God the Righteous Creator
What is the Gospel? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS + PRAYER PROMPTS
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS + PRAYER PROMPTS
In your own words, what is the good news of Christianity?
Pick one verse or Bible story that in your mind most clearly depicts the gospel, the message of Christianity. Why did you pick it?
What adjectives come to your mind when you think about God?
Pray that anyone who is an unbeliever would accept Christ as their Savior during this series.
Pray that believers would be strengthened in their understanding of the gospel.
Pray that believers (both adults and teens) would gain confidence in sharing the gospel with those around them.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Think to yourself… What’s the most important/life-changing news you’ve ever heard?
It may have been on the news (9/11). It may have been something in your family. It may be that you’ve been accepted into college. It may be that someone told you they love you.
Here’s mine probably — Amanda’s pregnant.
Changed my life. My life was forever altered by those words.
This series is meant to explore the most important news one could ever hear — that is the Gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ stands at the very center of Christianity, and we Christians claim to be about the gospel above all else. It’s what we intend to found our lives upon and build our churches around. It’s what we speak to others about, and it’s what we pray they also will hear and believe.
I have three hopes as we journey through this four week series.
Individuals would accept Christ through hearing the Gospel. Bring your friends. This is a great opportunity to invite someone who is not a believer. Or maybe this is you. You’re not quite a believer. Listen and engage with Scripture’s words.
Believers would be strengthened in their understanding of the Gospel. That we would go deeper into the Gospel. This important news is not merely meant to change us once, but we should live continually in awe of the Gospel and allow it to forever change our lives. “The biblical gospel is like fuel in the furnace of worship. The more you understand about it, believe it, and rely on it, the more you adore God both for who he is and for what he has done for us in Christ.” — Greg Gilbert
Believers would gain confidence and a passion to share the Gospel with others. This is one of our foundational relationships that we would engage with others through love and service. The ultimate way we can love others is to proclaim the Gospel to them.
That’s my hope!
So as we begin, I’m going to chart the course for us. I’m going to show us where we’re going.
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 3:15. (caveat about this not being a normal series where we go through the Bible verse by verse.
If you’ve been in the Bible Recap this year so far, you’ve already come across this verse. Let’s read it together (it will be on the screens).
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
This verse is the first allusion to the gospel — εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) or good news.
There’s a verse in Isaiah 52 that highlights exactly what εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) or the gospel means. It’s a historic word.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; That bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; That saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
*explain the context of this verse and its beauty.
Here’s how we’ll define and think about the gospel:
We are accountable to the God who created us. We have sinned against that God and will be judged. But God has acted in Jesus Christ to save us, and we take hold of that salvation by repentance from sin and faith in Jesus.
It can be remembered simply by four words: God. Man. Christ. Response. And it answers questions like this:
Who made us, and to whom are we accountable?
What is our problem? In other words, are we in trouble and why?
What is God’s solution to that problem? How has he acted to save us from it?
How do I — myself, right here, right now — how do I come to be included in that salvation? What makes this good news for me and not just for someone else?
So each week of this series will be focused on one of those aspects of the gospel. Tonight’s we start at the beginning with God.
Turn to Genesis 1.
We’ll see this on Sunday, but J.I.Packer reminds us that “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.”
What adjectives come to your mind when you think about God?
Unbelievers and believers alike have differing views of God. We tend to highlight attributes of God’s character that are most important to us. We may even flirt with making God in our own image.
How have you heard unbelievers describe God? (They may not even believe in God. God loves me just the way I am. God is distant and doesn’t interact with us. God is punitive and judgmental. God exists to fulfill personal desires — “genie.” We work hard to earn God’s approval.)
What we believe about God is not subjective. He tells us what we should believe about Him. Scripture informs us about God’s character and shapes our view of Him. In order to understand God, we must look to Scripture. And Scripture begins with God and highlights an important characteristic of Him.
GOD THE CREATOR
GOD THE CREATOR
Look at Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The beginning of the Christian message — indeed the beginning of the Christian Bible — is that “God created the heavens and the earth.” Everything starts from recognizing God as Creator.
*overview of Creation / contrast evolution.
Many biblical passages tell us how creation testifies to God’s glory and power.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Paul even begins his exploration of the gospel by highlighting God as Creator.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Turn to Genesis 1:26-27. If we zoom in to the creation account, we’ll see one very important truth that must guide our view of God and even of ourselves.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
We are created. We are made. And here’s the principle concerning the gospel — We are owned. Because God created us, God has the right to tell us how to live.
*explain God’s government over Adam and Eve and how he knew what was best for them. / tie this to parents and how we should submit to them.
Yet, and we’ll see this more clearly next week, Adam and Eve rejected God’s ruling over them as their Creator (they sinned). And this is an important part of the gospel.
The gospel is God’s response to the bad news of sin, and sin is a person’s rejection of God’s Creator-rights over him.
Here’s the big picture under this first truth about God: The fundamental truth of human existence is that God created us, and therefore God owns us.
Who does this apply to? (everyone)
First, God is the Creator. Next, God is the Holy and Righteous One.
GOD THE HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS ONE
GOD THE HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS ONE
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is one in which God describes himself. When Moses asks God to show him his glory and proclaim his name to him, this is what God said:
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
God calls himself merciful, gracious, longsuffering (patient), abundant in goodness and truth, showing mercy and forgiving sins. All wonderful truths about God. But there’s one truth God mentions about himself that is not so comforting — “will by no means clear the guilty.”
The loving and compassionate God does not leave the guilty unpunished.
*some look to God as an unscrupulous janitor — sees the dirt and filthiness of mankind and chooses to sweep it under the rug instead of dealing with it directly. (universalism)
But we’ll see how God’s wrath towards the guilty is ultimately satisfied through Jesus’ death on the cross.
God’s love does not cancel out his justice and righteousness.
Scripture proclaims over and over that our God is a God of perfect justice and unassailable righteousness.
7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; His countenance doth behold the upright.
5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: Mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
Do you see what these verses are saying? God’s rule over the universe (which we saw in the last point), his sovereign lordship over creation, is founded upon his remaining forever perfectly righteous and just.
God does not hide sin or hide from sin. He confronts and destroys sin. This is his righteousness and justice acting.
Nobody wants a God who declines to deal with evil. They just want a God who declines to deal with their evil. *contrast the hypocrisy.
Scripture tells us that God is perfectly just and righteous.
13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on iniquity: Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, And holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
So if we’re going to understand how glorious and life-giving the gospel of Jesus Christ is, we have to understand that our loving, compassionate God is also holy and righteous, and that he is determined never to overlook, ignore, or tolerate sin.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
So as we begin this series we want to take a serious look at God. Who is he? What does he love? What’s my relationship to him?
Here’s my encouragement: as you’re reading your Bible this week see how often God’s character is displayed. Look for how God reacts towards sin. See how he deals with humanity.
If you’re doing the Bible Recap this will should be easy. We’ll be in the book of Job all week long and Job will “discover” God’s character.
As we end can I have three volunteers pray for us? Here are the prompts:
Praise God for who He is. Thank God for creating us and being in charge. Praise Him for His power, holiness, and goodness.
Confess and Respond to God. Admit ways we try to live life our own way. Ask God to help us submit to Him and trust His authority.
Pray for Growth and Boldness. Ask God to help us see Him clearly through His Word. Pray for courage to share the gospel with others.
