BellaVista Church of Christ
09/13/2020 A.M.
Our Obligation To The Gospel
Galatians 1.3-23 & 1 Corinthians 15.1-4
Last Sunday... Jeff started a series of Sermons on the Book of Galatians...
His premise is... To Examine the Book’s Oneness... One Gospel...
• One Family...
• One Way Of Salvation...
• One Inheritance…
• One Way To Live... Etc.
My intent is to preach from his text... Expanding a portion of it into a lesson from this Letter to the Churches of Galatia.
For instance... Galatians chapter one is about the Gospel... Paul says... I am surprised... I am disappointed... I am astonished... That you are so soon removed from the One Gospel... The Gospel of Grace.
So... Our lesson this morning is about the Gospel...
First... What is the Gospel?
The word Gospel is found 114 times in the New Testament… 12 times in Galatians.
The Greek is euaggelion... U-Ong-Gill’EE-on…Literally meaning The good news
• It originally spoke of good tidings given by a messenger.
• It was a term used to describe the good news of a military victory.
James Tolle... In his New Testament Word Studies says... If we were to summarize the word as used in the New Testament into a single phrase... It would be Jesus Christ.
Indeed...He is the Gospel... He is the centrality of the Good news message... For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
• Mark 1.1 reads... The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
• 2 Corinthians 4.4. says... The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel Christ, who is the image of God.
• Colossians 1.13-14 tells us… He… Jesus…Rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son… In whom we have redemption… Even the forgiveness of sins.
No wonder Paul refers to this Good News Message as...
the gospel of grace... It’s the good news of God’s UNMERITED FAVOR... Made possible by God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ... To deliver us from eternal destruction...
in ephesians 1.13 he says... IT’S The Gospel of salvation... Where we now stand... Saved in Christ... Our world has many religions… But only one gospel that saves.
ephesians 6.15 tells us that this Gospel Good News is a Gospel of peace...
• It grants us peace with God because our sins have been forgiven...
• Peace with others as we conform to the thinking and behavior of Jesus...
• And peace within self because... In Christ... There is now therefore no condemnation.
As Galatians chapter one ends... Paul insisted that this One Gospel was received...
• Not from any man...
• It was not taught to him by theApostles...
Listen church… The Gospel is not just another religion… But a Revelation from God!
It was delivered directly to Paul by Revelation from Jesus while he was in Arabia...
Then Paul says... This Gospel is the faith I once persecuted.
So...When we speak of the Gospel... We’re really speaking of that body of truth that makes up the Christian faith.
Perhaps there is no better description of the Gospel than the one found in First Corinthians fifteen... Beginning with the verse numbered one... Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed onto you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
So...When we put these thoughts together... We find that The Gospel is the good news about Jesus... His Grace Coming... His Teachings... His Doctrine... Certified… Affirmed… by His death... Burial... And resurrection.
I hope we have a better concept of what Paul was saying when he mentioned the Gospel... Saying... I’m...Surprised... Astonished... Disappointed... That you are so soon removed from the Gospel.
Next... Let’sfocus our attention
upon our obligation to the Gospel...
First... The Gospel Message must be received by faith.
Paul wrote in Romans 1.16... I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes... First for theJew, then for the Gentile.
It was the Hebrews’ Writer who declared... Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
It was Jesus who said... Whoever believes in God’s Son shall not perish but have eternal life.
Listen church... Our basic obligation to the Gospel this morning is to form an unalterable conviction to believe in and fully trust in the Gospel Message.
We are to believe it... Accept it as truth... To the point that we are compelled to obey it.
Then is number two... Obedience to the message.
We must know that Scriptures teaches... Faith as God seeS it includes our obedience.
The Bible begins with the failure of Adam and Eve... Due to their lack of faith leading to their disobedience.
The Antediluvian World was destroyed because of disobedience.
The Tower of Babel was built out of Disobedience.
James tells us that it is not enough to... Hear the Word... Believe the Word... Faith includes our being doers of the Word... Faith without doing is dead...Even the Devils believe... But there is no obedience.
Listen to Paul as he speaks of God’s destruction of those who will not obey this Gospel Message... He says, This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus....That’s Second Thessalonians 1.7-8.
It’s interesting to note that in Hebrews chapter 11... Where we’re told that without faith it is impossible to please God... That those who pleased Him were obedient...
