Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - The Centrality of the Gospel in the Christian Life Session 2

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Voddie Baucham - The Centrality of the Gospel in the Christian Life Session 2 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And one of the reasons that we do that is
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  Speaker 1: because we've moved into an era of marketing the church
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: based on things that are secondary and tertiary.
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  Speaker 2: For example, there are many.
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  Speaker 1: People— sorry, I will get this situated— who will go to
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  Speaker 1: a church and, you know, the pastors in the room
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  Speaker 1: will be able to back me up on this one.
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  Speaker 1: There are people who come to the church. The church
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  Speaker 1: is sound. It's solid. It's committed to the gospel. It
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  Speaker 1: has just, you know, rock solid foundations, teaching, ministry, biblical counsel,
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  Speaker 1: doing all those things that we're called to do and
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  Speaker 1: to be. People come and they come to faith and
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  Speaker 1: they begin to grow. And then at some point, they'll
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  Speaker 1: decide that they're going to move on and they're going
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  Speaker 1: to go somewhere else. And when they say that they
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  Speaker 1: decide that they're going to move on and go somewhere else,
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  Speaker 1: it's not because of those fundamental, rudimentary issues. It's because
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  Speaker 1: they like the music better somewhere else. Or they like
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  Speaker 1: the style better somewhere else. Or the aesthetics better somewhere else.
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  Speaker 1: And they'll even admit, right, that never grown like we've
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  Speaker 1: grown here. This is especially true when they have teenagers.
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  Speaker 2: Amen, somebody? Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. But, you know, kids get to a certain age,
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  Speaker 1: and there's a church somewhere in town that's doing, you know,
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  Speaker 1: this wild, crazy stuff for young people, and they've got
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  Speaker 1: smoke machines and light machines, and all of this, you know,
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  Speaker 1: stop me if you've heard this before, right?
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  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, that family that.
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  Speaker 1: Was experiencing growth and everything else is deciding that, you know, they...
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  Speaker 1: They need to move on because of these peripheral issues.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a very common story of people who go
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  Speaker 1: in search of these secondary and tertiary things that they
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  Speaker 1: have moved to the center. And inevitably, what happens is
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  Speaker 1: their whole Christian life is undermined and weakened because they've
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  Speaker 1: left the foundations. And over time, those cracks will show.
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  Speaker 1: Because that's not the center. Well, what is? I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: you asked. Listen to this from the Second London Baptist Confession, 1689.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor David, you had your 1689 hat on yesterday. You
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  Speaker 1: didn't wear it today, man. Listen to this. In the
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  Speaker 1: execution of this power, wherewith he is so entrusted, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus calls out of the world unto himself, through
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  Speaker 1: the ministry of his word, by his spirit, those that
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  Speaker 1: are given unto him by his Father, that they may
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  Speaker 1: walk before him in all the ways of obedience. which
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  Speaker 1: he prescribes to them in his word. Those thus called,
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  Speaker 1: he commands to walk together in particular societies or churches
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  Speaker 1: for their mutual edification and the due performance of that
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  Speaker 1: public worship which he requires of them in the world.
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  Speaker 1: So God calls people out of the world into his
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  Speaker 1: body and he calls to them into churches. He calls
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  Speaker 1: believers to unite themselves to one another in these local bodies,
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  Speaker 1: these local assemblies, these local gatherings. The Greek word ecclesia
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  Speaker 1: is the word for a gathering, okay? He calls people
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  Speaker 1: to gather themselves together in these churches. But can we
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  Speaker 1: define that more specifically? What do you need in order
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  Speaker 1: to be called a church. Listen to this from the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Augsburg Confession. The Augsburg Confession is the first of the, really,
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  Speaker 1: confessions that came out of the Protestant Reformation. This was
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  Speaker 1: Luther and the Lutheran Confession. The Augsburg Confession is this way.
