Understanding the Gospel: A Lecture Summary

it was a large uh empty room in a convention center and it was filled with the sounds of sobbings Tears everywhere you looked there were people being being comforted some people being embraced some receiving pats on the back or the shoulder but but everywhere in this this large empty room in this convention center with with nothing but folding chairs sat down everywhere the the picture was very similar and and what had happened was this was the response time the response time after an Evangelistic sermon and a gospel invitation and I happen to be in the back of this room it was a large conference multi-day conference and I wasn't preaching on this particular day this particular night I was going to be preaching the next morning but but I I intentionally walked down during the response time into the what was then called the the the counseling room um as people had responded to to the gospel invitation and had come back to speak with counselors and and I just sort of made myself kind of a fly on the wall I know I'm a big fly but just go with me on this one okay as I just listened time and time again and almost universally what I heard was the same response why have you come and the response would come I really don't know I just felt like I needed to time and time again why have you come I really don't know tears streaming down faces I just felt like I needed to there were over 400 people at this conference who came down during the gospel invitation over 400 mainly college students who had come down and responded during this gospel invitation but there was a small problem there had been no gospel there had been spiritual manipulation there had been emotional agitation but there had been no gospel Proclamation and at the end of this Soul stirring message it was wrapped up with a magnificent sh sales pitch that resulted in over 400 people walking down the aisle praying a prayer repeating after the individual standing there behind the podium and then going to sit down and talk with counselors now here's what was interesting they had come down the aisle and they had prayed this prayer basically went something like this I I if you want to receive Jesus Christ as your lord and savior if you want to go to heaven when you die repeat this prayer after me and meanness in Your Heart Lord Jesus I'm a sinner and I I need you to save me you died for my sin and I'm trusting you to save me if you prayed that prayer and you believed it then you've been born again there's some counselors over here who want to talk with you and over 400 people go into the next room having been told that they were converted that they were on their way to heaven when they died but when they sat down with the counselors they had no idea why they had come they just felt like they needed to I wish I could say this was unusual but it's not It's Not Unusual at all I I I wish I could say that the organizers of this event after this individual who didn't come close to the gospel it was a skyscraper sermon one story on top of another on top of another okay and after his skyscraper SK sermon this man just did what he is known for cast the net and hundreds came and so I wish I could say that after this happened the organizers of the event said I cannot believe the kind of manipulation we just saw I cannot believe the kind of perversion of the Gospel we just saw we'll never have this man back again but that's not what the organizers of the conference said the organizers of the conference said see told you he was a harvester and he was back the next year still not coming close to preaching the gospel and having a lot of the people who had been there the year before responding again during the gospel invitation why don't know just felt like I needed to there are probably many of us in this room not probably some of you I've had conversations with for some of you this is your story for some of you this is exactly where you were this is exactly what your experience was for some of you you wrestled with your salvation for years because of this kind of manipulative underhanded salesmanship that did not come close to the proclamation of the Gospel but was masterful in its ability to get you to feel like you needed to do whatever they were telling you to do at the end for some of you that was your story and you wrestled some of you for years after that why because you hadn't heard the gospel and you hadn't been converted but somebody told you that you were and after they told you that you were maybe they even told you to write down in your Bible write this date down in your Bible this day your name was sealed in the Lamb's Book of Life they told you to do it so you wrote it down hadn't heard the gospel hadn't been inverted but you repeat it after someone they told you that if you said what they said and you meant it and you meant it that you were going to heaven when you died write your little name in your Bible write the date in your Bible there's the date when your name was sealed in the Lamb's Book of Life but a week later a month later a year later there was nothing in you around you or about you that spoke to the truth of your conversion now what do you do I mean really what do you you do with that because now for the last several weeks or the last several months or the last several years you've been telling people that you were a Christian You' been telling people you got saved you remember the day you remember the hour you remember the moment you got saved you asked Jesus into your heart or another one you accepted Christ as your lord and savior you know there's only two things wrong with those phrases number one they're nowhere in the New Testament amen I asked Jesus into my heart I accepted Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior not New Testament phrases and secondly you can walk all around those things and be as lost as goose why here's what it all comes down to a failure to understand a failure to comprehend and a failure to accurately proclaim the gospel and that's what we're dealing with here in the book of First John the gospel what is true biblical conversion not this stuff that we see not this stuff that we hear about not this stuff that many of us have experienced that was as artificial as a $3 bill what is the gospel how do we Define the gospel how do we know the gospel when we see it is the gospel just you know three four propositions and then a formulaic prayer or is the gospel something broader than that here's the other thing that's interesting when you go through first John one of the things that we discover is this that the gospel no matter what we think the gospel is it's more than you think it is that's what you're going to learn as we walk through the book of First John whatever you think the gospel is more than you think it is for some people we think the gospel is actually the message that you share with people who are not saved so that they can get saved that is a woefully inaccurate understanding and description of the Gospel the gospel is not just something for lost people news flash if you're here and you've been saved for 50 years you still need the gospel you're still living by the gospel the gospel doesn't just tell you how to be saved the go the gospel tells you how to be everything the gospel tells you how to understand everything the gospel tells you how to how how to interpret all things things it's the gospel our life is a gospel life our walk is a gospel walk our parenting ought to be gospel parenting our marriages ought to be gospel marriages the gospel is not just these few little propositions that are necessary in order to emotionally twist somebody's arm and get them to pray some formulaic prayer that is not the gospel unfortunately it's what passes for the gospel and the overwhelming majority of situations and circumstances it's what passes for the gospel and we're in the season now we're at the height of the Season we're in Vacation Bible School season the season that makes me sick to my stomach because little kids all over this country are being manipulated with a simplistic version of The Gospel and being convinced that if they just repeat after somebody that they'll be saved am I saying that a little kid can't get saved at a vacation bible school nope that's not what I'm saying but here's what I'm saying I wish I had a dollar for every time I talk to somebody who went through one of those experiences and then later on in their life said I really didn't know what to do because when I was five or six or seven I prayed the prayer that they told me I should pray but later on in my life I didn't really feel like I was saved but I had prayed that prayer and they had told me that I was a Christian there was nothing in my life that bore evidence to the fact that I was a Christian I didn't know what to do in the first four chapters of the first four verses rather of First John which we're going to look at today we we get a picture of the magnitude of the significance of the Gospel again we we don't get all of it we we we could be here from now until every last one of us dies and we wouldn't get all of it amen we cannot exhaust it but we're going to get a picture of the magnitude and the significance of the Gospel here in the first four verses of the book of First John because this is what John's after and John's after the true gospel the real gospel as opposed to the false gospel because there are false teachers so he is taking false teachers on toe to toe nose to nose eye to eye there is a true gospel and there is a false gospel we need to understand that and not everybody who claims to be preaching the gospel is preaching the true gospel there are many who are preaching a false gospel and John shows us this in the book of First John specific things that he deals with here some of them we're still de dealing with today but others of them with far-reaching implic lications for some of the other heresies with which we wrestle Even in our time listen as he begins that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we Proclaim to you you also so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete we see here this picture of the Gospel we see this picture of of the the the nature of the gospel and we also see a picture of the impact of the Gospel as it relates to the nature of the Gospel let's look at what he says here beginning that first verse that which was from the beginning that which was from the beginning folks ultimately the gospel if you just want to boil it down is about the person and work of Jesus Christ ultimately the gospel is about the person and work of Jesus Christ now if you think that is simplistic let's just unpack it for a few moments here cuz that's a mouthful the person and work of Jesus Christ Christ who is the person of Jesus Christ there are theology books filled with the answer to that question what are the works of Jesus Christ there are theology books multiple volumes filled with the anwers to that question so when we say the person and work of Jesus Christ we're not being reductionistic here we're just giving you the broadest categories because even here in this first verse that which was from the beginning in that statement alone we get a picture of the nature of Christ of the person of Christ that which was from the beginning means that Christ is eternal means that he always has been means that he did not come into existence in the manger means that he was and is and is to come listen to what Calvin writes commenting on this verse the words that which was from the beginning refer doubtless to the Divinity of Christ for God manifested In the Flesh was not from the beginning but he who always was life and the Eternal Word of God appeared in the fullness of time as man what a poignant statement there are so many who look at the person of Jesus Christ and they say Jesus is a good man he's a good teacher he's a good Prophet all over the place there are people who want to who want to who want to say to Jesus or about Jesus