Gospel Vision, Part 2 // Calvary Church

[Music] in that darkness we were waiting without hope [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] hello calvary church family and good morning my name is anthony russo i'm the director of online ministry here at calvary and we are so excited to worship with you this morning our service is going to get started in just a couple of minutes during our service today we're going to talk about something called equip to send equip descent is this incredible thing we do here at calvary because there's so many ways we want to empower you to reach your community with the gospel maybe it's just being a minister on your street to your neighbors maybe it's just starting really gospel-intentioned conversations maybe you want to be a part of serving in missions overseas there's so many things that you can do to be involved in furthering the message of the gospel and we like to share all that with you in something we call equip to send so if you want to be a part of that you're going to get a lot of information about that today we would love to see you connect with our equip to send that's going on and we're going to hear from john antonucci today right everybody loves john he is preparing to plant a church and we're so proud of him so it's gonna be a very special morning we're so thankful you're here hey as we get started make sure that you drop into the chat or the comments and tell us where you're streaming from this morning we know people stream from all over uh get in there tell us your name tell us where you're streaming from and so we can say hello and service will start in just a second well how's everybody doing we good you look good come on can we stand together online it's so good to see you we're gonna worship jesus in this place together and sing this in the presence of my enemies [Music] hallelujah [Music] do you believe that sing this [Music] is is [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] on me [Music] this offering of praise up to jesus today come on let's sing with heaven keep the hands [Music] moving heaven and sing a little louder [Music] [Applause] don't stop come [Music] on come on release that in the room is [Music] is [Music] louder and louder [Music] is [Applause] [Music] you're gonna hear [Music] [Applause] [Music] we love you jesus be exalted in this place straight out of psalm 8 this song this next song is is written from how majestic is the name of jesus and all the earth i want you to listen to these words and then help me sing one of the choruses here soon when i look at your heavens the moon and stars you set in my channel god i sing all glory and honor what [Music] is glory and honor oh lord oh lord oh how awesome are your ways how majestic is your name in all the earth though oh lord our lord may we see your kingdom come father may or will be done in all the earth and all the earth you gave them in to your child you crown them oh god [Music] honor so sing of your name live our lives [Music] oh [Music] may we see your kingdom come father mayor will be [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] lord our [Music] [Applause] lord oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] may we see [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] may we see your kingdom come father may our will be done in all the earth come on let's exalt the name of jesus the most high [Music] you may be seated you know when the storms of life come it can be easy to forget who our god is we start to notice the the waves in the wind all around us just like peter when he got out of the boat to walk towards jesus and the scripture says that when he saw the wind and the waves around him and how strong they were he became very afraid and he began to sink and that's what can happen to us as well as we get our eyes off of jesus and we start i mean this world is a crazy scary place to live in isn't it and we can lose our focus but hebrews 12 2 reminds us to fix our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him there's joy set before us amen he endured the cross scorning its shame and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of god he's in the middle of your storm let's turn our eyes to jesus right now [Music] eyes upon jesus [Music] in his wonder face [Music] and the things ever will grow [Music] of his glory and grace turn your eyes [Music] and the things [Music] glory in grace [Music] is [Music] you know as we learn to turn our eyes on jesus you know our problems don't magically just it's not like they just disappear right but as we as we fix our eyes on on jesus our perspective changes i mean our eyes are no longer on our problems our circumstances it's in that process that god is teaching us how to trust him and and when we learn to trust him we're exercising faith all of a sudden we're beginning to put into practice these things in which we talk about but it begins with fixing our eyes on jesus you know as a church that's why we're here that's why we're gathered together it's you know as you're fixing your eyes on jesus you're encouraging and you're challenging me to fix my eyes on him and not my circumstances and and hopefully in turn i'm doing the same for you we're doing this for each other and fixing our eyes on jesus is a command this is an expectation that god has for his children and so let's learn to do that well you know as this is your first time we're so glad that you've joined us here for our service we hope that already you're getting a sense that like man this church really cares about me and my walk and my journey uh with the lord because we are deeply committed to helping you to discover how you can have uh peace with god and how you can walk with jesus and we can do that uh together so we're glad that you're here i hope on your way in you were able to get uh the free gift that we have for all of our first-time guests just as a way of saying thank you for joining us if not following the service stop by the new here kiosk in the lobby we'd love to get you that gift also love to