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  Speaker 1: The church is the congregation of saints in which the
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  Speaker 1: gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly administered. Let's
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  Speaker 1: move forward a little bit to the Belgic Confession. The
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  Speaker 1: Belgic Confession. The Belgic Confession is the confession of the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Reformed Church. The marks by which the true church
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  Speaker 1: is known are these. If the pure doctrine of the
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  Speaker 1: gospel is preached therein, sound familiar? Here. if she maintains
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  Speaker 1: the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ,
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  Speaker 1: if church discipline is exercised in the punishing of sin,
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  Speaker 1: in short, if all things are managed according to the
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  Speaker 1: pure word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only head of the church,
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  Speaker 1: hereby the true church may certainly be known, from which
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  Speaker 1: no man has a right. To separate himself. We see
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  Speaker 1: a number of elements there, right? There's this gathering of
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  Speaker 1: believers around the true gospel. Around the sacraments. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: what are those things? Those things are baptism and the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's Supper. Those things are gospel ordinances. So the gospel
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  Speaker 1: is proclaimed. Proclaimed. Orally, verbally, publicly. And then the gospel
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  Speaker 1: is displayed and symbolized. Baptism. Burial with Christ. Raised again
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  Speaker 1: to walk in newness of life. It's a picture of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. The Lord's Supper. Body of Christ. Blood of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: New covenant in my blood. Do this as often as
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  Speaker 1: you do it in remembrance of me.
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  Speaker 2: Right? Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Gospel being pictured. Same thing there. Belcher Confession moves on
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  Speaker 1: and adds the dimension of church discipline. The church discipline
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  Speaker 1: part is really important because if you look at baptism
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  Speaker 1: as the front door of the church, the Lord's Supper
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  Speaker 1: is the back door of the church. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: We baptize you when we see that you have responded
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  Speaker 1: appropriately to the gospel and bear evidence of having been converted.
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  Speaker 1: And when you're baptized, then you're invited to join the family,
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  Speaker 1: to join the body, and to join us in partaking
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord's Supper. This outward symbol of your continued faithfulness. Well,
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  Speaker 1: when there's sin, and there's discipline, and there's a lack
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  Speaker 1: of repentance, you are excommunicated.
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  Speaker 2: And the principal.
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  Speaker 1: Issue in excommunication is that you're no longer welcome at
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  Speaker 1: the table. You're no longer welcome to partake of that meal.
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  Speaker 1: So the back door has been closed until such time
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  Speaker 1: as you're restored to repentance. At such time, You would
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  Speaker 1: then be invited back to the table. So all of
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  Speaker 1: these things center around the gospel and our response to
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  Speaker 1: that gospel. So what then is that gospel? We started
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  Speaker 1: on this last night. Let's look at it again a
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  Speaker 1: little more closely today.
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  Speaker 2: What would.
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  Speaker 1: What is a gospel-centered church? What is a church that
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  Speaker 1: has a biblical gospel? Several things. A biblical gospel is
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  Speaker 1: first a historic gospel. We're going to look again at
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  Speaker 1: this passage we looked at on last night. Paul says
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  Speaker 1: in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and 2, Now I
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  Speaker 1: would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you,
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  Speaker 1: which you received and which you stand, by which you're
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  Speaker 1: being saved, if you hold fast the word I preached
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  Speaker 1: to you unless you believed in vain. Point that he's
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  Speaker 1: making there is not about us losing our salvation, but
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  Speaker 1: about us not having salvation if we're not holding to
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  Speaker 1: the apostolic gospel. If we're holding to a different gospel
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  Speaker 1: than There is no salvation in a different gospel. Verse 3,
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  Speaker 1: I deliver to you as of first importance what I
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  Speaker 1: also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance
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  Speaker 1: with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
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  Speaker 1: raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: This is that historic gospel. And when I say historic,
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  Speaker 1: I mean we believe the gospel that has been delivered
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  Speaker 1: to us As Jude said, once for all, hand it
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  Speaker 1: down to the saints.
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  Speaker 2: Look with me, if you will, in Galatians.
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  Speaker 1: Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. After Paul's greeting, look
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  Speaker 1: at verse 3 through 5. Look at his greeting. Grace
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  Speaker 1: to you and peace from God our Father and the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to
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  Speaker 1: deliver us from the present evil age according to the
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  Speaker 1: will of God, our God and Father, to whom be
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  Speaker 1: glory forever and ever.
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  Speaker 2: Amen. Normal greeting.
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  Speaker 1: After his normal greeting, he usually says something about Giving thanks, right?
