2014 02 23 A Gospel Centered Living Dr Steven J Lawson 311495576

well as we look together into the Word of God I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Philippians yet again Philippians chapter 1 in case you're wondering I'm preaching through the book of Philippians backwards we have gone from chapter four to chapter two now to chapter one it's a new trend I think that is emerging and next week we'll be in Ephesians I guess so Philippians chapter one I want today for us to look at verses 27 to 30 the title of this message is gospel centered living want to begin by reading this wonderful wonderful passage of Scripture the Word of God reads only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or remain absent I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel in no way alarmed by your opponent's which is a sign of destruction for them but of salvation for you and that too from God for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me the overflowing theme of the opening chapter of Philippians is the gospel five times in this first chapter Paul makes direct explicit mention of the gospel and I want to draw this to your attention first in verse 5 the Apostle commends the Philippians for their participation with him in the gospel and that is always the basis of any any true Fellowship is that we share the gospel together and if someone else does not have the gospel in their lives we have no fellowship with them and we may have friendship and show them a general love but there is only fellowship in the one true saving gospel of Jesus Christ and that is why we have to be equally yoked with other ministries that we work with that we cannot partner with those who are not clear about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then in verse 7 a second time Paul makes mention of the gospel Paul affirms them for sharing with him note in the defence and confirmation of the gospel as Paul is in Rome he is giving defence of the gospel and as they are there in Philippi they are giving defence of the gospel and no matter where a believer is in the earth there will be opposition to the gospel there is the offense of the cross and it is unavoidable and for all who are believers in Jesus Christ we must give a defense of the gospel and in third in verse 12 I want to draw this to your attention I want to trace this thread through the first chapter of Philippians in verse 12 Paul acknowledges that he sees his present imprisonment he is now in Rome imprisoned and he sees his present imprisonment as working out positively for the greater progress of the gospel I'm sure you see that therein your verse and so for Paul no matter what his circumstances were he saw it as an opportunity for the gospel to move forward if he is thrown into prison he understands he is there by divine appointment and there is a reason and a purpose for him to be there and at the very apex of that purpose it is the opportunity to give witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and no matter where you find yourself in this world it is for the express purpose of the gospel to go forward you may be the only believer in your office and you may be wondering why does God allow me to work in such a place where everyone else is an unbeliever it's a good question and the answer according to Paul is for the greater progress of the gospel and why would there be unsafe family members among your loved ones why wouldn't God just give you all Christians in your family well the answer is God is sovereign ly and strategically placed you where he has for the greater progress of the gospel and even if circumstances seem to be out of control you have a wreck you're detoured you're rerouted and you are thrown off your schedule no matter where you find yourself it is the invisible hand of God that is orchestrating it all for the greater progress of the gospel and in fourth in verse 16 Paul speaks of the gospel yet again when he identifies himself as one appointed for the defense of the gospel Paul's identity his self-identity is in the gospel his his belief in the gospel and his standing in the gospel he knows that he has been divinely and sovereignly appointed for the defense of the gospel and now today fifth in verse 27 we see yet another mention of the gospel in this opening chapter as Paul urges the Philippians to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel not only are they to believe the gospel they are to live the gospel to believe the gospel is only the first step of entrance into the kingdom and the entire rest of our Christian experience is a living for the gospel and conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel that Paul saw his entire existence as being consumed with the gospel and what is interesting about all five of these references to which I have drawn your attention is none of them stand at the entry level into the Christian life in other words believing the gospel and being converted all five of these deal with believers on down the track on down the path as they are living their Christian lives and they are still to be preoccupied with the gospel of Jesus Christ to be preoccupied with the gospel is very simply just to be preoccupied with Christ himself for Christ is the gospel and earlier in verse 21 Paul said for me to live is Christ he could have just as easily said for me to live as the gospel because the gospel is Christ it is Christ in him crucified and for the Apostle Paul the gospel was so very precious and so today as we look at this section beginning in verse 27 what we see is Paul urging believers to live a gospel centered life for their preoccupation and for their concern to be the gospel and for the conformity of their life to be in alignment with the gospel and so as we look at these verses I want you to note several headings with me first I want you to note the conduct required that's how verse 27 begins Paul begins this many section by issuing this command to the Philippians that they must live in a manner consistent with the gospel note how verse 27 begins only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and that word only should leap off the page before your eyes you should draw a circle around the word only because the word only here means just one thing this and this only Paul's focus in life is the gospel and living in a manner worthy of the gospel and this is what he says to the Philippians only nothing else only this and this alone only now conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ to paraphrase this what Paul is saying is live in a way that honors and glorifies the gospel he is saying live in a way that is consistent with the demands of the gospel the gospel calls for our faith in Christ and the gospel calls for our denial of self the gospel calls for death to self and obedience to God as the gospel calls for our submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ the gospel calls for us to leave the world behind and to follow Christ and this is how we entered the kingdom and this is how we are to continue in the kingdom conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel now let's talk about this verb conduct yourselves obviously our conduct is very important to God how we live our life is of extreme importance to God as believers and no believers are to ever have a laissez-faire attitude and be passive in their Christian life but with great intention ality and aggressive faith we are to conduct ourselves in a certain manner now this is a very unique word conduct yourselves as one word in the original Greek and it comes from a Greek root word from which we derive the English word politics or political or politician it the root word polis means City and the idea is to be a citizen in a city or in a city state and as you do you would have obligations to the government to be a law abiding citizen as you would live in this city you would be under the the laws and the rules and the regulations of the city and you would not be free to live however you would so choose to live but there would be statutes and there would be where there would be parameters that would direct the way in which you live that is the very word that is used here denotes civil responsibilities in an in an earthly citizenship it refers to political duties whereby you are obligated to pay certain taxes where you are obligated to render certain services you are obligated to comply with the laws of that city or that Empire it's a very technical word it's not the normal word for obey or keep or heed it is a specific word that had exceptional meaning for the Philippians and a word of historical background I think will help us and if you have a Study Bible the notes at the bottom of your study Bible if it's a good Study Bible will will draw your attention to this and the city of Philip I was unlike most cities of the day it was a Roman colony and the reason it was a Roman colony is years earlier there was a civil war that was fought it was fought between two two opposing armies Octavian defeated Anthony and after this victory the Roman soldiers stayed and occupied Philip I rather than returning back home to Rome and as a result of this Roman occupation which is out on the far perimeters of the Empire this city Philip I was given special status it was known as a Roman colony and so everyone who lived within Philip I had a special protection under the law and they had certain provisions that were afforded to them because they were a part of this city-state but they also had special responsibilities as well and they had a greater Allegiance in loyalty that was owed to Caesar because of this binding relationship Paul has all of this distinctly in mind when he says in verse 27 only conduct yourselves it misses it in the English but if we had the original language with which Paul wrote this we would clearly see the play on words that he is making here and what are you saying is you believers in Philip I you enjoy a very privileged status in the Roman Empire and there is an illusion here that you need to be a good citizen in the Roman Empire but more than that you are a member of a higher Empire a much higher king the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven and there are laws and regulations that the king of kings has put in place and as you live as a believer you are under moral obligation to be a good citizen in the kingdom of heaven in fact turn back to chapter 3 just for a quick second the chapter 3 and verse 20 and it will be very clear as Paul makes another allusion to this dual citizenship that the believers in Phillip I had and they had a citizenship in the Roman Empire that afforded them special privileges and special prerogatives by living in this Roman colony but there is more their dual citizenship they had a higher citizenship and it is in the kingdom of God and so in Philippians 3 and verse 20 Paul writes for our citizenship is in heaven now this is very very intentional for Paul to say this to the Philippians it would not have had the same impact if he had said this to the Ephesians or to the Galatian churches or to the churches in Colossae or Thessalonica our Sardis or some of the other cities like Laodicea but for Paul to say this to the believers who are living in Philippi it had an enormous meaning that they are uniquely citizens of the Roman Empire but more than that they have a citizenship in the courts of heaven above and they are under the loyalty or they they owe loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ in a very special way and this applies to us we live in a wonderful nation we live in the United States of America and we have as citizens certain duties certain responsibilities among those responsibilities we are to observe the laws of the land we are to pay our taxes we are to serve as our government would call upon us to serve in different ways and yet we have a citizenship that is far greater and far higher it is the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our allegiance to Christ is greater than our allegiance to Caesar and we are to obey the laws of the land to the extent we are not forced to compromise our convictions to the Lord Jesus Christ now come back if you would to chapter 1 verse 27 and I hope that you're getting the picture here of what Paul is saying to those believers in Philippi he says only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel now this verb I want to tell you four things very quickly about this verb it is in the present tense and the impact of this Paul is saying every moment of every day you are to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel this is to be your daily lifestyle this is to be your ongoing manner of living so number one it's in the present tense this is a a permanent obligation as long as you are on this earth it is obligatory that you conduct yourself in this manner second it's in the middle voice and when we