G.O.S.P.E.L.

GOSPEL

Intro-video

We are not our own, but we are God’s. You can spend your entire life searching for something, you can travel to see all this world, you can climb the corporate ladder and gain all the money you possibly can, you can seek to know more people in this life, all these things are not bad at all, but these are not things that ultimately fill you. You see, you can travel, but eventually you will come to the point where you have to come home, you can climb the corporate ladder, but you could come in that day and that be taken away from you, you can make as many friends as you want, but you can mask yourself and not even share who you truly are with them.

We are not our own, but we are God’s. You can spend your entire life searching for something, you can travel to see all this world, you can climb the corporate ladder and gain all the money you possibly can, you can seek to know more people in this life, all these things are not bad at all, but these are not things that ultimately fill you. You see, you can travel, but eventually you will come to the point where you have to come home, you can climb the corporate ladder, but you could come in that day and that be taken away from you, you can make as many friends as you want, but you can mask yourself and not even share who you truly are with them.

Today, I want to share with you of one that has never left, that I can’t leave from, One who has grace, mercy, and love for me, and by His grace, I am able to be here today. Today I want to share with you the greatest news you will ever hear, the news of the Gospel of Christ.

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This acrostic is not my own, I heard this in a podcast this week, and I felt led to develop a sermon out of it. This is from Pray the Word with David Platt.

The rider suddenly sees the State Patrol far in the distance to the rear racing toward the car. His heart leaps with hope for possible rescue! If you are the rider who knows that there is a bomb in the trunk, the flashing red lights in the distance are very precious, and the closer they get, the more precious they become. But if you are the driver and you don't think that there is a bomb in the trunk, the flashing red lights are a threat.

I know the most loving thing I can do today is remind you that Christ is coming, and when He does, it will be too late for those who have not put their faith and trust in Him today, for those of you who are in Him, it is rescue, it is life and life eternal.

G- God’s Character (Vs. 4)

In this text, we see a lot of things, first off is God’s character, we see God’s holiness, grace, mercy, and His wrath.

We see God’s love expressed in the deep love that He has loved us with in Christ. We see that God so loved the world that He gave His one Son Christ, that we might believe in Him and have eternal life. We see God’s love in the fact that He didn’t just leave us in our dead and sinful state, but He gave us The way that we might have life and life eternally.

We will be talking about other parts of God’s Character throughout this message.

O- Offense of Our Sin (Vs. 1-3)

We are dead in our sins and trespasses, children of wrath by our sinful nature, we have offended the Holy God in our sin.

We are dead in our sins and trespasses, children of wrath by our sinful nature, we have offended the Holy God in our sin.

Seeing in scripture the state that we are in our sin is being dead, shows the absolutely broken state that we are in, we are not just sick, for if we were sick, then we could potentially make ourselves better by doing something, but we are dead in our sins, and when you are dead, you can do nothing for yourself.

Let’s put this another way, you are not in the doghouse with God, but in the morgue. In the doghouse you could potentially cry and whine a bit and say your sorry and do different things, but while in a morgue, well, you can’t do anything.

We also see that we are sinners by nature, it’s not about a few slip ups here and there, but its about the fact that we are by our own nature, sinners against God. We are described as sons of disobedience, it is in our nature, we can’t change it, that is why we need a great Savior, only He can bring us to life.

I want to share this with you to give a picture of the offense of our sin against the Holy God.

Our sin is so offensive because God is so perfect, let’s imagine a bottle of water for a moment, not opened, cool refreshing water, this water would be fine for us to drink, no problem at all. Now lets imagine for a moment that I allowed everyone in this room to take a sip of it, swish around a bit, and then spit back in the bottle, and we passed that bottle around the whole room and everyone did that, who would really take a drink?

It just doesn’t work like that does it? The spit and everything absolutely ruins the water, that water that didn’t have anything in it, now is ruined by the spit. If God who is perfectly holy, looked upon sin, or “gave a pass” He would no longer be Holy, He would not be God. Just as spit and water doesn’t mix, neither does God’s holiness and our sin.

