What we hold to be true #10

You see if you remember that the Gospel is the good news. Good news is that there is a God that is loving and desires to have a relationship with those who he has created.

We looked into his nature of a holy, infinitely perfect and eternally existing God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

He created all that we have, and because of the fall, He has and is working to restore that fallen creation back to its original state by bringing his Son into the word to make a way for restoration through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We then set out to discover how we know this to be true.

This brought us to our understanding of a disciple.

We are people who are seeking to know God.

The best way in which we can know God is to look into His Word, the Bible.

We affirm and believe that the Bible is the written Word of God for us for life, practice and understanding to know God and His plan for us and the world.

The Bible address our deepest need that due to the nature of sin brought into the world through Adam, we discover that there is a way to be rescued, reconciled , and finally restored through the grace and working of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit after He ascended to Heaven moves us to the second part of the statement of a disciple.

We are daily being transformed into the image of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God’s grace changes us by faith alone and are justified by that same saving grace applied in our lives.

This draws us with a desire to bear witness to the truth to others around us. To go into the world and be Gospel telling people in word and in deed.

Last week we discovered and were reminded that we look forward to the day that Christ will bodily return to this earth to unity us fully and to restore His creation with a new Heaven and new Earth.

We discovered all these things to bring us to today.

What does this all have to do with us?

What does it mean to be saved?

When we say we are rescued from our old way of living and bring into a relationship with Christ that we worship and adore God and give him all the Glory.

Do people really want this type of salvation?

Can we or should we force people into this, where God will reign supremely and force them into His kingdom against their will?

We truly desire, as Gospel believing people that all would come to and believe, but what does God say?

This leads us to today’s and final statement.

Big Idea: God's gospel requires a response that has eternal consequences

When we are talking about and to people about the Gospel and we declare what God has done to rescue each one of us, it does require a response.

If you would allow me this morning, I am going to use an analogy and like any good analogy it does not always fit for everything, but its over all idea works to help us understand a truth.

Here is my analogy, many of us know about Costco. A place where you can go and spend your money, buying things in bulk and broken down per item in most cases it will save you money. There are two ways to freely enter into the store. The first is to freely ride on the blessings of a friend or family member as they hold the card that allows you to walk in and buy. You are a visitor. You can look, you can compare, but the card owner, the member has to walk you in and pay for the items.

The second way in to Costco is to purchase yourself a membership.

You yearly pay a subscription to gain access to the store.

Once you pay your fee, it allows you to show your card as you walk in and present your card at the till when you go to buy.

At the risk of being labelled a heretic, can the analogy and the working of Costco be like that of the Gospel.

You can see, hear about, be told about the many advantages of Costco and yet never enter into the store.

All of your family members are sold on the idea, but you sit there and say to yourself, that may be good for you, but it isn't for me.

When you share the Gospel to those around you, do they say, that may be good for you, but I don’t believe that to be true.

Then there is the entering into the store.

You can only enter in if you have the card.

Can we pay on our own the working of the Gospel. To be card carrying Gospel people?

by now means.

The Bible teaches us that

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Many believe that one day, because they are good, and after all, that they will be with God. Or they believe if God is a loving God, He will allow all into life ever lasting.

Many view the gospel like the visitor and walk in with another.

Our children are like that. They hold onto the faith and followers because of what we tell them, but there comes a time where they too step into the faith of their own and make it their own.

Some hold to the same thinking of Costco and that the card can and does expire. That you can purchase the card and not renew its yearly membership. This will allow you to show your card upon entry, but when you go to pay, it will be denied.

Some treat the gospel like a Costco membership card. They accept the terms, hold the card, never walk into the store, never purchase, yet proudly claim they are Costco members.

So as you have this analogy in your minds, let me draw you back to the Gospel.

The Gospel has been and is built on the very essence and working of God.

It is with this that we now look at the big idea for this morning

The Gospel requires a response

God’s Gospel requires response.

God’s gospel is a declaration of what God has done for us and it requires a response from all.

The gospel truth puts it this way,

“In any biblical understanding of the gospel, the objective work of t God in Christ requires a subjective response, a response of faith. We are called, indeed we are commanded , to believe the gospel, By faith in Christ, and by faith alone, this gospel becomes ours. By faith we become recipients of God’s saving work.” - Gospel Truth pg 236

So this morning we are going to look at three major themes around this discussion. First we are going to explore how the scripture speaks to the issue of a required response. Secondly we are going to look at the subject of eternal destiny and finally God’s overall purpose in our lives.

We are commanded

When we look and talk about the gospel, it comes to us as a fact. God has acted through Christ to save us.

Yet the act requires and is commanded for us to respond.

WE must repent and believe.

