THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL PART TWO

Rom 10:5-21

The beauty and simplicity of the gospel has produced the only means of righteousness for sinners. And that is through the redeeming work of Christ, paid in full on the cross of Calvary. The beauty and simplicity of the gospel has produces a genuine faith in Christ alone for what He did by shedding His blood for our iniquity. The beauty and simplicity of the gospel has produced a genuine loyalty and confession to this world by proclaiming Jesus is Master/Lord. Do you understand that there is nothing else that can change a soul for all eternity? Nothing

 

The gospel is all we have and that’s ok because it is enough! The gospel changes lives precisely because it is not about us, even our changed lives. It’s about Christ and His gospel working in the life of now redeemed child who saved by grace. This why Paul was very clear that any other gospel is a damnable offence to a holy God, who sent His Son to pay the penalty we owe. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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. (GK “anathema” Let them be devoted to destruction, damnation) As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.” Gal 1:1-11

 

Paul even said at the end of his first letter to the church in Corinth, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!” 1 Cor 16:22. The simplicity of the Gospel is a Divine miracle that completely transforms the sinner….. With new desires, reality, future home and message of hope for lost sinners. Paul Washer wrote in his book “The Gospel Call & True Conversion” in reference to the Divine workings of God in the Gospel. “This faith in Christ is not temporary, static, or undetectable, but persevering, dynamic and evident. This is ensured because salvation is the work of God for the glory of God.” The Gospel is to be precious to you and me, not just for a season, or a day, but the gospel drives us to know Him more personally. It’s this personal communion that we have with Christ that gives us the joy and the boldness to herald the Good News to a lost a rebellious world. As Paul said, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Col 4:5-6. As Disciples of Christ we have something to say….when before we didn’t, because we were blind, deaf, and rebellious to the things of God. With the time we have left we do all things for the glory of Christ and for others to hear the gospel.

 

Do you realize you were created, saved and set apart

for His purposes and glory?

 

It’s not about our little kingdoms and what we can get out of this world. But…… About what God will get out of us for His glory while we still have air in our lungs. READ ROMANS 10:14-21 Paul gives a series of related questions which bears heavily on the mission of the church. Why? Because God commanded us to, “And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." 

Matt 28:18-20

Why do we have missions?

Why is the church supposed to evangelize?

 

We don’t know who the elect of God are; and every soul matters to the born again child of God. And every soul that is outside of God’s saving grace should be the church’s greatest burden. Nothing should grieve the heart of the church more than to see people turn away or rebelliously ignore the truth of God that is “so near” to Mankind. (v8) These rhetorical questions are to point the church to their mission statement. The purpose and functions of the church. The very opening Purpose Statement on our church says this, “Calvary Baptist Church is first and foremost to bring glory and praise to the Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ and to raise up mature believers so that we can fulfill the Great commission.” Part of our statement for “Meet the lost with Christ” says, “We begin first by living as lights in a community under darkness…….we will encourage the believer to be bold in sharing their faith while at the same time demonstrating it in their own lives. 

One professor of Theology said, “Evangelism is one of the greatest privileges that God gives to the church.”

 

R C Sproul said, “God could have preached His word from the clouds without any human participation, but He chose the means to accomplish it, chiefly, the foolishness of preaching. God gave us the unspeakable privilege of participating in His majestic program of redemption, which He planned from the foundation of the world.” What is amazing about that statement is that not one of us in this chapel is indispensable. We know that is true because the cemetery is full of them and the gospel still goes on.

What am I trying to say?

 

God didn’t need…… Abraham, Lot, Job, Jacob, David, Rehab, Ruth, Esther and etc. God didn’t need the Minor Prophets…..Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Hosea, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. God didn’t need the Major Prophets…..Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. God didn’t need the Apostles…… Peter, Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, James the son of Alphaeus and Paul. God didn’t need……Polycarp, Ignatius, Augustine, Hus, Tyndale, Wycliffe, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, John Owen, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Johnathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, John & Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, James Boice and R C Sproul. God doesn’t need…… John MacArthur, Steve Lawson, Voddie Baucham, James White, Paul Washer, HB Charles, Todd Friel, Ray Comfort, Richard Agnew, Johnathan Griffiths, Mike Andrews, and Calvary Baptist family. Understand though! God invited us into the privilege of the gospel confession and proclamation to the lost in Canada. (Specifically the Ottawa Valley) God doesn’t need us, but He chose to use us as His agents to proclaim His good news though the new birth. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 

2 Cor 5:17-20. 

This is why it’s beautiful for those who preach the gospel of peace in a chaotic world system. (v15-v17) Saving faith requires information…nobody is going to put their trust in a Savior whom they do not believe is capable of saving them. Why would they put a trust in, or call upon somebody, unless they first believed he was able to redeem them. So in other words….. Belief is a precondition, a necessary condition, to calling upon Him. This is why Paul opens with these questions and the only answer to those questions is the proclamation of the gospel. (v14-v17). Millions of Canadians and people around the world have never heard the name of Jesus. The church is commanded to go to every corner of the world and make the message plain to all people.

