Introduction:
Our theme for today’s sermon is “the gospel, the power of God”. World leaders, governments and experts in various fields are seeking for ways to deal with the myriad of problems facing the world today. They have not been able to find solutions to hatred, killings and wars that are taking place in the Middle East, Libya and in many parts of the world. They are struggling to find solutions to various forms of sickness and disease caused by poverty, drought and floods. Here we are struggling to deal with corruption, currency depreciation and economic difficulties. A lot of measures have been tried to combat these societal evils but with little success. Rather, many people are looking for solutions in alcohol, drugs, gambling and sex. There is only one power in the world that that has the solution, the gospel, the power of God.
Step One: The Gospel- the good news of God’s grace
a) God is love
The gospel is the good news about God’s grace. God is love and loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to die in our place. We did nothing to deserve His love yet He loved us even when we “were yet sinners”. (Rom. 5:8)
b) Christ has paid the penalty for sin
Christ died on the cross to pay the wages of sin. He bore the full judgement of God on sin and shed His blood to pay the penalty for sin “so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16).
c) We are saved by grace
We are saved “By grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”. (Eph. 2:8) The good news is that we did not do anything to deserve eternal life but received it by grace through faith.
Illustration:
The grace of God leads to a blessed life. The qualities of the blessed life are listed in the Beatitudes where each sentence begins with the word “Blessed”. The qualification for a blessed life is the realisation of our spiritual poverty as a result of our sinful nature and that God is our only hope. The moment we yield to God and stop depending on our own strength, God will comfort us and meet our need. God Himself will give us a pure heart and fill us with His love and mercy. He makes us righteous to enable us communicate with Him so that we can see things from His perspective and promote peace as sons of God.
Application:
God loves us no matter what we have done and desires that we live a blessed life. This life is possible not because of anything we have done but because we have believed that Christ paid the penalty for sin by His death on the cross.
Step Two: The Gospel- God’s power to save
a) Man was created with a divine nature
The gospel is God’s power to save and birth a new nature. Man was created in the image and likeness of God with a divine nature and clothed with God’s glory. Adam’s divine nature made it possible for him to communicate with God.
b) Sin cost man his godly nature
When Adam yielded to sin, he died and lost the glory of God. Sin cost him his godly nature and all of us have inherited Adams sinful nature for in Adam “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
c) Jesus Christ restored man’s godly nature
Jesus Christ became a man to restore man’s godly nature. He became a man and bore the full judgement of God on sin in our place. Christ died for our forgiveness and rose from the dead for our Justification.
Illustration:
The gospel proclaims the cross as the power of God. The cross has a different meaning for different people. To unbelievers it is foolishness. According to Paul, it is an obstacle to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. To the unbelieving Jew it is inconceivable that the. Messiah should die ‘on a tree’, that is under the curse of God. Paul only understood this when he realised that the Christ was cursed when He took our place on the cross to deliver us from the curse. To the unbelieving Gentile it is ridiculous to suppose that a god, one who is immortal, could die. Jesus Christ was however, fully man and fully God and He took our place and died on the cross that we might have His life. When Christ took our sinful position, He gave us His righteous position as the Son of God so that we could become sons of God.
Application:
The cross of Christ is the source of our blessing and those blessing are available to “whosoever believes in Him”. (John 3:16). We can all belong to the whosoever and receive His blessings to change our destiny, both in time and in eternity.
Step Three: The Gospel-God’s power to change lives
a) We become the righteousness of God
Belief in the gospel makes us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ”. (Rom. 3:22) When Christ took our sinful position, He gave us His righteous position. We received a new, holy, and perfect spirit and became a new creation.
b) We become sons of God
The acceptance of the gospel makes us partakers of God’s divine nature and we become children of God. As partakers of God’s divine nature our way of life should always stand for truth and justice. As God’s children He pours His love into our hearts. (Rom. 5:5) so that we can love as Christ loved us and gave His life for us.
c) We become joint heirs with Christ
Believers have not only been made righteous and become sons of God but have also become joint heirs with Christ. We should also become good stewards of what has been entrusted into our care and be a source of blessing to those in need.
Illustration:
The gospel empowers the believer to live like Christ. Corrie Ten Boon, a Dutch Christian woman, and her family hid Jews during the Second World War and saved many from the deathcamps of Nazi Germany. When the Germans found out what they were doing the family were sent to a concentration camp. Corrie Ten Boon lost her whole family and one cannot even imagine the suffering she must have gone through. After the war she continued to serve the Lord preaching the good news. One of her trips took her to Germany and after a very successful meeting she decided to shake the hands of those who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Midway she stopped as she recognised one of the brutal Nazi tormentors from the concentration camp. She just could not bring herself to shake his hand. She asked the Lord for help and felt the love of God flow through her. She reached out and shook his hand and according to her, felt a peace and joy that she had never felt before.
Application:
Christ wants all believers to enjoy His abundant blessings. We can only do this when we see ourselves as God’s children with the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.
Conclusion:
The cross is the power of God to God’s chosen people. When Balak, the king of Moab, offered Balaam, the son of Beor wealth to curse the Israelites, he rather blessed them saying he could not curse those whom God has blessed. When Balaam looked down at the camp of the Israelites, he saw the various tribes encamped around the Tabernacle of Meeting as commanded by the Lord. What he saw was the cross of Christ (Numbers 2). The tribes of Judah, Issachar, Zebulun made up of 186,400 men on the East side of the Tabernacle; Dan, Asher, Naphtali, made up of 157,600 men on the North side; Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, made up of 108,100 men on the West side; and Reuben, Simeon, Gad, made up of 151,450 men on the South side portrayed the cross. Balaam could not curse those whom God has blessed. The cross and Christ crucified is the source of all our blessings.
Personal Response:
The gospel makes available to us all the provisions of Christ made possible by His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary. He loved us and gave us everything He had so that we can also be in this world as He is. (1 John 4:17) We are like Him when His love and compassion is evident in our lives. Let Christ live in us and through us to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