be able to uh just meet you and your family and uh say hello we love to connect with our guests because we want to come alongside you in your journey with the lord and so if you would we ask our first time guest to just get out their phones and if you would text the word calvary to 94 000 text the word calvary to 9400 and choose option number one and we'll send you a link and if you would just take a moment to share your contact information with us and we'd love to follow up with you maybe you have some questions you haven't thought of yet uh maybe you need something you know someone to pray with you about something we would love to come alongside you share with you some of the ways that you can get uh connected here at calvary and maybe even answer some of your uh questions now as you as you start attending calvary you're going to learn pretty quickly that we're ascending church so you know just after the service you're not all going to stay here we're going to send you out right back into the community and hopefully to have conversations with people about faith and about god and the bible and uh and so one of the very special couples in our church john and shea antonucci they're being sent out in uh to the tampa community to plant a church uh there and we wanted you to hear an update from john this morning [Music] well hey calvary family you know many of you guys have been asking me lately if we bought a building or when services start or you said simply john what are you still doing here so i would love to share with you guys some updates as to what has been happening as we're working to plant a church in tampa next year so two months ago my wife shea and i we moved right into the heart of downtown tampa into the center of the few neighborhoods we are looking to engage and we have just been meeting people in our neighborhood and in our apartment building we've been sharing our table with literally dozens of people since we moved in and and god has really answered our prayers he's answered your prayers and connecting us with a lot of people in tampa so far a few weeks back we actually got to start a bible study in a local coffee shop right in downtown and we're so thrilled to finally start something and to have a place to invite others into consistent spiritual discussions so calvary thank you so much for your prayers for your support and for your encouragement you know i look forward to sharing with you guys more ways you can get involved and join us in the months to come [Music] we are really proud of john and shea and all that god is doing is they work to establish a church there in the channel side district of the tampa community in which they are a part and you are a part of that honestly i mean if our x-150 vision is to support churches that are getting started uh not just uh you know here in our community but around the country and around the world and you are a part of that but you may be asking yourself you know how can i be more involved maybe maybe directly involved uh with helping john specifically plant this church here uh in tampa and we we have not not just a class to help you kind of figure out how to get involved with john but even a a class that's really designed to help you to have just conversations with people that you may work with or maybe that live you know near you or you may come in contact with family members and it's our equip to send class and and the class does exactly that it's designed to equip you to be sent out and to have conversations with people about what it looks like to walk with jesus and uh the next one we're offering is actually happening right after this service now you may have plans but i hope you can rearrange them because john is the one who's facilitating the class this morning it's going to happen in the room right behind me and so you'll just exit out either side here and just keep walking this way you're going to walk into the room i promise just keep walking if you're watching online you can attend too right after the service hop in your car if you're in the tampa bay area drive over here to the clearwater campus and be a part of our equip to send class if you can't make it today uh it's okay if you'll text calvary to 94 000 and choose option number two we'll get you registered uh for a future equip to send class and i hope uh you'll make it and and you know let's let's as we continue to worship together why don't we just take a moment to pray for john and shea as they're getting this uh uh church plant started here in in tampa let's pray together father in heaven we we thank you god for john and shea and all that you're doing in and through them or even even now as they're starting bible studies and and they're inviting people to uh into their home to have uh you know meals with them and and just having conversations and lord we are praying that those conversations will lead to what we call gospel conversations in which people uh will be faced with the the decision to either trust you or to reject you god we pray that you would use john and shea to bring people to saving faith that's found in a relationship with jesus christ god you you are the hope of the world and lord we we believe god that you want to do a work uh here in our community you want people to come to faith uh in you and god you're using us to accomplish those uh your purposes here in this world and so lord we pray a special blessing and an anointing that we believe is already there on john and shea we thank you god for them and the example that they are to us god may we in our own lives see the people around us that are in need of a relationship with you god may we not hold back on that message god help us to be generous with sharing our faith in you thank you god for your love thank you god for your presence lord we feel it in jesus name amen [Music] praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures hear me lord [Music] heavenly host praise father son and holy god [Music] in the darkness we were waiting without there was mercy in your a eyes