May 10
23
Presented May 23, 2010 by Pastor Eric Cuenin.
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I tease my children a lot usually when they’re here. I appreciate that they took time off of work to be with us this weekend. It’s a special weekend for the church.
I mention this for two reasons: Number one, I mention it because it’s good for them to know that I appreciate them publicly, Ben, Renee, and Nick, and I also want you to know that they appreciate you folks. That’s the second reason I mention it.
It’s important to them, too, that they know or you know that they’re supportive of the church in general and they do not look at your kindness toward them over the years lightly, and so I mention that only because it’s important to me and I want you to know that I think it’s good for people to be grateful to those who have had an impact on their life and I’m glad that they sense, as they’re getting a little bit older, those who are important to them as well. I think that’s a good thing.
Well, we are talking about the gospel, and I’m having some computer problems recently so we’ll see how everything works out.
Last week we talked about the problem of adjusting and watering down the gospel itself, and sometimes we lose context of what the gospel really happens to be and I want you to be faithful to what the gospel is. I want you to understand the message of the gospel, that it’s not everything and that we can accept adjusted, confused gospels. There is a clear gospel given in God’s Word and we need to be able to say yes, that is the truth of the gospel and, yes, the whole Word of God points to Jesus Christ and yet most of the time when we speak about the gospel, it is the saving message of Jesus Christ which is fine. We don’t want to try to say no, that’s not the gospel. Yes, it is, but on a broader sense the gospel is more inclusive because it all points to Jesus Christ and there is even a sense that we preach the gospel to believers. That is day by day Paul talked about that we’re to live the gospel. When we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are also saying this: That you live a life that is pleasing to Jesus Christ, that you are saying, in essence, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.
So the gospel is an interesting subject and I fear sometimes in the day that we live in too many people are hearing a confused gospel, a watered down gospel, or they’re hearing no gospel at all, and I dearly want to be certain that when we proclaim the truth of God’s Word, when we proclaim the gospel, we’re cutting it straight, okay? And that’s not being too bold. That’s just being clear.
Albert Mohler tells the account of a young woman who is preparing for the mission field and she was taking a class in college called a New Testament Studies class, and the professor requested, on the initial class of the semester, to share their names – sometimes classes do that, particularly if they’re not too enormous — their name, where they came from, and why they were taking the class. You get the idea, right?
So as students went around and said, you know, I’m from here, or there, and this is why I’m taking the class — and of course if you want to sound academic, you give a great academic reason, “I’ve been perplexed about the studies of this particular nuance of theology and I thought, perhaps, this class might answer these questions.”
Well, this young lady taking the class, when it came to her turn and she said her name and where she was from, said this, “,,, because she wanted to know more about Jesus Christ and his shed blood.” According to Mohler, the professor exploded.
There’s nothing hardly worse than when you’re taking a class and the professor starts jumping up and down. And he told her and the class, “There will be no more bloody religion in this classroom, understand? It is not tolerated.”
I want you to understand right away that the message of the gospel is pointed. It is not a soft message, is it?
Would you turn with me to Isaiah Chapter 53?
In Isaiah 53:3, this is a very well-known passage of scripture, but tell me is this sharp, brutal, and intrusive? Speaking prophetically in the Old Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, “He is despised and rejected of men.” Boy, that is just a soft message, right? Why would I want this guy? He’s not even popular, right?
“He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows.” Hey, I want an upbeat gospel. I don’t want a downbeat gospel. I want a popular Jesus, not an unpopular Jesus. “He is acquainted with grief.” Hey, don’t I have enough grief in my life now?
But notice the response and the reaction, and this is the normal reaction when we are first confronted with Jesus. You may say in your heart that was not my reaction in response, but it is the natural person’s reaction to hearing the truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ. “We hid as it were our faces from him.” He was despised, and what happened? “We esteemed him not.”
