Commitment #3: Proclaim God’s Gospel

Transcript

JR 7
06/19/2022
Commitment #3: Proclaim God’s Gospel
2 Timothy 4:5
Jesse Randolph

Well, if you ever have heard the name, John Bunyan, it’s likely in connection with his authorship of “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” That was that wonderfully rich allegorical tale of the Christian’s journey through this life. A lesser-known title of John Bunyan’s though is a book titled “A Few Sighs from Hell or the Groans of a Damned Soul.” In that book, which is an exposition of Luke 16, the account of the rich man and Lazarus, Bunyan gives this terrifying, if not candid assessment of what lost souls will experience in hell.

He writes, “Oh, what a condition you will fall into when you depart this world! If you depart unconverted and not born again, you would be better off to have been smothered the first hour you were born; you would have been better off to have been plucked one limb from another; you would have been better off to have been made a dog, a toad, a serpent, nay, any other creature in the visible world, than to die unconverted. You will find this to be true when in hell you lift up your eyes and cry.”

Bunyan then goes on to offer the type of cries that will be offered in hell: “They will cry to think that they should be cut off from the land of the living, never more to have any footing therein. They will cry to think that the gospel of Christ should be so often offered to them, and yet they are not profited by it. They will cry to think that now, though they would never so willingly repent and be saved, they are past all recovery. They will cry to think they should be so foolish as to follow their pleasures while others were following Christ (Luke 13:28). They will cry to think that they must be separated from God, Christ . . . and that forever. They will cry to think that their crying will now do them no good. They will cry to think that, at the Day of Judgement, they must stand at the left hand of Christ, among an innumerable company of the damned ones. They will cry to think that Lazarus, whom they once slighted, must be of them who must sit down with Christ to judge, or come together with Christ, to pass a sentence of condemnation on their souls forever and ever (1 Corinthians 6:2,3). They will cry to think that, when the judgement is over and others are taken into the everlasting kingdom of glory, then they must depart back again into that dungeon of darkness from whence they came, to appear before the terrible tribunal. There they shall be tormented as long as eternity lasts, without the least intermission or ease.”

Last Sunday we looked at two key commitments I’m making to you as your new Senior Pastor, preach the Word and pastor God’s flock, or God’s people. This morning we’re going to look at the third commitment, which is this: proclaim God’s gospel.

I have been charged by God, on the authority of His Word, to be a pastor who, as 2 Timothy 4:5 puts it, does the work of an evangelist. A pastor who proclaims God’s gospel.

We were in 2 Timothy 4 last Sunday morning, and specifically we were looking at Paul’s command to Timothy to “preach the word.” And in that sermon, I gave you the whole background of 2 Timothy and chapter 4 specifically, and I won’t go into that in detail again this morning. However, it would be helpful to read the whole paragraph, or “periscope,” we find our text for today in. So, turn with me in your bibles, if you would, to 2 Timothy 4. We’ll be back in 2 Timothy 4, this morning. I’m going to read verses 1-5, familiar text, 2 Timothy 4:1-5. God’s word reads: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

As I mentioned last week, in just these five verses that I just read to you, we see nine imperatives. Last Sunday, we unpacked just one of those imperatives, that the real central imperative is to “preach the word.” This morning we’re going to camp out on the eighth imperative of the nine imperatives Paul gives to Timothy here, which is to “do the work of an evangelist.” Last Sunday, I preached three words. This morning I’ll preach six words. Maybe next weekend I’ll get to double digits. We’ll see how far we get. This morning as we unpack 2 Timothy 4:5, we’re going to look at this command, not only given to Timothy there in Ephesus, but to all pastors. And we’re going to look at this command from multiple angles, through the lens of scripture. But as you’re going to see as we work our way through this text, though it does have reference to the man who holds the office of pastor, it really does level the playing field by bringing conviction to pastors and non-pastors alike. To men and women alike, to those who are more mature in the faith and newer believers alike.

Paul tells Timothy here, to “do the work of an evangelist.” And in this morning’s sermon, we’re going to break that concept, those words, really into two parts. As we’re going to see, the passage requires the right approach – “doing the work” and it requires the right message – “of an evangelist.” Let’s start with that first part of the phrase here in verse 5, to “do the work.” How does one “do the work” of an evangelist? The Greek phrasing here is “ergon poieson.” Poieson is the imperative form of the Greek word “poieo” which simply means “to do.” And ergon means “work.” Nothing clever or tricky about this formulation in the original language. This is not required intermediate or advanced Greek grammar to figure out. “To do the word” means just what it sounds like, “to do the work.” If a boss tells his employee to “get the job done” . . . there’s no ambiguity there. He is to “get the job done.” If I tell one of my sons to do your homework, there’s no ambiguity there. He is to do his homework. It’s a straightforward and simple command. So, it is with the pastor’s call to “do the work of an evangelist.” It is a simple and straightforward command. And still, despite the simplicity of the concept, there really are many angles and takeaways that we can takeaway this morning, as we unpack what it means to “do the work of an evangelist.”

