An Unchanging Gospel In A Changing World

Introduction

Change is said to be one of those things that is always constant

Truth is we live in a changing world

WEATHER IS CHANGING, FOOD/GAS PRICES, GOVERNMENTS, LAWS AND POLICIES, PERSPECTIVES, GENERATIONS.

People lament about this all the time they don’t make movies/food/games like they used to

People don’t go outside anymore. People are always glued to thier screens - THINGS ARE ALWAYS CHANGING!

Even the landscape of the church is chaving - We’re now online, dress is different.

Not all change is bad, but somethings ought not to change!

Even though all of these are changing, The Gospel does not change

It needs to remain as it is

We need to stand on it even if we stand alone

We need tell it even when it is not popular

We need to speak it because ultimately it WILL set you free

We preach it even if there’s no one willing to act on it

We preach it even though we maybe hated for it

We need an unchanging Gospel in this changing world!

Here’s why we cannot have a “changing gospel”

#1 - Who God is

He is unchangeable - Ps 55:19 “God will hear and answer them— Even the one who sits enthroned from of old— Selah. With whom there is no change, And who do not fear God.”

James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

Ps 102:27 ““But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”

His words are still settled

His ways are the same

What He says still matters [has weight]

APPL. I see comfort in this because I’m not always good, but God is

God is not moody, wake up on the wrong side of the bed, doesn’t need coffee before He talks to me, doesn’t need a Snickers to act right. . . .He is UNCHANGING

God still loves the world - God loves you

God still hates sin, why? Because separates Him from you

God still wants “all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth”

That is why we can’t have a changing gospel. The gospel mirrors the nature of the one who gave it.

#2 - What man has

A SIN PROBLEM

Rom 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

THE GOSPEL CAN’T BE TAILORED TO YOUR LIKING BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM ONLY GOD CAN FIX

Rom 3:9-11 “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;”

THE PERCEPTION OF SIN HAS CHANGED AND IS CHANGING

Adultery is Open Marriages

Fornication is now a badge of your body count

Lying is now mass media and what you do to get ahead

Homosexuality is now alternative lifestyle

Gossiping is now ‘ole talk’

Evil speech is now “daiz how a is”

Paul told the Gal. in Gal 1:3-4 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

#3 - What the Gospel does

This is probably the most important point

Paul responded very quickly [harshly]

Paul knows that if anything is ADDED/SUBTRACTED from the gospel is not the gospel

[analogy: doubles]

Gal 2:21 ““I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.””

How did Paul get the grace? - Gal 1:11 “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.” - Gal 1:15 “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased”

A Different Gospel can’t give you the same grace

How then, can he nullify this grace? - By turning away from the gospel and back to the Law Gal 2:21 ““I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.””

The point he makes is clear - If I change/substitute/pervert the gospel I strip it of it’s power

A different Gospel can’t do what God’s gospel can

What does the gospel accomplish?

SALVATION - When I obey it’s commands. Mk 16:15-16 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

Rom 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

TRANSFORMATION - When I live by it - Gal 2:20 ““I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” - Tit 2:11 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” Tit 2:12 “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”