Our Responsibility 2

I put it out last week that is God's
people we have been charged with a
responsibility of declaring what the
Bible calls the whole wheel or the whole
Council of God Paul puts it this way in
Acts chapter 20 verse 27
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you
the whole wheel or the whole Council of
God and the whole will of God
we saw last week is the sum total of
God's program of salvation through faith
in Jesus Christ and that program of
salvation we saw can most readily be
summed up in these four words if we can
have that slide up creation fall
Redemption and restoration creation
means that God created the universe and
that we are responsible to live before
his face the fall means that we have
offended God we have been exiled from
him we are under Satan's control all the
trouble that we experience in the world
is of our own making
God stepped in in Redemption through the
person of Jesus so that by faith in
Jesus our sins could be atoned for we
could be declared righteous before God
and we could become eligible for the
blessings of His grace and then
restoration is God's promise that one
day he is going to make all things new
that's the whole council the whole
saving program of God and that message
of the whole Council of God has two
aspects to it it has a positive aspect
it has a negative aspect the positive
aspect is that when we come to
repentance in faith believe the word of
God receive Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior
becomes our Father we become his
children we become eligible for his
blessings the negative side of the
gospel one that we don't like to talk
about very much is that if we refuse to
believe the good news of the gospel
god's judgment falls on us and we will
be separated from God eternally in short
we go to hell that is not a very
pleasant prospect and the job of the
church in declaring the whole Council of
God is to warn people around us of those
realities of the need for faith in Jesus
and the consequences of not walking with
Jesus that's why later on in this
particular passage verse 31 the Apostle
Paul says remember that for three years
I never stopped
warding each of you night and day with
tears and that is also why he says in
the passage before us I declare to you
today I am that I am innocent of the
blood of all men for I have not
hesitated to proclaim to you the whole
will or the whole counsel of God Paul is
innocent of their blood because as we
have seen if we warn people and they
don't hear or heed they will be lost but
it's their own doing on the other hand
if we don't warn them they will still be
lost but Ezekiel says the blood is on
our heads and that's why Paul has not
hesitated to declare the whole Council
of God and that's why he says I am
innocent of the blood of all of you
that's where we want to pick it up this
morning because why would may be true
for the Apostle Paul that he can say I
did not hesitate I did not shrink from
declaring to you the whole counsel of
God
chances are you and I living at the time
of history where we are living probably
cannot say that quite as boldly I dare
say that most of us pull back can think
of many situations where we should have
spoken up should have said something
didn't because we were afraid of how it
was going to be received and in the time
that we have this morning I want to give
you what I believe are three primary
reasons list is not exclusive but three
primary reasons why God's people often
hesitate to speak the truth to our
communities and to our neighbors I one
of the young men from here talked to me
after the service last week he'd been
doing some studying on this in
preparation for teaching youth and he
discovered statistically 98 percent of
believing Christians typically do not
share their faith with unbelievers did
you know that that's a pretty high
percentage
why are we so hesitant I'll give you
three reasons this morning in the time
that we have number one the message of
the Cross which is really the summary of
the whole Council of God is inherently
offensive the message of the Cross the
message of the gospel is inherently
offensive to the natural man listen to
these scriptures 1 Corinthians 1 verse
18 the message of the Cross Paul says is
foolishness to those who are perishing
but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God 2nd Corinthians chapter 2
15 and 16 we are he says speaking of the
church to God
the aroma of Christ among those who are
being saved and those who are perishing
to the one we are the smell of death and
to the other we are the fragrance
of life we are the aroma of Christ we
are the smell of death and we are the
fragrance of life and what he means by
that is that as we live the gospel and
we proclaim the gospel there is this
twofold reaction among people those who
are elect those whom God has destined if
you will for eternal glory
they hear the message of the Cross it
resonates with them it brings them to
their knees they come to faith and they
embrace the gospel that same message to
those who refuse to believe and refuse
to bend the knee that gospel is
offensive and it drives them away and
the reason for that is the very context
of the message of the cross itself
forget for a moment whether it's
proclaim properly or dawn forget for a
moment whether you know we're gentle or