came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt [Music] free [Music] praise forever to the king [Music] knowing this was our salvation jesus [Music] three [Music] the keys [Music] [Music] till that stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead rose from their tubes and the angel stood [Applause] [Music] was born [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] glory [Music] [Applause] the keys [Music] [Music] [Music] well as we gather today uh america is once again captivated by a true crime drama that is unfolding in real time before our very eyes over the last few days almost everybody has at some point read a news report or heard part of the story of the young couple in their 20s gabby petito and brian landry who traveled out west they were a couple and they went out in their makeshift camper van traveling out west to see some of the great national parks and incredible sites in the western united states and like many young couples are prone to do they documented their journey on social media posting pictures and posts from their various sites as they traveled through colorado and then into utah and up north to wyoming they went to some of the famous national parks that maybe some of you have been at or some of you have dreamed of going they went uh through colorado and then design national park and bryce canyon and over to moab where arches is and along the way they posted pictures and they posted videos so that their friends and family could follow along and of course other people are drawn to that i mean who isn't drawn to that they're a young attractive couple they have the time and apparently the money to travel this extended journey maybe you've fantasized about taking a trip like that and so people begin to follow along and and vicariously live through some of their experiences but what really captured the national attention is that a month ago tomorrow she went missing she made her last post that she and her uh boyfriend were going up to uh into yellowstone from the grand tetons and that was the last communication anybody had with her shortly thereafter and very suspiciously her boyfriend drove the van home alone to northport florida where his parents live and last week if you follow the news her body was found there in the grand tetons and the coroner confirmed that it was a homicide everyone began to suspect landry and then he quickly disappeared and as we gather here even this morning there is still a massive manhunt that is looking for brian landry it's a terrible tragedy like so many we read about but what speaks to me this morning is is that it's a parable of sorts if you had followed their social media feed you would have seen beautiful people in beautiful places living a trip of a lifetime that many of us have dreamed about but behind the instagram smiles and the tick tock images there was another story that was unfolding and it ended in tragedy this world can be a beautiful place and the images we like to portray on our social media feeds and our family poetry is a story of love and harmony and happiness but we all know those posts don't tell the whole story there's another story that lurks in the human heart and it is one of brokenness and darkness human history is a story of tragedies and heartaches and violence and disease and even death and the story of our lives isn't just a story of beauty and love no matter how much we may have experienced there is darkness as well and if we're honest we know that some of that darkness lies within ourselves within our own hearts well last week we began a series that i think is one of the most important series that we have ever done it's a series we're calling gospel vision it's about a christian worldview what does it mean to see the world through gospel eyes and we started by saying that every worldview every religion every philosophy ultimately wrestles with four questions they may express these questions differently they may articulate them in unique ways but ultimately there are four great questions that every worldview tries to answer you remember the four questions i want to drive these deep within your heart and mind because these are not only great questions to wrestle with they're great conversation starters as well the first one is the question of origin why is there something rather than nothing every religion tries to answer that and the second question is what has gone wrong what went wrong why is there so much evil and brokenness in the world the third question is is there any hope can anything fix this and the last question is how does it all end every religion every philosophy tries to answer those four questions so what we said last week is that the book of romans gives us a gospel frame or a gospel vision it's like a frame through which we view the world and we started last week building out our gospel vision frame it's like a frame with four parts the top part is about god a gospel vision is one that understands the truth about god that god is great and god is good gospel vision understands the truth about god and that answers the question why is there something rather than nothing because there is a god but the second part of the frame answers the question what went wrong and in that part of the frame a gospel vision understands the truth about man mankind that mankind is blessed we're made in the image of god and that makes us unique among all the created beings and yet we are also broken something has gone wrong this answers the question what went wrong our gospel vision frame then answers the question is there any hope and the answer in the book of romans is there is jesus is the hope the son of god who became the savior of the world and how does it all end well we built the fourth part of our frame we just use the word grace how does it all end for those who experience god's grace we are reconciled to god and we are renewed by the power of god this is a world view a vision frame that allows us to see the truth of the world so as we're walking through the book of romans we're building every part