So, we’re going to spend our time now, unpacking this phrasing, “doing the work of an evangelist” to see the many different ways that the pastor is called to do so. As we’re going to see:
He “does the work of an evangelist” through:
Evaluation
Example
Equipping
Expectation
Exhortation

Let’s start with “evaluation.” By that I mean, the pastor “does the work of an evangelist” with a right evaluation of things, both temporal and things eternal. He realizes that he is not a professional mouthpiece. He’s not paid to give rousing speeches. He’s not paid to be the most polished public speaker in town. Rather, he recognizes that his is a divine call, and the work that he does from desks like these will echo into eternity. But at the same time, he recognizes that as is true of each one of the people that he is charged to shepherd, he is a blood-bought sinner who is desperately in need of the mercy and forgiveness and grace of God, just like anybody else. He remembers that he once, like the sheep in his congregation, was once gorging himself on the slop and filth and muck and mire of this world. He remembers that his sins, though like scarlet, have now been washed as white as snow, as Isaiah 1:18 points out. He remembers that he was chosen by God in Christ, Ephesians 1:4, before the foundation of the world. He remembers that nothing can separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:38,39. He remembers that he now has the Spirit of God indwelling him, that he’s been sealed by the Spirit, the Spirit fills him and convicts him, and sanctifies him daily into the image of his dear Savior. He has no fear of death. He has no fear of man. He remembers that he has been appointed an ambassador for King Jesus. An ambassador who was once Christ’s enemy. And he recognizes that now, having been the recipient of God’s free gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, having been that recipient, he to his very core, wants to share that gift with others, so that they, like him, can secure the gift and the hope of eternal life. He knows that it is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, Romans 1:16. And so now, it is his passion to get that gospel message out to the people in this world who are lost and dying, so that they can be reconciled to this world’s one Savior.

So, the pastor who “does the work of an evangelist” sees himself rightly. It’s a proper evaluation. But he also sees others rightly. In seeing others rightly, it means he has this right perspective and this genuinely godly heartbreak for those in this world, who are on this sinking ship headed straight for hell. He’s a broken-hearted evangelist. He doesn’t see this world and the people in it like an airplane that’s about to take off. No, he sees this world and the people in it, like a ship that is rapidly sinking. He recognizes, as Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:13, that things are proceeding from bad to worse. That things are winding down, that things are drawing to a close, that the end is near. And he is ever aware of the reality that he is surrounded everyday by thousands of fellow image-bearers. People who are not mere composition of flesh and bone. But rather, who are souls. And every single one of them, bar none, without exception, faces this reality, that when they die, they will cross into the threshold of eternity. And when they die, when their body goes into the ground, or their ashes go into the urn, their soul will live on, eternally. Their soul will not go to purgatory. Their soul will not float around in the ether on clouds. Their soul will not experience nirvana. Rather, their soul will go to one of two places: heaven,
God’s eternal abode, the place from which, Isaiah 66:1, He makes the earth His footstool; or hell, the place where all those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ will spend eternity and will face eternal, conscious torment. Those who end up in hell, those who are outside of Christ, will not eventually be annihilated or snuffed out. They will not experience “soul sleep” or otherwise lose consciousness. This hell will not really be a “bad dream” that eventually ends. No, they will experience fully, and truly and eternally the blistering fires of hell. And experience in full measure the wrath of the Lamb.

The pastor who “does the work of an evangelist”, 2 Timothy 4:5, is a brokenhearted man. He’s a brokenhearted man in light of those truths. His heart breaks for souls. But this is a man that doesn’t just have tears on his pillow. He has something to say. Which brings us to the second aspect of this idea or this concept here of “doing the work of an evangelist”. The pastor not only has a right evaluation of the lostness of sinful man. He “does the work of an evangelist” by example.

That’s our second heading, if you’re a note taker. He leads by example. Meaning he’s out there “doing the work of an evangelist” himself. See, all followers of Jesus Christ, pastors, elders, deacons, congregants alike, have all been commissioned. And our commission comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The supreme task that Christ has given His followers here on earth, as part of His Great Commission in Matthew 28:19,20, is to “make disciples.” And we do so, by going to all peoples of all nations. By baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then teaching them all that Christ has commanded His followers. Did you pick up the order there? The first step in making disciples, without exception, and without any qualification, is to go. Meaning, to reach the lost by sharing the good news of the gospel with them. One cannot be made a disciple, without first hearing the gospel message. And then responding to that gospel message with repentance and faith. But there’s another side to that coin. See, one cannot be a disciple-maker without crossing that important threshold of sharing this one message of hope and reconciliation into a holy God. That message being the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one here in this room would disagree that all Christians are called to be disciple-makers. Well, to be a disciple-maker, that means that all Christians need to fulfill the first step of that disciple-making process by making sure that we are evangelistic Christians. Proclaiming what Christ has actually commissioned us to proclaim to the lost and dying world all around us.

