The Gospel

Good morning. Would you all stand? Welcome to Calvary Chapel this morning. We want to welcome those of you who are joining us on Facebook and all that technology stuff. Welcome. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity we have to come and worship in song and to study your word, Lord. Father, would you fill us afresh this morning?

Father, empower us by your Holy Spirit to live for you, Lord. Go before, encourage, strengthen, Lord. Impart your spirit of wisdom, Lord, in the revelation of the knowledge of you this morning. Please enlighten the eyes of our understanding. Strengthen us with your might, Lord. Encourage us each in our walk and witness for you. We just come to you just as we are this morning with warts and all.

Knowing that you are working in us both to will and do of your good pleasure. Father, we know that as believers you've set us apart, you've set us aside. We are called out ones to live for you, Lord. May we be those witnesses for you, Lord. In a world that is hurting and empty and void of true meaning in life, Lord. We give you praise. Lord, before we came to you.

Seeking for something that we couldn't confide in. Couldn't give we of sin.

And you return back to glory too, Lord. When you died on that cross for us one day. We give you praise. They that would see that because of the love you stowed upon us when you sent your son. Strain us, Lord. To be that which you'd have us be. This whole sin nature that we deal with, Lord. We thank you that there's victory in you.

And so we're doing that this morning as we come together. To worship you, Lord. The God of the universe. The God who loves us. But the God who is just. We thank you, Lord. We praise you. Father, just please bless our time now. As Pastor Ryan comes up and teaches your word. Please be glorified and give us listening ears. Eyes to see, hearts to perceive. And the willingness to let you do work in our hearts.

And be obedient to your call. Because of love, Lord, that constrains us. Because you first loved us. We love you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless y'all. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Glad you could be here. If you could start to locate your seat. We'll go over a few announcements.

Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things that are going on throughout the week. So try to locate a place to get plugged into. And get involved with that. Over in the middle section of your bulletin. A couple things to take. Note of. Number one is that there are a lot of ways to serve here at Calvary. We continue to grow. Which means there continues to be more needs for people in areas of ministry.

So if you're interested in getting involved in an area of ministry. Maybe sound or video ministry. Maybe ushers. Maybe kids ministry. Because we have a plethora of kids. Any of those things that you'd like to get plugged into. Please talk to me afterwards. And I can point you to. To the right people to get involved. Also. As Rick has shared before. He's going to be doing that outreach coming up soon.

The outreach to the small communities. I know some of you signed up to give your testimony at that outreach. Next Sunday. February 26th. At 2 p.m. In the Agape room. You guys are going to get together. So you can talk about what that's going to look like. Give you an opportunity to kind of put your thoughts together. Maybe he can help you kind of get your thoughts put together on that.

So. If you have signed up for that. Meet next Sunday. February 26th. 2 p.m. In the Agape room. And then I would like to invite Gary to come up and share a little announcement with us. As well. About the Bible study that he does. My name is Gary Moore. And you'll see my name in the bulletin. Which makes me nervous every time I see it. It says Home Fellowship.

Jerry and Joy Fry's Home. Meet second and fourth Thursday of every month. Which we do. And it's been a blessing for me. We have some very. Here's a word I learned the other day. Erudite people in the Bible. It means they know their Bibles. Right. One of the few big words I know. And I've learned a lot. By being part of this Bible study. And it has my name here.

And it would seem that I'm the leader. But I'm not. It's the Holy Spirit. And the other people in that group. We all work together. We're in 1 Timothy. We're getting ready to start chapter 2. And the only reason I'm here this morning. Is the Lord woke me up. He did. We went to bed early last night at 10 o'clock. And he woke me up at 1230 in the morning. And I just had a dream about doing this.

And making this announcement. And I thought yeah okay fine. I'll just go back to sleep. Yeah Lord that's good. I'll go back. And I was wide awake. I literally was wide awake. So I got up. And wrote down these notes. About what I wanted to share. And went back to bed. And went to sleep. So that's why I'm here this morning. Anyway. We've been studying 1 Timothy.

And this is one of the pastoral epistles. 1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy. I first thought. To say we finished chapter 1. Well no you don't finish. Chapter 1. I mean chapter 1 is such a tremendous chapter. But we're passing on by chapter 1. Beginning chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins with. Paul encourages Timothy to engage in intercessory prayer. So that's where we'll be going next.