of that frame and the very first part we talked about it last week really deals with this upper part the truth about god and we'll deal with it a little bit today how do we know the truth about god and the second part is the truth about man romans one through three really answers both of these especially this one how do we see the world by understanding the truth about god and the truth about man well the answer to what went wrong is found for us in the first three chapters of roman but it is crystallized in romans chapter 1 in verses 18 through verse 25 and that's where i call your attention this morning romans the first chapter and we're going to begin reading in verse 18 down through verse 25. i want to invite you to stand we like to stand as a way of honoring and reverencing the authority of god's word if you're at our east lake campus our seminole campus or you're listening close online if you're able to listen carefully as we read these words from romans chapter 1 verse 18 for god's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth since what can be known about god is evident among them because god has shown it to them for his invisible attributes that is his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen since the creation of the world being understood through what he has made as a result people are without excuse for though they knew god they did not glorify him as god or show gratitude instead their thinking became worthless and their senses hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal god for images resembling mortal man birds four-footed animals and reptiles therefore god delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurities so that their bodies were degraded among themselves they exchanged the truth of god for a lie and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the creator who is praised forever amen father help us to see the truth about who you are and the truth about who we are so we can understand the good news that is truly good news is our prayer in jesus name amen and you may be seated so here's the truth about mankind behind the beautiful smiles and the beautiful scenery is an ugly truth and i have to warn you today this can be hard to hear you know i know maybe you came to church and said i just want to hear an encouraging word about how good i am and how gracious and kind god is and and and there's a lot of truth there but but i have to warn you what i'm going to tell you might ruin your day because you can never appreciate the good news without understanding why the gospel really is good news the best of news the greatest of news see paul starts this book and is he after he he you know gives a few introductions he gets to verse 16 and in verse 16 paul says for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god to salvation for everyone who believes to the jew first and also to the greek he's just starting and he comes out and he plays his cards early i'm not ashamed of the gospel it's the power of god to salvation and then he spends the next 11 chapters explaining what that gospel is and why he's not ashamed of it and why it is the power of god unto salvation and the first thing he must deal with is this question about what went wrong and if you really need to summarize what we read this morning i think it's the first verse that we read verse 18 summarizes everything we need to see today verse 18 says for god's wrath i told you this was tough god's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth now this isn't the kind of verse you want to write on your christmas cards our people want to inscribe in the front of their bible god's wrath is revealed from heaven look if god who is all-powerful and all-knowing is angry then in the words of the great theologian scooby-doo rut ro we're in trouble what does it mean that the wrath of god is revealed the rest of the verse tells us the wrath of god is revealed against godlessness and unrighteousness of people who buy their unrighteousness suppress the truth and there you have it there is the gospel answer to the question what went wrong in fact if you look at that verse there are three things that i just call your attention to three truths that are all interrelated in that single verse number one what went wrong the truth about god is suppressed that's what he says the truth of god is suppressed have you ever suppressed something like you should have known but you just didn't want to admit it katie greer who teaches on this passage described it as taking a beach ball and pushing it under the water that's suppressing something and you want to push it under the water to hide it but it just gets harder and harder to hold it there if you ever suppress the truth about and this can be tough to talk about because maybe some of us have there was something maybe in a family member or a friend that we should have known but we didn't really want to acknowledge even though deep down we knew it was true they say love is blind because sometimes it is we just don't want to see the truth we look the other way we ignore the evidence that's staring us in the face and then sometimes when it becomes unavoidable then we look back on our life and we admit that we should have known the clues were all there the pieces were all there we just didn't want to admit it because admitting it would have changed our life in such painful ways that we just tried to suppress it that's what paul is saying is done with the truth about god people have suppressed the truth about god we did this paul argues because of our own unrighteous character and because we suppress the truth of god it results in a greater and greater degree of unrighteousness or evil and that is why the wrath of god is revealed again j.d greer said suppression is not the same thing as ignorance suppression means the truth was there but you didn't want to see it in his message he tells a story about the waning days of world war ii that happened in the german village of ordruff there in that village it was the first concentration camp that