parse a verb that simply means that the responsibility lies with each and every one of us it's not active it's not passive it's in the middle which means we must take the reins and assume this responsibility for ourselves this isn't vision that each one of us must be daily and continually making and we must do this ourselves no one else can make this choice for us third it's in second person plural and the impact of that or the meaning of that is this applies to every believer this is not merely for some believers in Phillipi this is for every believer in Phillipi but it is for every believer in every Church in every generation on every continent in every place fourth it's in the imperative mood which means it is a command it's not an indicative statement it is an imperative command it's not a mere wish it's not a desire that Paul has for them this is actually a commandment from God through the Apostle Paul that requires the immediate obedience of every believer who has citizenship in the kingdom of God are you a citizen of the kingdom of God have you entered into this kingdom by the new birth then if so this is directed to every one of us only only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel now when he says a manner worthy of the gospel let's talk about this just for a moment this is what we would call like an overarching umbrella term that is a summary of every Christian duty and every Christian responsibility we could take all of the commands in the Bible that are relevant to us we could take all of the imperatives that speak directly to our lives we could take the example of the Lord Jesus Christ we could take the positive examples throughout all the scripture of great men and women of faith who are a pattern for the way that we are to conduct ourselves and all of that as well as the implementation of wisdom principles from the book of Proverbs all of this can be neatly tucked in to this small little phrase a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ let me just flesh this out for just a moment to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ means for you and me to live in submission to the lordship of Christ for us to realize that my life is not my own that I have been bought with a price and that I must live for the glory of God that every that every agenda in my life is to bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ further it means that I am to be a repenter as I live my Christian life and I am to be one who is continually confessing my sins to God and that I am to be grieved and sorrowful for the sin and the hurtful ways within me and I am to be acknowledging these to the Lord as he convicts me and brings it to my attention I am to be living my life with self-denial that I have died to self and that my true interests are alive unto Christ unto God I am to be a cross bearer for me to live in a manner worthy of the gospel and I am to be following Jesus Christ with the world behind me and heaven before me and as I follow Christ I am to do so with lowliness of mind with humility of heart and with a radical sold out commitment to the one who hung upon that cross and who suffered and bled and died for me to take away my sins that is what it means for me to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and so as Paul begins this this small section in the book of Philippians he begins with the conduct required to conduct yourself to live as citizens of a higher Kingdom in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ do you understand what the Lord requires of you this day and do you see very clearly in his word that this is laid at each and every one of our feet every step that we take in this world every mouth of every word that we utter every decision that we make every action and reaction that we undertake here upon this earth we are to conduct ourselves in a manner that is consistent with and brings honor and glory to the very gospel that has saved us now second I want you to know that note the constancy required Paul now asserts that the Philippians must conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel whether he is present or whether he is absent notice how he goes on to say in verse 27 I only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ now here it is so that whether I come and see you or remain absent I will hear of you and he goes on to give this good report Paul says this in order to challenge them to of such a fashion whether he is there or not and Paul is not their source of grace and neither was he the source of their spiritual strength whether Paul comes or whether Paul remains absent the Philippians are being fully enabled by God himself and the indwelling Christ to conduct themselves in a manner that will bring glory to the gospel of Jesus Christ in fact this is so important to Paul that in the next chapter chapter 2 and verse 12 he repeats this very thought and there has to be an intentionality on Paul's part to repeat this now a second time in verse 12 we read so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not in my presence only but now much more in my absence and Paul makes it abundantly clear that his absence at this moment he is in Philip he is in Rome in jail they are in Philippi in the church he makes it abundantly clear that his absence did not did not allow them to become lacks in their Christian living nor to use that at any level as an excuse why their Christian life would be less than what it must be in the Lord because in reality all that matters is that God is with every believer and that God sees all and God enables all believers to do everything that he requires of them and so I want to say the same to us whether you are at home by yourself whether you are in an office by yourself whether you're in a car by yourself whether you are in the library or or in a classroom a corner by yourself and cut off from spiritual leaders at that time and removed from even Christian Fellowship that may never be an excuse that we may use with the Lord for any weakness on our part God will be everything to us that we need him to be as we find ourselves alone and absent from the proper spiritual leadership that we normally need now this in no way removes us from our responsibility to come to church and to be with other believers because there is an enormous strength where the Word of God is being ministered to by God gifted God called men but when you are away from such God gifted God called