With our study is 1 Timothy chapter 2. Verse 1 intercessory prayer. This Bible study. My vision for this Bible study. Is not. Been only. To be a Bible study. But to be a time where we can gather together as Christians. And ask questions that. We think Christians shouldn't have. To express feelings and thoughts. That we think Christians shouldn't have. You know I'm a Christian.

I shouldn't think these things. I'm a Christian. I shouldn't have these questions. I'm a Christian. I shouldn't have these feelings. But I do. And I think maybe a few other. Of us do as well. But that's my. My. Overranging goal for this group. Is that we be able to come together. As believers. Who love each other. And want to help each other grow through these things.

That we struggle with. So Thursdays. Second and fourth Thursdays. Of every month. At Jerry and Joey Fry's house. I'll put together a quick sign up sheet. I'm not staying. I have to go back and pick up Teresa. And bring her for a second service. The Lord told me this so early in the morning. I didn't have a chance to tell her. That I was coming until just before I left.

She's going what? I said I know. But she's lived with me long enough. That she knows. Gary does silly things sometimes. So anyway. I've gone on long enough. Pastor Ryan. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Okay so those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device. Is silenced. And for our what's going to be a unison reading this morning. We are going to be in Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Looking at the new American standards. So we sound the same. Should be one around you somewhere. If you don't have one with you. Psalm 19.

And as you're turning to Psalm 19. If you are able. Please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. And if you would read along with me. Psalm 19. For the choir director. Psalm of David. The. Heavens are telling of the glory of God. And their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Day to day pours forth speech. And night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech. Nor are there words. Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth. And their utterances to the end of the world. In them he has placed a tent for the sun. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens. And its circuit to the other end of them.

And there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect. Restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure. Making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean.

Enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold. Yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey. And the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is wise. And in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins.

Let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless. And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth. And the meditation of my heart. Be acceptable in your sight. O Lord my rock. And my redeemer. Lord so much wealth in that psalm. Lord there is so much of you that we need. Lord we need your law to restore us. We need your grace to heal us.

And Father we need your presence. To teach us to have the mind. That you want for us to have. And so Lord be present in this place this morning we pray. And I just ask that you would move right now. By the power of your Holy Spirit. Move on the hearts of each of us. To do the work that only you can do. In our lives. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up to the book of Galatians.

Chapter 1. And we'll only be looking at verse 11 this morning.

Galatians 1.11.

Paul has been addressing the Galatian people. And as he's been addressing the Galatian people. He first of all introduced himself. He introduced his recipients. And he introduced his subordinates. Which is Jesus. And then he jumped straight into. Very much unlike Paul. Jumped straight into what they were doing wrong. He said I am amazed. That you have so quickly turned.

From the gospel. From the teaching that I gave you to. Another gospel. Which is not really another. It's just simply something that's brought you into bondage. And so as he continues on from there. In verse 11. This is what he says. For I would have you know brethren. That the gospel. Which was preached by me. Is not according to man. Now the title of this morning's message.

Is just simply the gospel. Last week I spent a great deal of time. Talking to you about the false gospels. That there are in the world. We mentioned three main categories of false gospels. We talked about the gospel of subtraction. That takes things away. We talked about the gospel of addition. Where we add to what God has to say. And then we simply talked about the gospel.

Of subtraction. Of putting ourselves at the center of the universe. And causing everything else. To be based on how I feel. And after I spent all of that time. Talking about false gospels. Yesterday afternoon. I was kind of meditating on it. Because that's what pastors do on a Sunday afternoon. You probably don't know that. We go back over everything that we've said.

And determine whether or not anyone's coming back next week. And so I was kind of running through my mind. Everything that we talked about. And I thought you know. I should probably just go back. And just go over what the gospel actually is. Since I addressed what the gospel is not. Well then I was having a conversation with somebody. And they said you know.

It might be a good idea. After we've talked all this time. About what the gospel is not. If you talk about what the gospel actually is. And I was like okay. Well that must be the Holy Spirit. Sort of moving in my heart. To do that. And then I started watching all of these things going on. With what's taking place in Kentucky right now. Which is just a fascinating thing to watch.

At Asbury University. Now I am a skeptical person. A little bit by nature. And so I'm initially skeptical about what I'm seeing. But as I'm watching right now. And paying attention to the markers of what revival looks like. It does seem as though this is a legitimate revival. It seems like there is true repentance that's taking place. It seems like there is confession of sin that is taking place.

