Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. —I Corinthians 15:1-7
So often in our Christian circles, we hear about the gospel. We even may think we know a whole lot about it. To quote Nacho Libre, “Some people think I don’t know a buttload of crap about the gospel, but I DO!” But seriously, do we? The truth is that often we have a tendency to become over-familiar with the gospel of Christ, and even develop an attitude of callousness toward it. We are disconnected and the impact it once had is not there. We all need to hear the gospel – really hear it. It is the message of unification that the church needs. We need to continually reorient ourselves to the fact that Christ has dealt with our sin. It is imperative to stand in and hold fast to the gospel of Christ.
I ask myself — When was the last time that I was cut to the heart by the gospel? When’s the last time that I was moved; where my heart responded? How honest am I being with myself? In Acts 2, Peter preached and it says that “people were cut to the heart by the gospel.” In our daily lives, are we becoming dull or calloused? In Hebrews 3, we are admonished to take care not to become hardened. Remember back to the day you got saved. What were you feeling on the day that you become connected to Christ. Again, asking myself — Do I feel that same way today? Have I become dull and hardened by life or by the deceitfulness of sin that creeps in? Often times the reality is that our hearts are no longer responsive as they once were. We are disaffected. We go through the motions.
The Why behind the What.
Genesis 1:1 – It all starts with God — all we know, all we see… all came from the Father who had a plan to glorify His name through humanity. He designed it to be in perfect balance and harmony in every conceivable way. Today we often think of heaven as a place to escape the depravity of this fallen world, but at the beginning before sin, there was no need to escape — it was paradise and perfect. Mankind fell and sin entered. All the evil and brokenness and injustice was a result of sin. But God has a plan to bring it all back around – thats the good news of the gospel! We are all implicated in this. Adam was the spiritual head of all mankind, so we receive from him and his descendants, a sin nature (Romans 5:12-21). We are born sinners, already guilty (vs 18). Romans 3:23 says that no one is righteous, no not one. God has a holy standard of perfect righteousness for all of us (vs 23). In Mark 7 is says that the things that come out of a person is what defiles them. We are mastered by our flesh. It rules over us. We can’t escape it. Our sins cause debt toward God. Every sin against God demands justice and recompense. His judgment against sin is severe. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 1 says that even though people know God’s righteous judgment they give approval to those who practice and tolerate sin. Again, the truth is that we owe the Lord something and he will collect.
What do we need to be saved from?
The typical answer is ourselves. Our sins. Our own proclivities, passions, spiritual death, slavery… but more than any and every one of these things, we need to be saved from the wrath of God. Apart from Christ Jesus, eternal judgment hangs over all our heads. No one wants to hear about wrath. It’s not a popular topic. Yet a Holy and righteous God will not tolerate sin. He will not allow evil to continue on the earth unchecked. And for those who don’t give their lives to Him, there is judgment. Do you realize how much God is personally involved? His heart is engaged. He doesn’t check out. He is not a stoic. He gets angered. He is grieved, offended, affected by our sin. It means something to him. Nahum 1 says that the Lord is a jealous and avenging God. He takes vengeance against his enemies. Who will stand against Him? Hebrews 10:30 say, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God.” So what about the good things we do? We can’t offset this by doing good works or by obeying the laws. The Apostle Paul kept the laws. He was blameless according to the law. But when you evaluate yourself by the standard of God, you realize how far short you fall. Nobody is like Jesus. Isaiah 64 says that all our righteous deeds are like polluted garments. Twisted by our flesh — there’s nothing we can offer God to repay Him. Matthew 5:48 says that we must be perfect like He is perfect. So we look at our lives and say… there’s no way.
We look at this and see our need. We see our failures and the enormous debt. We can’t work our way out or satisfy Him. We need God Himself. You can’t have good news without the reality of the bad news. The good news is that Christ was sent on rescue mission to redeem the earth. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus. From the prophecies throughout the Bible to the first words of the book of John to the end off Revelation culminating with Jesus riding in to make the wrong things right and to set up His eternal kingdom. Jesus never once sinned. Never had an evil thought. Never had a twisted motive. He lived a perfect and sinless life by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t “cheating” by being a human with God powers. Jesus felt the allure of sin. He felt the temptation. He was not like Superman with bullets bouncing off his chest. He felt every one of those things, yet He did not sin. He was the only one who ever lived who did not deserve to die. There was no penalty hanging over him. For us, death is our penalty. Our enemy. It is not natural. It was not a part of the original plan
As Jesus anticipates the cross, He entered into a place of suffering. If there is no suffering there’s no satisfaction. Justice and mercy meet at the cross. This situation was a huge test of His character. Have you ever felt indignant about an injustice? Imagine what Jesus was feeling. He deserved no penalty because He had never done wrong. Death is the penalty for sin. In the Garden you could hear his prayer — Jesus didn’t want to die, let alone go through the suffering and indignity of death by crucifixion, but He surrendered His will to the Father. Essentially He said, I choose not to exercise my rights, but I will give of myself and accomplish the mission I was sent to do.
Jesus suffered profoundly, first from a scourging that often killed a man and then from a Roman crucifixion — one of the most brutal and agonizing ways to die. The word excruciating was invented after the crucifixion — it means “torment and extreme agony because of the cross.” Jesus died on a cross. He was buried and was put in a tomb for three days. He was dead. Though some dispute it and say he just fainted on the cross, historical accounts and the reality of the brutality of crucifixion say otherwise. He was dead. This is critical to understand because if He didn’t die, we have no source of hope. After three days, Jesus took His life back up. You see, it is not possible for Him to be held by death because he was not guilty of any sin! Acts 2:30-32 says “This Jesus was raised up and of that we are all witnesses. Jesus is alive. He ascended to heaven and is exalted to the right hand of God.” Philippians 2 states that every knee will bow! Jesus has defeated satan, sin, and death; has freed us from sin; has cleansed us from its defilement; has reconciled us through His blood; and has adopted us as heirs! This is the gospel! This is the good news and power of God unto salvation!
So, the reality of the gospel is the call to die to self. We don’t get to take what Christ did and go on our merry way. We must die to self in order to find that we can truly live through Jesus. He doesn’t exist for us. We exist for Him. We are not our own, we are bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:19-20). So we glorify our Father who redeemed us through the amazing sacrifice of Jesus Christ!
Thoughts / Notes on Jason Detamore’s message on 10/13/15