• Cain offered a pleasing sacrifice...
• Enoch walked with God...
• Noah builT an ark...
• Abraham went when called.
With each of these... Their faith included their becoming doers of the Word...Faith is not pleasing to God until it prompts our obedience.
I think this is evidenced in Galatians 3.26 & 27... You are all sons of God... HOW?... through faith in Christ Jesus... Listen now as to when that faith makes us children of God... For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Here it is church... Failure to obey the gospel message is a failure in faith.
We are to contend for the Gospel.
We’ve heard Paul say... The Gospel is the faith I once persecuted…
Now... He admonishes us to... Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession.
You see… When we see the definite article preceding faith...
• We know that THE FAITH speaks of that body of truth that represents Christianity...
• New Testament Scripture...
• The total Doctrine of Christ.
• The New Convent.
Jude 3 says... Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
The Gospel... and... the faith... are the same.
Then...We have an obligation to share the Gospel Message.
Listen to Jesus as He commissions each of us this morning from Matthew chapter 28... All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Listen to Paul from 2 Corinthians 5.17-21... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and … Listen now!... He gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s… ambassadors… As though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf... Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Church... Is there any doubt that these verses...
• picture God’s dream... That’s for all mankind to be reconciled to Him through Jesus...
• That... we...As His new creation… Have been given a ministry of reconciliation.
• We are… ambassadors…God’s voice to a lost and dying world… God at work in us!
Then in chapter six... Paul says... We are… co-laborers… Co-workers… With God... Workers together with God.
WOW... What a concept!!... What an idea!!… What a privilege!!... What A commission!!
Catch a glimpse of it church!!!.. We are working…side-by-side… Hand-in-hand… With the… Omnipotent… Sovereign… God of the universe.
What an adventure life is... When we get up each morning saying...
• God… Here am I… use me...
• Make me your instrument of righteousness...
• Place me before those You want me to influence for you today...
• Open my eyes... My heart... My lips...To Your will…
• Help me fulfill my mission of sharing jesus with others.
Here is something you may not know... The Barna Research Group did a survey asking what people felt the purpose of the church to be...
• 89… Listen… 89% responded that the church existed to meet their felt needs.
• 11% said... The purpose of the church was to share the Gospel Message with others.
Sad isn’t it that... So many of us are confused about... Our calling?... Our commission?
I gotta tell you... Jesus didn’t come... Die on the cross... To meet our felt needs!
• I came to call sinners to repentance....
• I came to seek and save the lost...
• I came to do the will of My Father in Heaven.
• I came... Not to be served... But to serve!!
His agenda must become our agenda… His mission our mission.
We must never allow our church family to be forced into the world’s thinking...That Jesus came to... And the church exists for... Meeting our felt needs... Amen?
I recently read about a church that caught fire.
In the building was a painting of Jesus which had hung for years seemingly unnoticed. Two men who were concerned about losing the painting rushed into the church to save it. After the fire was extinguished people gathered from all over town to admire the picture. The leaders of the church were amazed that so many were interested in a picture that had hung behind the pulpit for years.
One of them noted...
• When the church catches on fire...
• When Jesus is moved into the street...
People become interested.
God help us to share Him with all whom we meet... Amen.
Let’s end our lesson by noting our RESPONSE to the GOSPEL...
We’ve heard Paul declare that the good news of the Gospel is wrapped up in the... Death... Burial... And Resurrection of Jesus.
What we must understand this morning is that...
• our personal salvation...
• genuine New Testament conversion...
Demands not... One Cross... One Burial... One Resurrection... But two... Two Deaths… Two Burials…Two Resurrections… HIS & OURS!
Romans chapter six tells us...
• That we must die to sin...
• crucify the old man...
• That we must be buried in New Testament baptism...
• Like Jesus... We ARE TO Be raised to walk in a new life.
So...The question this morning is simple...
• Has the... Death... Burial... Resurrection... Of Jesus made any significant difference in my life and yours?
• Does the Gospel make any difference in the way we lived Yesterday?... Live Today?...Or how we will live Tomorrow?
Here it is church… We… As Children of God… Need the Gospel Message as much as Non-Christians.
The invitation is for us to come to Jesus...
Let JESUS Rule & Reign in Every Arena of Our Life.
Will we commit to this as we stand and sing this song together.