the allied forces of america liberated as they were pressing in close the nazis tried to destroy any evidence in the camp but the allied soldiers got there before they could destroy all the evidence the nazis fled the scene and the american gis arrived to witness hundreds of dead bodies stacked upon one another a few hours later general george patton arrived no shrinking violet but when he saw the scene he promptly vomited the next day patton brought the mayor of ordre and his wife to see for themselves what they undoubtedly knew was happening in their town he ordered the mayor and every able-bodied citizen of the town to dig the graves for the bodies and after they dug the graves and conducted a funeral for the deceased patton then was told that the mayor and his wife had gone home and hung themselves before their death they left a note and it read this we didn't know but we knew tim keller says of this verse we know but we don't know because we don't want to know the truth is too uncomfortable and would demand too much change so unconsciously or subconsciously the natural human response is to choose not to know and this is why according to verse 20 that all people are without excuse god has according to verse 20 made himself known through the act of creation itself it is the willful pride and stubborn refusal of unrighteous hearts to acknowledge the reality of god and this is the root of sin we wish to be god so the truth about god must be suppressed it's not that we don't believe in god it's that we don't want to believe in god this answers the question both why is there something rather than nothing and what went wrong there's a quote from a man by the name of george wall he was a harvard professor and a nobel prize winner in physiology and this is what george wald said about this question of origins he said there are only two possible explanations as to how life arose spontaneous generation arising to evolution or a supernatural creative act of god there is no other possibility so far we've said it's a good quote he continued spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by louis pasteur and others but that just leaves us with only one other possibility and then he said that possibility is that life came as a supernatural act of creation by god but he wrote i can't accept that philosophy because i do not want to believe in god therefore i choose to believe in that which i know is scientifically impossible spontaneous generation leading to evolution instead i choose he said to believe in that which i know is impossible that's what paul writes in romans has happened we choose to believe in that which makes no rational sense there are classical arguments for god that you can read about sometimes the argument about creation is referred to as a cosmological argument greer in his message on this text says it goes all the way back to aristotle even if you accept that evolutionary theory is an adequate explanation for the development of intelligent life that is even if everything in evolution is dead on correct you still have to ask the question where did it all start we've all heard about the big bang theory that all of living matter began as a massive explosion in the universe but that still doesn't explain where the materials that exploded came from if you keep going back and back eventually something has to come from somewhere nothingness just can't explode in his book god delusion richard dawkins the famous atheist admits this is a problem he says and i quote darwin's theory works for biology but not for cosmology that is why is there something rather than nothing in other words he thinks that while they have explained how life took shape on earth he admits they still have no idea where life itself or the materials that produce life came from we need a theory his words we need a theory as to why anything exists because it is self-evident that nothing times nobody can't equal everything but don't worry he says in the book one day we will find it sometimes in addition to the cosmological argument there is what is sometimes referred to as a teleological argument and and it it's when you look at the earth it seems like it has been designed for certain ends again quoting from greer's message he calls it the goldilocks principle it's not too big it's not too little it's just right for instance if the level of oxygen dropped by six percent we would all suffocate if it rose by four percent our planet would erupt into a giant fireball and we would all die if the co2 were just a little higher or just a little loader then the earth would become an oven or have no atmosphere at all and we would all die or this the water molecule is the only molecule whose solid form ice is less dense than its liquid form which means that when it freezes it floats if ice did not float it would sink to the bottom and the whole ocean would freeze from the bottom up and we would all die or the distance of the earth to the sun if we were two percent closer to the sun the planet would be too hot for water to exist and we would all die and then there's the tilt of the earth it's at 23 and a half degrees just a few degrees different and temperatures would change dramatically and you get the theme we would all die and just one more for fun if jupiter weren't the largest planet in our solar system if it weren't positioned exactly where it is positioned in its orbit so that it happens to shield us from 99 of the asteroids that come into our solar system then those asteroids tens of thousands would strike here on earth and we would all die but none of those things is true because the earth seems to have been fine to tune to support human life and if you put away your telescope and pull out your microscope and begin to study atomic structure you will discover that even the most basic dna strands are incredibly complex so much so that francis collins the head of the human genome project said how could a cosmic accident ever result in something of this digital eloquence of a dna strand it's like thinking that an explosion