Now, as your pastor, I’m called to model for you, that “go” command, that “go” of the gospel. In the spirit of Philippians 4:9, where Paul could confidently write, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.” That’s the heart with which and the life I’m called to live, as I model this command for you. A.W. Pink, writing in the 1920’s, lamented the sorry state of the Australian church of his day, in which pastors were calling in professional evangelists to do the work of an evangelist. To preach the gospel to his people. Pink wrote: “The great majority of the ‘pastors’ summon to their aid some professional ‘evangelist’, who, for two to four weeks, puts on a high-pressure campaign and secures sufficient new ‘converts’ to take the place of those who have ‘lapsed’ since he was last with them. What a farce it all is! What an acknowledgement of their own failure! Imagine C.H. Spurgeon needing some evangelist to preach the Gospel for him for a month each year! Why do not these well-paid ‘pastors’ heed 2 Timothy 4:5 and themselves ‘do the work of an evangelist,’ and thus ‘make full proof of their ministry’?”

Pink was right. I am called to model evangelism for you. And call on you to be, and I am also to be an ambassador. A commissioned ambassador. A faithful herald. A sold-out soul-winner. In my preaching. In my interaction with the community. And my interaction even with the church. Which brings us to the third aspect of 2 Timothy 4:5 command to “do the work of an evangelist”. The pastor not only has a right evaluation of the landscape of the lostness of man. He not only is an example, that’s two, of soul-winners. He is, three, committed to equipping the members of his flock, to be faithful in evangelism.
Meaning a pastor equips his church to evangelize.

See, I can’t assume that you’re all involved in evangelism. I can’t assume that you have a right understanding, everyone in this room, of the gospel. I can’t assume that everybody in this room has gone out and is ready to go share the gospel. So, one of my roles, in keeping with Ephesians 4:11-14, is to make sure that you are all “equipped” as I am, to “do the work of an evangelist.” Teaching you how to evangelize is part of my job description. Spurring you on toward greater and greater faithfulness, is part of one of the reasons I’m here, to spur you on in evangelism, as we reach this community for Christ.

In fact, now would probably be the best time to announce that starting on Wednesdays in September, I don’t know the building yet, or the time, but sometime in September, I’m going to teach a six-to eight-week evangelism class, right here at the church. I hope you’ll make it out for that. I hope it will further equip you and spur you along to be a more faithful evangelist. A more consistent and true soul-winner. I hope that it will spur you on to find a place in one of our church’s evangelism teams. Maybe the door-to-door teams that go out on Monday nights. Or the Wednesday night prayer stand that meets at Holmes Lake. Or the Thursday night evangelism groups that go out with the AO ministry at the campus of UNL. Or the Friday morning group that prays with those who are going into the courthouse downtown.

Which brings us to the fourth aspect of “doing the work of an evangelist.” The pastor not only has a right evaluation of the lostness of man. He not only is an example of a soul-winner. He not only equips those in his flock to be faithful to evangelize. Number four, he’s a man who prays fervently that the Lord would save souls. Because I need to illiterate, I made that one “expectation.” He prays expectantly. He has expectation through prayer. Of course, we know that salvation ultimately is of the Lord. Psalm 3:8; Jonah 2:4. We know that “salvation and glory and power belong to our God,” Revelation 19:1 We know that we don’t save anyone. There’s no magic phrasing. There’s no secret incantation. There’s no rhetorical flair that would ever be able to overcome in and of itself, the spiritual deadness of the unbeliever’s heart, as built into them is a hostility to the God of heaven and earth. No, salvation is entirely of the Lord. God saves. God saves alone. And yet, while the scriptures clearly teach that God is sovereign in salvation, the scriptures simultaneously teach that we, as Christians, are responsible for planting and watering those gospel seeds. That’s implicit in 1 Corinthians 3:7, where Paul says: “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”