abusive or overbearing lay that all
aside the message of the Cross itself
God's saving plan in Christ is offensive
and it's offensive for this reason it's
offensive because in order to become a
child of God I have to acknowledge that
God exists I have to acknowledge that he
created everything good I have to
acknowledge that the world is a mess
because we have sinned against God we
have invited the devil in we are selfish
we are the cause of our own greatest
conflict in turmoil we cannot save
ourselves we need to humble ourselves
before God we need to come to faith in
Jesus we cannot do anything to make
ourselves righteous before God having
come to Jesus we need his strength to
enable us to live for
go on so that we can share in God's
glory and if we refuse to do that God's
gonna wipe us out he's gonna send
everybody to hell including all my
family members who do not accept the
good news of the gospel now you think
that might make a few people upset the
gospel is inherently offensive I want us
to understand that has nothing to do
with how we presented or how nicely we
package it you cannot preach Christ
crucified and risen without stirring the
wrath of the natural man and the reason
for that I believe is threefold
number one it offends human pride it
offends human pride pride says I can do
it myself
pride says I'm kind of like God you know
a little bit like cats
pride says I don't want to admit that
I'm wrong
pride says who does God think he is that
he can tell me how I ought to live I can
live the way that I want to that's the
human heart and guess what the cross
cuts across all of that pride because
this is what God says - the pride of the
human heart in Isaiah chapter 2 if we
can are these slides moving today the
Lord Almighty has a day in store for all
the proud and lofty for all that is
exalted and they will be humbled the
arrogance of man will be brought low and
the pride of men humbled the Lord alone
will be exalted in that day pride gets
hurt when God says you're bad
and I need to change you and if you
don't let me change you you're in
trouble
second reason is that the gospel doesn't
rationally make sense to the natural man
listen to what Paul says 1 Corinthians
2:14 the man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God for they are foolishness
to him and he cannot understand them
because they are spiritually discerned
2nd Corinthians 4:4 same kind of thing
the god of this age that is Satan has
blinded the minds of unbelievers so they
cannot see the light of the gospel of
the glory of God of Christ who is the
image of God I mean the book of Romans
says that every pagan looking at
creation ought to be able to discern
jazz by looking at creation that God is
and that he is powerful and that he is
worthy of being served yet what happens
to the human race as we unveil and
uncover the complexities of nature does
it drive us to and he's not at all
it makes us come up with all kinds of
theories that explain the universe apart
from God how can people be so blind well
that god of this age has blinded them
don't be surprised when you try to share
the gospel with somebody that it goes in
one ear and out the other because apart
from the work of God's Holy Spirit that
natural man is utterly blind
it doesn't rationally make sense that's
why so many people when they read the
Bible they say doesn't make any sense to
me I don't get it and they quit reading
it because it doesn't speak to them it
only speaks after you've come to faith
in Jesus there's still a third reason
why the message of the Cross is
offensive and that is that it exposes
our true condition what's the first
thing Adam and Eve did in the garden
after they ate the forbidden fruit they
knew they were naked and
they do they covered themselves with fig
leaves why because they were ashamed
they knew they had to hide what's the
first thing you and I do by nature when
we get caught in something we hide we
hide from ourselves we hide from God we
hide from others that is the natural
human response along comes the gospel
along comes the message of Christ along
comes the truth of God guess what
happens our fig leaves get pulled away
and like Adam and Eve we get found out
and we discover that we have been naked
Hebrews 4:12 13 the Word of God is
living and active sharper than any
double-edged sword it penetrates even to
dividing soul and spirit joins and
joints and marrow it judges the thoughts
and the attitudes of the heart nothing
in all creation is hidden from God's
sight everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we
must give account see that's why
sometimes going to church is miserable
business you think you're in pretty good
shape until God's Word is presented and
it speaks to the depths of your heart
and it exposes who we really are and
that's a good thing if it leads you to
repentance and if it leads you to faith
it is healing it is cleansing and it's
restoring it's incredibly good news for
God's people but if you're not ready to
bend the knee and you want to be what
you are not before the sight of God it's
miserable and so for that reason it's
not only the message of the cross
is inherently offensive to people it
also makes people extremely angry in my
book when trouble strikes handling the
losses in your life and a number of you