In other words, we didn’t give him a whole lot of credit, love, say it however you will. It’s sharp, it’s brutal, because we go on here and it says “surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow yet we did not esteem him…” what? “Stricken.” This is the, eternal Son of God who came into this world and was what does it say? “ He was stricken. Smitten of God.” What else does it say? “He was afflicted.”
This is sharp, brutal, intrusive. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. Notice the very brutal terminology: Wounded, bruised, stricken, smitten. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.
“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth and was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”. Wow! That’s pretty brutal.
It kind of gives you pause when you first become aware, as the Spirit of God works in a person’s heart, that Jesus Christ was really brutalized for you and willingly went to the cross of Calvary.
The message of the gospel is pointed. In fact, many people consider it’s foolish and an offense.
Let’s look at the New Testament very quickly as we spend time there.
I’ve been spending some time recurringly in 1 Corinthians because Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand again what Jesus did for them. They were so conscious of the fact that they wanted to be pleasing to the world, and aren’t we as modern Christians in our effort to water down the gospel, to adjust the gospel, to use an accommodating gospel, we do all of these things because we want more acceptance. We want the world to accept the truth of the gospel, but the fact of the matter is the gospel is sharp and brutal and it’s intrusive.
And when we hear a story, like Mohler’s account, in regard to this young lady — and when I was in seminary occasionally a professor would get after us, I remember I asked some question that I thought was perfectly correct in one seminary class and the professor wasn’t — he didn’t explode, but he was getting close to that point. So one of my fellow classmates told me after the class, “If I knew you were going to do that, EricI would have left the room or the door open to the room if you were going to get blown out of here,” so — well, sometimes we have to watch our steps, but the gospel is an offense to many people. It says “For the preaching of the cross,” in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “ To them that perish,” that is, who do not receive, who do not accept, who have not been born again is foolish. “To them that perish [it's] foolishness. It’s laughable.
Why is it today. within the context of Christianity, open game in the media and in the world to take potshots at Christians left and right? It’s foolish, it’s ridiculous to them, but unto us who are — it’s a good word– “Saved” is not a bad word, is it? We have been saved. We have been saved from our sin. We have been saved from hell, and it’s because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary.
This wonderful work of the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, this sharp and brutal message which we do not hesitate to share, and though it may be an offense to them that are unsaved and perishing, we boldly proclaim that message, because our audience is God himself. It’s because we love the Lord Jesus Christ and we dare not intrude on the message that he clearly gives to us.
Verse 23 of this same chapter, he says this: But we preach Christ crucified. Do you notice unto the Jews it’s what though? It’s a stumbling block. It’s something you fall over, you can’t deal with, it becomes a bit of an offense.
In fact, that’s what Peter shares with us in 1 Peter chapter 1, that it’s an offense. The cross is an offense to people. You may say I didn’t find it offensive, but you see that is sometimes just how we perceive things after a period of time, for all of us, and you see, I don’t argue with the Word of God. You know, sometimes we say I don’t see it that way. See, you’re arguing against God’s Word. Be careful about that. You see, I examine my own heart.
I got saved when I was eight years old. That’s a long time ago. This year it’s going — this is — well, boy, I hesitate to say this. I really hesitate to say this because I know some of these things are going out and others are hearing this as well, but this is going to be my 50th year that I’ve known Jesus Christ as my Savior. I praise God for that, you know. You say to yourself when I was eight years old, you know, how can you think all of these bad thoughts, but I resisted, I rebelled. Perhaps I wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ even for a brief period of time when I knew right from wrong. Perhaps I resisted. Perhaps I didn’t think Jesus Christ was good enough for me.
I have to conclude always, always — listen to me and did I make myself clear — always that the Word of God is accurate, it’s infallible, it’s correct, and it’s correct about our assessments about life. I was a stubborn sinner even at eight years old, and I did not want to follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior until he melted my heart.
So 1 Peter 2:7 tells us in so many words. I should pick up in verse 7: Unto you, therefore, who believe he is precious. Isn’t that your testimony today? I hope all of you can rise up and say he’s precious to me.