Look at the following:

Romans 10:16 ESV

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Acts 5:32 ESV

32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

But what should our response be:

Yes it is a response based upon a commandment, but it is a response of faith.

John 6:29 ESV

29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Your part of the commandment is to repent of the sin in our lives and by faith we are and will be restored in our relationship with God.

It addresses everyone

The second part of the response is that it is for everyone.

Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples

Matthew 28:19 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Going is an action to share the gospel, the good news and make is an action that requires a response and action from people.

Folks, over the years, I have practiced and taught many things in regards to evangelism. All of the various programs and practices were to Go and make. Some were better than others, but some to be honest missed the mark. We were eager to explain that salvation was a turning away from an eternal destination, but minimized the discipleship piece.

We were eager to ask for a show a hands, yet didn’t work on the discipleship piece.

If I think of the Costco analogy, we sold many memberships, but those members never entered the building. They carry around the card, but never pull it out.

There are various views on the nature of God’s elect. By this I mean our understanding of How God, all knowing yesterday, today and forever will know who will choose to believe.

One thing I know for sure is that God is and wants people to respond.

God’s Gospel in its fullness is looking for a response from people. It is open to all. It is available to all.

The final response to the gospel is this

Belief and action

It requires a belief and an action.

This belief is what is called faith.

Faith is a response to that which Christ has done for us on the cross, faith that the resurrected Lord will come once again and bring his to himself.

So what is our faith?

Colossians 1:5 ESV

5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

It begins with the truth found in scripture. Paul then says to the believers in Colossae,

Colossians 1:6 ESV

6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

It’s not just a feeling but its based upon truth and our understanding as we as disciples continue to grow in our understanding of God and the Word.

You see scripture holds to three aspects of our faith. Three things that are critical in holding to our faith.

The first is that of content.

It’s a faith in something.

To believe we first need to know what we are believing. How many times have you heard someone state something and say,

“the bible says” and then their next statement cannot be found anywhere in scripture.

Truth is found in the scripture.

From these truths we form our notions or doctrines.

Doctrines about God, Man and the relationship between the two.

About creation, the fall, the redemption and final restoration of the fallen creation.

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

I often think of gravity. It is held as a scientific law. You learn about this in elementary school. We are told that this is a truth. We can read about it in any science journal.

Gravity is real

The second part of belief moves from knowing truth to believing the truth.

This faith now becomes more than a head knowledge but it comes to be a part of our belief as well.

It becomes our conviction.

Do we truly believe that Christ came to this earth, died and rose again so that we can have eternal life.

“Biblical faith involves an understanding of certain content- a body of claims about reality’ and it involves a conviction about the truth of those claims.’ - Gospel Truth pg 238

You see knowledge and belief of the knowledge becomes a conviction.

For some of us those convictions become stronger over time as we see them work out in the reality of our lives.

Early in your Christian walk, you may ask yourselves and see verses talk about the love of God, the compassion of God and that God cares for you, but over time you experience these truths and they have become a part of your story.

Like Gravity, you learned in school the scientific, and have done various experiments to prove it to be true and you have come to a conviction that gravity is true.

This conviction makes you stop at the edge of a cliff and not jump off because you have learned what comes next.

These two elements of faith are important. You need to know the truth, believe the truth but it is not complete until you are personally committed to that truth.

Commitment is the final and third part of the faith aspect

Trust, reliance, and allegiance.

So how does our faith work out in our lives.

The first is a turning in repentance.

We are to turn to God in repentance

We are now sinners before a holy God in need of a saviour. Faith implies that we no longer want to be in opposition to God and there is a turning towards God.

A repenting of our actions, thoughts, and deeds that God states are wrong.

It’s a changing of the mind.

It’s a desire to turn away from sin.

True repentance is a turning away.

The other day I was on a walk with a friend and they brought along a dog. I saw this proverb in living action

Proverbs 26:11 ESV

11 Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

You see when we turn away from sin only to do a 360 turn and not a 180 turn, the Bible describes us as fools.

We are to turn to God in repentance

It is good to know that the repentance is not the action that saves us.

It is only by God’s grace that we are saved and not our own actions; however, repentance leads us to enjoy God’s grace in our lives.

The second aspect is this

We are to receive the Lord Jesus Christ

Faith is not only in the idea but in a belief in a person.

He is not only our saviour, but Lord of the Universe.

He is above Heaven and Earth and one day all will bow in His presence.

Matthew 4:19 ESV

19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus is the one calling, to come to Him Come follow Him.

You see your faith will become real when we fully commit ourselves to Christ. When we receive Him, personally committing our lives to him in faith.

Our Eternal Destiny

This leads us to our next reality that illicit a response.