have been reading it and have found that
I found it profitable I think I tell the
story of a rich southern American land
owner who piously goes to church every
Sunday but whose reputation with the
people that work for him
is extremely negative because he abuses
them new preacher came to the
congregation and saw this happening and
felt it needed to be addressed and so he
he preached a powerful message about the
responsibility of of business owners not
taking unfair advantage of the poor but
helping them and blessing them and
giving them fair wages well he preached
a fine sermon that Sunday morning and
next morning guess who appears at his
door but this particular land owner he
was very pleasant and he told the
preacher how much he and his family
appreciated his ministry and and how
they had been blessed by his ministry
and and in fact you know he wanted to
reward him and he said here's a cheque
for the expenses that that you have in
your life and the debts that you owe he
also owned the local bank so he knew
exactly what this person needed and and
the preacher's heart swelled with
gratitude because this was going to be a
resolution to his financial problems but
then just as the landowner was out the
door he glanced at him and said oh by
the way I trust that
Sunday morning sermon is the last time
that you're ever going to talk about
that topic now put yourself in that
preachers shoes you need the money this
guy not only runs the whole congregation
but he runs the whole blue in town you
know that if you a lien ate him you're
going to be in trouble
what's your loyalty is your loyalty to
the Lord is your loyalty the people who
are being abusively treated by him or
are you going to kowtow to the
prejudices of this particular rich man
and and to the preachers credit he tore
up the cheque in front of this man's
face threw it in the garbage can and he
said I will never ever sell out the news
of the gospel for you or for any body
house cost him dearly
that Sunday had been the last time he
ever preached in that church because the
landowner was sure to use his power to
get rid of the preacher it's true story
and it illustrates what happens when the
gospel comes along and flushes out what
is in your heart
it makes people incredibly angry and
Jesus warns his disciples about that in
the Gospels when he first sends them out
listen to what he says to them in
Matthew chapter 10 the verses 16 and 17
he says to his disciples I'm sending you
out like sheep among wolves it's quite a
picture isn't it sheep among wolves
therefore be shrewd as snakes and
innocent as doves why shrewd don't get
yourself into needless trouble why
innocent as does if you give any cause
for Oh fans those you're holding to
account
we'll turn it around and they will blame
you so as not to have to take
responsibility of stuff in their own
lives when the truth gets exposed people
become angry and so he goes on to say
that in verses 16 and 17 be on your
guard against men they will hand you
over to the local councils and they will
flog you in their synagogues and if you
look at the Ministry of the Apostle Paul
in the book of Acts you see how
literally true this is because wherever
Paul went proclaiming the gospel whether
to Joe or to Gentile the pushback was
phenomenal we've already seen how in the
previous chapter in Acts chapter 19 he
created a riot in the city of Ephesus
where everybody got on his case because
they thought he was criticizing the
Great God Artemis the goddess of the
Ephesians read on in the book of Acts to
Acts chapter 21 when he finally gets to
Jerusalem on this journey home and he's
barely in the city and the city gets
turned upside down because everybody is
mad at the Apostle Paul and we know from
the rest of the book of Acts that this
is the beginning of the end of his
journey because they will not let up and
a lot of people can't understand why in
today's society the voices raised
against God's people and God's people
aren't perfect but you know we're by and
large God's people are pretty decent
nice people I know a lot of them some of
you are really nice people like why the
hatred towards God in God's people okay
I want you to listen really carefully
because it has to do with the nature of
grace and I was thinking if you remember
nothing else that I have tried to teach
you over the 32 odd years that I've been
with you would you please remember this
it has to do with how you acquire the
inheritance let me explain it this way
get that picture up we've talked about
the fact that God created everything we
talked about the fact that we have
fallen into sin we live in a broken
world and the question that everybody
faces is how do I get back to Paradise
Lost how can I regain the blessing of
God people don't always put it in those
terms but that's what it comes down how
do I find happiness how do I have the
good life well the world says you've got
to find it in yourself you have to
capitalize on the advantages that you're
born with if you're good looking if
you're smart if you have money if you
have good parents if you live at the
right time of history and and things go
right for you then you make your way
into success that's the philosophy of
the world and sometimes it works
sometimes it doesn't work but it all
depends on you now the gospel says what
you bring to the table does not bring