But unto them who are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same as made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of what? Offense, even to them who stumble at the Word, being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. Wow.
Okay. So we ask a question. Should we soften the message? Cuenin, how are you ever going to build this church up if you’re so much for the sharp, brutal, intrusive message? Talking about what Christ did on the cross, talking about this offensive message, and not willing to soften it, how can you continue doing that? Aren’t you concerned about having a bigger and greater ministry? I think its all fine, but I leave all that up to God. My obligation before you and before God is to give you the message. I leave the numbers up to the Lord.
Our responsibility is the very depth of Jesus Christ. The breadth, I have to admit, is up to him. We always pray for God’s blessing on this ministry, but if we’re worried about offending people with the gospel message, we’re hurting ourselves.
Well, number two. This message is not only pointed, but this message has power, believe it or not. We wonder why Christianity has such little impact in our world. Perhaps we are doing things our own way. You know, we like to count. We like to say, “Look at what I did, look at what I did,” but we want to know what Jesus has done. We want to know about the power of God, how he changes lives. That’s what we want to know about. It’s a supernatural message, you see.
Notice also in 1 Corinthians 1:18, it says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but don’t miss the end of it. We got to the part about foolishness and offense. Why are we going through this again? But notice the end of that passage, kind of this is the key passage we’re looking at, in essence, this morning, but unto us who are saved it is what? It’s the power of God.
I am interested, aren’t you, in power? I’m not necessarily saying that you’re all megalomaniacs and you’re looking for power, power, power, you know, that’s what I want. You know, give me some power in my life. I’m talking about the power of God that saved us. I’m interested in that.
Sometimes we’re under the mistaken delusion that it was the power of my own flesh that saved me, but that is completely un-Biblical. It was the power of whom? Of God himself. It is the power of God who saves. It is a supernatural deal. It is not of some common origin.
We’re so phlegmatic as human beings. You know, we find we’re unstable at times, we don’t know when we’re sick or we’re struggling in our life, if we even love our very spouse at those moments. Sad but true, those moments that come in our lives, you know, “Leave me alone. I don’t want anyone bothering me.” We become unstable in those moments. We need the power of God not only to save us, to keep us, to help us, but you see Paul is telling them this preaching of the cross which seems to be to some people so pointed, so brutal, so offensive in so many ways, but you see this is the clear message and it is this particular message that has power that saves people.
That’s why we say we’re not ashamed of it. It’s the power of not only God himself, and it is, by the way. You know, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1; I really like the terminology in that verse. It talks about you and — you know, some of you like the KJV, some of you don’t like the KJV and all that sort of thing, but there are certain words for me as the guy that’s been around, it says: In you hath he quickened. Isn’t that kind of an interesting term? You’ve been quickened. You’ve been made alive. You’re alive. Quickened. It sounds so supernatural of life, because you were dead in trespasses and sins.
You talk about power. You know, you talk about ramping up. You talk about something that’s not in your capabilities. You see, this particular message has power itself because the power is from God. He gives life. Only God can give life.
And so we share this message because the message has power. We clearly give the message. We give this offensive message because this is the message of God, and God is the one who gives life and power. He comes and indwells you. He quickens you. He indwells you at that time. It’s a work of the Spirit. You know, you’ve been born again from above is what we’re told. You’re not born again from below here. You are born again from above. You’ve been quickened. So it’s the power of the Word. We are not ashamed of that message.
Romans 1:16, and you know these passages, I hardly have to look them up for you, but we’re told that Paul says, “I’m not ashamed.” I don’t mind preaching this offensive message because this message is a message of power. I’m not ashamed of the gospel of whom? It’s the gospel of Christ. I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ he says. I want you not to be ashamed of Christ. Don’t preach another message. For it is the power of God unto salvation to whom? Everybody? But specifically to whom? Everyone that believes, right? That is a powerful message.
