The Church: Its Meaning - The Protector and Proclaimer for the Gospel of God, Part 3

This morning, I wanna begin our time by reading to you a quote from John MacArthur in one of his books, The Gospel According to Jesus. He says this, he says, I am convinced that the popular evangelical message of our age actually lures people into deception. It promises a wonderful, comfortable plan for life. It obliterates the offense of the cross. Though it presents Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, it says nothing of the small gate or the narrow way. Its subject is to love God, but there is no mention of God's wrath.

It sees people as deprived, just not depraved. It is full of love and understanding, but there is no mention of a holy God who hates sin, no summons to repentance, no warning of judgment, no call for brokenness, no expectation of a contrite heart, and no reason for deep sorrow over sin. There's a message of easy salvation, a call for a hasty decision, which is often accompanied by false promises of health, happiness, and material blessing. This is not the gospel according to Jesus. The gate is small, the weight is narrow, and that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

How could Jesus be more clear? This is one, or this is the only path his gospel takes. It is not an easy road, nor a popular one, but it is the only one that leads to eternal glory. So true. We say that simply because in our day and age, the gospel presentation has taken on a form that's barely recognized by God. And we are hasty in getting people to say a prayer or to walk an aisle or to make a decision, instead of helping them understand the cost of following Christ and what it means to be a believer in the Lord Jesus.

And so in our effort to help you understand the meaning, mission, and ministry of the church, we're looking at its meaning and helping you understand that the church is the protector and proclaimer of the gospel of God. And so we've been telling you that when you proclaim the gospel accurately, you're gonna protect it the way it needs to be protected. So make sure that you proclaim it in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord. So we tried to tell you that in presenting the gospel, there are certain things you need to remember.

You can't forget. You can't forget about the generosity of God, because it's the goodness of God, Romans 2 verse number four, that leads someone to repentance. But why is it they don't repent? And that's number two, because of the depravity of man.

Man loves darkness rather than light because his deeds are evil. And man is a sinner and fallen short of the glory of God. So you must remember the depravity of man. Having remembered that, you must remember the certainty of judgment, that judgment's going to come and that it's appointed to man once to die and after that, the judgment. With that comes the eternality, number four, of heaven and hell. It lasts forever. Man needs to know the truth so that he doesn't spend eternity separated from an eternal God in a place called the fires of damnation.

How do they escape that? You must explain to them the identity of the Messiah. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, who is the Messiah, who is Jesus, our Lord. In explaining to them the identity of the Messiah, you're helping them to understand that there's only one person who can save you and it's the God incarnate who came to die for your sin. When you present the identity of the Messiah, you must never forget to talk about the centrality of the cross. Because it's central to the mission of our Lord.

And if it's central to the mission of our Lord, then it must be central to our mission as well. If it was central to his message, it must be central to our message as well. That if any man commit to Christ, he must take up his cross and follow him. He must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. That was the message of the gospel as presented by the greatest evangelist who ever lived, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so if anybody knows how to present the gospel, it's Christ, right? He is the good news that brings great joy.

And so to understand the centrality of the cross is so important in the gospel presentation because that's where the price was paid for man's sin. That's where redemption was paid. That's why Christ could say, it is finished. At that point, he had paid the price for your sin and for mine. So you must present the centrality of the cross. A.W. Tozer years ago wrote a book. He's written several books over the years, but one of the books he has written that I carry in my office and read constantly is called The Pursuit of God and The Pursuit of Man.

It's a gathering together of various topics that he has discussed throughout his books. And in there, he talks about the cross of Christ. And listen carefully to what he says, because this was written over a hundred years ago. It wasn't written anytime soon. He says this, the cross where Jesus died became also the cross where his apostles died. The loss, the rejection and the shame belong both to Christ and to all who in very truth are his. The cross that saves them also slays them. And anything short of this is a pseudo faith and not true faith at all.