men your Christian life may still work at full capacity because the Lord is with you in fact the Lord is inside of you now I want to continue to look at this section and we've seen the conduct required and we've seen the constancy required I want you to note now third and finally the characteristics required and as we look towards the end of verse 27 and it will extend throughout this section we see some specifics that help define what it is what is the conduct that is required in living worthy of the gospel and there are three things that Paul draws to the attention of the Philippians number one they must be standing together in the gospel notice he goes on to say in verse 27 let me begin at the beginning of the verse so indeed excuse me verse 28 about to preach another sermon and I'm in Philippians 2 Philippians 1:27 now I see it only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or remain absent I will hear of you that now this is what he desires to see in them this is what will bring joy to this heart this is what will bring pleasure to God this is what will cause their witness and their testimony to be so strong this is what will bring great joy to their own Christian lives number one he says that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind this is what Paul wants to hear whether he's there or whether he's absent he said I want to hear this that you are standing firm in one spirit and in one mind and the ideas that you are standing firm together in the gospel of Christ now this this verb standing firm that you see there it means to be stationary it means not to be pushed around not to be moved around the idea metaphorically is is that you are anchored in a place and there is no reverse gear in you you have taken your stand and you are amove about because of your convictions in the gospel and you are standing firm it's a military term actually standing firm and it pictures the duty of a soldier in battle to hold his position he has been assigned a position on the frontlines and wherever there's a break down the enemy can slip through and the enemy is always looking for the weakest soldier in the army and if they can defeat the weakest army the weakest soldier becomes the entry point to break the rank and to penetrate and to infiltrate and to be able to bring about a devastating defeat and Paul is saying do not let that happen and your fellowship and in your church you need to stand ferm do not back down do not turn and run but be immovable in the midst of spiritual warfare let me just tell you something Satan is trying with all of the arsenal of Hell at his disposal to break into this church this is a gospel preaching gospel believing Church that stands on the authority and the inerrancy of the word of God and holds high the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and preaches week after week after week even day after day after day that there is salvation in no other name there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved there is a red laser beam on our forehead Satan has us in his crosshairs we are the most dangerous church in Mobile Alabama and he will do everything that he can to find the weakest member in this church a one who's just dragging in here half here half out and break in through that person's life and once on the inside begin to do an inside job within the Fellowship of this church and begin to pass around unbelief in a bad attitude and foul spirit and to try to divide and drive a wedge into the fellowship of this church and what Paul is saying to the church at Philippi he says to us stand firm hold your position do not back up do not put your armor down be on guard for you may be the very entry point for the devil himself who prowls about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour so he says I want to hear that you are standing firm in the face of spiritual conflict they must not flee they must not compromise they must not give they must not back down in a godless society and in a world surrounding them that is given to worldly ideologies now he says in one spirit with one mind in one spirit probably refers to the human spirit it is possible it could be a capital S and in case you're wondering the original Greek that Paul wrote this there are no capital letters so it's all a translators decision and therefore it is an interpretive decision if it is a small s then with one mind becomes a parallel expression that further amplifies what one spirit means and it just represents the entire inner human life of a person in fact the word mind with one mind is actually the word sookay for psyche psycho our soul and is the idea of the human soul and so he is saying you need to stand firm with one spirit and with one mind in other words you need to interlock arms with the person on your left and on your right and share the same convictions in the truth and spare the same allegiance and loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to to hold your ground and to stand firm now you may say who who are the opponents well the opponents there's one on the outside and there's one on the inside and those on the outside are the secular philosophies and the worldly ideologies that we're in circulating in the ancient world the the Greek myths and the Greek the the Greek worldview man centered thinking and on the inside of the church if you'll turn to chapter 3 in verse 2 I'll show you the the the other adversaries the other enemies that they must stay and firm against and in chapter 3 and verse 2 Paul says beware of the dogs beware of the evil workers beware of the false circumcision all three of those refer to one in the same group it's a parallelism where they're just stacked one on top of the other and the next term gives a fuller expanded understanding of what the first one was now dogs referred to those which were unclean in this day and time dogs ran wild in the streets and they went from one garbage can to another garbage can and they were spreaders of disease they were spreaders of all kinds of illness and sickness as they just lived in trash and lived in in garbage and Paul refers to the false teachers who are the Judaizers as dogs they have unclean character they have unclean doctrine they have unclean manner of life everything about them from the inside out is unclean they are as filthy as trash eating dogs and then he says he calls them evildoers and that's that's what they are about spreading false doctrine false