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  Speaker 1: A to B, greetings. And then, you know, I give
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  Speaker 1: thanks for you and all of this wonderful stuff. Like,
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  Speaker 1: it's a formal thing. It's what you do. It's what
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  Speaker 1: he does. It's what he always does. Almost always. Not
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  Speaker 1: in Galatians. In Galatians, Paul's got a problem. Verse 6,
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  Speaker 1: I am astonished. that you are so quickly deserting him
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  Speaker 1: who called you in the grace of Christ and are
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  Speaker 1: turning to a different gospel. Verse 7, not that there
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  Speaker 1: is another one. You've turned to a different gospel. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, and there's not another gospel. What that means
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  Speaker 1: is you've turned away from the gospel. But there are
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  Speaker 1: some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. But even if we or an angel from
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  Speaker 1: heaven would preach to you a gospel contrary to the
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  Speaker 1: one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
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  Speaker 2: Let him be anathema.
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  Speaker 1: As we have said before, so now I say again,
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  Speaker 1: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to
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  Speaker 1: the one you received, let him be accursed. There is
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  Speaker 1: no other gospels. There is the historic gospel. There is
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  Speaker 1: what happened. There is the God who created the world
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  Speaker 1: and everything in it. There is the God who created
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  Speaker 1: man in his own image and gave man a law
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  Speaker 1: to keep, promised him life upon the keeping thereof, and
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  Speaker 1: death if he failed. And man did fail He disobeyed God,
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  Speaker 1: bringing sin into the world and death into the world
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  Speaker 1: for himself and for all his posterity. Him being our
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  Speaker 1: federal head, we are all fallen in him. We are
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  Speaker 1: all guilty, born in sin because we inherit our sin
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  Speaker 1: nature from Adam, all of those who are born by
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  Speaker 1: ordinary generation. But there's a promise made. right along with
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  Speaker 1: the curse. When the serpent is cursed in Genesis 3,
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  Speaker 1: God says, I will put enmity between you, the serpent,
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  Speaker 1: and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
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  Speaker 2: You'll bruise his heel. He'll bruise your head.
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  Speaker 1: God promises there in Genesis chapter 3 that there is
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  Speaker 1: one coming who will be born of a woman who
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  Speaker 1: will reverse the curse and who will crush the head
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  Speaker 1: of the serpent and the rest of the story of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible the rest of the Old Testament is about
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  Speaker 1: tracing that promised seed until we find him in Matthew
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  Speaker 1: the one who has been promised the one who is
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  Speaker 1: the seed of the woman but the one who is
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  Speaker 1: not born by ordinary generation if he's born by ordinary
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  Speaker 1: generation he will be born in sin just like we
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  Speaker 1: are Adam would be his federal head, but he's born
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  Speaker 1: of a virgin. Why is that important? If he's not
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  Speaker 1: born of a virgin, he inherits Adam's sin. Don't you
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  Speaker 1: ever let anyone tell you that the virgin birth doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 1: If Christ is not born of a virgin, he inherits
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  Speaker 1: Adam's sin. If he just appears magically, he's not the
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  Speaker 1: seed of the woman. He has to be the seed
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  Speaker 1: of the woman, but he can't be the seed of
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  Speaker 1: the man.
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  Speaker 2: How do you do that?
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  Speaker 1: Miraculously, by him being born of a virgin by the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. So that he is indeed the God-man, the
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  Speaker 1: second person of the Trinity, who takes on a second nature.
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  Speaker 2: This is critical. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because he then can become our new federal head. Adam
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  Speaker 1: broke the law on our behalf and we are all
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  Speaker 1: sinners because of him. Christ kept the law perfectly on
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  Speaker 1: our behalf and can impute righteousness to us because of
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  Speaker 1: what he did in his active obedience. And then in
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  Speaker 1: his passive obedience, as man with a human nature, Our
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  Speaker 1: sinfulness is imputed to him, placed on him. And at
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  Speaker 1: the cross, he dies in our stead as our substitute,
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  Speaker 1: taking upon himself the penalty that was owed to us.
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  Speaker 1: So that, as Paul says in Romans 3, God can
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  Speaker 1: be both just because he poured out his wrath on
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  Speaker 1: sin and the justifier of the one who places faith
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus. We come to Christ by faith. Christ is
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  Speaker 1: now our new federal head, and we find forgiveness and
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  Speaker 1: righteousness in him because of this double imputation. That's the
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  Speaker 1: historic message of the gospel. That's what happened, and that's
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  Speaker 1: why it happened. And we have to have that. If
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  Speaker 1: we don't have that, we have what Paul calls here
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  Speaker 1: in Galatians 1, a different gospel. And there is no
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  Speaker 1: other gospel. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that's what he means
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  Speaker 1: when he says, otherwise you believed in vain. So the
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  Speaker 1: historic gospel. In order for a church to be a genuine, authentic,
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  Speaker 1: gospel-centered church, they must hold to and proclaim the historic gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Any church that is denying the historic gospel is not
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  Speaker 1: a true church. A church that is denying the virgin birth.