What’s implicit there, is that somebody is out there doing some planting and watering on the human level. The pastor, then, is to be a man who prays evangelistically, as he prays expectantly. Pastors should be examples to their people in terms of their dependence on God through prayer, and specifically to our text today, evangelistic prayer. The pastor who is committed to “doing the work of an evangelist” will be a pastor who prays that the gospel would spread, and that God would be glorified. He’s a pastor who prays that the Lord would continue to open the doors to further the gospel advancement. He’s a pastor who prays for boldness for those who are involved in his church with evangelism. He’s a pastor who prays for clarity of thought and speech in sharing the gospel. He’s a pastor who prays for softened and receptive hearts. A pastor who prays that the seed of the gospel would fall on good soil, and that many would be saved through the preaching of the gospel. He’s a pastor who prays that the Lord would send out more workers into the harvest, Matthew 9:38. A pastor who prays for unsaved family members, and unsaved friends, and even unsaved foes. A pastor who prays for gospel sharing opportunities with strangers. A pastor who prays for unreached people groups. And for missionaries around the world, who are seeking to reach those unreached people groups. And a pastor who prays that his own heart would be softened to the plight of those who go to the grave, having not bent the knee to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Which brings us to the fifth aspect of “doing the work of an evangelist” here. The pastor not only has a right evaluation of the lostness of man. The pastor not only is an example of a soul-winner. He’s not only committed to equipping those to evangelize. He is not only an expectant man as he prays for lost souls. He is also committed to exhorting those who attend His church with gospel truths. That’s our fifth mark here of verse 5, “exhortation.”

Let’s look again at our text, 2 Timothy 4:5. But let’s run up a couple of verses to establish more context. Look at 2 Timothy 4:3, Paul here says: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” What is Paul speaking of here? Well, in the context he’s talking about church life. Paul is helping Timothy to see and anticipate the troubles that he will inevitably face in his church there in Ephesus. Paul here is anticipating that there will be false converts in the church. That there will be those who are swayed by false teaching. And that there will be false teachers who seek to infect the purity of the doctrine held by the body. He’s anticipating that there will be tares mixed in with the wheat. And it’s in this context that he says that at the head of verse 5 here, “but you”. But you Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, “But you . . . be sober in all things.” Meaning, take seriously your charge. “Endure hardship”, he says. Meaning, persevere in the face of opposition, the opposition you inevitably will receive. And then our passage for this morning, “do the work of an evangelist.”

I want you to note carefully, that Paul is calling on Timothy here, “to do the work of an evangelist” in the context of local church life there in Ephesus. Paul is charging Timothy to proclaim the gospel message in the midst of a local church. That’s the call on my life as well. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as Charles Spurgeon in saying that in every sermon, I must make a “bee line to the cross” as though Jesus and the gospel are written on every single page of scripture. I wouldn’t take it that far. But I will preach the gospel frequently from this pulpit. Whether I’m lacing it into my exposition of scripture. Or whether I’m making an outright appeal or proclamation or invitation. It is in this context, in this building’; knowing that there will be Judases in this auditorium. Knowing that there will be tares in this auditorium. Knowing that there will be people who are deceived in this auditorium. Knowing that Satan would love nothing more that to cause people to be comfortable here in church, while remaining altogether unconverted. It’s in that context that I need to make sure I’m fulfilling my charge “to do the work of an evangelist.”

Now, that does not mean, if you’re squirming a bit, and a bit uncomfortable with what I’m getting at here, that does not mean that Indian Hills is going to become some kind of tent revivalist church or like a Billy Graham crusade. This won’t become an altar call church. I’m not going to put an anxious bench up front. We’re not going to close each sermon with, “Just As I Am.” Don’t worry. But on the other hand, I cannot, and I will not abandon my call and my responsibility to “do the work of an evangelist.” To call out pride-sick false converts. To call out self-righteous tares. To call out anybody from within earshot of this pulpit to examine themselves, to see if they truly are of the faith.

See, the glorious, good news of the gospel, friends, must never be thrown to the junk drawer of our minds. Or must be stuffed away into the attic of our hearts, never to be seen, never to be engaged with, never to be thought of. No, the glorious news of the gospel isn’t something to be tucked into a corner of some deep exegetical dive that we’re doing in our home bible studies. Or forgotten behind church potlucks. Or all the various activities that we can busy ourselves with at church. Rather, as a community of blood-bought sinners who have been brought into the family of God, because of the gospel, we all need to hear the gospel and with regularity. This pulpit needs to continue to be a launching pad for the proclamation of the gospel. And this preacher needs to continually be preaching the gospel. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16: “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”

Alright, well, we’ve now looked at five different ways that the pastor-preacher “does the work of an evangelist”, expounding on verse 5. We’re going to spend the rest of our time this morning, unpacking the type of “work” that he is to do, as he does “the work of an evangelist.”

