SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL
By Pastor Jim May
1 Corinthians 2:1-5, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Man is ever searching for knowledge. Knowledge is growing at an exponential rate as man’s hunger to know all things is every increasing. Man’s desire to have complete control and power over his environment has pushed his power to know and understand to the limits of sanity. We are ever searching for deeper meanings and great discoveries but the one thing we lack is the wisdom to handle all that we know.
In the latter days of World War II, the scientists who worked on the splitting of the atom for the very first time were totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they had finally accomplished. Atomic energy was hailed as the discovery of the century and yet man’s wisdom did not know how to keep that knowledge and power from becoming the very force that would destroy life as we know it.
With the advent of computers and the now the Internet, man’s knowledge has had a literal explosion around the world. There is so much information available now on any subject imaginable through the Internet that the power to learn seems boundless. Even with this power though, man faces great challenges as he sees the dangers of electronic warfare and complete meltdown of our society,
If you are among those few who live to learn some new thing, this message probably won’t seem so wise and grand to you at all. This is a simple message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like the Apostle Paul, I do not come to you this day with great flowery speeches or any kind of verbal excellence. I do not come to entertain you, to educate you in some great and deep theological study, or to dazzle you with my oratorical skills, of which there are very limited few.
I come to you today to tell you about Jesus and what He has done for me and to tell you that He will do the same for you.
Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, came down to this small speck of dust somewhere in the vast greatness of the universe that Jesus created, leaving the splendor and glory of His throne in Heaven, to be born into poverty and a world filled with sin and darkness.
He was Light that is come into this world of darkness is the way the John said it. He came to shine forth as the only source of hope and life to a world of men who lived in absolute darkness of sin and without hope. He came to illuminate our path that we could see those pitfalls that were already there ready for us to plunge into eternity without God.
He came as the source of light and truth to bring a reason for existing to man who was created in God’s own image.
His Light gives us the energy source needed to sustain life. His light brings illumination so that we can what is already there and that Satan is our foe to destroy us because we were blind in darkness and could not see what our adversary was doing. His light gives us the revelation of what is to come and reveals what the Word of God says to us. His light heals us of our sickness and disease because we can now understand that the stripes that Jesus bore are for our healing. His Light is sharper than any two-edged sword, more powerful than any light saber, and more penetrating than any laser beam for it has the power to separate the soul and the spirit.
As a Pastor, I often must know what is happening in the lives of the flock that God has entrusted to my care and watchful eye. But, there are times, like those in these verses spoken by Paul that I feel that I could do a much better job of preaching to you if I did not know every situation of your life.
It is too easy, as a Pastor, to worry about the sheep and have the problems of the sheep come to mind as a hindrance or at least a factor that must be considered in every message brought forth. I never want to reveal secrets of needs that I know people have. I never want to focus on any individual or any secret sin, or pinpoint any one event in your lives to make a point lest I wound the very sheep that I am called to lead.
Sometimes the knowledge of events that are happening in your lives enters into a sermon and I must be as careful as I cannot to allow that knowledge to make me appear better or more spiritual than anyone else.
Because of this, I often come to church and seem a bit distant before service because that’s a bad time to hear of your troubles or to discuss business. Please realize that I am not angry, upset or avoiding anyone, but I must endeavor to keep my mind on God and do my best to guard the message that I have for you.
Like Paul, there are times that I want to know nothing among you except whether your heart and relationship is right with God.
I am no different than any of you. My thoughts can be changed. My message can be affected. Even though I stand before you each service, in the office of Pastor, I am ever mindful of my duty under God to give you the perfect Word of God and not my own opinions. I reverence God as my Father. I do not take His Word lightly and neither do any of you. We all want to give forth only that which comes from the pure Word of God as led by the Spirit of God.
If someone enters expecting to be impressed, I don’t want them to be impressed so much with my ability to preach or teach, or our ability to fellowship with them; I want people to be impressed with the simple message of the gospel and the Love of Jesus Christ for their souls.
I want people to see Jesus. I want them to know that God loves them. I want every visitor and each of you to know that our only real reason for existing as a body of Christ is to spread the simple message of the saving grace of Jesus. I want people to know that it is only through the Blood of the Lamb that their sin can be washed as white as snow. I want them to know that it is only by the washing of the Word of God preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that their lives will be cleansed and sanctified. I want every man, woman and child that passes through the doors of this church to know that God Loves them, that Jesus died for them, and that He is alive for them. I want people to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That’s my ultimate goal!