you back into the inheritance because
the inheritance is not determined by how
hard you work how smart you are
or what your gifts are it is determined
by relationship with God and if God and
you are in relationship and he considers
you his son just as he gave the first
creation to Adam and Eve as a free gift
he will give the eternal kingdom to you
his child as a free gift because of
Jesus and so the message of the gospel
is that we're not saved by what we bring
to the table were saved by faith in
Jesus we acknowledge
Jesus is the only one who was worthy of
the inheritance because he lived
perfectly that's why death couldn't hold
him down that's why he arose from the
dead when we're joined by faith to Jesus
what God has given to Jesus at the right
hand of God the Father he gives to you
and to me the net result of that I
listen to this the net result of that is
that it doesn't matter what you bring to
the table naturally the rich have no
advantage over the poor the smart have
no advantage over the dumb the the the
broker the the people who are all put
together have no advantage over the
people who everybody needs Jesus
everybody needs Jesus which is wonderful
news let me say it again wonderful news
if you've got nothing to bring to the
table and you know how poor Danny
couldn't blind you on that's why we
become Christians it's terrible news if
you bring a lot to the table and you're
proud of what you bring to the table do
you understand that listen again to how
Paul puts it we'll move that slide on to
Philippians chapter 3 the verses 4
through 9 if anyone else thinks he has
reasons to put confidence in the flesh
that is in human nature what he brings
to the table
Paul says I top it I have more he says
that I'm circumcised on the eighth day
of the people of Israel of the tribe of
Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews in
regard to the law a Pharisee as for zeal
persecuting the church as for legalistic
righteousness faultless those are his
credentials that's you and me saying I
have a PhD in this I have this much
money in the bank this is what everybody
thinks of me in terms of my natural
gifting I'm Todd top dog in my
environment but then he goes on he
really ruins it what ever was
to my profit I now consider loss for the
sake of Christ and then he goes on to
spell that out what is more I consider
everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost
all things I consider them rubbish that
I may gain Christ and be found in him
not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law but that which
is through faith in Christ the
righteousness that comes from God and is
by faith when he says I consider them
all rubbish and I've talked about this
before the real world word is garbage
manure and so what Paul is saying here
is this I have spent my whole life
trying to be a good person and when I
compare myself to other people I'm a
better person than most I keep the law I
live righteously God must really like me
but then he says I met Jesus and then I
discovered that Jesus was infinitely
better than I am infinitely more
righteous and so he says I made the
great exchange
I gave him my fig leaves and allowed him
to put his righteousness on me and now I
stand by faith in the righteousness of
Jesus and that righteousness is perfect
and that righteousness has earned every
that is offensive when you work it out
in the real world and the best way to
illustrate that is by a story that you
all know very well the story of the
prodigal son and the elder brother you
know the story
the younger brother said I want my
inheritance now
takes it squash just squanders it in
loose living eventually hits bottom
comes back home gets restored to his
father the father kills the fatted calf
and then the younger the older brother
he's out in the field working away and
he hears the noise of a party and he
asks what in the world is going on over
there and somebody tells him that his
younger brother that was lost has now
been found to just come back home and
the father's throwing a party and we all
remember the older brothers reaction
don't we all these years he says to his
father I've been slaving for you and
never disobeyed your orders yet you
never gave me even a young goat so I
could celebrate with my friends but when
this son of yours who has squandered
your property with prostitutes comes
home you kill the fattened calf for him
I've often said to church people if
you're really honest with yourself in
that story with whom does your loyalty
lie and when people are really honest
they will tell you it lies with the
elder brother they can see the elder
brother is church people the elder
brother represents the Jews the elder
brother represents the Apostle Paul
before his conversion trying so hard on
his own to do it right only to be told
it's not good enough do you get do you
get the flavor of the older brother when
he says all these years I've slaved for
you and all these years you haven't even
given me a goat so that I could party
with my friends what's his problem he
doesn't understand that relationship
with the father
is based on relationship it's not based
on his hard work and Paul says when you
think a relationship with God is based
on what you bring to the table if it's
based on what you can give to God you
