changes us to be.

9. Take Risks: God wants us to take risks for the Gospel. This can mean risking a reputation, a job, a friendship, and, in some cases, even a life. We must realize that the only reason we can take risks is because God can’t. The word “risk” implies some level of ignorance in not knowing what the outcome will be; since our Lord is an all-knowing, sovereign God, it’s impossible for Him to take risks. Therefore, our ability to take risks for the Gospel is grounded in the sovereignty of the God that saves us.

10. Be Authentic: The Gospel liberates us from having to put on masks around other people. The Christian life is not a cultural hiding game, and spiritual maturity is not measured by how well you can hide your sin. Though we try so hard to conceal our sin, it has been exposed; it’s been exposed to Jesus. So we don’t have to hide the fact that our sin is real, but we can acknowledge that truth and find hope in the fact that our Savior is real also.

 What is your response to the Gospel?

Responding to the Gospel (Pt. 1)

     This past Sunday night, March 25th, God gave me the opportunity to preach at Boone’s Creek Baptist Church for their Sunday night service. This is a church that sees their role in training young men for ministry, and it’s very encouraging to see. I spoke out of Romans 3 and I closed with 10 different response that we should have to the Gospel as believers. This is only applicable for those who are followers of Christ because there’s only one response possible for an unbeliever and that’s the response of faith in Christ. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s just a few that came to mind as I prepared.

1. Seeing both yourself and God rightly: throught the Gospel, we see our sinfulness in light of God’s holiness. This gives us a proper view of ourselves and a correct view of our God.

2. Living in light of God’s grace: Our legalistic minds are nullified by the grace of God. Instead of trying to live in such a way that we earn God’s favor, we live knowing that Christ has earned His favor for us. We partake in the spiritual disciplines not so we can earn this favor, but because the grace that saves us and initially earns God’s favor for us in Christ is the same grace that disciplines us.

3.  Humility: The Gospel shows us that the ground is level at the foot of the Cross. Everyone is in need of God’s salvation, but everyone is also undeserving. Yet God chooses to save His Elect by His grace and apart from anything that we do. The Gospel humbles us by our sinfulness and by Christ’s saving work on our behalf.

4. Evangelism: This seem like an obvious one, but the more we preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, the more we grow in our passion for its truth, and the more we desire to share its message.

5. Freedom from Guilt: We look to the promise of Romans 8, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Through the imputed righteousness of Christ we are justified and declared not guilty before God. It’s crazy to think that the same God that condemns us is the same God that pardons us from His condemnation.

“Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”

     Psalm 139 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; you works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Our lives are formed, created and ordained by the living God, by the same God that spoke the galaxies and stars into being. I listened to a two-part series by Louie Giglio that discussed this very topic; here are a few facts that might spark your interest and draw you closer to your Creator:

• Each human being is made up of about 75 trillion cells (that’s 375 times larger than the number of stars in our Milky Way galaxy)
• 50,000 cells die and are replaced every 5 seconds
• Within the human body, there are 75,000 miles worth of blood vessels; that’s enough to go around the Earth 3 times
• In each “simple” cell in our body there are 50 billion atoms (50 bill. x 75 trill. = a really really big number!)
• Each cell contains 6 feet of DNA (if it was stretched out); it takes 1 trillion DNA to equal 1 inch
• 6 ft. of DNA x 75 trill. cells= a length that is the same as going to the moon and back 20,000 times

     These facts might bore you to death, but what a creative and sovereign Creator we have! “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).  To hear the two-part “Alive” series, go here