But what are we to say when the great majority of our evangelical leaders walk not as crucified men, but as those who accept the world at its own value, rejecting only its grosser elements? How can we face him who was crucified and slain when we see his followers accepted and praised? Yet they preach the cross and protest loudly that they are true believers. Are there then two crosses? And did Paul mean one thing and they another? I fear that that is so and that there are two crosses, the old cross and the new cross.

The cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is rather a new bright ornament upon the bosom of self-assured and carnal Christianity whose hands are indeed the hands of Abel, but his voice is the voice of Cain. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains man. The old cross condemned, the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh. The new cross encourages confidence in the flesh. The old cross brought tears and blood and the new cross, it brings laughter.

The flesh smiling and confident preaches and sings about the cross. Before the cross it bows and toward the cross it points with carefully staged historonics, but upon that cross it will not die and the reproach of that cross is stubbornly, it stubbornly refuses to bear. I well know how many smooth arguments can be marshaled in support of the new cross. Does not the new cross win converts and make many followers and so carry the advantage of numerical success? Should we not adjust ourselves to the changing times?

Have we not heard the slogan, new days, new ways? And who but someone very old and very conservative would insist upon death as the appointed way to life? And who today is interested in a gloomy mysticism that would sentence its flesh to a cross and recommend self-effacing humility as a virtue actually to be practiced by modern Christians? These are the arguments along with many more flippant still which are brought forward to give the appearance of wisdom to the hollow and meaningless cross of popular Christianity.

He goes on to say that men have fashioned a golden cross with a graving tool. And before they sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play in their blindness, they have substituted the work of their own hands for the working of God's power. Perhaps our greatest present need may be the coming of a prophet to dash the stones at the foot of the mountain and call the church out to repentance and to judgment. Mr. Tozer, prophet way before his time, understood the plight of modern Christianity. That there are churches filled with people today on a Sunday all around our country, literally all around the world who have heard a pseudo gospel thinking that Jesus will make their life completely better by just embracing him and believing him and receiving him, not recognizing that the cross of Christ is the cross by which man dies.

For it was the apostle Paul who said, I am crucified with Christ. I have died with Christ that I might be raised to newness of life. How about you? When you present the gospel, do you present the centrality of the cross? Because if you do, as you move on to our next point, you must present the reality of the resurrection. The reality of the resurrection. For it was Paul who said, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The reality of the resurrection, it's the cornerstone of Christianity. We know the cross is the apex of redemptive history because everything before the cross pointed to the cross. And everything after the cross looks back on that place on Mount Moriah, Mount Calvary, where Christ died for your sins and for mine. But the crowning event of Christianity is the resurrection. And the reality of the resurrection must be presented. So people understand that Jesus not just died, but Jesus lives. He lives.

And the Bible says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you got your Bible, turn please with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And listen to what the apostle Paul says as he records these words in verse number three of 1 Corinthians 15.

He says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

And that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. So let me ask you this question.

What scriptures? It's not the New Testament, it's the Old Testament. Paul says, I wanna testify to you this fact, that Christ died according to the Old Testament. And that Christ rose again according to the Old Testament. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. Everything about the Old Testament sacrifices, everything that happened in the temple, before that the tabernacle, everything was pointed to an ultimate sacrifice, which would be evident in the Messiah of Israel who had come to die and rise again.

And so everything pointed to that. So Paul is saying, I wanna testify to you to this fact, that Christ died according to everything in the Old Testament. And that he rose again, according to what the Old Testament prophets said, because that's the reality of the resurrection. In fact, know this, that the resurrection vindicated Christ's prophecy. It vindicated Christ's prophecy. Remember in Mark 8, Mark 9, Mark 10, he talked about the certainty of the cross, the necessity of the cross. He talked about the brutality of the cross, but always with the victory surrounding the cross.