put yourself under a curse which means
that God is not only not gonna bless you
he's gonna push you away and that is
maddening to good people the gospel is
offensive to good people and so if you
preach Christ crucified and you declare
that the blessings of God are not handed
out on the basis of good behavior but on
the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus
then you stir up resentment rejection
and eventually murder
why did Kayne kill Eva because God
accepted Abel's sacrifice but not his
sacrifice and there is something about
the gospel if you're unrepentant it
makes you feel like you don't matter
you're not good enough somebody else is
better than you and if ever you want to
see how that works out in the real world
just look at your own heart when you're
trying hard to do everything right and
you're not being appreciated and
somebody else comes along and they do it
all wrong and God throws a party for the
sinner instead of here how does that
make you feel you get the point grace is
wonderful wonderful if you can embrace
the message of the Cross it's terrible
if you think God should bless you
because you've been good I don't want to
belabor the point but
help me a little bit here is this like
getting through okay the gospel hinges
on this society will hate Christians
because we claim to have a relationship
with God through faith in Jesus that all
their good living is in producing and
when God blesses you and he doesn't
bless them in the same way that breeds
murder particularly if they're religious
people who think they're doing it right
for God so why do we shrink back we
shrink back because the Gospel message
inherently is offensive we shrink back
because when we preach it and we leave
it the part in the pun people become
livid they become angry I want to give
you a third reason and that's this we
shrink back because we don't really
believe the gospel ourselves we shrink
back because we don't really believe the
gospel ourselves in my book I've got a
chapter it's chapter 12 the chapter
entitled faith that works and I quote a
series of statistics that describe the
schizophrenic nature of North American
religious life and here are some stats
and they've changed a little bit over
the years they they go downward rather
than up ninety percent of North American
adults profess to believe in God
eighty-five percent would call
themselves Christian 85 percent profess
to believe in Heaven and sixty-three
percent believe the Bible is the
authoritative Word of God not bad right
but then look at these statistics only
15 percent of people who profess to be
Christians would declare that God is
their highest priority only 16 percent
profess to read the Bible with any
measure of regularity only 29% claim to
attend the church regularly Canadian
figures are lower I gave you a
percentage figure last week of 13% of
people being present at worship any
given Sunday including non-christians
somebody raised that question with me
what about the higher figures because
usually the figure that is quoted is in
the 20s the answer is this the 13% is on
any given Sunday the larger percentage
is in the course of a month about a
quarter of the people would say they
attend church with some measure of
regularity when it comes to youth these
are the figures 60% of youth that go to
church called themselves community
Christian 66% declare the Bible to be
the Word of God 43 percent are active in
the local church listen to these now 73
percent of youth indicate they've been
involved in some kind of a cult activity
doesn't even include reading horoscopes
50% of such youth will have had sex by
the time they're 18 and only nine
percent profess to believe in moral
absolutes that is to say they believe
some things are just simply always wrong
and some things are right and what you
have is a great divide between what we
profess to believe and what we really
practice because at the end of the day
it is what we practice that describes
what we truly believe and so it's very
hard it's very hard to preach the
radical claims of Jesus if in your own
heart you don't believe that those
claims are really turns a good way to
check this out and you're alive do you
really believe for example those of you
that have adult children that have
wandered away from the faith they were
in the church you love them with all
your heart they do life for all
practical intents and purposes they're
good people
but they're not churchgoers and they
certainly aren't serving Jesus in any
active way do you believe that unless
they repent come to faith in Christ and
follow him are bound for hell
pretty tough what about the guy or the
girl did you work with good people in
fact I often say the pagans are better
people than God's people give you the
shirt off your back they're the first to
jump in and help you when you need help
do you believe that if they don't come
to faith in Jesus they're going to be
lost
see is the gospel kind of getting under
your own skin right about now see what
I'm saying the gospel is offensive and
so we play all these head games that
somehow or another God doesn't really
mean what he says the gospel doesn't
really mean what it says and somehow or
another when when history ends and Jesus
comes it'll all come out of the wash and
everybody will go to heaven it's not so
so how do we get there I mean I'll tell