Now, here in 2 Timothy 4:5, we see this word “evangelist” in noun form. It appears in noun form just three times in the New Testament. One of the places is here. Another place is in Acts 21:8, where Philip, you remember he evangelized the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, he is referred to as an “evangelist” in Acts 21:8. And then there is Ephesians 4:11, where it says that Christ “gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.” Now, when the word here is in noun form, as it is in Acts and Ephesians, it’s usually referring to a specific office. That of the actual evangelist. But here in 2 Timothy 4, Paul isn’t calling on pastors like Timothy into a separate office of evangelist in the Ephesians 4 sense. Rather, he is calling on Timothy and all future pastors, to do the work of an evangelist. And the work of an evangelist goes back to the call of every follower of Christ to evangelize. The verb form, “euangelizo,” that’s the Greek verb form for “to evangelize.” And we do so by sharing the evangel, the euangelion, the good news of the gospel. Putting it more simply, the pastor is not called to be a full-time evangelist. No, he’s a full-time pastor and preacher of God’s word, and meaning the full counsel of God. But at the same time, that does not take away anything from his duty to be evangelistic. To share the good news. To proclaim God’s gospel.

Well, we’re going to spend the rest of our time here this morning to exploring God’s gospel. We’ve looked at the man, the pastor, his responsibility to evangelize. Now, we’re going to look at the message that he’s charged to preach, the gospel.

Now, some of you might be thinking, hey I’m really well-taught. I’m really well-trained. I grew up at Indian Hills. I’m throwing a flag, I’ve been her since 1976, pastor, don’t you know? I was here when we were meeting in the Chapel. I was here when Don Goertzen was the music director. And you’re going to try and tell me what the gospel is? Yes, yes, I am. As we round out this sermon this morning on my commitment to you to “proclaim God’s gospel”, we’re going to spend some time unpacking that gospel which I am to proclaim.

Now, I must say, if you’re here this morning, and you’re not a true follower of Jesus Christ, or if you’re not sure that you’re a true follower of Christ, you need to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say. Because the message that I’m about to proclaim to you, is your only source of hope, in this life or the life to come. And if you’re here this morning, and you are saved, even if you’ve been saved longer than I’ve been alive, you need to listen just as carefully. Because this message will renew for you, the joy of your salvation and strengthen you, those trembling and weak knees, while motivating you to serve Christ and His church more faithfully, as you proclaim His gospel more boldly and regularly. Even the most mature believer, even the most seasoned saint needs to continually be reminded of these gospel truths. An old pastor of mine used to always say, “If the good news has become old news to you, that’s bad news.” Let’s not let the good news become old news.

So, what is the gospel? Well, before we can answer that question, we need to take a little bit of time to understand what the gospel is not. Because sadly, there are all sorts of incorrect or truncated, or otherwise watered-down messages out there in the world, that are being peddled as gospel truth. We’re going to go through just a few of those false gospels, or incorrect gospels, just to make sure that we understand what the gospel is not.

Here's Non-Gospel #1, the gospel is about my experiences. I hear so called “testimonies” all the time, from people who call themselves Christians, who will say things like I’m a Christian because I gave up looking at pornography 5 years ago. I’m a Christian because I haven’t had a drink of alcohol for 10 years, or because my marriage got so much better about 25 years ago. I’m a Christian because that happened. Well, those things are great. And some cases, those things or those events are linked to genuine gospel conversion, a legitimate conversion experience. But in many cases, they are not. If our experiences, friends, are not anchored in the gospel message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and His transforming work in our lives, what we are not describing is salvation. Rather, what we are describing is an experience. And experiences are poor gospel replacements.

Non-Gospel #2, our testimonies are not the gospel. Whether you have one of those “I-grew-up-in-church” kind of testimonies. Or whether you have a “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” testimony. Your testimony is an encouraging and praiseworthy story to hear, no doubt about it. Praise God for His work in your life. But let’s be clear, unless you are weaving in gospel truth that the listener needs to hear in order to be reconciled to God, you aren’t evangelizing. You’re not sharing the gospel. You’re storytelling. And admittedly, its sanctified storytelling. And it’s positive storytelling. But unless the gospel is presented, it’s not evangelism. It’s not soul-winning.

Non-Gospel #3, the way that we live our lives is not the gospel. You’ve heard the lines, “I just like to preach the gospel with my life.” Or “Preach the gospel; if necessary, use words.” Those statements are plain wrong! The gospel is not a way of living. The literal meaning of the word “gospel,” “euangelion,” is good news. The gospel is a message. And the gospel includes specific facts about the person and work of Christ in particular, that people must understand, must believe, and must respond to in order to be saved. Meaning, the gospel must be articulated, must be vocalized, as news. It’s something that we speak. Living an exemplary life never saved anybody. Just trying to be a good person has never saved anybody. Being better than your neighbor has never saved anybody. As Will Metzger puts it in his book “Tell the Truth,” he says, “The worst form of badness is human goodness, which attempts to substitute itself for Christ’s righteousness.” He’s right. It’s the gospel which is the power to save. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

So, we’ve looked at what the gospel is not. Now we’re going to finally get into what the gospel is. What is the gospel? I find it helpful to break the gospel message into four parts: God, Man, Christ, Sinners. We need to know something about God and His character. We need to know something about Man and who we are, and Woman. We need to know who Christ is, and what He came to do. And we need to know what Sinners must do to lay claim to the gospel of grace.