It seems like the Holy Spirit is really moving through the lives of these people. But as the Holy Spirit moves. We just watch for fruit. So I'm going to watch for fruit. I'm going to watch for fruit. I'm going to watch for fruit. All of these things have caused me to really think about the gospel message. Because what our world needs right now is that. But you know what?

It's not just our world that needs that. Because it's easy for us to talk about all of the world that's out there. All of the people. The nameless, faceless people. But it's what our community needs right now. It's what our city needs right now. And it's what our church needs right now. Because whether you've never heard the gospel message before. Or you've been walking with Jesus your entire life.

Everybody needs the gospel message. And everybody can benefit from being reminded about what the gospel message is. After all, everything that God told the children of Israel about in the Old Testament. Always went back to. Because I'm the God who set you free from Egypt. Well in the New Testament. He didn't set us free from Egypt. He set us free from sin. And now every bit of our lives is built on the fact that he is the God.

Who has set us free from sin. And so this morning. We're simply going to talk about the gospel. As we talk about the gospel. There will be three things that we mentioned. We're going to talk about the bad news. We're going to talk about the good news. And then we're going to talk about the response. It's interesting. If you were to simply define the word gospel.

In its most basic form. The word gospel literally means good news. As a matter of fact. When the angels after Jesus was born. Appeared to the shepherds. They said. Behold we bring to you glad tidings. If you've read the old King James. Well that word glad tidings. Can also be translated. Gospel. Behold we bring you good news. Gospel. But it's kind of interesting.

For us to understand the good news. We have to first understand that there is. Bad news. Because if you don't understand the bad news. Well then the good news is just. It's just news. Right? You don't really care that much about it. Because it doesn't change your life. It would be like. If I came to you. While you were riding on an airplane. And said. You know what's going to really improve your trip.

This parachute. You would be like. Why do I need a parachute? That seems like an odd thing. Well it's just. It's going to be really comfortable for you. I think you're really going to enjoy it. And it's really going to benefit the quality of your trip. And because I love you so much. I'm going to give you this parachute. You would just be like. Okay. Stow that under the seat.

Because this is weird. But if I came to you and I said. Listen. The plane is crashing. Listen. We'll all be bailing out in the next 15 minutes. Here. Have a parachute. This is going to make bailing out of the plane. A lot more comfortable. Especially that whole hitting the ground part. You would be like. Okay. Let's just. Where's the ripcord? How do I do this thing?

Right? You would be as interested as possible. In this news that I just gave you. Because I first gave you the bad news. Which just made the news. Really good. Right? Well that's what we need to understand with the gospel. We have to first understand the bad news. Well the bad news. Is best encapsulated. I believe in Romans chapter 3 verse 23. Now you don't necessarily have to turn there.

I don't want to play Bible Olympics this morning. But I would jot it down to the side. Romans chapter 3 verse 23. Because the bad news starts off with the fact that all have sinned. And literally what that verse says is. All have sinned. And fallen short of the glory of God. That's the heart of the bad news. Is that all have sinned. That word sin means to miss the mark.

It was actually an old term that they used in archery. When someone would shoot an arrow. Someone would be standing somewhere near the target. Hopefully not in front of the target. But somewhere near the target. And they would be able to cry out. Whether it was a bullseye. But if you missed the bullseye. They cried out sin. Because you missed the mark. That's the ideas.

Each of us has missed the mark. As a matter of fact. That word all in the Greek literally means everyone or all. And so from this verse we learn that all have sinned. All have missed the mark. Well what's the mark? That should be the question everybody asks. What was the mark that we were supposed to hit? You see most people don't understand what sin is. Because they don't understand what the mark is.

Well we have to understand that the mark is perfection. As a matter of fact. When God laid out his righteous standard. He said be perfect. As I am perfect. And then when Jesus came. And the new day came. And the new day came. And the new day came. And he explained the law to us. And the sermon on the mount. He said therefore be perfect. As your heavenly father is perfect.

Well the response most people have to something like that. Because we like to think the best of ourselves. As we think yeah but I'm a pretty good person. And so there's this wonderful technique by Ray Comfort. It's called the way of the master. And he takes you through some of what I would consider to be the mark. The perfect bullseye. And that's the ten commandments.

He takes you through some of what I would consider to be the mark. And he takes you through and walks you through some of those. And so let's go through a handful of these ten commandments. To see how you do with hitting the mark. To see how you do with being perfect. As your father in heaven is perfect. Now the ten commandments are divided between. Four that have to do with our relationship with God.