While you’re in Romans, notice chapter 10. We need to understand that this is a tremendous message from God. I’m reminded, too, that the word itself is powerful, isn’t it? What are we told in Hebrews? For the word is sharp, quick, it’s alive, more powerful and sharper than all these things. It’s a powerful deal, isn’t it?
In Romans 10:14-16 it says: “How then shall they call on him and whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him who they have not heard. And how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah sayeth, Lord, who hath believed our report?” So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by what tool? Is it just out there, folks? Is it just, you know, I can catch it in the wind? I heard a good story it’s just out there. No. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so we share this powerful great message of salvation of Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful message. It is the message of salvation.
Well, lastly, it’s a clear message. It’s a clear message. Indeed it is. It’s not the confused gospel, is it? I was reading a portion of a book in preparation of these messages, and it’s a book called What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert.
And Greg Gilbert said this, he says ask any hundred self-professed evangelical Christians what the good news of Jesus is, and you’re likely to get about 60 different answers. Listen to evangelical preaching, read evangelical books, log on to evangelical websites, and you’ll find one description after another of the gospel, many of them mutually exclusive.
But he shared some, and I want to share a few with you real quickly and see what you think. This is what they say the gospel is. The good news is God wants to show you his incredible favor. He wants to fill your life with new wine.
I’m already starting to get confused, aren’t you, when people start saying — he says, but are you willing to get rid of your old wineskins? Will you start thinking bigger? I don’t know what he means when you start thinking bigger, you know? Will you enlarge your vision, get rid of those old negative mindsets that you hold back? That’s an explanation of the gospel. Have you got it now? Can you be saved?
Well, another one: The message of Jesus may well be called the most revolutionary of all time. The radical revolutionary empire of God is here.
All of a sudden I think now — I think when Jesus saves us our lives are revolutionized, but when they explain it that way, I’m not sure where we’re going.
It says: Advancing by reconciliation and peace, expanding by faith, hope, and love, beginning with the poorest, weakest, meekest, and the least. It’s time to change your thinking, so apparently, in order to understand the gospel, just change your thinking and get revolutionized.
Everything is about to change. It’s time for a new way of life. Believe me, follow me, believe the good news so you can learn to live right and be part of the revolution.
I still don’t find that — you know, maybe some of these people may be going in the right direction, but you’re really not sure what it’s all about.
The good news is that God’s face will always be turned toward you regardless of what you have done. The good news is God’s face will always be turned toward you regardless of what you have done, where you have been, how many mistakes you have made. He loves you and is turned in your direction looking for you.
Here’s another one: Good news. God is becoming king and he’s doing it through Jesus and therefore, God’s justice, God’s peace, God’s world is going to be renewed. In the middle of that, of course, is good news for you and me, but that’s the derivation from or the corollary of the good news which is a message about Jesus that has a second order of effect on me and you and us, but the gospel is not itself about you are this sort of a person, and this can happen to you. That’s the result of the gospel, rather than the gospel itself. Salvation is a result of the gospel, not the center of the gospel itself. I want you to share with me –
The gospel is, another one, is the proclamation of Jesus, sounds good, and he says in two senses it’s the proclamation announced by Jesus, the rival of God’s realm or possibility, his kingdom in the midst of human structure and possibility, but it’s also the proclamation about Jesus, the good news that in dying and rising Jesus has made the kingdom he proclaimed available to us.
As a Christian, I’m simply trying to orient myself around living a particular kind of way, the kind of way that Jesus taught is possible, and I think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live — well, I’m going to stop on this one.
The last one: My understanding of Jesus’ message is that he teaches us to live in the reality of God now, here and today. It’s almost as if Jesus just keeps saying change your life, live this way.
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time figuring out what a lot of these people are even trying to say that the gospel message is.
I find it interesting. You know, when we turn to the Word of God, we get answers to what the gospel is. I’m not going to tell you necessarily that the gospel is always easy to accept, but I’m going to tell you that the gospel message is clear. You understand the difference, right? It’s not always easy for people to accept, to believe, but it’s really clear.
