Our featured sermon today is a message given by Dr. R.C. Sproul during Ligonier Ministries’ 2016 National Conference where he explains why the gospel is both true and transforming.
Watch below:
Notes:
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
“To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 1:1-7, ESV)
This is God’s gospel.
- This gospel is declared, possessed and owned by God.
- Whatever else we do with this gospel we must never, ever, ever mess with it because it is His gospel.
- He owns it, we respond to it, but we must never mess with it.
- The apostolic anathema fills our church in this age because we messages that are claimed to be the gospel that has nothing to do with the gospel.
- God will not hold us blameless if we seek to improve on his gospel.
- There is only one gospel, and it is God’s gospel and it is our duty to believe it and to proclaim it in a pure and unvarnished fidelity to it.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” (Romans 1:16, ESV).
- This is where we really try to improve on the gospel.
- We seek methods and programs, hoping to find where the real power is.
- Doubts that there are more than 5 percent of ordained pastors who believe that the power for transformation is found in the Gospel.
The Gospel announces the coming of the Kingdom of God which requires repentance.
- Both John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ announcement about the Kingdom of God was prefaced with an imperative – repent.
- The Kingdom of God is at hand.
- Message that ties the Old and New Testaments together.
- There is an urgency. The Kingdom of God is about transcend time and space and you are not ready for it.
- The necessary condition to respond to this gospel is repentance.
- Resolve to change must be accompanied on a heart-felt sorrow.
- He is calling us to contrition.
- Godly repentance begins in the soul and the heart with an awakening to the severity of the way in which we have offended a holy God.
- We start with repenting over how our souls have fled from reverence and adoration of God.
The Gospel of the Kingdom in the epistles morphs to the Gospel of the King – the Good News.
- The good news that focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
- The gospel isn’t your personal testimony (this is pre-evangelism).
- To say that God loves all people unconditionally isn’t the Gospel.
- To say that God has a wonderful plan for your life isn’t the Gospel.
- The Gospel is about Jesus – His person – who He is. His work – what He has done.
- This Gospel is to believed by faith through grace.
- The Gospel includes how we are justified.
“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith,'” (Romans 1:17, ESV).
Conclusion:
“How do you improve on this gospel? It is the Gospel of God. He composed it and He commanded it for us and our people and our children forever. It is His gospel, empowered by His Spirit, that transforms our lives that must be received in repentance and in faith.”