good things wonderful things loving things about Jesus you turn on your tele television people are not talking bad about Jesus people will say things like we like Jesus we just don't like Christians is't that what we hear but when they talk about Jesus they're just referring to a guru they're referring to a teacher they're referring to some guy who did some very important stuff that's not enough if that's all we believe then we don't believe the gospel because the gospel is about Jesus Christ and who he truly is the person of Christ the nature of Christ and we see here his existence in eternity that Jesus Christ existed in eternity if we don't believe in a Jesus that existed in eternity we don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible and if we don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible we cannot claim the Salvation that the Bible offers it is only to the degree that we believe in Jesus as he is presented that we believe the gospel I mean how how many times have we had this experience you know we meet over here there's another congregation meeting over in the other side we've had a number of occasions where people kind of showed up Fellowship meal time they were going you know we we we were over there I we now what if those people had left you know those people had gone to the other church either when the other president Presbyterian Church was over here the new church was over here they go to that church and they visit that place or they came to the right address they they they went to church they could go back they could have gone back had they not figured out what their mistake was they could have gone back and somebody said to them hey did you go visit Grace Family Baptist church and they could have said yep we did but did they no cuz we were over here they were over there they they they visited the right address they just didn't come into the right meeting and that's where many people are with Christ they're close they got the right name they've even got the right time period they even have some of the right sayings they they're phrases that they Proclaim that are the phrases that came straight out of the mouth of Jesus but they're wrong on the person of Christ they're wrong on the nature of Christ and if you press them on the issue do you believe that Jesus J is co-eternal with the Father which by the way means that he is God Almighty not close to God not like God not almost God he's God do you believe that Jesus is God that's the gospel folks if we don't believe in Jesus as God we don't believe the gospel and if we are not proclaiming Jesus as God we are not proclaiming the gospel and here's the problem with much of what is passing for gospel preaching today it begins man centered and what we do is we try to get our hands around the need in the heart of man as Rick Warren has said in his book the purpose-driven church I believe you can lead anyone to Christ if you just find the right felt need you find whatever that person's need is and then you demonstrate to them how Jesus can meet that need you're not clear about who Jesus is other than listen to me from your perspective and inside your world Jesus can be the answer to that problem you have that's what passes for gospel preaching in most instances Jesus can be whatever you need is your marriage Rocky Jesus can be a marriage fixer is your health bad Jesus can be your healer problems with your kids Jesus can fix that problems with your finances he's a provider all of those things whatever that need is that you have that's what Jesus can be for you and he wants to be that for you don't you want him to be that for you what person in their right mind is going to say nah I just stay all messed up over here just just n and then you just take the next step but there's a problem so how have we couched the gospel we started with you and your yearnings and after we've showed you you and your yearnings and how this Jesus can be the answer for you and your yearnings we then go to oh but there's a problem okay well maybe there's hope here are we going to define the problem correctly no we don't even Define the problem correctly we don't even deal with the issue of sin and repentance what's the problem the problem is you haven't accepted him the problem is you haven't asked him into your heart so how do you overcome the problem accept Jesus ask Jesus into your heart you know Jesus is the king of the universe not worried about you accepting him amen but that's how we're couching the gospel and that's what people are responding to that's why you can come up to people after they've accepted Christ and ask them a few questions about who Christ is and they don't know how do I know this done it done whenever I'm around one of those rooms whenever I'm around one of those gospel invitations I always want to go and talk to people always if I can do it I will do it I'll get there I'll sit down I want to talk to people tell me about this Jesus that you just accepted what is his nature what is his Essence and there are people who hear they just pray to receive Christ you tell them that Jesus is God that he's Eternal and they look at you like The Man in the Moon I don't know about all that that's not what I signed up for no what I signed up for was it's some bad stuff in my life and they told me about this guy who could fix that bad stuff in my life now you talking about all this he's God stuff I'm not going there but I accepted him John starts with that which was from the beginning you want to understand the gospel understand the nature and the person of Christ that he is co-eternal with the father and it's interesting he uses that phrase from the beginning he could have used another phrase I'll explain to you why he did that in a moment but for now listen to this Micah 52 but you oh Bethlehem EPA who are too little the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel whose origin is from old from Ancient of Days we know John 1:1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God we also know John 8: 58 where Jesus looks at the Pharisees and says I tell you the truth before Abraham existed I am John 17 verse 5 now father glorify me in your own presence with theor Glory that I had with you before the world existed John 17:24 father I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world Ephesians chapter 1 and verse4 even as he chose us before excuse me even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love Hebrews 7:3 he is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever and then we get into Revelation 1 and verse 8 I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and was and is to come Revelation 11: 7 when I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead who's this this is is Jesus but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one I died and behold I'm alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hades Revelation chap 2 and verse 8 until the angel of the church at smyrner write the words of the first and the last Jesus Christ is co-eternal with the Father Paul puts it this way in Philippians let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who although he existed in the form of God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped Jesus is co-eternal with the father but the phrase he uses here is quite interesting he says that which was from the beginning now what he could have said was that which was from eternity but he chooses the word beginning that which was from the beginning why he's not just interested in telling us about this Jesus who is eternal he justed telling us about this Jesus who's the creator of the world that which was from the beginning in the beginning what happens in the beginning in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth interestingly enough in that verse we already quoted when we talked about John chap 1 verse one if we continue in the beginning was the word the word was with God the Word was God he was in the beginning with God God through him all things were made and apart from him nothing was made that has been made Colossians chapter 1 beginning at verse 15 very similar he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were made in heaven and on Earth whether rulers or dominions or Thrones or Powers all things have been made by him and for him not only do we see Jesus existing in eternity but we also see Jesus creating in power listen to this from the Nan Creed we believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of the father before all worlds God of gods light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the father by whom all things were made Jesus Christ is the creator of all things he's not just co-eternal with the father he is co-creator with the father Jesus Christ is the creator of all things he's the ruler of all things there is nothing outside of the realm of his sovereignty or his power that's who we're talking about not just a good teacher not just a good man but we're talking about the one who spoke the world into existence that's this Jesus if we're not proclaiming that we're not proclaiming the gospel if that's not the Jesus about whom we speak we are not proclaiming the gospel it's not just this man- centered picture of what I need to be satisfied what I need to be fulfilled Jesus is who he is regardless of what I feel like I need and he is what I need whether I know it or not amen I mean after all who am I to think that I'm wise enough to even know what I need I I don't know about you but that's not me I'm not wise enough to know what I need but God knows what I need so in this proclamation of the Gospel we we see Jesus having existed from eternity we see Jesus having created in power but then look at what else he said what else he says which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life by the way this phrase these phrases are very important because if you remember the heresy that he's dealing with with is a heresy this Aryan heresy this idea that Jesus did not come in the in in the flesh this idea that Jesus was just sort of this spirit being sometimes it was this sort of docetic heresy other times it was carinthian gnosticism now the difference between the two is one says that he was a spirit being upon whom deity came others says he was a spirit being who never actually had anything than this spiritual manifestation but the idea is that matter is evil therefore God would never sort of inhabit matter so so Jesus could not have been God unless he didn't really inhabit matter it just looked like he did John deals with this heresy so what does he say what we've heard matter what we've seen with our eyes matter matter what we've looked upon and touched with our hands matter concerning the Word of Life verse two the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we've seen and heard we Proclaim to you also the gospel is about Christ who existed before all things things the gospel is about Christ who created the world and all things in the world and therefore has a claim on all things in the world and the gospel is about Christ who revealed himself in time and in history that's what the gospel's about you know there are those for example um I don't know how many of you familiar with the emerging Church movement or certain books within within the emerging Church movement but one of the most popular books among the emerging Church movement is a book called Blue like jazz and in blue like jazz the author basically makes this Proclamation whether this stuff was really true historically or not that's not ultimately the question question is just whether or not we believe it how about that it doesn't sound like John's attitude John's attitude is not hey you know what these gnostics they're wrong on the nature and the essence of Jesus but they're calling on his name they can't be that bad sure they believe he was just a spirit being but but certainly they can't be that bad I mean can't we all just get along I mean after all they're Believers we're Believers we we just