And six that have to do with our relationship with each other. Let's just deal with the six. That have to do with our relationship with each other. Shall we? One of the commandments is you shall not bear false witness. To put that simply we call that lying. And so I have a question for you. Have you ever told a lie? I mean obviously we all have, right? I tell myself every day that today is going to be different, right?

I tell myself every day you look good, right? I tell lies all the time. It's who we are by nature. Dishonest is who we are by nature. So there we can establish the fact that first of all I've already missed the mark. Because I've told a lie. Now I love that Ray Comfort does this. He then goes on to say so what does that make you? And everybody always answers the same.

Well it makes me human. And he said no, no, no, no. What does it make you?

And I would tell you this. When I tell a lie what it makes me is a liar. I'm guilty. I stand guilty before God. Another of the commandments is you should not steal, right? You shouldn't take something that is not yours. Have you ever stolen anything? Now I remember the first time I ever stole anything. And I was a really little kid and somebody had a cool looking pencil.

As a matter of fact, I think it was Jennifer Steele. She had a really cool looking pencil in her desk. I think I was about five years old and I really wanted that pencil. And so I took that pencil from her and I kept it for myself. And she went, where's my pencil? And somebody goes, I think Ryan took it. And I was like, snitches get stitches. No, I didn't say that.

But if I ever heard a five-year-old say that I would never stop laughing. And I had to go to her and I say, yes, I stole your pencil. And I cried and she forgave me. But you know what that makes me? It doesn't make me a stealer. That's what happens when you live in Pittsburgh. It makes me a thief, right? And a lot of people have stolen things. You say, no, I've never stolen anything.

But when you really think about it, like, nope, I did stolen things before. It makes you a thief. Boom, guilty before God. The next one is always a difficult one and that's murder. Because you typically, the standard most people hold for themselves is, are you a pretty good person? Yes, I've never murdered. It's an interesting bar that people hold up. Like, what makes me perfect is that I've never actually taken someone else's life.

Now, I don't know what I would do if I ever looked at somebody and said, have you ever murdered anyone? They said, yes. I'd be like, I worked with a guy one time when I was working construction. And this guy was a day laborer. And he was a short little Hispanic guy that looked like he wanted to eat me for lunch. Right? Like, he was just a gnarly looking dude.

Super nice. We got along really well. But he was a drug dealer. That's what he did. He sold Coke. And when he needed a little, you know, a little, you know, a little, you know, a little extra cash, he would come work doing day labor. And I remember talking to him about his life. And I said, have you ever been to jail? And he said, oh, yeah, I've been to jail.

And I said, have you ever killed anyone? He goes, nope. But I tried. I was like, okay. Keep a 911 on speed dial. But perhaps you've never actually murdered anyone. But what does the Bible say? Jesus said that if you have those angry thoughts in your heart, that if you harbor them, if you harbor that bitterness and that anger in your heart, that that's where murder begins.

Therefore, it's as if you've murdered someone. Well, then we come to the next one, the one that usually nails every single one of us to the wall. God's law says you should not commit adultery. Only Jesus expands this for us. He says, if you've ever looked on another with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery in your heart. And I think pretty much across the board,

we all just got put in the guilty range. I'll never forget telling a young man this. A young man that I used to work with who I'm still friends with, love him dearly. I was telling him this because I was preaching the gospel to him and told him the part about adultery. And he goes, oh, my gosh, I've had sex with a lot of girls. It really hit him hard. Like, oh, my gosh, this is who I really am.

This is the type of person I really am. I'm like, yeah, that's why you need Jesus. And then we come to one that, again, gets what I call the heart of our culture. The very last commandment is you shall not covet. You shall not covet your neighbor's anything, right? His wife or his donkey. I've never coveted my neighbor's donkey. As a matter of fact, there's a lady that lives in Dexter,

and every time I walk by her house in Dexter, the donkey's going, ee-haw. And I'm like, why would we ever covet a donkey, right? Like, that's the most obnoxious thing. Anyway, can't covet anybody else's stuff. But you know what? That covetousness, literally means a desire for worldly possessions. And is there anything that more encapsulates who we are as a culture in the West

more than covetousness? Well, if you look at those things and you stand guilty like I do, that means that each of us has a problem. The problem we have is that all have sinned. And one day, I will have to stand before God and answer for all of them. For all of my sin. And if I stand before God and He holds me accountable like His Word says He's going to, what will I have to admit?

I'm guilty. And that's pretty bad news. But you know, that verse not only says that all have sinned, but the second thing that it says is that all have fallen short of the glory of God. That phrase, to fall short, means to fall behind, to fail, or to be inferior. And when it says to fall short, for all have fallen short, it speaks of a continual action. Let me put it to you this way.

