Marks of a Healthy Church 3: The Gospel 1/30/ 2022

God's word says this while he talking about the lame man that had just been healed while he clung to Peter and John all the people utterly astounded ran together to them in the portico called solomons and when Peter saw it he addressed the people men of israel why do you wonder at this or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made them walk the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob the God of our fathers glorified a servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of pilate when he had decided to release him but you denied the holy and righteous one and as for a murderer to be granted to you and you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all and now brothers I know that you acted in ignorance as did also your rulers but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer he thus fulfilled repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you Jesus whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all

The things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago Moses said the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people and all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant and that God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness and as they were speaking to the people the priest and the captain of the temple and the sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening but many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about five thousand so God we do thank you for your message of the Gospel and we just pray that today that we get it right but most importantly that we share it in what we think and say and do Lord let it let both of them be of equal importance to us today in Jesus name amen well this testimony that we read today it takes place very early in church history the first course major event in church history was pentecost when the church received the Holy Spirit of God came down tongues of fire people were speaking in tongues and declaring

The work of God and it was at that moment that Christ fulfilled his promise to give us a helper that we may walk in him now it's at this second event after pentecost that Peter and John they're going up to the temple at around 3 p.m and they come across this man who is lame this means I can't walk his ankles are all messed up and he has to be carried around and his whole life is just simply begging and this was his reality every minute of every day he is crippled he is taken about and then Peter and John they're going up to the temple this is a man that maybe they had seen during Jesus ministry we don't know and they said look at us and of course he thought I'm going to get some money I need some money I need to eat which is true he did but that wasn't his greatest need was it his greatest need was what salvation and God used miraculous healing in order to accomplish that salvation he said in the name of Christ Jesus of nazareth rise up and walk and then all of a sudden he's leaping and jumping and singing God's praises and as a result of that work God did a wonderful thing in jerusalem that day I want to show you all a picture from the 1780s this was written by or painted by a guy named sir John I think it was I had it in the first service lancel I think it is I always think lance a lot but that's not the case but this is this is him and you see the man he's the focal point

There at the bottom being reaching up to Peter who's in kind of that goldish robe and John he's in that pink robe right there and he is looking for something looking for money but that's not what he's going to be given now to me one of the most interesting parts of this piece of artwork is not necessarily him but the man on the right you see the man holding the staff and kind of looking jealous you know why doesn't God do that for me why isn't this guy giving me that attention I'm in need too we don't know why I mean we know that there were people in jerusalem that were crippled that were needy that were hungry that needed money and things like but they're the apostles and God is sovereign he heals who he heals and he allows for people to suffer who he thinks need to continue on in jerusalem people they went up to worship at this at the temple around this time around 3 p.m they would have known this guy they would have seen him day in and day out they would maybe first time there they would see them give them a coin make them feel good okay about themselves they're going to go worship the Lord I better do something to make me look good maybe they did the second time but after that he just kind of you kind of get tunnel vision as you come across people in your life don't you oh there's that guy on the corner again but this man I mean his feet are restored they were once limp but now he's dancing and he's jumping and you know I don't know if y'all know this but when my wife was 14 15 years old she got into a really bad car accident broke her leg they pulled her out and it's just like dangling and hitting like up here you know and she's

[Music] and she had to get a rod put in and all that kind of stuff had to learn how to re-walk okay she couldn't walk for like three months but she had to learn how to walk again and you know putting her hands out trying to learn and things like that this man how hard do you think it would have been for him to learn how to walk always down for years we don't know how we know that he's a manhood and we know that he had been there for a long time God he had a purpose in his suffering that this man he's it says that he's clinging to him he's he's done all that he can he's jumped up and down maybe he's taking a couple of steps but he's walking between Peter and John his arms around them joyously entering the temple through Solomon's portico this is a picture of what it probably looked like a place where there was a lot of activity happening people were celebrating and taking notice of this here's this man that they had seen for years and years and years be healed miraculously and when people take in this scene they look at Peter and they think hey this guy has some kind of power and Peter starts looking around like these guys think I've got some kind of power but I don't let me tell you about Jesus and listen when it comes to the Gospel we have to start with creation he goes back to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the covenant that was made there we gotta go back a little bit further to the literal six day creation because God he made everything and he looked at everything and he said behold it is very good