we just we just different differ on a few little things here like the nature of the Son of God you know what John's attitude was toward that turn with me to the right and look at chapter 4 for just a minute these first three verses in chapter 4 beloved do not believe every Spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God for many false prophets have gone out into the world now now we got him calling people false prophets verse Two by this you know the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God ain't that interesting he's talking directly about the gnostics and directly to the gnostics and what does he say he says every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ Has Come In the Flesh that's the spirit that's from God now is he saying that if that's all somebody's got that that's enough no he's addressing a specific heresy here and what he's saying is Jesus revealed himself in space and time and in history and the historical facts matter and if people are wrong on the historical facts they're wrong on the gospel look at the next verse every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the Antichrist now they're not just false prophets they're not from God and they're Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already that's John's attitude John's attitude is this is too important for us not to stand up this is too important for us not to face off this is too important for us not to point out every time we see it and he says we're proclaiming to you the gospel number one we're proclaiming this Jesus who is eternal we're proclaiming this Jesus who created the world we're proclaiming this Jesus who revealed himself in history in human flesh God wrapped himself in flesh and he came as a man by the way that's incredibly important why because that's the way he died for us as a man that's the way he represented us as a man that's the way he expressed his obedience to God remember we've talked about this before but let me put it in a different context for you we've talked about Jesus Christ and sacrifice and his passive obedience and his active obedience sound familiar we talked about this several times the active Obedience of Christ is how Christ fulfilled the law Christ was obedient to the law he fulfilled the law and he was righteous under the law that was the active Obedience of Christ now the active Obedience of Christ was accompanied by the passive Obedience of Christ the passive of obedience of Christ is that obedience whereby he allowed himself to be crucified as a penal substitutionary atonement for those he came to redeem now why is the active Obedience of Christ important because it's the active Obedience of Christ that's imputed to us as righteousness God looks at you and me as a complete lawkeeper why because Christ in his active obedience kept the law on behalf of those he came to redeem God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him imputed righteousness you you're not righteous because you die that's not where we get imputed righteousness from Christ we get imputed righteousness from Christ because as a man he obeyed where Adam did not therefore he was righteous therefore he can impute his righteousness to Those whom he came to redeem now here's the context if Jesus was not really a man we have no imputed righteousness you can't get there from here cuz the law only applies to those of us who are man the descendants of Adam we got a problem because of our federal head Adam well how do we come under our federal head Adam through physical birth into this world well if Jesus never experienced physical birth into this world then he cannot undo what Adam did he had to be a man if he doesn't become a man he can't impute righteousness to us that that's why John makes a big deal out of this John makes a big deal out of this because he says number one these individuals are outside the camp not inside the camp and number two if you begin to accept even to the smallest degree what they are teaching you will begin to undermine the very doctrines upon which the gospel are built and if you don't have imputed righteousness you don't have the gospel that's why this is a big deal that's why he uses this language that's why he talks about this and he goes back again and again and again and again what we've seen what we've heard what we've touched with our hands he was physical by the way here's another thing that's very interesting the gnostics are always on John's mind couple of examples that we get from John's gospel for example that we don't get from other gospels you know one of the things we get from John's gospel that we don't get from other gospels Thomas put your hand in my side touch the wounds on my hands we get that in John's gospel why because John's the the Gnostic Warrior that's what he does he fights the gnostics and even in his gospel he's talking about the things that the other writers don't even think of at the Forefront of their minds did it happen absolutely it did that's why it's proclaimed in the gospel but other writers look at that and don't see it to the same degree of importance as John does when he sees it because now he's thinking about the gnostics you know what the gnostics are saying that Jesus was not flesh news flash we touched him after the resurrection here's another thing you see in John's gospel That You Don't See in other place the fish fry why is it important to record that Jesus is eating fish it's very important to record that Jesus ate fish after his resurrection if you're doing battle with the gnostics cuz the gnostics don't believe he was flesh he's not flesh what he doing at the fish fry it's important wrong on Jesus wrong on the gospel if we're not proclaiming Jesus we're not proclaiming the gospel if we're not proclaiming these works of Christ we're not proclaiming the gospel here's the other thing look at with me in verse two the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we Proclaim to you so that you may have fellowship with us so that you may have fellowship with us here's what's interesting if you don't get this you don't have fellowship with us we're proclaiming this so that you can have fellowship with us in other words why do I need to Proclaim something to you in order for you to have fellowship with me if you already have fellowship with me we see the exclusivity of the Gospel here in other words this refutes universalism this sort of universal Brotherhood of Man all of us will ultimately be saved no without the proclamation of the Gospel there is no salvation without without our response to the gospel biblical response to the gospel there is no salvation there is no Fellowship there if we're not responding to the gospel as it was proclaimed if we're not responding to the right gospel there is no Fellowship there if we're not responding to the gospel as it's proclaimed there is no Fellowship there so he says these individuals are outside of Fellowship that's the spirit of antichrist in Chapter 2 they went out from among us because they weren't all of us if they were of us they would have remained but they went out so that it might be shown that they were not all of us you see what he's doing there just in the next chapter he's already dealing with that the exclusivity of Christ it is only through a right understanding of the Gospel and it is only through an appropriate response to the gospel that we have fellowship with Christ and that we have fellowship with one another and that only comes through our proclamation of the Gospel we must proclaim the gospel now here's what's so ironic many of us don't proclaim the gospel because we think proclaiming the gospel is divisive when the fact is the opposite is true it's only through the proclamation of of the Gospel that we experience true Unity anything else is a lie anything else is not true if we look at one another and say you know what we we just we just won't talk about those things because we know we disagree about those things we'll just find areas where we have a no no no no we got to get those things on the table amen all of those things have to be on the table because that's where true Unity comes I I if you and I as frail human beings try to come closer to one another we'll mess it up every time but if you and I as frail human beings walk closer and closer to Christ we automatically come closer to one another we're going to do it we're going to do it it's interesting Trey and I were talking about this the other day we've had the opportunity to be in several places I mean just just this year with Believers from all over the place and he made the comment it seems like wherever we go we see the same people I mean wherever we go we see the same people we just we just flew back this morning on the Redeye from Oregon got on on a flight 12:30 last night in Portland so we can fly and get here 6:30 this morning to Houston amen hallelujah praise the Lord I'm want to go to sleep okay so so we just flew back but you know what whether we're it was in Oregon or the weekend before that in Colorado or wherever we go we we meet brothers and sisters in the Lord how does that happen you go from here to Russia from here to China from here to Zambia from here to Romania and you meet brothers and sisters in the Lord I mean you have stuff in common you know each other you love each other and all of a sudden in a couple of days you feel like you know what i' lay my life down for this brother what is that that's the fellowship that we have with one another when we have fellowship with Christ that's what the gospel gives us and only the gospel gives us that nothing else does that it's the gospel that unifies us and here's what's unfortunate because the gospel is being polluted in our culture we have a fragmented so-called Christian Community and here's what everybody's saying Christians can't even get together and agree on things what does it look like to the world when Christians can't even get together and agree on things if Christians could unify we could change this culture i AG agree wholeheartedly problem is a lot of people call themselves Christians or not you can't have Unity that way the reason we don't have Unity is because we're trying to have Unity apart from the gospel you only have Unity to the degree that we're tenacious about the gospel that's the only way we have Unity with one another because that's the only way we have Unity with God and that's what John says here fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and his son Jesus Christ we we're proclaiming this to you because if you believe the other gospel or if you believe a perversion of the Gospel you're not going to have fellowship with God and therefore you're not going to have fellowship with us so we're proclaiming this to you because we want to have fellowship with you not because we want to drive you away oh Doctrine divides you know no Doctrine unites amen the only time Doctrine divides is when somebody's sin doesn't want to accept the doctrine and in that case it's not doctrine that divides it's sin and Disobedience that divides and we need to divide over that well you going to say Jesus is just some Middle Eastern Guru and we're supposed to unite you might as well no that you can't do that that's like a man coming up to me insulting my wife but wanting to shake hands and be my friend well you not going to shake my hand no I'm not going to shake your hand I need my hand free to punch you in the mouth not really kids not not not not really okay but but I I'm think about that for a moment a man walks up he insults your wife man I can't stand your wife wife she just I just I I hate her but I really want us to be friends well what do you do we go well okay no no no no no no you can't we can't do that how is it that we can get that and we can understand that but when somebody insults my Jesus my Savior my master my Lord Lord King of Kings God of gods when somebody insults Jesus Christ we're supposed to say can't we all just get along no there's no Unity there there's no