I continually live a life of falling behind and being inferior to God's glory. Let me put it to you another way. You're not enough. And you're continually not enough. You live a life of never being enough. And that's the bad news. The bad news is I can't be good enough. You see, a lot of people can say that they're good. The problem is no one can say that they're good enough.

Well, there's one last part. Two more parts of this bad news. Romans chapter 6, verse 23. I think I forgot to highlight that to have you put up there. Romans chapter 6, verse 23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. Death, ultimately, is what sin brings into our lives. As a matter of fact, if you go all the way back to the Garden of Eden,

when God put Adam and Eve in the garden and he gave them that one command, he said, if you break this command in the day that you do it, you will surely die. Now, they didn't physically die at first, although it did usher in physical death. The death that they experienced at first was separation from God because they hid themselves from God. And now, brothers and sisters, you and I are dealing with the effect of death.

You see, we are born separated from God because I am born as a sinner. I am born with a sin nature. And I prove that sin nature every day by the way that I live. And that sin nature that causes me separation from God now ultimately will cause me physical death. Each of us is going to have to face physical death. And the day that we face physical death, if we have not dealt with sin that's separating us from God

on this side of eternity, we will go into the other side of eternity, always separated from God. And the punishment, the place where God sends all those who are separated from Him, is eternal hell. Sin brings death. I know it sounds harsh. It sounds terrible. But if I was talking to somebody that had cancer right now, that was having to deal with that cancer,

I would have to give them the fullness of what they were going to face if we don't take action. Because that's what a good doctor does. That's what a loving person does. And that sin has effects. The effects of sin have taken their toll on everybody's lives in two ways. First of all, each of us deals with the effects of sin because we live with the guilt of who we are apart from Christ.

So many people are walking around right now with their lives wracked with guilt. And they're trying to solve it every which way that they possibly can. They're trying to solve it through false gospel. They're trying to solve it by self-care. They're trying to solve it by numbing it through things like alcohol and drugs. They're trying to solve it by giving into it as much as they can.

Because in the middle of the sin, I don't feel the guilt. Even though later I feel the guilt, right then I don't feel it. And so many people are walking around with sin just draped over them and the guilt hanging on them that is so heavy. And they're just so weighed down with it. Sometimes I see people walking and their heads are just hung low. And all I can think is, that's somebody who's living under the guilt of sin.

But the effects of sin are not only that I walk around with the guilt of my own sin, but there are so many people whose lives have been affected by the sin of others. The sinful lives that other people have lived, people are paying the consequences for right now. We have so many kids right now that are paying the consequences for the sins of their parents. And they're walking around living under the effects, of the sins of their parents because they've either dealt with the physical abuse or the sexual abuse or the verbal abuse from their parents or they're dealing with the fact that their lives are forever chemically altered because when their mom was pregnant, she did drugs or alcohol.

And they're living with those effects. But it's not just kids that are living with those effects. There are adults that are living with the effects of the sins that other people have committed in their lives. And so many people are walking around so broken, and so damaged because of the sin that other people have done in their lives because, brothers and sisters, sin is bad news.

And the bad news is that apart from Jesus Christ, I'm destined for death. Apart from Jesus Christ, I'm destined for hell. Apart from Jesus Christ, I'll keep living under the guilt of sin. And apart from Jesus Christ, I'll keep living a broken and damaged life because of the sin that other people have committed because of the damage that they've done to me.

And that's bad news.

But now that I've given you the truth, I want to give you the bad news. I want to give you the good news. The good news takes on three different forms. The first form that the good news takes on is that God became a man and dwelt among us. John 1, verse 14 says that the Word, that's another name that's given to Jesus in Scripture, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

You see, what truly makes it amazing that Jesus gets us is not just that He was a good man that lived on the earth. What truly makes it amazing that Jesus gets us is that He, for a time, laid aside His glory and came down and wore the clothes of a human and walked among us. As a matter of fact, Philippians chapter 2 tells us that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but instead He emptied Himself of His glory and took on the form of a bondservant and came down and dwelt among us. He came down and dwelt among us so that He could become obedient to death, the death on the cross.

And when Jesus lived among us, He experienced all of the same things that you and I experience, apart from the guilt of sin, because He was the only one who did it perfect. He was the only one who lived the perfect life, the only one that can live the perfect life. But He does understand who we are. He does understand the things that we go through. He understands the things that we go through.