Notice when Jesus began his ministry in Mark 1:15, as we wind down this morning. In Mark 1:15 — I just find these things intriguing. You know, sometimes we ignore the book of Mark, because it’s some — the hidden one of the gospels or something, but here we find John the Baptist was put in prison. Jesus came unto Galilee in verse 14 preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
In verse 15, this is what he says: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, so he begins his ministry saying what? Repent and believe the gospel. That sounds pretty clear to me. When I see repent and believe the gospel, it reminds me two things very quickly.
Number one, we’re sinners and we need to repent. Isn’t that kind of the problem? We’re all sinners, we’ve all come short of the glory of God, for the wages of sin is death, and so we need to understand that we’ve got to come back to that place again recognizing our terrible need of Jesus Christ because we are sinners. We’ve got a huge enormous problem, and that’s why Christ came into the world, correct?
Paul’s ministry, as we discuss these things, he’s out ministering in Acts chapter 20, he’s out with his little team, and talks about in Acts 20 and verse 20 and building up to that, he talks to the elders of the church at Ephesus, he said, in verse 19, he served the Lord with all humility in mind, many tears and trials. Tough ministry, isn’t it?
So he says this in 19 and 20, and how, excuse me, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. He said, this has been my ministry to you but I have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. I’ve given you the gospel I’ve edified you. I’ve discipled you in every sense of the word. He says testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Sounds like a lot like Romans 1:16, doesn’t it?
What did he teach them? What was he telling them? What was he going and trying to carry out the great commission? What was the message of the gospel that he was sharing? I’m at the very edge of my seat and I need to know what it is. He says repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s the message of Jesus Christ, in essence, is it not? Isn’t that the message of our Lord Jesus Christ? What is that message?
Listen we tell people very clearly that they’re sinners. Blessed are they who mourn, who mourn over their sins, who mourn over the fact that they are sinners before a holy and righteous God, and we understand that the gospel message is all about Jesus Christ, that he is the way, the truth, and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by Him, that the message of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross of Calvary as our substitute. He paid a price for the penalty of our sin, and our only hope is in Christ alone. We are justified freely by his grace.
The message is a clear message. Salvation is in Jesus Christ alone, and that is the hope of sinners, and we preach a clear message. We preach an unadulterated message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not soften it — well, what did Jesus do for me? He went to that cross of Calvary as our substitute, and you can even repeat the passage out of Isaiah. He was smitten, he was stricken, He was wounded for our transgressions.
Yes, it’s a bloody message, but you see, he paid it all, an infinite price on the cross of Calvary. We shy not away from this great message of power. Yes, it’s an offense to you. You don’t like our message, but you see, it’s the message of power and clarity. It’s Jesus Christ alone. He is the power.
And you will not have life and life eternal apart from Jesus Christ, so this is a message about getting it right. This is a message about you understanding what the gospel is, and I’m concerned that we soften it, that we water it down, that we want to make it weaker for other people until we have no gospel anymore, and I want you to give the message straight, and I want you to understand the message and it’s not all right to give different messages. Please, please tell people the truth, that the power of God might be at work.
Oh, Father, we thank you this morning for Jesus. We thank you for his unfailing grace. We thank you that you were so gracious you would save a lost person like myself. May we never water it down to accommodate other people. May we understand the message today, in a day when people don’t seem to understand the message at all, and for all those brethren we pray you’ll forgive us as we think of so many of our brethren who decided to give a different gospel. We ask this morning may the Spirit of God work in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, we talk about the gospel. We want you to understand. We trust you know Jesus Christ today as your Lord and Savior. Some people seem to think that they just want a ticket to glory, but we need to understand. He calls us to follow him, so I trust you know Christ as your Savior. It would our privilege to talk to you about Jesus Christ. I want to talk to you about Christ if you don’t know him. Make it a point. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t leave today without knowing Jesus as your Savior.
The invitation is open. People would be delighted to pray for you and encourage you in that way, or you can see me as you go out the door, but surely the invitation is open.
Everyday Walk