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  Speaker 1: A church that is denying penal substitutionary atonement. A church
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  Speaker 1: that is denying the resurrection. Again, a church that is
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  Speaker 1: denying what's called in theology the hypostatic union. That Christ
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  Speaker 1: is fully God and fully man. A church that is
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  Speaker 1: denying that. They're denying the essence of the gospel. Because
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  Speaker 1: without any of those pieces... We don't have redemption. So
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  Speaker 1: it must be a historic gospel. By the way, we
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  Speaker 1: can deny this in more ways than just saying we
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  Speaker 1: don't believe it. Let me say that again. We can
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  Speaker 1: deny this in more ways than just saying we don't
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  Speaker 1: believe it. We can deny this by never preaching it.
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  Speaker 1: We can deny this by preaching a self-help gospel. Ten
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  Speaker 1: ways to have a happy life. Five ways to raise healthy,
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  Speaker 1: happy kids. Four ways to reduce stress. We can deny
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  Speaker 1: the gospel, but by just proclaiming something other than the
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  Speaker 1: gospel as the answer to man's problem. By psychologizing the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: we can deny it. Secondly, not only this historic gospel,
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  Speaker 1: but it is a God-centered gospel. A God-centered gospel. Mark 1, 14. Now,
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  Speaker 1: after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the
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  Speaker 1: the gospel of God. Romans 1.1, Paul, a servant of
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for
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  Speaker 1: the gospel of God. 1 Thessalonians 2.2, but though we
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  Speaker 1: had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as
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  Speaker 1: you know, we had boldness in our God to declare
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  Speaker 1: to you the gospel of God In the midst of
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  Speaker 1: much conflict, the gospel of God, the gospel of God.
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  Speaker 1: We don't often use this terminology. It sounds unfamiliar and
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  Speaker 1: maybe a bit awkward for us. We've heard the gospel
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? But this idea of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel of God, the good news of what God
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  Speaker 1: has done. By the way, gospel simply means good news.
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  Speaker 1: When I say God-centered gospel, what I mean is that
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  Speaker 1: the center of this good news is God himself. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if it's not a God-centered gospel, what is it? A
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  Speaker 1: man-centered gospel. A man-centered gospel. A man-centered gospel puts you
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  Speaker 1: and God your needs at the center of the story.
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  Speaker 1: A man-centered gospel creates a weak and needy God who
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  Speaker 1: somehow tries to figure out how to best appease you.
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  Speaker 1: A man-centered gospel has God responding to you as opposed
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  Speaker 1: to acting as the sovereign Lord of all things. The
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  Speaker 1: gospel is not primarily about you. Here's a newsflash. God
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  Speaker 1: doesn't need you. Amen, somebody. He's not pining over you, right?
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  Speaker 1: God is not in heaven wringing his hands, just hoping
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  Speaker 1: that he can do something to somehow get your attention
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  Speaker 1: and maybe make you like him. No, he's not. God
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  Speaker 1: does not need you. In fact, by definition, God needs nothing.
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  Speaker 1: If God needs something, then he's incomplete. If he's incomplete,
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  Speaker 1: he's not God. God does not need you. God has
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  Speaker 1: never needed you. God will never need you. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: that's good news.
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  Speaker 2: Amen? If God needs me, we're in trouble, y'all. He
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  Speaker 2: has no needs.
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  Speaker 1: Often said, God's going to prove that he doesn't need
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  Speaker 1: you because one day you're going to die, the earth
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  Speaker 1: is going to keep on spinning, and somebody's going to
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  Speaker 1: get all your stuff, right?
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't.
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  Speaker 1: But Lest you think that's a bad thing, it's absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: The fact that God doesn't need us, and yet, by
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  Speaker 1: the counsel of His own will, chooses to create us
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  Speaker 1: and to redeem us through the person and work of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: to crush and kill His only begotten Son so that
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  Speaker 1: we might be redeemed in Him.