at an ink factory and an explosion at a paper factory could produce all the collected works of shakespeare you say well maybe we're just lucky in a universe as big as ours somewhere a planet like ours was bound to happen but is that the best and easiest explanation for what we see scientists say the odds of a planet like earth existing are so astronomical that the notion that it all just happened defines all common sense one scientist said it's like flipping a coin every second for 10 billion years in a row and every single time it comes up heads no written into the design of creation itself is the evidence of god we don't believe in god because we don't want to believe in god that's why the bible says the fool has said in his heart it's not a head issue it's a heart issue if you landed on mars because they chose you to go explore it and you were to go into a cave and discover that in the cave there is a bunker that has been built with the most advanced computer they don't have the iphone 13. they got the iphone 30. you would immediately conclude that intelligent life has preceded you on that planet and yet every cell in our body is more complex than the greatest computers we have ever built we know but we don't know because so many suppress the truth we don't want the accountability we suppress what we know and we do so because our character has been corrupted which brings us to the what went wrong question the truth of god is suppressed and the character of man is corrupted it is corrupted again look at verse 18 god's wrath is revealed from heaven look at this verse against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth the word unrighteousness is found twice in that verse it is the opposite of righteousness righteousness means to be right it's the quality of being right it means to be perfect it means to be whole god is perfectly and completely righteous we are not and this is what the first three chapters of romans are all about in chapter one he argues that everybody should know the truth about god and no one has an excuse in chapter 2 he argues that even the jewish people who had the revelation about god through the law and the prophets are guilty because the truths about god's character expose their own unrighteousness and in other words the more you learn about god the more you know you aren't like god and then he gets to chapter 3 and verse 10 and he says there is no one who is righteous not even one he gets to chapter 3 and verse 23 and he says for some have sinned that's not what he says for most have sinned that's nobody he says for all have sinned that means i could walk up and down the rows of this church and starting with every row go center center center center and i'd have to start right here how many are unrighteous all of them now that seems unfair to us even harsh but let me ask you something is it true hasn't everyone sinned those of you who have kids do you have to teach your children how to do wrong did any of us teach us how to be prideful or to be full of lust or greed if you're honest what about your own heart when i was a young preacher pastor anderson gave me a line that i always remembered he said listen don't be too bothered when people lie about you and criticize you he said just think about what they could say if they knew the truth if we're honest about what lurks in our heart we'd have to admit that at times we're worse than anyone knows rebecca mclaughlin whom i frequently quoted says what if every person knew all our thoughts would any marriage survive would any friendship she writes my thoughts are not all bad many are good and kind and true but like a bag of flour infested with maggots no part of me is pure our confusion rests with the fact that we compare ourselves with each other and we hope that god grades on the curve and as long as we're better than most or at least as good at most then we must measure up and be okay but that ignores that suppresses the truth about god paul argues we have all sinned and that this sin has horrific consequences namely it has separated us from god it has opened the door to unbrokenness that now infects the whole planet and like a terrible virus too soon like a terrible virus unleashed upon the world our unrighteous character has infected everyone and everything theologian gulen colin guten writes this is such a great definition he says christian theology diagnoses the illness the what went wrong question as the disruption or distortion of the relation of personal beings with a personal creator god and it is a disruption that in mysterious fashion incorporates the whole created world in its structures this is what is sin and every religion tries to offer an answer for what went wrong the christian revelation is what went wrong are the sinful choices of unrighteous people that have separated us from our creator and that is why the world is broken and why it must be broken if we are unrighteous but it brings us also to the hardest part of this verse oh this is a tough part i know it is when i read it for god's wrath is revealed see the third part of this is the character of god is revealed and by the character of god is revealed specifically in verse 18 it is his wrath the word wrath means anger now the wrath of god is a difficult concept to grasp and it is an unpopular idea we all want to hear about a god that is loving and merciful and loves us just like we are and we revolt against the idea of god's wrath and our culture judgment is one of the worst ideas and most offensive doctrines tim keller writes our culture has no problem with a god who loves us and supports us no matter what it does however strongly object to the idea of god who punishes people part of this is a misunderstanding of divine wrath again quoting tim keller modern people inevitably think that hell and hell is nothing more than an internal expression of god's wrath works like this god gives us enough time it's like a pop quiz and if you don't get it right when time is over at the end of our lives he cast our souls into hell for all eternity