In three days, he will rise again. So Christ was always talking about his death, burial, and resurrection, showing that there was victory that was coming. And so when he rose from the dead, it vindicated his prophecy. In fact, in Luke's gospel, turn there with me if you would, the 24th chapter, Christ is on the road to Emmaus, or there are two men on the road to Emmaus, and they come and encounter the Christ. Now, they don't know it's Jesus in his resurrected body, okay, because he is able to conceal that from them.

They don't know who Jesus is at this point. They just come across another man. And so it says that as they were walking, behold, two men were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. This is verse 13 of chapter 24 of Luke. They were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He said to them, what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?

They stood still looking sad. One of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? And he said to them, what things? They said to him, the things about Jesus of Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened, but also some women among us amazed us.

When they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but him they did not see. So Jesus says, oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then listen to the next phrase. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures. Christ assists them as they begin to walk the seven mile journey and takes them through the Old Testament and explains to them what the prophets said concerning the death, burial and resurrection of their Messiah Now I read you that story because of what I'm about to read next.

As you go through the story, it says in verse 28, and they approached the village where they were going and he acted as though he were going farther, but they urged him saying, stay with us for it is getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. When he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it and breaking it, he began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight. They said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us?

Did you get that? Their hearts were on fire, not when Christ revealed himself to them. Their hearts were ablaze when he explained to them the Old Testament scriptures. Is your heart on fire at this moment? If not, why not? God said to the prophet Jeremiah, is not my word like a fire? It is. Why? There's something about the believer whose heart is set ablaze when the word of God is explained to them. If when the word of God is explained to you and the word of God is not setting your heart on fire, you gotta ask yourself, why is that?

Why is my heart not ablaze? Here were these two men asking questions who were foolish and slow of heart, not to understand what the Old Testament had said. So Jesus explains it to them. And as he explained to them, they asked him to stay. Why did they ask him to stay? They didn't want him to leave. Why did they not want him to leave? Because whenever he opened his mouth, he explained to them the truth and the truth sets the heart on fire. How do you know you're a true born again believer? How do you know that?

There's something about the word of God that sets your heart ablaze, that sets it on fire, because you love the word. You love the word taught. You love the word preached. You love the word read, because it's the fiery word of God. And he explained to them, not just the centrality of the cross, not just the identity of the Messiah, but the reality of the resurrection. In fact, it goes on to say these words in verse 44. Christ says, these are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. They said to them, thus it is written that the Christ, the Messiah, would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

Again, he takes them back to show them what the Old Testament says. So they would be assured of the validity of the scriptures. So here, the reality of the resurrection vindicates the prophecy of our Lord. Not only that, it validates the priority of our Lord. He came to die and rise again. That was his priority. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Well, how's he gonna save you unless he dies for you? And the only way he can save you is if he lives again. And he does. And therefore, it validated his priority.

The one who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That was his priority. And so, Peter says it this way, in 1 Peter 3, verse number 18, these words, for Christ also died for sins once for all, that the just, or the just for the unjust, said he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive. In the spirit. The reality of the resurrection. Why do we need to remember this? Because it vindicates his prophecy, it validates his priority.

How about this? It verifies his deity. He's God. Christ said in John chapter 10, verse number 18, if I lay my life down on my own initiative, guess what? I'm gonna take it up again. I'm gonna rise again. See, you can't do that. I can't do that. God can't do that. He can do anything he wants. In Revelation 1, 17 and 18, he says, I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, right?

I am the living God. Behold, I was dead, but I'm alive forevermore. I'm the living God, but behold, I died. But guess what? I'm alive forevermore. It's the only God can do that. And so this whole reality of the resurrection verifies he's God, verifies his deity. And then lastly, just for good measure, the reality of the resurrection vanquished his enemy, completely vanquished his enemy. Book of Hebrews, second chapter, verse number 14.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death. That is the devil. And might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Wow, he vanquished the enemy. He vanquished the enemy of death. He destroyed the works of Satan. First John three, verse number eight says, for Jesus Christ appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Wow, he vanquished the enemy. And so in your gospel presentation, you must remember not just the generosity of God, they must be told this, but the depravity of man and the certainty of judgment and the eternality of heaven and hell. And the only way of escape is by explaining to them the identity of the Messiah, the Messiah, the centrality of his cross and the reality of his resurrection. Just can't forget this. See, wow, that's a whole lot of things to do, explaining to somebody when you're trying to present the gospel.