 

The Simplicity Of The Gospel Is Our Hearing The Gospel. (v14-v21)

 

No one will respond to the gospel apart from a preacher, meaning those who proclaim the good news of the gospel. Nobody is going to believe a gospel they never heard, and without a preacher they will never hear it. Do not see how vital the church plays in this fallen world? We are the missionaries of the Killaloe and the Ottawa Valley. The churches mandate is to proclaim the same good news that you responded to….. so long ago. The church is about the work of the gospel, not so we can feel good about ourselves and live as we once did.

 

The gospel is the most threating thing you could

proclaim to a lost world.

 

That’s why those who said “Jesus is Lord” knew the consequences of what might happen if they followed after Christ. He was, and is, worthy of every bruise, or stripe, they might endure for His name sake. Why do you think the early church turned the world upside down, and many lost their lives for the sake of the cross? Jesus warned the disciples and the future the church! This is what it means to carry your cross for the sake of the gospel message. “Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Matt 16:24-26.

Suffering for Christ has become a part of the Christian faith since Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. This is why Paul could quote Isaiah…… “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (v15) The full quote of this is found in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."

 

What do beautiful feet look like?

 

Two men John & David, who sold themselves into slavery to answer the call ‘come and minister the gospel to us’. They became slaves in order to have the opportunity to reach the slaves of the West Indies for their Lord. Their life’s purpose was to follow the Lamb who had given His life for them and for all the souls of the world. Their mission statement was “Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him.” One of the men left his wife and children begging on the wharf for him to reconsider and stay. But the call and heart of God for these slaves in the West Indies was even greater than the pull of home. As the ship pulled away from the docks the men lifted a cry, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering” which became the echoing heartbeat of the Moravian Missions movement. These beautiful feet…….. breathe the gospel, eat the gospel, live the gospel, sleep the gospel, evidence of the gospel, and most importantly proclaim the simple gospel. 

Unfortunately we live in a culture where the church today is desperately trying to find new ways to entice people in the church, instead of the plain preaching of God’s word and the simple truth of the gospel message. The famous quote to this new invention for the church says, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary" I think Paul would take issue with this statement, and so do I. (v17) This genuine faith that comes by hearing the word of God is because of words spoken, which are the revealed words that we find in Scripture. And Paul explains that the nation of Israel is without excuse not because the prophets kept their mouth shut. (v18). We don’t win sinners by our friendly smiles or lifestyle choices. The simple gospel is to be heard, believed, proclaimed, and loved by the child saved by it. Remember what Jesus said before He ascended to the right hand of the Father? In the Book of Acts Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8. The Holy Spirit will give us the words to say to lost souls who are on their way to Christ-less eternity though the power of God’s Word. And the gospel plays and actively lives in every aspect of our lives from the time we get up, until the time we go to bed.

 

As J C Ryle said, “A genuine Gospel-faith has nothing selfish about it – it never makes a man think only of his own salvation. It stirs him up, on the contrary, to concern about the souls of others. I always suspect that those who care nothing whether their brethren are saved or not, must in reality be ignorant or thoughtless about their own state.”

 

Paul Washer said, “Preaching [the gospel] is a matter of Life and Death and also how you live as a Christian is a matter of Life and Death.”

 

As Peter said “so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” 1Peter 4:2

 

God’s strategy is for sinners to come to understanding of the gospel through the preaching of His word. Paul reminded the believer at Corinth that we do not win people by eloquent words or strategies, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 

1 Cor 1:17-18. The beauty of the simple gospel is this, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Cor 2:1-5. When the gospel has impacted our lives, we become tremendously aware of the amounts of lost souls heading to a Christ-less eternity. What does a soul to a Christ-less eternity look like? The puritan preacher John Owen said it best “Think of Adam after his fall, before the promise, hiding himself from God, and you have a perfect portrait of a poor creature without the gospel.” 

Why is it a privilege to proclaim the good news?

 

The Bible clearly teaches it.  (Mark 16:15-17) (Acts 1:8) (Luke 24:47)

God clearly commanded it.  (Matt 28:18-20)

Jesus clearly lived it. (John 3 & John 4)

The Holy Spirit clearly gives us the ability to proclaim it.  (1 Cor 2:1-8); (John 14:26)

The Gospel clearly calls for it. (Gal 1:1-11); (1 Cor 1:13-17)

The apostles clearly lived/proclaimed it. (Gal 2:20); (Acts 2:14:24); (Phil 4:9)

The world clearly needs it. (Matt 9:36); (Isa 53:6); (Luke 15); (Gal 3:22)

The Devil clearly hates it.  (Acts 20:29-31); (Matt 13:19); (2 Peter 2:1); (Jude 4)

Salvation clearly demands it.  (1 Peter 1:23-25); (Rom 10:17); (Acts 4:12)

Our lives clearly are to be devoted to it.   (2 Cor 5:13-15); (2 Cor 5:20); (Phil 1:18-21)

 

Why did the early church turn the world upside down? “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” Acts 8:4. God has blessed all of us with the privilege to share the good news with this fallen world system. God has blessed with beautiful feet in the eyes of those who hear and respond to simplicity and beauty of the gospel. Remember what the Lord said to His disciples? “"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matt 9:35-38