Just as this picture of this water bottle made add a level of disgust in your heart, I was literally gagging writing this part of the message, so too is God’s disgust at sin.

S- Sufficiency of Christ (Vs. 5-7)

His life, death, and resurrection make life possible.

God has made us alive together with Christ, Christ said on the cross that it is finished, it is complete, we see in these verses that we are made alive together with Christ, we have life in Him. Notice it didn’t say that we are made alive with Him, through Christ and something else, you are not made alive with Christ and a good sense of humor, or made alive with Christ and good works, you are made alive in Christ.

Paul writing in says, "And you are complete in Him." That means exactly what it says...the sufficiency of Christ.

We read in , For God so loved the World that He gave His only Son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Christ is the only one in which can have eternal life, that means He is completely sufficient to give us life.

Christ is sufficient for living this Christian life, for walking this life with Him,

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Christ is sufficient for our strength to live this life for Him.

You do not have to trust in anyone else, in their ability, their provision, their anything. Christ alone is the only one who is sufficient for us. Christ alone is the only one whom you will find salvation and life.

P- Personal Response (Vs. 8-9)

How do we respond to this? Do you reject it as nonsense, or do you put your faith in trust in Jesus as your Savior? We don’t respond by trying to work really hard for it, because we cannot earn it, but we trust in the work that Christ has already accomplished on the Cross.

Salvation is the free gift of God. That's the whole point of the word grace. Grace is the unmerited free favor of God expressed toward guilty and unworthy sinners. It is love that doesn't make sense. To drive this home, Paul comes right out and says that our salvation is not from yourselves; it is God's gift - not from works...

You don't earn a gift. You earn a paycheck. What paycheck have we earned from God? says the wages of sin is death. I don't want what I've earned from God. I want His gift: the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Get this straight: God's salvation comes only to those who are at the end of themselves. They come with no merits of their own, no bragging points, no negotiations. They realize that their only hope is found, that they are realizing they are dead, not in anything they have done, but in what He has already accomplished for them.

II. God gives us the capacity to receive His gift

Dead in sins, we are unable to even respond to His loving Word to us, which is why He not only sends His Son to atone for our sins, not only sends someone to tell us that good news, but gives us the gift of faith so that we might trust Him. The part of v. 8 that reads, it is God's gift refers to the entire previous phrase, to the grace and the salvation and the faith.

There are two ways to respond to this, this morning: One is theoretical and impersonal; the other is personal and urgent. One says: How can this be, and how can that be?The other says: God brought me here today. God spoke in these scriptures to me today. God’s mercy and love and grace seem desperately needed and beautiful to me today. O God, today, I submit to your amazing grace that has brought me here and awakened me and softened me and opened me. Thanks be to God for the riches of his mercy and the greatness of his love and the power of his grace.

E- Eternal Life

Eternal life and everlasting death hang in the balance.

Life is only found in Christ, We see in “I am the way, the truth, and the life, Christ is the only one that we find life in.

Do not gamble with your life. It is either eternal life, or everlasting death. Do not try to hold on to your sin any longer, don’t try to squeeze out another minute where you don’t respond to Christ, we are not guaranteed this next minute, so give everything to Him now.

L- Life Transformation (Vs. 10)

The Gospel changes how we live.

We see freedom in the lives of those who trust in Christ and not being captive to sin, we see freedom from the sins that bind us, we see that we have true freedom in Christ. Freedom to follow Him, freedom in obeying Him. Freedom to walk in these good works that God has created us to walk in.

We see lives transformed by the Gospel, first that we are brought to life from death in Christ, we also see those who were hopelessly addicted to something be delivered from that sin, those whose marriages were in shambles, seeing that marriage come back from the brink of divorce.

Trust Christ

By grace are you saved through faith. So I urge you all to trust Christ. Trust him with your sin. Trust him with your relationships. Trust him with your job. Trust him with your health. Trust him with your money and leisure. And trust him with your future—all the way to eternity.

For he is a great God of wonders! He makes the dead to live. He sets the captive free. And he will spend eternity lavishing the riches of his kindness on those who trust him.