teaching about the one true saving gospel and then he refers to them as the false circumcision and the reason that he calls them by this is they were legalists who tried to put the church back under the Old Testament Mosaic law and required the adult men to be circumcised in order to be right with God and in order to to to be accepted before God and Paul is calling them out as those who are spreading false circumcision and so he identifies them by that term so he begins and he says you need to stand firm together in the gospel and I want to appeal to all of us here this morning it really matters what you believe and it really matters that you stand strong and stand firm and it's not enough that the elders stand firm it's not enough that the Deacons stand firm this is a call to every man every woman every teenager every college student every believer in Jesus Christ you're gonna have to stand strong in this day in order that our church and our fellowship be strong in the Lord and you let a little drop of arsenic slip through the line and get into the drinking water and it begins to spread like gangrene and it will be used by the devil to bring about great damage to the Ministry of the church now second not only standing together for the gospel but second striving together for the gospel notice what he goes on to say striving together for the faith of the gospel now this word striving again it's just such a picturesque word and I I don't really apologize for doing these word studies but it's the difference between reading your Bible in black and white or reading your Bible in seven colors it is a huge difference to see and understand the richness with which Paul is communicating striving together it's just one word in the original language and it is a main root word with a prefix put at the beginning and the main root word I'm going to pronounce it you're going to hear the English word in it fyo athlete athletics and the idea is to compete in a contest and specifically commentators tell us that it is the the contest of wrestling wrestling and then the prefix width is put at the front that we are to be wrestling together we are to be contending together we are to be competing together and the ideas we're on the same team we're not wrestling against one another we are we are wrestling with one team and trying to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ when he says for the faith of the gospel that's a way of saying for the Christian faith the objective standard of truth sound doctrine the Apostles teaching the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints and for them to be striving together for the gospel means they must maintain their unity in their fellowship again any division in their fellowship will mean defeat for the full team and it will mean defeat for the advancement of the gospel they can only advance the gospel as they strive together and in fact this was already a pressing danger in the church at philippi turn back to chapter 4 just for a second Philippians chapter 4 and verse 2 and I want you to see an obscure verse that I know that you have noted before but there is already a brewing conflict that is going on inside of the church at Philippi and it's two women who can't get along but let me tell you when you have two women who can't get along you've got two husbands who can't get along and when you have two men and two women who can't get along you've got two families that can't get along and when you have two families that can't get along you have two friends sets of friends that can't get along and just because two women can't get along there is a fracture that is going right down the center of the church as everyone is beginning to take and stand with their friends are staying with their family it's an amazing thing how people stand together in a family and people you didn't even realize they're related together and you see them making irrational choices on where they stand on a matter in a church and all of a sudden someone explains to you well that's her sister-in-law that's her that's her brother-in-law and you go this makes total sense now well in Philippians 4 verse 2 it's happening in the church at Philippi and he says I urge and that's a strong statement I'd sort I plead I beseech you O TIA and I urged synecdoche to live in harmony in the Lord translated you need to get along with one another just lock yourself in a room and say you're not coming out until it's resolved until you ask for one another's forgiveness and until you both get right with God this church is going to be at a standstill because it's not just Euodia and not just synecdoche but it's their family it's their husbands if their children is their grandchildren it's their friends it's their Sunday school class if their fellowship group its what all's going on in the lobby after the service is over it's what all is going on in the beauty parlor during the week it's what all's going on in the duck blinds during the week if everybody's yakking and everybody's talking and everybody is becoming the entry point for Satan into the life of the church and he don't even have to lift a finger all he has to do is just turn us against one another and notice he says in verse 2 again here I urge you Odia and I urge synecdoche he urges both of them he puts the responsibility with both of them you need to be peacemakers you need to be reconciler so that the whole church can stand together in unity well come back to chapter 1 verse 27 no wonder he says what he says in verse 27 no wonder he says that you must be striving together for the faith of the gospel and by the way even as I'm looking this I said gospel is mentioned 5 times it's 6 times because it's twice in verse 27 I under can 'td the the the dominant central theme in this opening chapter of the book of Philippians so notice what he goes on to say now in verse 28 in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a sign of destruction for them but a salvation for you and that too from God the Troublesome little verse to pull apart but what are you saying is I do not want you to become alarmed just because there's some opposition that comes your way either from the false teachers on the inside or the worldly philosophies from the outside I want you in no way to be alarmed by your opponents and primarily the opponents are those mentioned in chapter 3 and verse 2 and he says these opponents really he says which is a sign now the word