What do we know about God? Don’t worry, Theology Proper is next week. But I’m just going to give you a little bit of summary of what we need to know about God, for the sake of understanding the full picture of the gospel. To get the bad news before we get to the good news.

Let’s start with God. We know that God created and owns everything. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In six literal 24-hour periods, God created the land and the seas and the sun and the moon and the stars. He created the expanse between the heavens and the earth. He created the animals on land, and animals in the sky, and animals in the sea. He created everything just as He intended. Isaiah 44:24 says, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” And then at the pinnacle of His creation, God created man and woman. Genesis 1:27, “In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Which really settles the confusion anyone in our day might be having about such questions as “how many genders are there?” Or “what is a man?” Or “what is a woman?” See, man is not a robot. Man is not an animal. No, man has been created in the image of God. In the very likeness of God. And as God’s image-bearer, man is responsible to God, and will one day answer to God for how he lived his life here in God’s creation.

So, God is the Creator. And as the creator, He has absolute authority over everything and everyone in His creation. Psalm 50:10-12 says, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world in Mine, and all it contains.” Or you could jot down Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (and all it contains).” He is the potter; we are mere clay. He does not need to ask permission of anyone. He does not need to defend or vindicate His actions. He does not need to plead His case with anyone of us. No, as the Creator and Owner of everything, God can and does do what He rightfully pleases, because it all belongs to Him. So, we know that God is the Creator.

We also know that God is holy. He’s perfectly holy. To say that God is holy refers to the fact that He is completely separated from His creation. In a class, or a category of His own. That speaks to His transcendental holiness. 1 Samuel 2:2, “There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.” But to say that God is holy, also refers to His perfect moral character. It speaks to His, what theologians call, His moral holiness. 1 John 1:5 – “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” And God’s holiness sets the standard for what is right and wrong. And ultimately, God accepts only those things that are done His way, since He is the very standard and source of perfect righteousness.

Which brings us to our next point about God. He is not only the Creator, He is not only holy, He requires perfect obedience. Since God is the Creator and Owner of all things, He gets to set the standards. He gets to determine what is right and wrong. And He does so. He is holy and He is perfect, and He calls on us to be perfect, too. Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you (must) are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 1 Peter 1:15-16, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am Holy.’ ” But are we perfect? Anybody want to come up and give a testimony of how you’ve reached that standard of perfection? The answer is no. The answer is, there is not one of us who does not sin. 1 Kings 8:46 says it just that way, “for there is no man who does not sin.” Or Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” And if we’re anticipating getting right with God based on our own inherent goodness, based on our batting average, based on our free-throw percentage of how many times we make it versus how many times we miss it, we’ve got a real big problem. Because James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles (but fails) in one point, he has become guilty of all.” So, that’s a bit about God. For now. For purposes of understanding the core of the gospel message, you need to know that God is Creator. You need to know that God is Holy. And you need to know that God requires perfect obedience.

Now, we need to learn a little bit about us, about mankind. What do we know about us? Man has sinned against God. Man is a sinner. And what is sin? Sin, simply put, is “disobedience against God.” A refusing to do what He commands and then insisting on doing what He forbids. It includes both active sins, if you could say it that way, sins of commission, and inactive behaviors, sins of omission. And sin is not only a plague on some people, you know, on this side of the continental divide, or on this side of the equator. No, it’s a plague on all mankind. Romans 3:10-11 says, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks for God.” Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Man has not only sinned against God though. The next thing we need to know about man is Man will pay the eternal penalty for sin. You see, the consequence for sin is that man has been separated from God. Man was designed to have a relationship with God and have fellowship with God and have communion with God. But sin has ruined this relationship by separating man from God. No matter how many prayers he prays. No matter how many aisles he walks. No matter how many times he writes a date on the inside of his bible, he remains alienated from God. Hostile to God. Estranged from God. This is encapsulated in Isaiah 59:2 which says, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” That separation leaves man on his own. To deal with his own guilt. To deal with his own hopelessness. To deal with his own trail of broken relationships. To deal with his own evil thoughts and actions. He has no ally. He has no advocate. He has no divine protection, no covering. He has no forgiveness of sin. Instead, all that he has is God’s perfect and holy and divine wrath hanging over him. And then we see in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” That verse speaks of eternal death, eternal separation from God, in hell for ever. We will never cease to exist. As I mentioned earlier, we are eternal beings. Sure, one day our bodies will die, they will expire physically. Hebrews 9:27 does say – “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgement.” But our inner person, who we really are, will go on to live forever. And after we die, we’re going to go one of two places, heaven or hell. Jesus referred to both in Matthew 25:46, He speaks of some going away into eternal punishment, while the righteous going on into eternal life. So, knowing that, that everyone will die, knowing that everyone will go into one of two places, the natural human inclination about what we’re supposed to do about that truth, the natural human bent, as shown in literally every world religion, except one, is to self-justify. To work our way toward God. To climb the divine ladder, as it were. That might mean scraping our knees as we walk our way up the scala sancta there in Rome. That might mean making the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. That might mean making one of those missionary journeys when you’re nineteen and you’ve got the white-collared shirt and the short-sleeves and bicycle helmet tucked under your arm. But each one of those showcases the human bent, the human inclination, to trust in our resume. To trust in our goodness. To trust in our works to get us into heaven and to get us out of hell.