Well, absolutely it is. You wanna make sure they understand what they're committing themselves to. And so you present it to them. And then you gotta talk to them about the next point, which is the primacy of faith. The primacy of faith. Wow, is this important? What is faith? Faith is believing absolutely in what God has already said and behaving accordingly to all that God has already said. Faith is simply trusting obedience, trusting and obeying. Believing absolutely, that's trust. Obeying, that's behaving accordingly to all that God has said.

For without faith, it's impossible to please God. So you talk about the primacy of faith. Paul did this. Remember the Acts chapter 20, the springboard text for this particular point of our outline, when Paul said, I didn't shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, Acts 20, verse number 20, teaching you publicly from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The faith is in a person, not a process, not a plan, not a program.

The faith is in a person. It's trusting in the person and work of the Messiah who came to die and rise again. And so you must present the primacy of faith, that people must believe with all their hearts, make a commitment to Christ and follow only Him. Paul says, I didn't shrink back from declaring to you how you must turn from your sin and trust only in a Savior. So important. Because you see, we gotta realize that faith is a gift. Right? For by grace are you saved through faith, Ephesians 2, eight and nine.

For by grace are you saved through faith that none of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should both, boast. So both grace and faith are a gift. In fact, everything about salvation is a gift. You must understand that. There's nothing you can do to earn this. You take it by faith. You trust in what God has said in His word. I can't muster up an energy to believe these things. No, it's all comes from what God has done in the heart of an individual. That's why you must present the primacy of faith.

Because faith is a gift. How do we know that's a gift? Well, in Ephesians 2, eight and nine, Peter says it this way. First Peter chapter two.

I'm sorry, second Peter chapter one. He says these words. Second Peter chapter one, verse number one.

Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. They received a faith. Where did they receive that from? From God. Every good and perfect gift coming down from the Father of lights. Faith is a gift. Grace is a gift. Believing in Christ is a gift. Repentance is a gift. Turning from your sin to follow God is not something you muster up. Second Timothy two says this, verse 24.

The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. God grants man repentance. God grants man faith. God grants man grace. God grants man belief. You see, thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift. Second Corinthians 9, 15.

What's the gift? The gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that gift comes as a grace gift from the great gift giver, Christ himself. That's why we preach the word. That's why we teach the word. Why? Because faith cometh by hearing, Romans 10, 17, and hearing by a word concerning the Christ, the Messiah. See that? So faith cometh by hearing, and hearing allows you to understand the Messiah and therefore you realize that it comes only through the revelation of Christ himself.

That's why we preach the word. No one was ever saved by a song. No one was ever saved by a drama presentation. Man is saved by the preaching and teaching of the word of God alone. You are born again through the truth, James 1, 18, that has been proclaimed to you. So we spend the bulk of our time proclaiming to you the truth of the living God. So you will know who Christ is, what he did, because inevitably it all comes down to one of two things or both things. Number one, who is Christ and what must I do to be saved?

What is the identity of the Messiah? And what is the responsibility of man? And it all comes down to Christ himself, recognizing the person and work of the Messiah is everything when it comes to salvation. Yet we've been called by God to believe in him. And so you present the primacy of faith. And as you do, remember, you're always remembering these things. Remember the next one. And that is the sovereignty of God. You must always remember the sovereignty of God. God's in charge. Sometimes we present the gospel and we think that if we say it good enough, we say it the right way, if we alliterate it or give it a crossing to it, or say it in a way that makes people laugh or makes them cry, that they're gonna be spawned and be saved.