which refers to their common commitment to stand together in unity and to strive together for the gospel they're standing and striving together and sign here is an indicator of something or that points to something it is a powerful witness or testimony and what are you saying is this that as you stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ you are making loud clear statement it is such a strong statement that it is a sign and to unbelievers it is a sign of their destruction it is a sign of the truthfulness of the gospel that you are willing to suffer for it that you are willing to pay a price that you will not be turned one against another that you will lock arms with your other believers and that you'll not turn against your other brothers and sisters but that you will stand firm stand strong in the gospel it is a clear testimony to unbelievers of the truthfulness of what you believe but when you're yakkin with one another and when you're nitpicking one another and when you are talking about others behind their back and spreading things in the church it is a crummy testimony to unbelievers that they're more loyal to one another down at the fraternity or the sorority hall then believers are when they are when they're stabbing one another in the back now it is a strong sign in a strong testimony when you exercise unconditional love for your brothers and your sisters in Christ and you will stand with them he says it is a sign of destruction to them in other words it it verifies the truthfulness of the gospel that you believe it is a strong statement of faith now they may not have eyes to see it but it nevertheless is there and and no bickering is worth giving up your testimony to unbelievers and then second he says it is a sign of salvation for you it is a testimony to you that you're really saved because if you keep on not standing firm and strong in the gospel it calls into question your salvation it calls into question whose side are you on but when you stand strong with other believers in the gospel and and choose that I will I will not I will not attack one another it is a sign of your salvation it brings assurance of your salvation that God is at work in my life and that there is true love in my heart for my brothers and sisters in Christ in the last two words in verse 28 and we'll stop here he says and that too from God the destruction is from God and the salvation is from God and how you stand strong and stand firm is a powerful sign to a watching world and to your unsaved family members and to your unsaved neighbors and to those that you work for and with it is a sign of their destruction if they do not believe and it is a sign of your salvation to yourself that you are a true believer in Jesus Christ it's an amazing thing how in times of persecution very few people are struggling with assurance of salvation because it forces the issue whose side are you on are you willing to take some hits for the Lord because false converts cave in when the persecution comes well I need to stop here and we'll pick it up next time let me conclude by simply saying this there's one word that this message is all about gospel it's mentioned twice in verse 27 the gospel is this the god so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life the gospel is that Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save that which is lost the gospel is that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin he lived a sinless and perfect life he went to the cross by divine appointment for he was the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world there upon Calvary's cross he died in the place of all those who will put their trust and put their faith in him him who knew no sin God made to be sin for us and there upon Calvary's cross Jesus Christ was lifted up and he became our sin bear and he suffered under the wrath of God in eternal judgment for our sins he shed his blood and he made the only atonement for our sins the only forgiveness the only washing away of the guilty stain of sin is in the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and for those of us who are believers it thrills our hearts just to hear that said one more time come let us reason together says the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be white as wool and if you will believe in Jesus Christ in a moment in an instant he will make you faultless to stand before the throne of God he will close you with his perfect righteousness and when he looks upon you he will not see all the sin in your life it will all be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and it will be covered by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ this is the offer that God makes in the gospel of Jesus Christ and there's nothing for you to earn there's nothing for you to go achieve all you do is receive it as a free gift by faith you extend the empty hand of faith and receive this gift as your personal as your personal salvation and you receive Christ as your personal Lord if you have never believed upon Jesus Christ why not today why not this moment why not just give your life to Christ right now why not surrender your life to Him you know what I've heard it said if I had a thousand lives I'd give every one of them to Jesus Christ well you've just got one life you just have one soul spend it wisely give it to Jesus Christ believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and if you will he will bring you into his family he will bring you into his kingdom he will make you a citizen of his heavenly kingdom and you'll not be only a citizen of the United States what a temporal shallow thing he will make you a kingdom of a citizen of his eternal Kingdom and you'll spin forever with him if you've never believed upon Christ this is the time this is the moment this very second believe upon him and you will be saved just being in church will not save you being brought up in church will not save you being baptized will not save you taking the Lord's Supper will not save you being good person will not save you doing good deeds will not save you there's only one thing that will save you and that is your full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if you've never believed upon Christ do so that's very moment your eternity is hanging in the balance

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Length: 57min 48sec (3468 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 01 2014