and as the poor souls fall through space they cry out for mercy but god says too late suckers you had your chance probably in latin or something you know and that caricature misunderstands the wrath of god first of all i just i want to point out god's wrath is not arbitrary or is it nor is it an expression of cruelty what have i told you that the wrath of god is both bad news and good news all at the same time first i want you to just know this god's wrath is not like our wrath when we get angry most often our anger is a result of selfishness or a loss of control we become angry because we did not get something we wanted or we received something we thought we didn't deserve our anger is typically emotional it's a sudden eruption of hostility and selfishness that is not what god's wrath is like john mcarthur writes god's wrath is a settled determined indignation not a momentary emotional or uncontrolled anger to which human beings are prone the second thing i want to say about god's wrath is this it's not like human anger second thing is that god's wrath is a response of his goodness wrath against sin is the only possible response of a god who is holy and just there are some things that make you righteously angry even though we're unrighteous people there is some anger you can absolutely understand tell me about what you love the most now husbands tend to turn to their wives and wives tend to pull out pictures of their kids that's just the way it works or their grandkids tell me what you love the most what if i told you somebody was threatening them what if i told you there was an evil presence trying to destroy them would you get angry would you be angry at what would destroy that which you love the most of course you would all loving persons are sometimes full of wrath not just despite of love but because of love if you love a person and you see someone harming them even if it's them harming themselves it makes you angry becky piper put in her book hope has its reasons think of how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise choices or relationships do we respond with benign tolerance as we might towards strangers far from it she said anger isn't the opposite of love hate is the opposite of love and the final form of hatred is indifference god's wrath is not a cranky explosion it is his settled opposition to the cancer which is eating out the insides of the human race that he loves with his whole being the bible says god's wrath flows from his love it flows from his delight in his creation he is angry and justly angry at evil and injustice because it is destroying its peace and integrity if god were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make a final end to violence then he would not be a god worthy of our worship he would not be holy or righteous his wrath is an expression of his righteous character when you analyze god's righteous anger at the heart of it is love here's the third thing i want you to see about the wrath of god in this very passage in which paul writes about the wrath of god and i know it's hard to read he describes how that wrath is played out and he says in verse 24 god delivered them over to the desires of their hearts the same passage in which he says god's wrath is revealed he tells us in verse 24 how it is revealed it is revealed in that god gives us what we choose we don't want there to be a god we reject by suppressing the knowledge and worship of god and then god will ultimately give us what we want in short hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from god on a trajectory into infinity in his books the great divorce c.s lewis described the busload of people in hell who come to the outskirts of heaven it's a fantasy it's a parable but in this story they're urged to leave behind the sins that have trapped them in hell but they refuse lewis's descriptions of these people are striking because we recognize in them the self-delusion and self-absorption that are written in our own addictions hell begins he writes with a grumbling mood always complaining always blaming others but you're still distinct from it you may criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it but there may come a day when you can no longer then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even enjoy it or just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine it is not a question keller writes of god sending us to hell in each and every one of us there is something growing which will be hell unless we are saved by the grace of god keller says this is why it is a tragedy to picture god casting people into a pit who are saying i'm sorry let me out the people on the bus in lewis's parable would rather have their freedom than salvation their delusion is that if they glorified god they would lose their power and freedom but in the supreme and tragic irony it is their choice which has ruined their own potential for greatness hell is in lewis's words the great monument to human freedom all god does in the end is give us what we want the most you don't want god finally god says yes lewis writes there are only two kind of people in the end those who have said to god thy will be done are those who have said my will be done and hell is the eternal place where people said not thy will but my will be done and god finally said okay g.k chesterton said hell is god's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice so that's where it ends the corrupt character of man the wrath of god revealed the world is broken and we are broken and god in his righteous character gives us the hell we choose except that's not where it ends or at least that is not where it has to end because we will in the coming weeks build out the rest of our gospel vision frame and we will learn that while god and man are separated by our sin and unrighteousness that god sent his own son jesus into the world to rescue us from our sin and by his grace he can reconcile us to himself and restore and renew everything which is why paul began the letter by saying i'm