I know that this is an old message. I know that it’s one that has been preached time and again for 2000 years now but, it never goes out of style. It never changes. It’s always simple. It’s always the only way to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
The world, even the church world, grows weary of hearing the simplicity of the gospel. We try our best to make it seem more and more confusing. We add our little doctrines. We add our traditions of men. We give our own little private interpretations of every word that God speaks. We try to make ourselves seem more knowledgeable than God himself concerning the message of the gospel.
Yet the message is still simple. It is still pure. It is still, Jesus Christ came to a world of sin, grew up without sin, ministered to the needs of man for 3 ½ years, suffered and died on the Cross for our sin, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and then rose again on the 3rd day. That’s the simple message of the gospel.
All I want to know from each of you right now is, what have you done with that message? What have you done with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Have you accepted the gospel, believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, believed that he died and rose again; believed that He has washed your sin away? HAVE YOU BELIEVED AND CONFESSED HIM THIS MORNING?
THAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION AND THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE I COULD EVER PREACH TO YOU!
All the other great teaching and preaching that goes forth from behind the pulpits of this church are wonderful and needful, but none can match the importance of the simple message of the gospel of salvation through the blood of our loving Savior.
The message of the gospel, in its simplicity, is a stumbling block to the Jews and Gentile alike who will not accept it as truth. The message of the gospel seems too easy, too cheap for many to accept. There has to be more to salvation than confession, believing and accepting Christ. There must be rules, regulations, a penance for sin, and a great price to pay. It just can’t be that simple – but it is!
It may be easy because God wanted it to be easy for man to come to Him, but it was never and is not cheap. Jesus paid a terrible price for our salvation through his suffering, giving of His own blood on the Cross in humiliation and His death, burial and Resurrection.
The world may look upon this message as foolishness but Paul told the Corinthian church that no greater wisdom and no greater message can be given than the simple message of the gospel.
The church world in general may deny the infallibility of the Word of God, deny the Virgin birth, attempt to make Jesus appear less than perfect and even deny the resurrection – but that doesn’t change the truth!
1 Corinthians 2:6-10, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Great, flowery speeches of men are soon forgotten. They don’t accomplish anything of eternal importance. They sound good to the ears, stimulate the mind, touch the heart, stir up the emotions, get the blood pumping – but they cannot change the sin nature of the soul and heart of man. Only the gospel in all it’s simplicity can do that.
To those of us who have met Jesus and received the gospel, we know that this message is the greatest message that could ever be given. We know that not only the best that this life has to offer comes from Christ, but that all that eternity has to offer that is good, glorious and holy comes only through the simple gospel message and our acceptance of that message.
None of the greatest wise men after the world’s standards can understand the gospel. Most of our vaunted institutions of higher learning reject it as fables. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and nearly every great University in the nation have done their best to kill the simplicity of the gospel and to choke or stifle those who would proclaim it to the world.
But they cannot stop it because God as foreordained that the message must go forth to all men, in every nation, for He wants no man to pass into eternity without God. God is not willing that any man should perish. Therefore He is ever patient, ever reaching out and never giving up on reaching a soul for Christ.
The world cannot understand the gospel for it is hidden from the natural mind. It is only understood through the eyes of the spirit. The heart of sinful man does not comprehend the power of the blood of Christ. They cannot know the power and provision that was made for them upon the Cross. They cannot know and understand because they can only think and feel through the 5 senses of feel, touch, see, hear and smell.
If they are to understand the simple gospel message, it must come through a 6th sense so to speak. That is the spiritual sense. Spiritual things can only be seen, heard, touched and felt through the spirit. The eyes, of the heart and spirit, must be enlightened and our spiritual ears must be opened that we can hear and our minds must be brought into frequency with the world of the spirit to be able to hear and understand what God’s Word is saying to us.
The Mind of man doesn’t reach high enough to receive the spiritual broadcasts from the Throne Room of Heaven – for it is a spiritual frequency and not a natural one. Only the Spirit of God living within the heart of man can “tune in” to God’s message and hear what the Spirit is saying to the world.
To us, who are saved, this simple gospel message is the greatest story ever told and carries with it all power to do the impossible things that lay before us.
The most important message I can give to you this day is that Jesus loves you. He died for you and He rose again, for you. That’s the Simplicity of the Gospel!
What will you do with that message?
It may be simple, but eternity hangs on your decision!
Come to Jesus right now!
Confess your faults, failures and sin to God, not to me or anyone else. This is between you and God.
All of us have sinned. There is none righteous. We all need a Savior.
Believe that Jesus died for you and rose again and that He is alive forever so that you, too, can be resurrected to new life.
Confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Invite Him into your heart and give your life to Him.
Then confess Him as your Savior!
That’s the simplicity of the gospel. That’s the simple path to salvation and a glorious eternal future in Christ!