He understands because he experienced it. Hebrews tells us that's what makes him a merciful and a faithful high priest is that he has been through everything that we have been through, but without sin, without himself ever giving in to the sins of the world. Which brings me to the next part of the good news. Not only did God become man and dwell among us, but the second thing is that he died for us.

And Romans chapter five, verse eight says this, but God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That word demonstrate translated literally means he continually proves his love. It's held up as a continual proof of the love of God. If anybody ever asks the question, how do I know? How can I know that God really loves me?

How can I, how can I know for sure that God really loves me? We always just hold up the cross and there's a lot of people right now in the world asking, how can God really love me? Because of the situations that they're going through in their life, because of the things that they've experienced in their lives. How can I know that God really loves me with all of the hurt that we see in the world?

Then every time somebody asks, how can I know that God really loves me? All we have to do is point them back to the cross because it was the love of God that constrained him. It was the love of God, the great love that he wanted to show for us that caused him to say, I love them so much. I'm going to lay aside my glory. I'm going to lay aside everything that I have here in heaven, everything that I have at

the right hand of the father, and I'm going to put on the clothes of a man and I'm going to come and I'm going to walk around with them. I'm going to smell the things that they smell. I'm going to hear the things that they hear. I'm going to see the things that they see. I'm going to experience the things that they experience. and then i'm going to die the death that belongs to them and he did it all because he loves us

he did it all because the depth of his love was so great for us and it is a continual demonstration of the love of god for us and he continually proves his love that the second thing that i take note of is that while we were sinners now i don't know about you but when somebody's really nice to me i have no problem being nice back to them amen like you you scratch my back i'll scratch yours i'm completely okay with that as a matter of fact the rapper eminem famously said i don't care who you are who you sleep with or how you live your life if you're nice to me i'll be nice to you right that's how most of the world lives their life and we all go hey pretty good philosophy to live by you're nice to me i'll be nice back to you but jesus had a

completely different philosophy that he lived by he said i don't care what you do to me i'll still love you because it was while we were sinners i want you to picture it like this it's while you and i were spitting in the face of jesus that he hung up there on that cross it was while you and i were the ones driving the nails in his hands that he hung up there on that cross it was while you and i were the ones raking a whip across his back that he died for us because that's what all of our lives are about and that's what we're living by and that's what we're living by and that's what sin did to him. But at your worst point in life, as you're committing the worst sin that you could

ever possibly think of, Jesus said, I love you enough to die for you. Because it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us. As a matter of fact, I believe it's the Weiss translation that says, while we were enemies of God through sin, Christ died for us. Because if you will, we were at war with him. He just wasn't at war with us. He continually proves his love

in that while we were yet sinners, what did he do? He died for us. In 2 Peter, it says, or excuse me, in 1 Peter, it says that he bore in his own body on the tree all of our sin. All of those murderous thoughts and actions, all of those adulterous thoughts. thoughts, and actions, all of the lies that we ever told, all of the theft we ever took part in, all of the covetous desires of our hearts. Add to that all of the blasphemy that's inside of us.

He took it all on himself on the cross, all poured out on him. And it's a continual demonstration to all of us that he loves us. So the good news is that all of that sin that is absolutely destroying me, all of that sin that's breaking me, he took on himself so that I don't have to bear the penalty for it anymore, so that I don't have to bear the consequences for it anymore. But the good news doesn't end there because the good news continues with the knowledge that Jesus is alive. Because he

overcame death. And we've talked about before what it means that he overcame death. Because he overcame death, we know that God said, I accept the sacrifice for sin. I'll accept the sacrifice. Jesus cried out that last thing from the cross, paid in full. Jesus, or the Father gave him a receipt when he raised him from the dead. He said, taken care of. And because we know that Jesus is

alive, we know that our sins are completely gone. Not only that, but we know that you and I will never truly taste death. Maybe physical death, but not eternal death. Because he took care of that for us. The last enemy that we face is death. And he's already overcome death, as we're told in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And as you and I face those consequences, as you and I face the reality of

death, which BT dubs, I face on an almost weekly basis. We have the distinct understanding that he overcame it. And so now death for us is death. And we know that Jesus is alive. And we know that for the believer in Jesus Christ is simply a translation. It's just simply passing from one form to the next. And you no longer have to fear the reaper. You no longer have to fear death.