not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ it is the power of god unto salvation for everyone who believes that's the good news and and and maybe maybe listen maybe it helps you understand why because when jesus died on the cross it isn't just that he was saving you from your sins that's true but it's not even the most true way to say that it's not that jesus was saving you from your sins he was saving you from the wrath of god when he died on the cross what jesus did is he took the righteous just wrath of god upon himself so that you could be reconciled to god and you could be restored to the will the relationship and the purposes of god this is why the gospel is good news amen i want you i want you to pray with me every head's bowed every eyes closed you're praying at our campuses you're with us online we must understand the truth about god and when we do we know why there's something rather than nothing and we must understand the truth about ourselves which is why everything is broken and in the coming weeks we will share the good news even more as we walk through this book but but you don't have to wait till then the good news is that god loves you the good news is he sent jesus to take the wrath of god upon himself that we might be forgiven made right with him and if you have never acknowledged your sin and put your faith in jesus this is why we do we are trusting in jesus to absorb the wrath of god to pay the price that we might be forgiven and reconciled and if you have never done that maybe even today you might open your heart toward god by confessing your sin you might pray this living god i confess my sins my unrighteousness you know what is in my heart you know the thoughts that are in my heart but i believe in jesus who died in my place on the cross and was raised from the dead by your power and today i admit my sin and i ask you to forgive me i want to say thy will be done i acknowledge you as god and i put my trust in jesus as my savior if you prayed that prayer my encouragement would be tell somebody make it the next thing you do to tell somebody that is the decision you want to make and when we sing this final worship song during that final worship song which i pray will be a time we worship but there are people here who would pray with you during this worship song they're ready to pray and if you would just come and say i prayed that prayer with pastor william i want to follow jesus or when the service is over and we begin to lean leave our prayer team is still here at the front you can just come to the front then if you'd rather do it then and find one of them let us pray for you they'll be right here at the front of this building if you're at one of our campuses there's somebody ready to pray with you if you're online there's somebody who would pray with you you can reach out on the chat feature you can text my hope to 9400 and we'll respond to you if you just let us know this is the decision that you want to make you can go to our next step area at any of our campuses and find people also who are ready to talk with you and pray with you about your next step with jesus oh father we thank you for your love lord we thank you that even when we look at your wrath it is an expression of your goodness and your holiness and your justice god you are a just and holy god we are so grateful you are but god we would be hopeless if you were not a god of love and mercy who sent christ to take your wrath that we might be forgiven and reconciled to you and i pray lord if there's anybody listening online father there's anyone at our campuses anyone here in this room that needs to make that decision god i pray they'll make it now they'll make it today [Music] for jesus sake for our sake for your glory we pray in jesus name amen and amen it's just us now here at clearwater or you watching online i want you to stand we're standing we're going to worship together it's good to worship and end by just worshiping the lord but if you need to pray with somebody they're here at the front somebody will pray with you we're going to sing we're going to worship i hope if you'll pray if you need to pray let somebody pray with you encourage you father in heaven move in our hearts we thank you for your love we thank you there's hope in the name of jesus and we give you our praise in jesus name amen [Music] lord i come [Music] i confess bowing here i find my rest and without you i fall apart you're the one that guides my heart [Music] every [Music] my righteousness [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] my [Music] when temptation comes my way and when i cannot stand i'll fall [Music] and when i cannot stand up jesus [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] o god [Music] well thank you so much for being a part of our service this morning my name is anthony russo i'm the director of online ministry here at calvary and we want you to know wherever you're worshiping with us this morning however you're streaming even if you're by yourself you're not alone we are here we love you and we would love to help however we can so uh you can reach out to me uh if you need anything or if you just need someone to talk to you can always reach me my email is a russo at calvary.usa russo calvary.us please don't ever hesitate to reach out i'd love to see how we can help there's also so many of you that support our church uh financially thank you so much for your generosity and your giving you can continue to give at calvary.us give and if you're not already follow us on social media follow us on instagram make sure you subscribe to the youtube channel lots of great ways to follow us on whatever social media platform you use but one more time thank you so much for making us a part of your morning this morning we love spending this time with you have a great week and we'll see you next week you

Channel: Calvary Church

Views: 1,831

Rating: 4.7777777 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: CZf-5iH8fJM

Length: 103min 57sec (6237 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021