Unity there if you're wrong on my Jesus I have but one goal and that one goal is this for you to get right on Jesus why because if you're wrong on Jesus you don't have Unity with me me that's the least of your problems you don't have Unity with God that's what the gospel does and then here's this last phrase I love it in verse four we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete we're writing these things so that our joy may be complete I love that I mean it almost seems like it doesn't fit there's this there's this pmic argument going on where basically he's saying there's false teachers out there and some of you might even be listening to the false teachers cuz some have actually left because of what the false teachers are teaching these false teachers are messing up the gospel they're wrong on the gospel and if you're wrong on the gospel you don't have fellowship with God and you don't have fellowship with us and so it seems like John is just sort of standing there and he's going Toe to Toe and nose to nose and eye to eye and it sounds like like that no no no that's not what John's doing here here John's not doing one of these he's doing one of these he's saying come on do you understand the significance of what you're doing you're polluting the gospel there will be no Unity when you pollute the gospel but if you hold on to the gospel to the real gospel to the true gospel there's Unity between us and there's there's Unity with you and the father and that makes my joy complete I I don't know about you but I'm not happy when people are wrong on the gospel I'm not I don't sit there and go oh wow great they're going to die and spend eternity separated from God in hell no that doesn't make my joy complete in fact I I I thought about this and as I thought about this statement I kept running back over the statement again and again in my mind do I really mean that do I really mean that and here's the statement nothing should bring us more joy than seeing Sinners redeemed nothing should bring us more joy than seeing Sinners redeemed and the unfortunate reality is that for some of us that's not true for some of us we think there are things that more important than that there are things that bring us more joy than that for some of us in this room we're more concerned about the right person being elected to an office than we are about Sinners being redeemed how do I know that because for some of us you look at the time and energy that we put into our political efforts and you look at the time and energy that we put into proclaiming the gospel and the answer becomes clear we would much rather have our guy our laws then we would to have Sinners redeemed for the cause of Christ some of us have come to this place nothing brings us more joy than than than to see Sinners redeemed well well what about no no no the most joyous thing in the world is is is is is the birth of a child it's the most joyous thing in the world no it's not no it's not because from the moment that child is born into your home what do you want more than anything else for them to be born again to have a child born into your home and that child never be born again that would not satisfy you it won't it won't I hope it won't that's not enough just having a baby come into the house that's not enough no it's glorious when that child is born but from that moment on what burns in US oh God would you would you save them would you redeem them would you rescue them I want my child to be in heaven with me I want him to be saved I want him to be born again successful in business yeah whatever fine born again though see him getting married yeah that's great marriage wonderful thing but born again though my children are never married but they're born again I'm all right if they're never successful in business but they're born again I'm all right if they never Ace an exam but they're born again I'm all right if they never Master a piano concerto but they're born again I'm all right because the most glorious thing in this world is when the Lost Sinner is saved and my prayer for us is that we never lose that that we never miss that cuz that's what John says makes his Joy complete his Joy is not complete without that and some of you in this church you're satisfied just being part of a family integrated Church shame on you shame on you if that's your if that's the case shame on you who cares if we find a family integrated church but lost Sinners never get saved in fact the reason that we're committed to this format is because we believe that it's the most effective way to carry out the Great Commission not just because we hate youth groups it's not about what we're against it's about what we're for we're for the Great Commission we're for seeing people reached with the gospel and being taught to obey all the things that he's taught us and we believe the most effective place for that teaching of all things to happen is in the home that's what we believe but it's not just about the homes we got it's about the homes we don't have yet as I said yet it's about the homes that we don't have yet is your heart broken over the homes we don't have yet when you ride out of your neighborhood Hood when you ride out of your neighborhood do you look down your nose at the people who are playing golf do you look down your nose at the people who are riding their bikes do you look down your nose at your neighbors whose cars are still in the driveway or do you say oh God give us those Souls which is it which is it I I wish I could say I was always on the right side of that sometimes I'm looking down my nose but I pray that God would give me the attitude that present here in 1 John 1 and verse4 my joy is not complete just looking down my nose at other people cuz they don't go where I go on Sundays my joy is only complete when the gospel penetrates the hearts and lives of lost Sinners and rescues them from where they're headed now and puts them on A New Path redeems their life redeems their future redeems their family that's what we're we're about that's what we got to be about and if your joy can be made complete without that then you don't understand the gospel cuz once we understand the gospel our joy is never complete unless and until the gospel is having its full impact and full effect here and its full impact and full effect out there that's what we desire more than anything else more than anything else good laws I'll praise God for good laws good lawmakers I'll praise God for good lawmakers whatever am i counting on that nope not by a long shot we're pulling our hair out oh California has gay marriages they're happening right now can you believe it here's the news flash they got the law they wanted and it still happened do you know that California got the law they wanted the homosexual marriages are taking place right now all over my home state of California even though Californians went and 61% of them voted and they got the law passed that they wanted but here's the problem the problem in California is not the law the problem is the depravity of man and law can't fix that you know what you do when you put up a law against the depravity of man it's like putting up a levy against the flood you know when you put up a levy against the flood you don't stop the flood floods don't stop they just get diverted we get the levy up high enough here all we did was let the flood go down there with our laws we're getting up the levies am I against getting up the levies no no no I'm not against getting up the levies but here's my point I want the hearts and minds of men I want Souls saved I'm not satisfied when that homosexual couple is not allowed to walk to a courtroom in California or Massachusetts or anywhere else and get married I don't say no no no no no I'm not satisfied and my joy is not complete until the gospel has penetrated those lives and they have been released saved and rescued from their depravity until then my joy is not complete How Could my joy be complete with individuals who are condemned they're still condemned but they didn't get to do what I didn't want them to do who cares I want them redeemed that's what I want that's when our joy is complete only at the point and only at the place of redemption that's what we're after do we always give it no we don't always get it but that's God's business not ours we just Proclaim and we continue to Proclaim and we Proclaim and Proclaim and Proclaim again and some of the people to whom we need to Proclaim are individuals who think they're among us because they've heard a perversion of the Gospel they've heard a man centered emotionally spiritually manipulative Jesus exists to make you happy version of The Gospel and what they need is the God of this universe created this world and everything in it he owns it he runs it and he reigns Supreme over it and that means you got a problem and your problem is you your problem is your sin and God addresses your problem how because that King that Lord that Master wrapped himself in flesh and entered into history as a man he entered into history as a man and revealed himself to men so that they could record for us the fact that number one he kept the whole law and was righteous therefore he can impute righteousness to those who place their faith in him and number two he died for sin once for all the just for the unjust in that he might bring us back to God and because of his active and passive obedience he pays the penalty that we owed and can impute to us righteousness and then and only then can you and I stand forgiven before a holy and just and righteous God when we repent of our sin and place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not before that's what we Proclaim because that's what brings us Unity if we don't get there we don't get unity and it's only the proclamation of the gospel and it's only the proper response to the gospel that brings us to a place where our joy is made complete I don't just want you to not do bad stuff I want God to save you and for you to not be who you are but to be a new creature in Christ if you're struggling to not do bad stuff that's not gospel living gospel living is we're more than conquerors if you're one of those individuals who's been manipulated and cheated my prayer for you is that you would come to a place of authentic faith and genuine repentance before for almighty God that you would trust in him and him alone the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross his active and passive obedience his imputed righteousness unto you and his penal substitutionary atoning death on the cross that and nothing but that that you would see your sinfulness for what it is that you would flee from it with everything that you have that you would turn from it and that you would turn to Christ and to Christ Alone to be redeemed to be forgiven and to be saved that's my prayer for you and that as a result of that you become a new creature in Christ you bear fruit that you can't manufacture or fake on your own and you have Unity with the Brethren because you have Unity with God that's my prayer for you my prayer is that you don't leave this place till you have that for