But there’s another key point we need to know about man. Man cannot save himself by his good works.
We cannot do anything, in and of ourselves, that can make us good enough, or desirable enough, or lovely enough, or beautiful enough, to please a holy God. Whether you were the thief on the cross, or Mother Teresa. No amount of good works will ever help a person overcome the penalty that’s associated with even one sin. We cannot do anything. We cannot rely on anything. We certainly can’t rely on ourselves to earn our salvation. God is simply too holy to let slide any of the ways that we have repeatedly fallen short of His perfect standards. Which is why we see passages like Titus 3:5 which says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” Or Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So, we’ve learned a bit about God, as we hear this gospel presentation.

We’ve learned a little bit about man, ourselves, mankind. Next is Christ. What do we need to know about Christ as we get the heart, the true heart, of the gospel message? Christ came to earth as both God and sinless man. Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” And of course, there are multiple other places in scripture that we could go for that truth. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 10:30 Jesus says – “I and the Father are one.” Christ is not only Deity, though He is. Christ is not only God, though He is. He also has a human nature. See, through His incarnation, Jesus was both fully God and fully Man. So, He had both a perfect divine resume, and a perfect human resume. This means He was able, during His earthly ministry, to encounter every type of trial and hardship and temptation, and emotion that we may, yet without sin. That’s Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Fully God, fully man. Sinless, yet sympathetic.

The next truth of the gospel message is that Jesus demonstrated God’s love by dying on the cross to pay sin’s penalty. Since God is so loving, and so gracious, and so merciful, He provided a way of salvation for sinners like us, through His Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” You could also write down John 3:16, we all know John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” That of course, is the Mt. Everest of the gospel message. That though He lived without sin, the Lord Jesus took the guilt of sinners like us on Himself, and suffered God’s wrath against sin on the cross. He became sin to pay the penalty of sin on our behalf. That’s 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Though sinless, our Lord was treated like He was a sinner. The result being that His righteousness is now imparted to us. Christ’s death on the cross was the payment for sin’s penalty. And provides now the only way for sinners to have the restored relationship with God. The Father willingly delivered His Son over to death. And the Son willingly laid down His life. Bearing the full measure of the Father’s wrath in our place, so that we sinners could be brought back to God. 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

The next truth of the gospel message on this topic of Christ and how essential His finished work is to the gospel message. What we need to know is He rose from the grave and is alive today. Following His death on the cross, Jesus rose from the dead. This is the kernel of the gospel message, and of gospel hope. 1 Corinthians 15:4, “He was buried, . . .He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” And the resurrection of course, is a key part of the gospel equation because it demonstrates, God is demonstrating undeniably, to all men that His sacrifice, Jesus’s sacrifice, is sufficient to provide salvation for all who would believe. Jesus then ascended back to the Father. And is now seated at the Father’s right hand, from which He rules over all, and from where He will one day return, rule and reign. This friends is the gospel message. And this is information that you must know intellectually and affirm and ascent to intellectually to make sure that you are in the family of God. That’s the gospel message.

But now we need to look at a different question. Because the gospel is not just about information. The gospel also requires a response. There’s a certain way that sinners like us have to appropriate the truths of the gospel. The question on the table is, how does a sinner become cleansed of his or her sin and actually receive and lay claim to God’s offer of forgiveness through Christ? How does a sinner secure the hope of eternal life?

Well, the true theological answer is, sinners must be born again from above. They must experience the new birth. And while that new birth is an act of God’s divine, sovereign grace (you can look up John 3:3-8 for that truth) we also do know that man has a responsibility to respond to that saving gospel message. Mark 1:15, Jesus comes on the scene, and the first words we see in red, if you have a red-letter bible is, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Note, He did not say, “please invite Me into your heart.” “Please just let Me into your life.” The gospel response is not “Jesus, take the wheel.” Or “Jesus, come be my co-pilot.” No, it’s “repent and believe in the gospel.” It’s repentance and faith.