It didn't stay good for long though you see before sin entered the world there was no such thing as sickness no cancer no hate political parties praise the Lord no hate no mental illness no physical deformities no nothing nothing that was that was bad everything was good and right but when satan entered the scene and he tempted Adam and Eve with the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that when they disobeyed in that moment everything that was right and good became bent and tainted and sinful when they disobeyed God everything that was wonderful became broken and so it went through the years that sin just abounded more and more and now you know there was starvation and murder and rape and violence and hate and idolatry and all these different things that we as God's creation created in the image of God we long for peace because God is a God of here's here's what Gospel means Gospel means good news but in order for there to be good news there has to be bad news first and Peter he points to the Messiah the one who was promised in the abrahamic covenant that Jesus he was what's called the glorified servant glorified servant glorified means like exalted and lifted up but that word servant is kind of difficult because if you look in the greek the typical greek word for servant is doulos so when Paul writes Paul a servant of Christ Jesus it's dulos but this is not doulos it's pidos which means like a it's got that pie when you see pie there oftentimes it's translated as a child and so it's literally a child that is a servant and that's who Jesus was he was completely obedient to the father that's why the king James translates this as sun well which isn't exactly right and we look at the esv here and it translates it as servant which isn't exactly right and here's what Paul's doing is he's sharing with the people the bad news against God's glorified servant he tells people in Solomon's portico that you delivered over and you denied Jesus you denied the holy and righteous one you killed the author of life these men had committed some heinous evil and wicked deeds against Jesus Christ and so have you and so have I you see we have all committed treason cosmic treason against a righteous and holy God how well by breaking his laws when we look at the commandments anyone ever told a lie before yeah if you tell a lie what does that make a liar some of you say a sinner no it more specifically if I how many lives does it take to be a liar one if you think that Jesus is a good teacher would you agree with everything that Jesus taught you know he taught about love he taught about peace and hope and different things like that right most people would agree Jesus is a good teacher Jesus he also said whoever hates someone in their heart has committed murder against that person you ever despise someone just didn't want to see him or look at him or anything like that according to Jesus's standards you're a murderer at heart you ever looked at someone with lust in

Your heart say no way I've never done that come on you already said that you're a liar all right once or twice Jesus said that if someone looks at someone with lust in their heart you've already committed adultery with them in your heart as have you always given God the most affection in your life has he always sat on the throne of your heart if we're all honest with ourselves no bob calls that idolatry when we love something more supremely than God and so we've looked at four of the ten commandments and we see a fail or you've broken God's law you've broken God's law you've broken God's law you think that God is going to think that you're innocent or guilty do you think that he's going to judge you as innocent or guilty revelation chapter 21 verse 8 says but as for the cowardly the faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immoral sorcerers idolaters and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death you think that God will declare you as innocent or guilty romans chapter 3 tells us whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped this is the function of the law to show us our sinfulness and the whole world will may be held accountable to God and so if you're honest with yourself just intellectually honest you'll see like myself when I compare myself to God's law I see that I am guilty and so are you and because of that guilt we are separated from God we were haters of God that's what Peter was saying to the crowds there he says look at verse 17 it says and now brothers I know that you

Acted in ignorance as did also your rulers but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that Christ would suffer thus he fulfilled so Paul is not saying you killed Christ therefore there is no hope for you as ray ortland said we didn't ruin God's plan we are his plan his eternal plan to love the undeserving for the display of his glory alone that's why he came to redeem you g God wasn't okay with humanity being separated from him forever and so God became man Jesus he is God made flesh he was born of a virgin which means that he didn't inherit the sin nature that we all get so he had no sin nature yet he was tempted just like you and I were or have been and he fulfilled the law because he was completely innocent he didn't give in to that temptation he fulfilled the law and all of its requirements and then guess what he was lied about he endured a mock trial he was beaten he was scorned he was spat upon he was crucified at his crucifixion he suffered and he drank the full cup of God's wrath and it was poured out completely on our Savior Jesus Christ Jesus he gave himself completely over to the punishment that you and I deserved and as a result of that every person who has faith and trust in Jesus Christ does not owe a sin debt to God now I can look at my account and I can say I have a zero balance because Jesus paid it he gave himself entirely to redeem anyone that would repent and turn to him not only did Jesus die but he rose from the grave and as he rose he rose in power and authority if he were truly dead the rulers they could have just went out and got his body and said see here he is he's

Dead stop this they didn't have a body because Jesus rose again and he is alive right now and he beckons he calls you he demands for you to repent and trust in him to believe in him Peter he said in verse 19 repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out this is the Gospel message this is the calling for you and I to hear and to believe it do you believe it church this is the message of the Gospel and every prophet in the old testament look forward to this new covenant that we get to declare from Moses to Samuel to those after him and then Peter he makes this connection to his audience look at what he says you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness listen holding to the Gospel is a Mark of a healthy church and the evidence of holding to the Gospel is being a blessing to the world that's around us this is why Peter he presents the Gospel and he calls them to repentance and he reminds them of that first covenant that through you shall the whole earth be blessed and I know some Christians that have never been a blessing to anyone and yeah it's kind of funny to say but on the flip side how tragic is that it's no wonder the lost don't believe the Gospel when the people of God don't live by it but now we are children of that promise born by faith in Jesus Christ and we hold to the Gospel