it was a large uh empty room in a convention center and it was filled with the sounds of sobbings Tears everywhere you looked there were people being being comforted some people being embraced some receiving pats on the back or the shoulder but but everywhere in this this large empty room in this convention center with with nothing but folding chairs sat down everywhere the the picture was very similar and and what had happened was this was the response time the response time after an Evangelistic sermon and a gospel invitation and I happen to be in the back of this room it was a large conference multi-day conference and I wasn&#39;t preaching on this particular day this particular night I was going to be preaching the next morning but but I I intentionally walked down during the response time into the what was then called the the the counseling room um as people had responded to to the gospel invitation and had come back to speak with counselors and and I just sort of made myself kind of a fly on the wall I know I&#39;m a big fly but just go with me on this one okay as I just listened time and time again and almost universally what I heard was the same response why have you come and the response would come I really don&#39;t know I just felt like I needed to time and time again why have you come I really don&#39;t know tears streaming down faces I just felt like I needed to there were over 400 people at this conference who came down during the gospel invitation over 400 mainly college students who had come down and responded during this gospel invitation but there was a small problem there had been no gospel there had been spiritual manipulation there had been emotional agitation but there had been no gospel Proclamation and at the end of this Soul stirring message it was wrapped up with a magnificent sh sales pitch that resulted in over 400 people walking down the aisle praying a prayer repeating after the individual standing there behind the podium and then going to sit down and talk with counselors now here&#39;s what was interesting they had come down the aisle and they had prayed this prayer basically went something like this I I if you want to receive Jesus Christ as your lord and savior if you want to go to heaven when you die repeat this prayer after me and meanness in Your Heart Lord Jesus I&#39;m a sinner and I I need you to save me you died for my sin and I&#39;m trusting you to save me if you prayed that prayer and you believed it then you&#39;ve been born again there&#39;s some counselors over here who want to talk with you and over 400 people go into the next room having been told that they were converted that they were on their way to heaven when they died but when they sat down with the counselors they had no idea why they had come they just felt like they needed to I wish I could say this was unusual but it&#39;s not It&#39;s Not Unusual at all I I I wish I could say that the organizers of this event after this individual who didn&#39;t come close to the gospel it was a skyscraper sermon one story on top of another on top of another okay and after his skyscraper SK sermon this man just did what he is known for cast the net and hundreds came and so I wish I could say that after this happened the organizers of the event said I cannot believe the kind of manipulation we just saw I cannot believe the kind of perversion of the Gospel we just saw we&#39;ll never have this man back again but that&#39;s not what the organizers of the conference said the organizers of the conference said see told you he was a harvester and he was back the next year still not coming close to preaching the gospel and having a lot of the people who had been there the year before responding again during the gospel invitation why don&#39;t know just felt like I needed to there are probably many of us in this room not probably some of you I&#39;ve had conversations with for some of you this is your story for some of you this is exactly where you were this is exactly what your experience was for some of you you wrestled with your salvation for years because of this kind of manipulative underhanded salesmanship that did not come close to the proclamation of the Gospel but was masterful in its ability to get you to feel like you needed to do whatever they were telling you to do at the end for some of you that was your story and you wrestled some of you for years after that why because you hadn&#39;t heard the gospel and you hadn&#39;t been converted but somebody told you that you were and after they told you that you were maybe they even told you to write down in your Bible write this date down in your Bible this day your name was sealed in the Lamb&#39;s Book of Life they told you to do it so you wrote it down hadn&#39;t heard the gospel hadn&#39;t been inverted but you repeat it after someone they told you that if you said what they said and you meant it and you meant it that you were going to heaven when you died write your little name in your Bible write the date in your Bible there&#39;s the date when your name was sealed in the Lamb&#39;s Book of Life but a week later a month later a year later there was nothing in you around you or about you that spoke to the truth of your conversion now what do you do I mean really what do you you do with that because now for the last several weeks or the last several months or the last several years you&#39;ve been telling people that you were a Christian You&#39; been telling people you got saved you remember the day you remember the hour you remember the moment you got saved you asked Jesus into your heart or another one you accepted Christ as your lord and savior you know there&#39;s only two things wrong with those phrases number one they&#39;re nowhere in the New Testament amen I asked Jesus into my heart I accepted Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior not New Testament phrases and secondly you can walk all around those things and be as lost as goose why here&#39;s what it all comes down to a failure to understand a failure to comprehend and a failure to accurately proclaim the gospel and that&#39;s what we&#39;re dealing with here in the book of First John the gospel what is true biblical conversion not this stuff that we see not this stuff that we hear about not this stuff that many of us have experienced that was as artificial as a $3 bill what is the gospel how do we Define the gospel how do we know the gospel when we see it is the gospel just you know three four propositions and then a formulaic prayer or is the gospel something broader than that here&#39;s the other thing that&#39;s interesting when you go through first John one of the things that we discover is this that the gospel no matter what we think the gospel is it&#39;s more than you think it is that&#39;s what you&#39;re going to learn as we walk through the book of First John whatever you think the gospel is more than you think it is for some people we think the gospel is actually the message that you share with people who are not saved so that they can get saved that is a woefully inaccurate understanding and description of the Gospel the gospel is not just something for lost people news flash if you&#39;re here and you&#39;ve been saved for 50 years you still need the gospel you&#39;re still living by the gospel the gospel doesn&#39;t just tell you how to be saved the go the gospel tells you how to be everything the gospel tells you how to understand everything the gospel tells you how to how how to interpret all things things it&#39;s the gospel our life is a gospel life our walk is a gospel walk our parenting ought to be gospel parenting our marriages ought to be gospel marriages the gospel is not just these few little propositions that are necessary in order to emotionally twist somebody&#39;s arm and get them to pray some formulaic prayer that is not the gospel unfortunately it&#39;s what passes for the gospel and the overwhelming majority of situations and circumstances it&#39;s what passes for the gospel and we&#39;re in the season now we&#39;re at the height of the Season we&#39;re in Vacation Bible School season the season that makes me sick to my stomach because little kids all over this country are being manipulated with a simplistic version of The Gospel and being convinced that if they just repeat after somebody that they&#39;ll be saved am I saying that a little kid can&#39;t get saved at a vacation bible school nope that&#39;s not what I&#39;m saying but here&#39;s what I&#39;m saying I wish I had a dollar for every time I talk to somebody who went through one of those experiences and then later on in their life said I really didn&#39;t know what to do because when I was five or six or seven I prayed the prayer that they told me I should pray but later on in my life I didn&#39;t really feel like I was saved but I had prayed that prayer and they had told me that I was a Christian there was nothing in my life that bore evidence to the fact that I was a Christian I didn&#39;t know what to do in the first four chapters of the first four verses rather of First John which we&#39;re going to look at today we we get a picture of the magnitude of the significance of the Gospel again we we don&#39;t get all of it we we we could be here from now until every last one of us dies and we wouldn&#39;t get all of it amen we cannot exhaust it but we&#39;re going to get a picture of the magnitude and the significance of the Gospel here in the first four verses of the book of First John because this is what John&#39;s after and John&#39;s after the true gospel the real gospel as opposed to the false gospel because there are false teachers so he is taking false teachers on toe to toe nose to nose eye to eye there is a true gospel and there is a false gospel we need to understand that and not everybody who claims to be preaching the gospel is preaching the true gospel there are many who are preaching a false gospel and John shows us this in the book of First John specific things that he deals with here some of them we&#39;re still de dealing with today but others of them with far-reaching implic lications for some of the other heresies with which we wrestle Even in our time listen as he begins that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we Proclaim to you you also so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete we see here this picture of the Gospel we see this picture of of the the the nature of the gospel and we also see a picture of the impact of the Gospel as it relates to the nature of the Gospel let&#39;s look at what he says here beginning that first verse that which was from the beginning that which was from the beginning folks ultimately the gospel if you just want to boil it down is about the person and work of Jesus Christ ultimately the gospel is about the person and work of Jesus Christ now if you think that is simplistic let&#39;s just unpack it for a few moments here cuz that&#39;s a mouthful the person and work of Jesus Christ Christ who is the person of Jesus Christ there are theology books filled with the answer to that question what are the works of Jesus Christ there are theology books multiple volumes filled with the anwers to that question so when we say the person and work of Jesus Christ we&#39;re not being reductionistic here we&#39;re just giving you the broadest categories because even here in this first verse that which was from the beginning in that statement alone we get a picture of the nature of Christ of the person of Christ that which was from the beginning means that Christ is eternal means that he always has been means that he did not come into existence in the manger means that he was and is and is to come listen to what Calvin writes commenting on this verse the words that which was from the beginning refer doubtless to the Divinity of Christ for God manifested In the Flesh was not from the beginning but he who always was life and the Eternal Word of God appeared in the fullness of time as man what a poignant statement there are so many who look at the person of Jesus Christ and they say Jesus is a good man he&#39;s a good teacher he&#39;s a good Prophet all over the place there are people who want to who want to who want to say to Jesus or about Jesus good things wonderful things loving things about Jesus you turn on your tele television people are not talking bad about Jesus people will say things like we like Jesus we just don&#39;t like Christians is&#39;t that what we hear but when they talk about Jesus they&#39;re just referring to a guru they&#39;re referring to a teacher they&#39;re referring to some guy who did some very important stuff that&#39;s not enough if that&#39;s all we believe then we don&#39;t believe the gospel because the gospel is about Jesus Christ and who he truly is the person of Christ the nature of Christ and we see here his existence in eternity that Jesus