And so we've seen the bad news. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The good news is that God became a man, dwelt among us, and demonstrated his love for us. In that, while we were yet sinners, he died for us. Now that you know the bad news and the good news, what's the response? How are we supposed to respond to what he's done for us? This time, I do want you to turn with me in your Bibles.

I want you to go over to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. Because I believe that in Mark chapter 1, Jesus tells us exactly how we need to respond. I want you to look at verse 14 of Mark chapter 1. It says, now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God. It's saying, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel. And as he was going along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and they followed him. Jesus gave us three words right there that are

the response that we're supposed to have to the gospel. The response that we are to have to the gospel message in our lives. And the three words are these. Number one, repent. Jesus says it right there. It says, he began to preach the gospel of God. And what was the first word that he gave them of the gospel of God? The first word was repent. The word repent means a change of mind that results

in a change of direction. Literally, to turn around. Now, repentance is not something that you do before you come to Jesus Christ. Repentance is what you do in order to come to Jesus Christ. Let me put it to you like this. If sin is over here on that wall, and Jesus is over here on that wall, and I am living my life according to the bad news, and I am chasing the things of sin, and somebody says, hey, that's

death. You should look to Jesus. And I turn around. I have immediately repented. The only way that I can go after Jesus, the only way that I can seek the things of God is to repent. It's not the work that I do in order to follow God. It is following God. And repentance is the thing that it requires to follow Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, repentance is

the thing that we need to start a revival anywhere you look. Because repentance is where revivals begin. Because the world is following after the things of sin. The world is following after the things of evil. And quite frankly, sometimes so is the church. Do you know how most revivals begin? Most revivals begin in churches. You know why? Because in the church is where we first need

repentance. Because typically what happens is the church becomes cold and dead and becomes caught up in the things of sin. Therefore, they can have no effect on the world that is around them. So as revival starts, it begins in a church. And it begins in a church. And it begins in a church. And it begins with churches starting to repent of sin, to repent of their apathy, to repent of their

flesh, to repent of their lusts, to repent of their anger, to repent of their bitterness, to repent of their lives, to repent of the things that have been keeping them from really pursuing God. And they begin to pursue Jesus with all of their hearts. And all of a sudden, a change takes place in a church. Because when a church begins to repent, the Holy Spirit begins to work. And as

the Holy Spirit begins to work, the Holy Spirit begins to work. And as the Holy Spirit begins to begins to work, a whole lot of other things start happening. But listen, it always starts with repentance. There's been about three at least major awakenings that have taken place in the United States of America. There was the first great awakening, there was the second great

awakening, and there was the Jesus movement that took place in the 60s and 70s. Each of them began the exact same way. Each of them began with young people starting in the church, turning to Jesus Christ, repenting of their sin, repenting of their apathy, repenting of their false gospels, and getting their lives right with Jesus. Because we can't expect the world to turn from the same sins that you and I are living in. The first word of the gospel is the word repent. And you know

what's taking place? Right now, kids are repenting. They're getting up on stage. Now, I don't necessarily want you to do this. They're getting up on stage and they're confessing publicly their sins. Matter of fact, I heard an interview with a girl on Thursday morning, and she was saying that they actually have people there to make sure that people don't go too deeply personal with the things that they're

sharing in public. Like if somebody has something really deep that they need to confess, they're taking them off to the side to protect them and to protect their reputation and to protect their faith. And I think that's a really important thing. Protect others. Because people are getting so serious with their repentance of sin. And brothers and sisters, that's revival. That's where it starts to take place, is it starts to take place when you

and I, as Christians, start to repent of our sins. And then all of a sudden, the people around us start going, we need to repent of our sins. We need to repent of the things that we're doing wrong because we've been pursuing the world. And now it's time to turn around and follow Jesus. It starts with repent. Repenting is confessing the guilt of the things that I've done wrong and sometimes even confessing

what other people have done to me and the effects that I've been living with because of that my entire life. But it always begins with repentance. The second word that he gives us is the word believe. He says repent and believe. The word believe means to put your trust in, to rely upon, and to cling to. The gospel message is that I'm a sinner. Jesus came and bore all of my sin in his body on the tree and now he's alive. And so now

I believe that. I put my faith in the fact that Jesus loved me enough to die for me. That God became man and came down and dwelt among us. But it's not just intellectually believing it because listen, even the demons believe and they shudder, right? The belief that we're talking about here is not that. The belief that we're talking about here is clinging to something like,

it's a life vest. Grabbing onto it like it is the only hope that you have in your entire life. I always love to use this analogy because I get nervous in the water, right? Like I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I still get a little bit nervous because I'm like, man, I can't breathe underwater, right? And so I always think what would happen if somebody, if something were to happen to me? Well,