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  Speaker 2: Not because he needs us, but just because he loves us? Huh?
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  Speaker 1: No, God is at the center of the gospel. The
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  Speaker 1: glory of God is at the center of the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: not man. Thirdly, so we have this historic gospel, we
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  Speaker 1: have this God-centered gospel, we have the Christ-centered gospel. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: Christ is at the center of the gospel. The gospel
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  Speaker 1: is the message of what God has done in Christ
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  Speaker 1: to redeem sinners. Christ is absolutely at the center of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. He's the epicenter of the gospel. It's the
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  Speaker 1: gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 9,
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  Speaker 1: 12 reads, If others share this rightful claim on you,
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  Speaker 1: do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made
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  Speaker 1: use of this right, but we endure anything rather than
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  Speaker 1: put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: It is the gospel of Christ. As we said earlier,
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  Speaker 1: He is the last Adam. He is the one who
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  Speaker 1: is our federal head. He is the second person of
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  Speaker 1: the Trinity. He is our Savior. He is our Lord.
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  Speaker 1: He is our Redeemer. Jesus paid it all, the hymn
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  Speaker 1: writer writes, all to him I owe. Sin had left
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  Speaker 1: a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Christ
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  Speaker 1: is the radiant and perfect Son of God who is
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  Speaker 1: the only one who can take away our sin. The
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  Speaker 1: gospel is Christ-centered. It is about what Christ has accomplished
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  Speaker 1: on our behalf. And if a church is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a gospel-centered church, it's going to preach Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: and his work. Also, it's a cross-centered gospel. Historic, God-centered, Christ-centered, cross-centered.
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  Speaker 1: The gospel centers on the ugliness of what happened at
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  Speaker 1: the cross. It centers on the ugliness of our sin
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  Speaker 1: that required the ugliness of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1.17 says,
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  Speaker 1: For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to
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  Speaker 1: preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
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  Speaker 1: Galatians 5.11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why
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  Speaker 1: am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense
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  Speaker 1: of the cross has been removed. The offense of the cross.
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  Speaker 2: It's a curse. Cursed is any man who hangs on
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: a tree. It's a curse. It's an insult.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: To die on the cross is to die a humiliating death.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: To die on the cross is to die a criminal's death,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: to die an outcast's death. Men who were crucified, who
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: died on crosses, were crucified outside the city gates as
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: a sign of shame. They were crucified publicly. so that
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: all who were entering the city could see these sinners,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: these transgressors, these lawbreakers being punished. See their humiliation and
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: see them as a deterrent for anyone who might have
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: in mind breaking the laws of the land.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: It's utterly humiliating.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: In fact, this is one of the reasons that the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Greeks despised the gospel. It was a stumbling block for them.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Because for the Greeks, no God would do this. No
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: God would allow this to happen to himself. No God
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: would allow this to happen to his son. You're supposed
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: to be a conqueror in their minds. And yet Christ
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: conquers through the cross. Through this humiliating death.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: But why?
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Why? Because sin required it. All we like sheep had
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: gone astray, Isaiah says. Each of us had turned to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: his own way, but God has laid upon him the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: iniquity of us all. He died a sinner's death in
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: spite of the fact that he wasn't a sinner.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: But why?
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Because our sin demanded it. We preach a bloody gospel.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: We're reminded of our sin and what our sin requires.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: We're reminded of how ugly our sin is before a
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: holy and righteous God. And we're reminded of the ugly
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: price that Christ paid on our behalf in order to
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: take away our sin.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I'll never forget.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Before we moved to Zambia a decade ago, we moved
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: from Houston. And in Houston, there's this really popular preacher
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: who smiles a lot. Smile and Joel. I'll never forget
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: one interview that he did. I don't know if it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: was with Larry King or it was with Oprah. And
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: they were asking him about the fact that he doesn't
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: preach on sin. And his answer was, I don't preach
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: on sin because everybody already knows that they're a sinner.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Imagine that. Imagine that.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: First of all, everybody doesn't already know that. Second of all,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: even if you know it, you don't know it enough.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Third of all, even if you do know it enough,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: it's in the job description. We preach on sin.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Amen?