Christ existed in eternity if we don&#39;t believe in a Jesus that existed in eternity we don&#39;t believe in the Jesus of the Bible and if we don&#39;t believe in the Jesus of the Bible we cannot claim the Salvation that the Bible offers it is only to the degree that we believe in Jesus as he is presented that we believe the gospel I mean how how many times have we had this experience you know we meet over here there&#39;s another congregation meeting over in the other side we&#39;ve had a number of occasions where people kind of showed up Fellowship meal time they were going you know we we we were over there I we now what if those people had left you know those people had gone to the other church either when the other president Presbyterian Church was over here the new church was over here they go to that church and they visit that place or they came to the right address they they they went to church they could go back they could have gone back had they not figured out what their mistake was they could have gone back and somebody said to them hey did you go visit Grace Family Baptist church and they could have said yep we did but did they no cuz we were over here they were over there they they they visited the right address they just didn&#39;t come into the right meeting and that&#39;s where many people are with Christ they&#39;re close they got the right name they&#39;ve even got the right time period they even have some of the right sayings they they&#39;re phrases that they Proclaim that are the phrases that came straight out of the mouth of Jesus but they&#39;re wrong on the person of Christ they&#39;re wrong on the nature of Christ and if you press them on the issue do you believe that Jesus J is co-eternal with the Father which by the way means that he is God Almighty not close to God not like God not almost God he&#39;s God do you believe that Jesus is God that&#39;s the gospel folks if we don&#39;t believe in Jesus as God we don&#39;t believe the gospel and if we are not proclaiming Jesus as God we are not proclaiming the gospel and here&#39;s the problem with much of what is passing for gospel preaching today it begins man centered and what we do is we try to get our hands around the need in the heart of man as Rick Warren has said in his book the purpose-driven church I believe you can lead anyone to Christ if you just find the right felt need you find whatever that person&#39;s need is and then you demonstrate to them how Jesus can meet that need you&#39;re not clear about who Jesus is other than listen to me from your perspective and inside your world Jesus can be the answer to that problem you have that&#39;s what passes for gospel preaching in most instances Jesus can be whatever you need is your marriage Rocky Jesus can be a marriage fixer is your health bad Jesus can be your healer problems with your kids Jesus can fix that problems with your finances he&#39;s a provider all of those things whatever that need is that you have that&#39;s what Jesus can be for you and he wants to be that for you don&#39;t you want him to be that for you what person in their right mind is going to say nah I just stay all messed up over here just just n and then you just take the next step but there&#39;s a problem so how have we couched the gospel we started with you and your yearnings and after we&#39;ve showed you you and your yearnings and how this Jesus can be the answer for you and your yearnings we then go to oh but there&#39;s a problem okay well maybe there&#39;s hope here are we going to define the problem correctly no we don&#39;t even Define the problem correctly we don&#39;t even deal with the issue of sin and repentance what&#39;s the problem the problem is you haven&#39;t accepted him the problem is you haven&#39;t asked him into your heart so how do you overcome the problem accept Jesus ask Jesus into your heart you know Jesus is the king of the universe not worried about you accepting him amen but that&#39;s how we&#39;re couching the gospel and that&#39;s what people are responding to that&#39;s why you can come up to people after they&#39;ve accepted Christ and ask them a few questions about who Christ is and they don&#39;t know how do I know this done it done whenever I&#39;m around one of those rooms whenever I&#39;m around one of those gospel invitations I always want to go and talk to people always if I can do it I will do it I&#39;ll get there I&#39;ll sit down I want to talk to people tell me about this Jesus that you just accepted what is his nature what is his Essence and there are people who hear they just pray to receive Christ you tell them that Jesus is God that he&#39;s Eternal and they look at you like The Man in the Moon I don&#39;t know about all that that&#39;s not what I signed up for no what I signed up for was it&#39;s some bad stuff in my life and they told me about this guy who could fix that bad stuff in my life now you talking about all this he&#39;s God stuff I&#39;m not going there but I accepted him John starts with that which was from the beginning you want to understand the gospel understand the nature and the person of Christ that he is co-eternal with the father and it&#39;s interesting he uses that phrase from the beginning he could have used another phrase I&#39;ll explain to you why he did that in a moment but for now listen to this Micah 52 but you oh Bethlehem EPA who are too little the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel whose origin is from old from Ancient of Days we know John 1:1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God we also know John 8: 58 where Jesus looks at the Pharisees and says I tell you the truth before Abraham existed I am John 17 verse 5 now father glorify me in your own presence with theor Glory that I had with you before the world existed John 17:24 father I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world Ephesians chapter 1 and verse4 even as he chose us before excuse me even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love Hebrews 7:3 he is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever and then we get into Revelation 1 and verse 8 I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and was and is to come Revelation 11: 7 when I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead who&#39;s this this is is Jesus but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one I died and behold I&#39;m alive forever more and I have the keys of death and Hades Revelation chap 2 and verse 8 until the angel of the church at smyrner write the words of the first and the last Jesus Christ is co-eternal with the Father Paul puts it this way in Philippians let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who although he existed in the form of God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped Jesus is co-eternal with the father but the phrase he uses here is quite interesting he says that which was from the beginning now what he could have said was that which was from eternity but he chooses the word beginning that which was from the beginning why he&#39;s not just interested in telling us about this Jesus who is eternal he justed telling us about this Jesus who&#39;s the creator of the world that which was from the beginning in the beginning what happens in the beginning in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth interestingly enough in that verse we already quoted when we talked about John chap 1 verse one if we continue in the beginning was the word the word was with God the Word was God he was in the beginning with God God through him all things were made and apart from him nothing was made that has been made Colossians chapter 1 beginning at verse 15 very similar he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were made in heaven and on Earth whether rulers or dominions or Thrones or Powers all things have been made by him and for him not only do we see Jesus existing in eternity but we also see Jesus creating in power listen to this from the Nan Creed we believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of the father before all worlds God of gods light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the father by whom all things were made Jesus Christ is the creator of all things he&#39;s not just co-eternal with the father he is co-creator with the father Jesus Christ is the creator of all things he&#39;s the ruler of all things there is nothing outside of the realm of his sovereignty or his power that&#39;s who we&#39;re talking about not just a good teacher not just a good man but we&#39;re talking about the one who spoke the world into existence that&#39;s this Jesus if we&#39;re not proclaiming that we&#39;re not proclaiming the gospel if that&#39;s not the Jesus about whom we speak we are not proclaiming the gospel it&#39;s not just this man- centered picture of what I need to be satisfied what I need to be fulfilled Jesus is who he is regardless of what I feel like I need and he is what I need whether I know it or not amen I mean after all who am I to think that I&#39;m wise enough to even know what I need I I don&#39;t know about you but that&#39;s not me I&#39;m not wise enough to know what I need but God knows what I need so in this proclamation of the Gospel we we see Jesus having existed from eternity we see Jesus having created in power but then look at what else he said what else he says which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life by the way this phrase these phrases are very important because if you remember the heresy that he&#39;s dealing with with is a heresy this Aryan heresy this idea that Jesus did not come in the in in the flesh this idea that Jesus was just sort of this spirit being sometimes it was this sort of docetic heresy other times it was carinthian gnosticism now the difference between the two is one says that he was a spirit being upon whom deity came others says he was a spirit being who never actually had anything than this spiritual manifestation but the idea is that matter is evil therefore God would never sort of inhabit matter so so Jesus could not have been God unless he didn&#39;t really inhabit matter it just looked like he did John deals with this heresy so what does he say what we&#39;ve heard matter what we&#39;ve seen with our eyes matter matter what we&#39;ve looked upon and touched with our hands matter concerning the Word of Life verse two the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we&#39;ve seen and heard we Proclaim to you also the gospel is about Christ who existed before all things things the gospel is about Christ who created the world and all things in the world and therefore has a claim on all things in the world and the gospel is about Christ who revealed himself in time and in history that&#39;s what the gospel&#39;s about you know there are those for example um I don&#39;t know how many of you familiar with the emerging Church movement or certain books within within the emerging Church movement but one of the most popular books among the emerging Church movement is a book called Blue like jazz and in blue like jazz the author basically makes this Proclamation whether this stuff was really true historically or not that&#39;s not ultimately the question question is just whether or not we believe it how about that it doesn&#39;t sound like John&#39;s attitude John&#39;s attitude is not hey you know what these gnostics they&#39;re wrong on the nature and the essence of Jesus but they&#39;re calling on his name they can&#39;t be that bad sure they believe he was just a spirit being but but certainly they can&#39;t be that bad I mean can&#39;t we all just get along I mean after all they&#39;re Believers we&#39;re Believers we we just we just we just different differ on a few little things here like the nature of the Son of God you know what John&#39;s attitude was toward that turn with me to the right and look at chapter 4 for just a minute these first three verses in chapter 4 beloved do not believe every Spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God for many false prophets have gone out into the world now now we got him calling people false prophets verse Two by this you know the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God ain&#39;t that interesting he&#39;s talking directly about the gnostics and directly to the gnostics and what does he say he says every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ Has Come In the Flesh that&#39;s the spirit that&#39;s from God now is he saying that if that&#39;s all somebody&#39;s got that that&#39;s enough no he&#39;s addressing a specific heresy here and what he&#39;s saying is Jesus revealed himself in space and time and in history and the historical facts matter and if people are wrong on the historical facts they&#39;re wrong on the gospel look at the next verse every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the Antichrist now they&#39;re not just false prophets they&#39;re not from God and they&#39;re Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already that&#39;s John&#39;s attitude John&#39;s attitude is this is too important for us not to stand up this is too important for us not to face off this is too important for us not to point out every time we see it and he says we&#39;re proclaiming to you the gospel number one we&#39;re proclaiming this Jesus who is eternal we&#39;re proclaiming this Jesus who created the world we&#39;re proclaiming this Jesus who revealed himself in history in human flesh God wrapped himself in flesh and he came as a man by the way that&#39;s incredibly important why because that&#39;s the way he died for us as a man that&#39;s the way he represented us as a man that&#39;s the way he expressed his obedience to God remember we&#39;ve talked about this before but let me put it in a different context for you we&#39;ve talked about Jesus Christ and sacrifice and his passive obedience and his active obedience sound familiar we talked about this several times the active Obedience of Christ is how Christ fulfilled the law Christ was obedient to the law he fulfilled the law and he was righteous under the law that was the active Obedience of Christ now the active Obedience of Christ was accompanied by the passive Obedience of Christ the passive of obedience of Christ is that obedience whereby he allowed himself to be crucified as a penal substitutionary atonement for those he came to redeem now why is the active Obedience of Christ important because it&#39;s the active Obedience of Christ that&#39;s imputed to us as righteousness God looks at you and me as a complete lawkeeper why because Christ in his active obedience kept the law on behalf of those he came to redeem God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him imputed righteousness you you&#39;re not righteous because you die that&#39;s not where we get imputed righteousness from Christ we get imputed righteousness from Christ because as a man he obeyed where Adam did not therefore he was righteous therefore he can impute his righteousness to Those whom he came to redeem now here&#39;s the context if Jesus was not really a man we have no imputed righteousness you can&#39;t get there from here cuz the law only applies to those of us who are man the descendants of Adam we got a problem because of our federal head Adam well how do we come under our federal head Adam through physical birth into this world well if Jesus never experienced physical birth into this world then he cannot undo what Adam did he had to be a man if he doesn&#39;t become a man he can&#39;t impute righteousness to us that that&#39;s why John makes a big deal out of this John makes a big deal out of this because he says number one these individuals are outside the camp not inside the camp and number two if you begin to accept even to the smallest degree what they are teaching you will begin to undermine the very doctrines upon which the gospel are built and if you don&#39;t have imputed righteousness you don&#39;t have the gospel that&#39;s why this is a big deal that&#39;s why he uses this language that&#39;s why he talks about this and he goes back again and again and again and again what we&#39;ve seen what we&#39;ve heard what we&#39;ve touched with our hands he was physical by the way here&#39;s another thing that&#39;s very interesting the gnostics are always on John&#39;s mind couple of examples that we get from John&#39;s gospel for example that we don&#39;t get from other gospels you know one of the things we get from John&#39;s gospel that we don&#39;t get from other gospels Thomas put your hand in my side touch the wounds on my hands we get that in John&#39;s gospel why because John&#39;s the the Gnostic Warrior that&#39;s what he does he fights the gnostics and even in his gospel he&#39;s talking about the things that the other writers don&#39;t even think of at the Forefront of their minds did it happen absolutely it did that&#39;s why it&#39;s proclaimed in the gospel but other writers look at that and don&#39;t see it to the same degree of importance as John does when he sees it because now he&#39;s thinking about the gnostics you know what the gnostics are saying that Jesus was not flesh news flash we touched him after the resurrection here&#39;s another thing you see in John&#39;s gospel That You Don&#39;t See in other place the fish fry why is it important to record that Jesus is eating fish it&#39;s very important to record that Jesus ate fish after his resurrection if you&#39;re doing battle with the gnostics cuz the gnostics don&#39;t believe he was flesh he&#39;s not flesh what he doing at the fish fry it&#39;s important wrong on Jesus wrong on the gospel if we&#39;re not proclaiming Jesus we&#39;re not proclaiming the gospel if we&#39;re not proclaiming these works of Christ we&#39;re not proclaiming the gospel here&#39;s the other thing look at with me in verse two the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we Proclaim to you so that you may have fellowship with us so that you may have fellowship with us here&#39;s what&#39;s interesting if you don&#39;t get this you don&#39;t have fellowship with us we&#39;re proclaiming this so that you can have fellowship with us in other words why do I need to Proclaim something to you in order for you to have fellowship with me if you already have fellowship with me we see the exclusivity of the Gospel here in other words this refutes universalism this sort of universal Brotherhood of Man all of us will ultimately be saved no without the proclamation of the Gospel there is no salvation without without our response to the gospel biblical response to the gospel there is no salvation there is no Fellowship there if we&#39;re not responding to the gospel as it was proclaimed if we&#39;re not responding to the right gospel there is no Fellowship there if we&#39;re not responding to the gospel as it&#39;s proclaimed there is no Fellowship there so he says these individuals are outside of Fellowship that&#39;s the spirit of antichrist in Chapter 2 they went out from among us because they weren&#39;t all of us if they were of us they would have remained but they went out so that it might be shown that they were not all of us you see what he&#39;s doing there just in the next chapter he&#39;s already dealing with that the exclusivity of Christ it is only through a right understanding of the Gospel and it is only through an appropriate response to the gospel that we have fellowship with Christ and that we have fellowship with one another and that only comes through our proclamation of the Gospel we must proclaim the gospel now here&#39;s what&#39;s so ironic many of us don&#39;t proclaim the gospel because we think proclaiming the gospel is divisive when the fact is the opposite is true it&#39;s only through the proclamation of of the Gospel that we experience true Unity anything else is a lie anything else is not true if we look at one another and say you know what we we just we just won&#39;t talk about those things because we know we disagree about those things we&#39;ll just find areas where we have a no no no no we got to get those things on the table amen all of those things have to be on the table because that&#39;s where true Unity comes I I if you and I as frail human beings try to come closer to one another we&#39;ll mess it up every time but if you and I as frail human beings walk closer and closer to Christ we automatically come closer to one another we&#39;re going to do it we&#39;re going to do it it&#39;s interesting Trey and I were talking about this the other day we&#39;ve had the opportunity to be in several places I mean just just this year with Believers from all over the place and he made the comment it seems like wherever we go we see the same people I mean wherever we go we see the same people we just we just flew back this morning on the Redeye from Oregon got on on a flight 12:30 last night in Portland so we can fly and get here 6:30 this morning to Houston amen hallelujah praise the Lord I&#39;m want to go to sleep okay so so we just flew back but you know what whether we&#39;re it was in Oregon or the weekend before that in Colorado or wherever we go we we meet brothers and sisters in the Lord how does that happen you go from here to Russia from here to China from here to Zambia from here to Romania and you meet brothers and sisters in the Lord I mean you have stuff in common you know each other you love each other and all of a sudden in a couple of days you feel like you know what i&#39; lay my life down for this brother what is that that&#39;s the fellowship that we have with one another when we have fellowship with Christ that&#39;s what the gospel gives us and only the gospel gives us that nothing else does that it&#39;s the gospel that unifies us and here&#39;s what&#39;s unfortunate because the gospel is being polluted in our culture we have a fragmented so-called Christian Community and here&#39;s what everybody&#39;s saying Christians can&#39;t even get together and agree on things what does it look like to the world when Christians can&#39;t even get together and agree on things if Christians could unify we could change this culture i AG agree wholeheartedly problem is a lot of people call themselves Christians or not you can&#39;t have Unity that way the reason we don&#39;t have Unity is because we&#39;re trying to have Unity apart from the gospel you only have Unity to the degree that we&#39;re tenacious about the gospel that&#39;s the only way we have Unity with one another because that&#39;s the only way we have Unity with God and that&#39;s what John says here fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and his son Jesus Christ we we&#39;re proclaiming this to you because if you believe the other gospel or if you believe a perversion of the Gospel you&#39;re not going to have fellowship with God and therefore you&#39;re not going to have fellowship with us so we&#39;re proclaiming this to you because we want to have fellowship with you not because we want to drive you away oh Doctrine divides you know no Doctrine unites amen the only time Doctrine divides is when somebody&#39;s sin doesn&#39;t want to accept the doctrine and in that case it&#39;s not doctrine that divides it&#39;s sin and Disobedience that divides and we need to divide over that well you going to say Jesus is just some Middle Eastern Guru and we&#39;re supposed to unite you might as well no that you can&#39;t do that that&#39;s like a man coming up to me insulting my wife but wanting to shake hands and be my friend well you not going to shake my hand no I&#39;m not going to shake your hand I need my hand free to punch you in the mouth not really kids not not not not really okay but but I I&#39;m think about that for a moment a man walks up he insults your wife man I can&#39;t stand your wife wife she just I just I I hate her but I really want us to be friends well what do you do we go well okay no no no no no no you can&#39;t we can&#39;t do that how is it that we can get that and we can understand