you story quite a number of years ago I
had a young men died in a tragic drunken
accident and no evidence of faith in his
life hadn't darkened the door of a
church for ages and certainly lived a
lifestyle totally in contradiction to
biblical values and I was asked to do
the service
and one of the first things the parents
were asking of me was to assure them and
you can understand this they asked me to
assure them that their son had indeed
gone to heaven now put yourself in my
shoes I'm a diplomatic pastor and
funerals aren't times to give people
trouble but neither can you deny the
gospel and so my response was it's not
for me to say let's leave it in the
hands of God I think that's fair only
God knows the heart only God can make
the ultimate judgment well as you
imagine that hit a very sore spot in
that particular couple they were
profoundly offended and it wasn't very
long thereafter that they left the
church to go to another church because
you see even as God's people do we
really believe the gospel I believe
there are three reasons we have trouble
believe in the Gospels let me be real
quick about this number one we don't
really know the scriptures and the
reason we don't know the scriptures is
because we don't read them from one end
to the other and we concentrate on the
passages that we like and the passages
that we don't like we ignore I remember
a Bible study years ago we were doing a
Bible study of all things in the Book of
Ezekiel well if you want to feel good
don't read The Book of Ezekiel and don't
study it in your Bible study group and I
I remember the reaction if one of the
women in that group particularly saying
I just don't like it and we all feel
that way we don't like the word being
living active and quick and cutting us
to the bone and so we just sort of pick
and choose a little bit we don't believe
the gospel because we don't really
fundamentally
know the character of God we may God
over in our image in our likeness and we
can't possibly imagine that we would
send somebody that we love to hell
because we see so many good qualities in
them and we can possibly imagine that
anybody could do that to anybody isn't
that true well I Got News for you our
God is a consuming fire and when he's
gone out of his way to provide the way
of escape and people do not receive the
way of escape he gets royally annoyed I
don't know how else to put it that's the
reality of the gospel and we have
trouble believing the gospel ourselves
because we don't really understand the
nature of faith we confuse what our
forebears used to call historical faith
or intellectual faith with saving faith
remember even the demons believe and
they shudder doesn't mean they're going
to be saved just because you know there
was a Jesus just because you believe
there's a god just because you believe
the Bible is the Word of God just
because you go to church every sin
doesn't make you a Christian you're a
Christian when you appropriate it in
your own heart
and you humble yourself before we go on
confess your sins and you put your trust
and your faith in Jesus now as you know
my ministry among you is officially
starting to wind down and I don't want
anybody to ever be able to say that I am
guilty of the blood of any year so would
you indulge me I'm going to read you
some scriptures that give you the
picture of how God sees the gospel how
we not only need to come to faith in
Christ but we need to leave it out
repenting when we fail
turning to Jesus again and again knowing
that because a young we can be sure to
stand before God and be accepted by him
just a couple of Bible passages I really
want you to write these on your hearts
some of these are very familiar John
14:6 Jesus I am the way the truth and
the life no one comes to the Father
except through me
acts 4:12 a verse we've often quoted
Peter speaking salvation is found in no
one else there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be
saved
let me stop there and say that unless
people have come to faith in Jesus they
have no biblical basis for saying they
are the children of God or that they're
going to inherit a new heaven and a new
earth do you believe that does it
trouble you that most of the people
around you do not believe that and that
we live in a culture that says all roads
lead to heaven let me continue hebrews
3:14 this is about the importance of
continuing to bear fruit we share in
Christ if only we hold our first
confidence firm to the end if we
deliberately keep on sitting after we
have received the knowledge of the truth
no sacrifice for sins is left but only a
fearful expectation of judgment and a
raging fire that will consume the
enemies of God not the kind of verses
that you want to study for your
devotions are they not the kind of
verses that you want preachers to preach
about either but they're in the Bible
and the part of the whole counsel of God
Galatians 19 argh lations 5:19 221 the
acts of the sinful nature are obvious
sexual immorality impurity and
debauchery idolatry in witchcraft hatred
discord jealousy fits of Rage selfish
ambitions dissensions factions envy and
drunkenness orgies and the like I warn
you as I did before that those who live
like this will not inherit the kingdom
of God I also live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God 1