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Because if we don't understand sin, we don't understand the cross.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Without sin, the cross is not necessary. It is sin
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: that makes the cross necessary. Christ died for sin once
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: for all, the just for the unjust, in order that
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: he might bring us to God. It was my sin
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: that nailed him to the tree. It was your sin
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that nailed him to the tree. If you're not a sinner,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: you don't need a savior. Finally, this gospel that we
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: preach is a Grace-centered gospel. It is a grace-centered gospel.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. But I do not
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: if only I may finish my course and the ministry
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: the gospel of the grace of God. Again, Paul makes
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: it very clear in Galatians. I'm astonished that you are
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. And
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: as we sang last night and today from Ephesians chapter 2, right?
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: By grace you've been saved.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Through faith. and that not of yourselves.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: It is a gift of God, not as a result
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: of works, so that no man can boast. It is
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: grace alone. It is not your works. It is not
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: your efforts. It is the free gift of God's grace
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: to all who believe, to all who call upon the
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Lord by faith, to all who recognize that they are
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: completely and utterly incapable of paying off the sin debt
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: that they owe to God and recognize that their only
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: hope is to flee to Christ and to plead mercy
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: at his feet, to run to the foot of the
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: cross where we deserved mercy To die. But did not
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: have to. Because Christ died in our stead. It is
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the gospel of grace. So, again, it's the historic gospel.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: It is what happened. It is the facts. And all
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: the facts This is a God-centered gospel, not a man-centered gospel.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: This is not about you and me. It's about God
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and his glory. This is a Christ-centered gospel. It is
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: about the person and work of the second person of
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: the Trinity. It's what God accomplished on our behalf through
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: the person and work of Christ. It's a.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Cross-centered gospel.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: It's a cross-centered gospel. It looks at the ugliness of
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the cross and the ugliness of our sin that required
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the ugliness.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Of the cross.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: It recognizes the fact that we are in desperate need
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: because in thought and word and in deed, we have
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: fallen short of the glory of God. And it's a
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: grace-centered gospel because it recognizes that that it is grace alone.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Nothing but grace. Not grace and, not grace or, not
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: grace plus. It is grace alone that saves us. This
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: is why the church exists. The church exists because we
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: are an outgrowth of what God has done through the
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: person and work of Christ. And the church exists because
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: we are an outpost who continually proclaims what God has
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: done through the person and work of Christ and continually
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: applies the person and work of Christ to the lives
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: of those who by faith have come to God for
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: salvation through the person and work of Christ. Again, for
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: the church, it's not just the front door, it's the
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: whole house. Now, am I saying that what we do
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: around that is unimportant? Not saying that at all. All
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: of the ways that we express these truths are important.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is we have to be very
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: careful because it's very easy for those peripheral things that
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: help us express these central truths to sort of move
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the gospel out of the place of preeminence so that
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: we become known for how we sing or we become
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: known for where we meet or what we meet in
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: or we become known for the kind of people who
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: associate with us or we become known for you know,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the good works that we do in the community. And
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: the gospel loses all of its potency. I'll end with this.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: It's the Christmas season, and it's really interesting to me
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: that Christmas season is one of the only times that
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: you see positive portrayals of people of faith on TV.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: It's one of the only times. If it's not the
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Christmas season and it's a person of faith, they're a
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: terrorist who's bombing abortion clinics or they're legalists who are
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: abusing their kids. I mean, there's something, right? But during
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: the Christmas season, you have these very positive portrayals of
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: people of faith, but never gospel-centered. Positive portrayals because we
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: do soup kitchens. Positive portrayals because we do clothing drives.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Positive portrayals because we do community outreach. Positive portrayals of us.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: I keep wanting to say betrayals, and it is a betrayal.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: What it is, is it's a betrayal of the gospel.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: You see, people don't have a problem with Christians per se.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: If all we do is visit the prisoner, feed the hungry,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: clothe the naked. If that's all we do, they have
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: absolutely no problem with us. But the minute we start
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: preaching that historic, God-centered, Christ-centered, cross-centered, grace-centered God.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: We're outcasts. We're outsiders.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: And what that has a tendency to do is it
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: has a tendency to cause us to downplay the gospels
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: And to play up all those other things so that
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: people will think well of us. And after a while,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: the gospel is gone and forgotten. And we're just like
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the dead mainline denominations. Completely reprobate. Devoid of the gospel.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Devoid of any power. and eventually not even very good
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: at feeding the hungry anymore. No. The centrality of the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: gospel is who we are. And everything else that we
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: do must flow from that and be kept secondary to that. Amen.