My favorite button on the computer is the "undo" button. It’s like a little time machine. Have you ever wished you could turn back the clock - wipe the slate clean and start over?
In fact, this is a universal human urge, one that’s reflected in our popular culture. [Examples: ¨ "Back to the Future" movies, or the old "Quantum Leap" TV series, in which the theme of time travel is linked with the desire to change the course of history for the better.]
This universal urge to make a clean break with the past and start over is also reflected in our legal system. [Bankruptcy; Divorce] And in golf, we have the honored tradition of the "mulligan". All of these reflect our common recognition of the fact that we make mistakes. We do and say things that we regret. And so we try to come up with ways to undo what was done. But the problem is that they don’t really work. Life has no "undo" key.
But there is one thing that can give a completely fresh start. One thing that can lift the burden of our guilt; one thing that can remake our lives and make them new again; one thing that can change us, transform us, into new creatures. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the ultimate Mulligan. The gospel is the ultimate Second Chance, the ultimate "Do-over." [Illustration: Clip from the end of the film City Slickers, where the Billy Crystal character encourages the Daniel Stern character to take a "do-over" with his life]
This morning, our topic is "A Reliance on the Gospel." I’m going to discuss three things. First, just what the gospel is. Second, why it is central to the life of this church. And finally, why it should be central to our lives as well.
What is the gospel?
"Gospel" means "good news". But it is "good news" only in contrast to something else which is "bad news." [Example: Finding you don’t have cancer is only good news if you are waiting for the results of a biopsy. Learning that your house is still standing is only good news after you hear on the radio that a tornado has gone through. Finding out that your teenage daughter is safe and sound is only good news after you hear she’s been in an auto accident].
So what is the bad news? Simply this, that all men are sinners, and that the consequences of our sin are (1) being separated from God, and (2) suffering His judgment and wrath, both now and forever.
What is sin? Sin is any failure to give to God the worship and obedience that He deserves. It involves both heart attitudes and actions. It includes not only explicit rebellion, but also passively ignoring God and His Word, going our own way, giving no thought to what God would have us to do. Sin isn’t just doing the don’t’s; it’s failing to do the do’s.
How hard is it to "do the do’s"? The Bible tells us that we are to love God with all our "heart, soul, mind, and strength" and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves [Mark 12:30-31]. It’s so hard that no one except Jesus Christ has ever succeeded at it. It hard because our inclination toward sin is universal; it’s common to everyone who ever lived. Not a single person in human history, except Jesus Christ, has ever kept this commandment fully.
As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one . . . . All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." -- Romans 3:10-12, 23 (NIV)
Paul couldn’t be clearer ["no one," etc.]. We all fall short in one way or another.
What are the consequences of our sin? First, separation from God. God is completely holy and righteous. He cannot tolerate sin in His presence; He cannot have a relationship with us in our natural, sinful condition. [We would be destroyed as surely as darkness is destroyed by light.]
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5 (NIV)
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? -- 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you. - Isaiah 59:2 (NIV)
People try various ways to bridge the gap between themselves and God. For instance, by the things they do. They hope that their good works will outweigh the bad on the scales of life.
* Volunteer work, community service [Little League coach, working in a homeless shelter]
* Being a good citizen [voting, not cheating on your taxes]
* Being a good husband or wife
* Acts of religious devotion [pilgrimage to a holy site; lighting candles, saying prayers]
These are all good things to do, but do they help bridge the gap between us and God?
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
Not only do our works not save us, they cannot do so.
If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
-- Galatians 2:21 (NIV)
People also try to earn God’s favor by the things they abstain from doing; through sacrifice and self-denial. But setting up a system of rules and regulations doesn’t bring us closer to God, because it doesn’t deal with the root of the issue, the heart.
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!". . . These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. -- Colossians 2:21, 23 (NASB)
The second consequence of sin is the wrath and judgment of God.
"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed
. . . . For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." - Romans 2:5-6, 8 (NIV)
"It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." - Hebrews 10:31 (NASB)
That’s the bad news. Now what’s the good news? First, that Christ died for sinners:
"When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly . . . . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" -- Romans 5:6, 8-10 (NIV)
Who did Christ die for? Powerless, ungodly, sinners; enemies of God. He did not come to save good people, people who were seeking God, people who could do something to save themselves. ". (The "us" Paul is writing to are believers in Christ). The good news is that salvation is available, not to the strong, the religious, the good; but to everyone.
What was the result? Christ suffered the penalty of sin in the place of His people. When we trust in Him, we are "justified" (credited as righteous) and "reconciled" to God, and will be "saved from God’s wrath".
The second part of the good news is that He rose from the dead.
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. - 1 Cor. 6:14 (NIV)
Why is A Reliance on the Gospel one of the Core Values of WestShore Community Church?
Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is the source of God’s power in our lives - power to reconcile us to God and change our hearts and lives. Nothing else can do this: not -
· Ritual or tradition
· Morality or good works
· Sacrifice or self-denial
· Self-help or self-improvement
· Turning over a new leaf; resolutions
· Education or psychology
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." - Romans 1:16 (NIV)
"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness . . . . "
-- 2 Peter 1:2-3 (NIV)
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
What is the power that God promises to those who trust in Christ? The power to do what is right, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the pressures and temptations. The power to live in a way that honors and pleases God.
· Courage in the face of danger.
· The ability to forgive those who wrong us.
· Perseverance in the midst of suffering.
· Wisdom to choose the right path.
· The strength to continue when our burdens seem to heavy to bear.
· Faith to trust God when life makes no sense.
· Joy to praise God regardless of circumstances
Conclusion: Is the Gospel central in your life? Is it one of your core values?
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