But it's it's not just about our confession like the confession is of supreme importance yes okay yes but the Gospel it calls for us to be a blessing and if you ask people in the world like how loving a Christian is it's surprising to note that many people will feel like Christians are some of the most unloving people in other words while while Christians in general they claim to hold to things like love and grace and the Gospel and practice they hold to things like division and the law like the church our church first baptist church you me we need the Gospel every single day we need to remind ourselves that we were lost we were the ones that killed the author of life we were right there with these guys and so how do we how do we how do we what do I mean by okay Gospel and doctrine and Gospel and in practice what is what does that mean let me ask you this how do you partner with the Lord in proclaiming the Gospel to the lost do you have someone that you're praying for do you have someone that you're habitually sharing the Gospel with are you living a life of love and like the fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience good faith you know those you can look at in Galatians 5. How do you do it personally how do you do it through a ministry in our church how does first baptist church not only speak the words of Christ in person and online and over the radio and we thank the Lord for those different things but how are we also the hands and feet of Christ right here in camdenton let's look at it through a math problem real quick and I hope that this makes

Sense to you let's define our terms though because if we say 7 plus 3 equals 10 then we know what I'm talking about 7 means 7 3 means 3 10 means 10. But let's define Gospel doctrine okay Gospel doctrine it's it's the message that talked about before it's something that we unapologetically hold to we affirm it's what you gotta affirm it to be a Christian right that's the first constant the second constant is a Gospel culture and this one's a little bit more harder to define but Gospel culture is the visible aspect of the Gospel in our lives in other words how do you interact with people are you gracious are you kind do you look for ways to serve do you do look for ways to love people have you ever tried to be holy we talked about that's one of the first characteristics of a church have you ever tried to be holy like you say okay God I'm gonna I'm gonna do this I'm gonna be holy and so you try you try you try you fail you fail you fail you fail right anyone else tracking with me there okay all right there's three of us awesome all right but let's say that's that's a very worldly way to look at it because what we do is we kind of go okay well God I'm trying so hard and I don't seem to be making any progress I don't see like the Holy Spirit at work in my life God I'm just maybe holiness just isn't as important and so you just say well I'm just going to I'm going to have these vices I'm going to continue on down this path it's

Just me just going to have to love me for me but that's that's not God's plan for us see what we do is we go I try I try I fail I fail I fail I fail but the Gospel is enough for me I'm gonna believe the Gospel I'm gonna keep going because God has promised in his word that he will meet me where I'm at he will he will continue to work in me and that I am his workmanship and that he does have a plan so I'm going to try I'm going to try I'm going to try I'm going to succeed succeed maybe fail I'm going to continue on working in my life as I see God just working in my life as well you see that's what it means to have a Gospel culture is that we're we're gracious with others we're gracious with ourselves but the Gospel reigns supreme in everything that we do in first Peter chapter 1 verse 16 it says you shall be holy for I am holy I think that I think that as a church we need to recommit ourselves to this aspect of holiness and grace to recommit ourselves to the proclamation of the Gospel in our lives and in our ministries some of us you know like myself I lean towards like Gospel doctrine right like it's easy to like look at the Bible and say I agree with that right and we should and that those are things that are good and right others they kind of deal with more the vibes right the Gospel culture the relational aspects of stuff being gracious with different things and stuff like that making connect connections and feeling the spirit of God and things like that's things that I'm I'm working on but let's put this in a math term so

That way we can kind of understand what I'm talking about here Gospel doctrine minus Gospel culture will lead to hypocrisy if it's all doctrine and there's no love if there's no grace there's no mercy there's no none of that stuff it's going to lead to hypocrisy in your home I was those of you know went to liberty university it's you know like the largest baptist school in the world and the chancellor there the president his name was jerry falwell jr and did y'all anybody see the article on vanity fair this week kind of weird for me to say vanity fair but you know it was there it was a heartbreaking article you know what happened was you know just devastating as a student at liberty to hear his testimony of why he wasn't pursuing in Christ why he identified himself as a as a Christian but a hater of the church is because there was hypocrisy all around him and he got to see the worst of it and for you and I as Christians as you know I'm thankful for the many young adults that the Lord is bringing to our church that are raising families I am so thankful to the Lord we had I don't know what 16 in her class today and some of them were singles some of them weren't but you know most of us had kids and we're all trying to figure out okay how do I raise my children without that hypocrisy without that yoke that no one can bear this is why parents you need the Gospel grandparents you church you need the Gospel and you need to share it with your children you need to apologize when you're too harsh you need to repent when you sin