To lay claim to gospel truth, to have gospel hope, to have your eternal hope secured through His forgiving grace, first sinners must repent of all that dishonors God. That’s not the worldly form of repentance that we see described in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11. That’s the type of worldly repentance that’s really just a matter of being caught with your hand in the cookie jar. And feeling bad for your sin. That’s called remorse. Being fearful of the consequences of being caught. Remorse does not equate to repentance. Remorse might lead to modified behavior or maybe even improved circumstances, that you seek to live a better life in this life. But remorse, without repentance, will not keep a sinner out of hell. Rather, true repentance involves a turning from sin. And a turning to Christ as Lord and Savior. It’s recognizing one’s utter sinfulness, and turning from our own selfishness and sinful ways, and instead turning to God. Isaiah 55:7 says, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” See, repentance involves submitting one’s will, ambition, and eternal hope to the Creator. It involves a change of heart, attitude, interest, and direction. It involves counting the cost, and forsaking sin, and obeying Christ. It involves taking up our cross daily to follow Christ, as He calls us to do in Luke 9:23.

I love what A.W. Tozer said on this topic of taking up your cross, and how that ties into repentance. He said, “The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-bye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.” See, though salvation is absolutely a free gift of God, the reality is it will cost you your very life.

Not only must a person repent though. The sinner must believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. Of course, the passage that most people will go to for that truth is, Romans 10:9, that’s in fact where many gospel presentations start. But as you can see, I hope from this morning, there’s an order in which a more compelling and faithful gospel presentation can be given. But Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” However, the kind of “belief” that’s being described in this verse goes beyond mere mental assent. It goes beyond acknowledging gospel facts. It goes beyond playing some sanctified game of bible trivia. As though we’re any different than the demons of James 2:19. Even the demons believe, right? Rather, to ‘believe’ in the Romans 10:9 sense, is to wholeheartedly trust, and in your heart believe, that the only reason you will spend eternity worshiping Jesus in glory, is that His death paid the penalty fully for your sin. It means depending entirely upon His righteousness for our acceptance before a holy God. It means believing in His resurrection. And it means submitting our lives entirely to His authority. Trusting in Him, not only as Savior, but as Lord.

As we wind down… Tim Keller recently said this: “No one has ever learned that he or she is a sinner by being told that they are.” Tim Keller is wrong. The scriptures tell a much different story. The scriptures require that a person be made to see that he or she is a sinner. A sinner who needs to repent. A sinner who needs to put their faith in Christ. If you are here this morning and you’re that sinner, the one who is standing under the judgement of God… Because you are getting real with yourself right now. And you realize you have not put your faith in Christ. As Duane said earlier, I’ll be up in the South Lobby. I’ll be nice to you, I promise. I would love to talk with whatever stirring the Lord may be doing in your heart. Talk with you about that. And get some time with you to help you work through that. And understand what it truly means to be saved. Not what it means to be a good person, or even a person who goes to church. Or a person who is Nebraskan Nice. But a person who is truly in the family of God. Truly saved.

And for the rest of you, what you need to know, out of 2 Timothy 4:5, is that for the next leg of its history, Indian Hills is going to be known as an evangelistic church. We are going to ask, seek and knock. We are going to open our mouths and share. I am going to proclaim God’s gospel here, there and everywhere. And we’re all going to entrust the results to our great God. Amen?

Let’s pray. Our gracious God, we thank You for this morning. We thank You for the truths of Your Word. And though this morning we really were camped out in six mere words from 2 Timothy 4:5, they cut us. They convict us in the way that Hebrews 4:12 describes. Father, I pray that You would continue to mold us into a church that is passionate for souls. That it grieves us, and it burdens us that there are people out in the world, out here in Lincoln, here on 84th Street, that don’t know You. That are deceived. That are out walking around, mowing lawns, not in church this morning. And who one day, will face their Creator, their Maker, a holy God, who gave them every chance in this life to bow the knee to King Jesus, repent of their sin, trust in Christ and be saved. Father, stir our hearts, so that we will passionately proclaim the gospel in this community. And never grow tired of doing so. Help us to never be the holy huddle that is always about the activities that are happening at this church, great as they are, and are altogether disinterested with what’s happening in the world, and with sinners and their souls especially. I pray that a harvest of souls would be won to Christ. To be laborers. And the efforts of the people of this church. Knowing that You are the One that is granting and appointing sinners to salvation. We thank You for this day. Please stir up our hearts. And help us to be more and more faithful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.