I would hope somebody would throw me a life vest. At the point in time when someone threw me a life vest, you know what I wouldn't care about? I wouldn't care about any of the stats about the life vest, right? All I would do? Just grab onto the life vest with every fiber of my being. Why? Because I've repented from drowning. Now I'm believing with every bit of who I am. And I fear that sometimes in the church

today, we have a lot of people that know the answers, but we don't have a lot of people clinging for life. We have a lot of people that know the truth, but not a lot of people that are holding onto it. Like it's the only thing that's going to keep their rear end out of judgment. Like it's the only thing that's going to give them actual true life, not only on this side of eternity, but on the other side of eternity. And that's what it means to believe, to cling onto it

with every fiber of your being. Jesus says, repent and believe. Oh, but then he gives a third word. Just take note of the third word. And then he says, follow me. That's the word most people leave out. That's the phrase most people don't like to do. I've repented. I've believed. Hey, I'm staying out of hell. No, no. Now you follow. The word follow literally means to take the same

path as. And so now we take the same path as Jesus, right? Now I see that he's my savior and I go, all I really want to do is follow him. Everywhere I go, I follow him. Everywhere I go, I'm going to go where he goes, right? Because he is the one true life I have discovered. He is the one true life that I have found. And now I'm not letting him out of my sight.

Because he saved me. And quite frankly, he's my best friend. He's the only one that I want to spend time with. He's the only one I want to spend my life with because he has saved me. At the end of the Super Bowl the other day, there were two guys that were interviewed. You probably watched the interview if you watched the Super Bowl. If you didn't watch Super Bowl, you missed it. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey, right? Now everybody gives Travis

Kelsey a pretty hard time because Travis Kelsey has a tendency to open mouth and insert foot, right? It's who he is by nature. I was telling the guys this at men's study yesterday. You know who I think Travis Kelsey is probably the most like? Peter. I think Peter was just like Travis Kelsey. Like he just had a tendency to just open his mouth and insert his foot in Jesus. If you watch the

interview, Patrick Mahomes was like, right? Because they kept, I thought, did something happen to the sound on my TV? I can't, it quit. Nope. He's just talking. No, there's words coming out. They can't play on national TV right now, right? But you know what I love about the two? Travis Kelsey would go to war for Patrick Mahomes because he just loves him so much, right?

He's going to go everywhere that guy goes. He doesn't care that he got the MVP. He just loves him. Listen, in a small sense of the word, that's what it is for us now with Jesus is now we just follow him because I don't care if he gets all the glory. I want him to get all the glory. I just love him so much. And now I follow him with all of my heart that brothers and sisters,

is our response to the gospel. Repent, believe, and follow. Now, I know that as I stand here this morning, almost everybody in this room probably is saved. So I'm not going to give a salvation message this morning, but I am going to invite the worship team to come on up to sing this last song. And as they do, I want you to be thinking about something.

Come on up worship team. As they, as they do, I want you to be thinking about something. Okay. How does this gospel message affect me in my own life? What type of action, what type of response do I need to have in my own life? Where are the areas of sin I need to repent from? How do I need to be clinging to Jesus with all of my heart and how do I need to be following

him? And so as they're singing this last song, I'm just going to be down front here because I'm going to close this out in prayer and they're going to sing. I'm just going to be down front. And if anybody needs prayer for anything, if anybody needs to be prayed over, if you just need to talk to somebody that I'm going to be down here, just down here to love on you, just down here to pray with you, just down here to perhaps listen. If you need to repent of some sin, encourage you if you need to believe and encourage

you if you need to just follow a little bit closer, but just let God do the work on your heart that only he can do. Amen. Let's all stand.

We come to you now. And Lord, I just ask that you would move in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, that you would do the work that only you can do in us. And Father, strengthen and encourage us in you. Lord, I thank you for the gospel. I thank you that you have given us brand new life in you. And Lord, I just ask for each one of us that's here this morning

that we would respond as your Holy Spirit is calling us to respond. We thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. We can trust you to use us Lord, just as we are. Help us Lord. We need your strength. What time we are afraid, may we trust in you. What time we have doubts, may we be reminded we were yet sinners. You demonstrated your love and that you died on that cross for us.

You'll give us the grace and the strength Lord. And we give you all the praise. And we pray. Father, go before now and we trust you. Bless our week in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you all.