We tend to think that it all relies upon me. It doesn't. I think you need to present it accurately. You need to do that. But remember, this is God's choice. Let me show this to you, John chapter one.

John chapter one, you gotta realize that, especially in John's gospel, there's always man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. Both are true. Please don't go too far in man's responsibility. Don't go too far in God's sovereignty. It's a balance that you need to understand. And you need to remember in presenting the gospel that God is sovereign and rules over all. Jesus says these words in John chapter one.

There was a true light, verse number nine, which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. To as many as received him. This emphasizes man's responsibility, but it doesn't emphasize man's responsibility over God's sovereignty, because you gotta read the very next verse, which says in verse number 13, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

See that? Man has responsibility to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive his finished work on the cross on his behalf, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but also understand when presenting the gospel, not that you necessarily present this in your presentation, but you need to remember this in presenting it, that it's the sovereignty of God that's at work, right? It's like Peter, when Christ said to Peter, when he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, Christ made it very clear, no man revealed that to you, because no man can reveal that to you.

But my father in heaven, he is the one who revealed it to you. In other words, God opened his mind, opened his heart that he might see and believe, like Lydia in Acts chapter 16, God opened her heart that she might believe in the Lord Jesus. You see, God has to open the heart. So we need to keep trying to squeeze blood from a turnip when we present the gospel, thinking that what we're doing is gonna make someone receive Christ. Just lay the truth out there. And as you lay the truth out there, God's spirit works in conjunction with his truth.

And when man receives and believes, it's because it's not of the will of man, nor of the will of flesh, but of the will of God. Later, Christ would say this in John's gospel, in John chapter six, he said in verse number 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. Wow. Come to me, you'll never hunger. Come to me, you'll never thirst. That's man's responsibility. Verse 36, but I said to you, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

All that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. God's sovereignty. Man's responsibility, God's sovereignty. It says in verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raised it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who beholds a son and believes in him will have eternal life.

And I myself will raise him up on the last day. Again, God's sovereignty, man's responsibility. Both are true. We must understand them. It says in verse number 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. God's sovereignty. Verse 47, truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life, man's responsibility. Both are true. So when you present the gospel, you need to always remember this in the back of your mind. You are not saving anyone.

Your presentation doesn't save anyone. It's the word of God in conjunction with the spirit of God, all determined by the sovereignty of God. That's why the Bible says in the book of Ephesians, these words, Ephesians chapter one, beautiful words.

And Paul says, he chose us, verse four, in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. Verse number 11, in him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. You see, why does God do that? Because man can never take credit for his salvation.

Because man did nothing to be saved. God grants him the gift to believe. God grants him the gift to repent. God grants him the gift to have faith. God grants him the gift of grace. And man responds to God's initiation. And when he responds, he believes, accepts, and follows. And so you need to always remember in the back of your mind when presenting the gospel, the sovereignty of almighty God rules over everything. And you know what? It's very freeing to know that. Because I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

I'm just trying to show you what the Bible says. Because it's the spirit of God who convicts man of his sin, right? It's the spirit of God who convicts man of judgment. And of righteousness. John 16 tells us that. So we let the spirit of God do its work. All we are is faithful at presenting the truth of the gospel and let the spirit of God do what only he can do. After remembering that, you must remember the next point, which I'll start next week, the necessity of repentance. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day.

The opportunity you give us to be in your word. The opportunity you give us to reexamine our lives in light of what your word says. And our prayer, Father, is that we would live in the light of that word. Help us all, Lord, to be the proclaimers and protectors of the gospel. That's what the church is. That's what we do. Yes, we are the possession of the living God. Yes, we are the pillar of the truth of God. Yes, we are the picture of the love of God. We're the product of the grace of God. That's all true.

But Lord, may we be the protectors and proclaimers of the gospel of God, so others might hear, believe, receive, and follow Christ as Lord of their lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.