that but when somebody insults my Jesus my Savior my master my Lord Lord King of Kings God of gods when somebody insults Jesus Christ we&#39;re supposed to say can&#39;t we all just get along no there&#39;s no Unity there there&#39;s no Unity there if you&#39;re wrong on my Jesus I have but one goal and that one goal is this for you to get right on Jesus why because if you&#39;re wrong on Jesus you don&#39;t have Unity with me me that&#39;s the least of your problems you don&#39;t have Unity with God that&#39;s what the gospel does and then here&#39;s this last phrase I love it in verse four we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete we&#39;re writing these things so that our joy may be complete I love that I mean it almost seems like it doesn&#39;t fit there&#39;s this there&#39;s this pmic argument going on where basically he&#39;s saying there&#39;s false teachers out there and some of you might even be listening to the false teachers cuz some have actually left because of what the false teachers are teaching these false teachers are messing up the gospel they&#39;re wrong on the gospel and if you&#39;re wrong on the gospel you don&#39;t have fellowship with God and you don&#39;t have fellowship with us and so it seems like John is just sort of standing there and he&#39;s going Toe to Toe and nose to nose and eye to eye and it sounds like like that no no no that&#39;s not what John&#39;s doing here here John&#39;s not doing one of these he&#39;s doing one of these he&#39;s saying come on do you understand the significance of what you&#39;re doing you&#39;re polluting the gospel there will be no Unity when you pollute the gospel but if you hold on to the gospel to the real gospel to the true gospel there&#39;s Unity between us and there&#39;s there&#39;s Unity with you and the father and that makes my joy complete I I don&#39;t know about you but I&#39;m not happy when people are wrong on the gospel I&#39;m not I don&#39;t sit there and go oh wow great they&#39;re going to die and spend eternity separated from God in hell no that doesn&#39;t make my joy complete in fact I I I thought about this and as I thought about this statement I kept running back over the statement again and again in my mind do I really mean that do I really mean that and here&#39;s the statement nothing should bring us more joy than seeing Sinners redeemed nothing should bring us more joy than seeing Sinners redeemed and the unfortunate reality is that for some of us that&#39;s not true for some of us we think there are things that more important than that there are things that bring us more joy than that for some of us in this room we&#39;re more concerned about the right person being elected to an office than we are about Sinners being redeemed how do I know that because for some of us you look at the time and energy that we put into our political efforts and you look at the time and energy that we put into proclaiming the gospel and the answer becomes clear we would much rather have our guy our laws then we would to have Sinners redeemed for the cause of Christ some of us have come to this place nothing brings us more joy than than than to see Sinners redeemed well well what about no no no the most joyous thing in the world is is is is is the birth of a child it&#39;s the most joyous thing in the world no it&#39;s not no it&#39;s not because from the moment that child is born into your home what do you want more than anything else for them to be born again to have a child born into your home and that child never be born again that would not satisfy you it won&#39;t it won&#39;t I hope it won&#39;t that&#39;s not enough just having a baby come into the house that&#39;s not enough no it&#39;s glorious when that child is born but from that moment on what burns in US oh God would you would you save them would you redeem them would you rescue them I want my child to be in heaven with me I want him to be saved I want him to be born again successful in business yeah whatever fine born again though see him getting married yeah that&#39;s great marriage wonderful thing but born again though my children are never married but they&#39;re born again I&#39;m all right if they&#39;re never successful in business but they&#39;re born again I&#39;m all right if they never Ace an exam but they&#39;re born again I&#39;m all right if they never Master a piano concerto but they&#39;re born again I&#39;m all right because the most glorious thing in this world is when the Lost Sinner is saved and my prayer for us is that we never lose that that we never miss that cuz that&#39;s what John says makes his Joy complete his Joy is not complete without that and some of you in this church you&#39;re satisfied just being part of a family integrated Church shame on you shame on you if that&#39;s your if that&#39;s the case shame on you who cares if we find a family integrated church but lost Sinners never get saved in fact the reason that we&#39;re committed to this format is because we believe that it&#39;s the most effective way to carry out the Great Commission not just because we hate youth groups it&#39;s not about what we&#39;re against it&#39;s about what we&#39;re for we&#39;re for the Great Commission we&#39;re for seeing people reached with the gospel and being taught to obey all the things that he&#39;s taught us and we believe the most effective place for that teaching of all things to happen is in the home that&#39;s what we believe but it&#39;s not just about the homes we got it&#39;s about the homes we don&#39;t have yet as I said yet it&#39;s about the homes that we don&#39;t have yet is your heart broken over the homes we don&#39;t have yet when you ride out of your neighborhood Hood when you ride out of your neighborhood do you look down your nose at the people who are playing golf do you look down your nose at the people who are riding their bikes do you look down your nose at your neighbors whose cars are still in the driveway or do you say oh God give us those Souls which is it which is it I I wish I could say I was always on the right side of that sometimes I&#39;m looking down my nose but I pray that God would give me the attitude that present here in 1 John 1 and verse4 my joy is not complete just looking down my nose at other people cuz they don&#39;t go where I go on Sundays my joy is only complete when the gospel penetrates the hearts and lives of lost Sinners and rescues them from where they&#39;re headed now and puts them on A New Path redeems their life redeems their future redeems their family that&#39;s what we&#39;re we&#39;re about that&#39;s what we got to be about and if your joy can be made complete without that then you don&#39;t understand the gospel cuz once we understand the gospel our joy is never complete unless and until the gospel is having its full impact and full effect here and its full impact and full effect out there that&#39;s what we desire more than anything else more than anything else good laws I&#39;ll praise God for good laws good lawmakers I&#39;ll praise God for good lawmakers whatever am i counting on that nope not by a long shot we&#39;re pulling our hair out oh California has gay marriages they&#39;re happening right now can you believe it here&#39;s the news flash they got the law they wanted and it still happened do you know that California got the law they wanted the homosexual marriages are taking place right now all over my home state of California even though Californians went and 61% of them voted and they got the law passed that they wanted but here&#39;s the problem the problem in California is not the law the problem is the depravity of man and law can&#39;t fix that you know what you do when you put up a law against the depravity of man it&#39;s like putting up a levy against the flood you know when you put up a levy against the flood you don&#39;t stop the flood floods don&#39;t stop they just get diverted we get the levy up high enough here all we did was let the flood go down there with our laws we&#39;re getting up the levies am I against getting up the levies no no no I&#39;m not against getting up the levies but here&#39;s my point I want the hearts and minds of men I want Souls saved I&#39;m not satisfied when that homosexual couple is not allowed to walk to a courtroom in California or Massachusetts or anywhere else and get married I don&#39;t say no no no no no I&#39;m not satisfied and my joy is not complete until the gospel has penetrated those lives and they have been released saved and rescued from their depravity until then my joy is not complete How Could my joy be complete with individuals who are condemned they&#39;re still condemned but they didn&#39;t get to do what I didn&#39;t want them to do who cares I want them redeemed that&#39;s what I want that&#39;s when our joy is complete only at the point and only at the place of redemption that&#39;s what we&#39;re after do we always give it no we don&#39;t always get it but that&#39;s God&#39;s business not ours we just Proclaim and we continue to Proclaim and we Proclaim and Proclaim and Proclaim again and some of the people to whom we need to Proclaim are individuals who think they&#39;re among us because they&#39;ve heard a perversion of the Gospel they&#39;ve heard a man centered emotionally spiritually manipulative Jesus exists to make you happy version of The Gospel and what they need is the God of this universe created this world and everything in it he owns it he runs it and he reigns Supreme over it and that means you got a problem and your problem is you your problem is your sin and God addresses your problem how because that King that Lord that Master wrapped himself in flesh and entered into history as a man he entered into history as a man and revealed himself to men so that they could record for us the fact that number one he kept the whole law and was righteous therefore he can impute righteousness to those who place their faith in him and number two he died for sin once for all the just for the unjust in that he might bring us back to God and because of his active and passive obedience he pays the penalty that we owed and can impute to us righteousness and then and only then can you and I stand forgiven before a holy and just and righteous God when we repent of our sin and place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not before that&#39;s what we Proclaim because that&#39;s what brings us Unity if we don&#39;t get there we don&#39;t get unity and it&#39;s only the proclamation of the gospel and it&#39;s only the proper response to the gospel that brings us to a place where our joy is made complete I don&#39;t just want you to not do bad stuff I want God to save you and for you to not be who you are but to be a new creature in Christ if you&#39;re struggling to not do bad stuff that&#39;s not gospel living gospel living is we&#39;re more than conquerors if you&#39;re one of those individuals who&#39;s been manipulated and cheated my prayer for you is that you would come to a place of authentic faith and genuine repentance before for almighty God that you would trust in him and him alone the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross his active and passive obedience his imputed righteousness unto you and his penal substitutionary atoning death on the cross that and nothing but that that you would see your sinfulness for what it is that you would flee from it with everything that you have that you would turn from it and that you would turn to Christ and to Christ Alone to be redeemed to be forgiven and to be saved that&#39;s my prayer for you and that as a result of that you become a new creature in Christ you bear fruit that you can&#39;t manufacture or fake on your own and you have Unity with the Brethren because you have Unity with God that&#39;s my prayer for you my prayer is that you don&#39;t leave this place till you have that for

Transcript for:Understanding the Gospel: A Lecture Summary

Transcript for:
Understanding the Gospel: A Lecture Summary