You need to do it when you have with your children let them see that you're not perfect otherwise you will raise children that are inoculated to the Gospel but if we have Gospel culture without Gospel doctrine what does that lead to it leads to fragility it leads to weakness it can lead to darker places if you're not careful like to heresy you know if we're all just all about grace and love and acceptance it leads to really really dark areas where it's all fluff no substance and so the ideal for the local church is to have committed leaders and members that are hopelessly devoted to Gospel doctrine and Gospel culture which leads us to Gospel power this is the only way that we will make an impact in our community and in our families if you ever come to church like you say okay God I'm gonna it's saturday I'm gonna take some time 7 p.m I'm going to start winding down and I'm going to you know take some time read spend some time with you I'm going to pray up I'm going to confess up I'm going to wake up early and you know we're going to have a good morning together just you and me God and then I'm going to get the family ready and I'm going to hear from you Lord and I'm going to worship you Lord and I'm going to do those different things have you ever done something like that and you didn't have an encounter with the Lord I never have when I prepare myself to meet with the Lord I typically have at least something

But let's let's put another way have you ever had a really frustrating morning you go to bed late you wake up late you don't get breakfast the kids are just absolutely terrible it's like world war three actually no it's like world war four we're just gonna skip a war because it's so bad there's arguing there's fighting they're spitting all that kind of stuff you come into church come into church you're frazzled you're not in the mood to deal with anything and then you go you leave after service you go I didn't get anything out of that has that ever happened to you and that's happened to me when I'm not in the right place you see it's it's important for us to go for both Gospel doctrine and Gospel culture when I talked about the Gospel earlier when we went through what the Gospel is the message of the Gospel let me ask you this did it stir up your heart like affection for the Lord did it take you back to when you first became a Christian or did it did it make you happy to hear it or did you kind of go you know cody I already know this if your attitude was maybe one where you didn't feel or maybe you just felt apathetic then I would encourage you as your pastor to repent of that to pro to repent of your hard heart to turn to Christ and ask him to renew your mind and renew your affections for him because you need him and beg God to do a great work when we when we look at acts chapter 4 we see people they were just greatly annoyed I

Mean do we do we at least annoy people with the Gospel I mean just that we would see a harvest of souls to see not just new people coming to the kingdom but people that were new people coming to the kingdom yeah but also that we would see people whose hearts were stone cold to the Gospel come alive again but many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about five thousand and so what can you and I do what can we do we can repent and we can believe the Gospel see the Gospel isn't something that's just a one and done kind of thing we never outgrow the Gospel it's something that we continue to repeat to ourselves and to remind ourselves of our need for Jesus when we get to heaven we're going to sing the Gospel in revelation chapter 5 verse 9 it says this and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and open it seals for you were slain by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and nation people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing we are going to continue in the Gospel even into eternity reminding ourselves that we didn't get to heaven on any merit of our own but by faith alone in Jesus Christ Jesus he was slain his blood ransomed us

He is the lamb who is slain and we will sing that truth for all eternity for nothing good have I whereby thy grace to claim I will wash my garments white in the blood of calvary's lamb Jesus paid it all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow and so won't you today repent and believe the Gospel head hand heart head I want you to know that you and I we are called to be a blessing with the Gospel it's one thing that we're called to do it's what Christians do and so let's together seek ways to cultivate that in our church where it's Gospel culture filled with Gospel doctrine characterized by love and unity and holiness that we might be a blessing to camdenton to every part of the world and I want you to I want you to come and I want you to pray if your heart was with stone cold and maybe it's just you're sitting there and you're like I don't like this I don't like the fact that my heart is cold to the Gospel that's why we have an altar that's why we ask people to come forward and pray it's not so that way people look at you and go I wonder what's going on in their lives it's so that way you can bring it here and leave it heart I want you to believe the Gospel today because Jesus paid it all he paid your debt you are now free to walk in Christ and so I'd ask you to believe the Gospel and if it's your first time turning from sin and believing the Gospel you need to tell someone today that we might be able to celebrate that with you and so God we do thank you for your mercy and your grace and as we

Prepare to worship together and sing that beautiful truth I just pray that you would move among us that we would be devoted to not just Gospel doctrine and not just not just Gospel culture but both that we would res that we would see you do a mighty work in our church we love you and we're so thankful in Jesus precious name amen let's stand let's worship [Music] I hear the Savior say thy strength indeed [Music] Jesus paid it all sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow Lord now indeed I find and the heart Jesus paid it all to him [Music] had left a crimson stain he washed Jesus died my soul to save lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all o to him I o sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the

Dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raise this life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my death and raised this life up from the dead sing it out Jesus paid it all [Music] Jesus paid it all to him I o sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow since had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow and so God we do thank you for your work that you're doing in our church and I pray that each and every single one of us would be com totally committed to living out the Gospel to sharing the Gospel to creating a Gospel culture in our church God in our lives and our homes God that we might be able to reach this community and this world for your glory I pray that you would continue to raise up young men in our church that those who are my age could begin discipling them those who are older can disciple us that we would just see you do a great work here at first baptist we love you in Jesus precious name amen don't forget if you're a man to go and sign up for the men's conference it's gonna be great you