Corinthians chapter 6 9 and 10 same
drumbeat do you not know that the wicked
will not inherit the kingdom of God do
not be deceived neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters or adulterers nor
male prostitutes their homosexual
offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers
swindlers will inherit the kingdom of
God and the emphasis there is on living
that lifestyle unrepentantly want you to
understand all of us are going to fail
none of us is immune to the greatest of
sin but when we confess that sin come to
Jesus repent of it he forgives us and
ultimately is going to present us before
God without wrinkle blemish or spot or
anything we're not saved because we're
such good people were saved because we
belong to Jesus and because we belong to
Jesus by His Holy Spirit he works change
in our hearts so that we bear fruit for
Jesus's sake that's the reality of the
gospel that's how it works can you see
how this is a troubling message for the
world and that when we stand firm and
say Jesus is the only way and only
through faith in Jesus and walking it
people are gonna have to make a choice
and some will make the choice to say boy
I'm glad you told me this because it
enabled me to get my life right before
God and stand secure for all eternity
and others will turn against you and
they will hate you and they will say who
do you think you are you self-righteous
holier-than-thou individual I'm just as
good as you are and so it's no reason
snowonder it's no wonder only 98% of
God's people ever share their faith let
alone proclaim the whole Council of God
because when you proclaim the whole
Council of God the message is offensive
some people will turn it against you and
it makes you examine your own life and
say do I really believe what I believe
so let me end this morning where I ended
last week and that is with this
challenge and with this question who is
there in your life but you know rub
shoulders with who is not walking with
Jesus maybe it's one of you kids you
raised them in the faith you brought in
to Sunday School you brought over to
church but they've grown up and they've
outgrown faith and you know they're
living as if there is no God maybe it's
the guy who work did you rub shoulders
with nice guy but the only time you ever
hear the name of Jesus mentioned by him
is when he takes his name in vain or
your neighbor down the road who is there
in your sphere of influence who's not
have they ever been warned have they
ever been told the good news of the
gospel that through faith in Jesus they
can be saved have they ever been warned
that if they do not put their faith in
Jesus they will be lost eternally and
don't count on God's mercy in that day
because in that day mercy will have
finished what's your responsibility
what's your responsibility would you
seriously pray about making very very
sure that they have been warned at least
once
I'm not saying keep beating them over
the head I'm not saying make life
miserable for them that doesn't do much
of any good would you take them aside
find out do you know Jesus have you put
your faith in Jesus what does it look
like walking with Jesus and trusting him
and would you warn them not to depend on
the mercies of God if they knowingly and
deliberately reject Jesus they're going
to be lost eternally if they don't put
their faith in him you might lose a
friend or two you might gain a brother
or sister or two in the kingdom of God
because you see the Word of God is
living and active and it's sharper than
a two-edged sword it'll penetrate to the
division of soul and spirit bone and
marrow when you speak God's truth into
somebody's life if they are elect that
truth they cannot run away from it will
bother them until they get to their
knees then come to faith in Jesus that's
what the gospel will do if they're not
elect and they choose to turn away from
God their hearts will harden
and both you and they will know that
they've taken a position against God and
then when Jesus comes in judgment nobody
can fault him for judging them because
by their deeds they will have
demonstrated their lack of faith and
when Jesus comes he's going to separate
sheep from goats there's nobody in the
middle you're either in or you're out
what an awesome privilege and
responsibility you and I have to make
sure that we proclaim the whole Council
of God wouldn't you agree yes let's
stand
Lord we confess that sometimes we don't
like you very much we don't like it that
you're God we don't like it that you're
the boss we don't like it that you have
the authority to decide who lives or who
dies and we don't like it that we have
to bow the knee before you and so the
word of the Cross is offensive to every
human heart but the power of God into
salvation and Lord when we have come to
New Year and we have come to faith in
you what an incredibly good news the
gospel is to know that that we can come
just as we are and you give us
everything in your kingdom because of
Jesus lord help us to be so full of that
message help us to believe it to such a
degree that we know how to proclaim the
whole counsel of God until there isn't
an individual left in the world who
hasn't heard the good news because we
know that when the gospel has been
proclaimed to all nations then Jesus
welcome so Lord we believe but help our
you