That is our eternal destiny

When you look over the life of Jesus you can see and hear Him speak of two destinies in life.

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

There is no middle ground. There is no just good enough. You are or you are not.

There is a choice put forward that requires a response from us and from God.

For those questions about cases in which the choice is taken away or a choice is not yet present, we leave that in God’s abiding hands,

but for many of us, the choice is there.

That choice leads to an eternal destiny.

Raising our bodies

As I stated last week, we mourn not as those without hope.

This hope comes in the resurrection of our bodies.

I know for many of you this is a great mystery.

We sometimes wonder what the new bodies will look like.

We sometimes wonder what age will our bodies be, and do they age without the deterioration of our current corruptible bodies.

I enjoy science fiction. In one of the Star Trek Movies they encounter a race that seems to be living forever.

It appears that the planet had a cosmic force that allowed the people to live for years. When the crew of the enterprise comes upon them, they are shocked to see such abilities of ageless people.

Interesting were the children. When asked how old they were, the reply was they are children, born recently, they grow to maturity then level off.

Will we be like that, will the child who dies young once again have a chance to grow with the new bodies,

Note: (May use)

Will Jaylen, my grandson, grow once again in his resurrected body where I get a chance to see him grow?

End of Note

We do not know, scripture doesn’t give us that information, but I can hope.

What I do know that physical death is not the end of our existence as we will be raised bodily.

And yet,

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Judgement

During eternity there will come a time where everyone will stand before God and will be judged.

There is a couple of things about judgement.

It is with great appreciation that we are going to stand before God and be judges as it gives us great dignity. God treats us with a moral compass and evaluating our choices.

This judgment also will eventually right a wrong. It will bring that which is good into a proper alignment.

It also brings into conclusion that good will triumph over evil.

As I was thinking through the Costco metaphor, I thought of the checkout.

You see, when you enter the store, all you have to do is show a card.

The person there, doesn’t scan the card, they just briefly look.

But when you come to the end, when your ready to be able to buy, your card is scanned.

It is at that moment the truth and value of the card comes into question.

Revelation 21:27 ESV

27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

I am not the judge,

The church is not the Judge,

The world is not your judge,

God is the judge.

This faith that we hold onto so dear is that faith in God through Christ’s work on the cross and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit we live as ones who name is in the book of Life.

It is not a yearly membership, in fact, the cost has been paid in full.

Judgement is not a day of fear, but of rejoicing for those who have decided to repent and turn to the one who holds the keys.

The Bible speaks of only one way to this path.

Read through the book of John and write down the “I am Statements”

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. (John 6:35).

“I am the light of the world. (John 8:12).

“I am the door. (John 10:9).

“I am the good shepherd. (John 10:11).

“I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).

This morning, if you have been listening and the spirit is prompting you, God is speaking to you

He wants you to come, believe and confess that he is your lord and saviour.

He desires that you be on that list, written down

He is requiring a response from you today.

Do not put it off any longer.

Maybe you are living your life like that of a Costco tag along. You figure if you do the actions, walk in the door on the coat tails of another, yet you truly haven’t accepted this truth for yourself, why not.

It is my prayer, It is God’s desire that you today, Accept with your heart that His Word is true, Believe in you heart that God raised Christ from the dead so that you may have eternal life, and finally confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord.

Maybe today, you have at one point accepted God’s Word, confessed with your mouth, yet you are in a place of unrest.

Maybe it’s time to have that confession of a 180 degree turn back to the saviour and his word.

Today it is time to once again renew that faith and grace God has so freely given you.

God’s final Purpose

The last call that requires a response is in response to God’s purpose.

The Gospel truth states it so clearly

“When God saving purposes have been fulfilled in his people are redeemed, reconciled and restored in the transformed creation, they will gather in joyful celebration in adoration as a great multitude that no one can count. Coming from every nation, tribe, people in language, they will stand before the throne and in front of the lamb and exclaimed: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb’ because Salvation is an all gift of God's grace, no one have cause to boast in God alone will be exalted. The unfolding of God saving purpose in the gospel of Jesus Christ will be ‘to the praise of his glorious grace’”.- Gospel Truth pg 256

Conclusion

God's gospel requires a response that has eternal consequences

What has been your response? Have you made a response to accept God’s free Gift of Grace and by faith live as ones knowing that your name is written in the book of life,

Or are you still deciding. There is coming a day when the decision will be over, my I implore you today that too often it comes sooner than one would hope. Turn to Christ, accept his free gift of salvation

Accept His truth today, Believe it and Confess with your mouth so that you too will be standing as we gather to worship the One true and glorious God giving him all the praise honor and glory,

Let’s pray

Response to Worship

Benediction

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

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