A Simple Question

Q: What does the Bible say about the importance of the gospel?

The gospel is vital for believers as it proclaims God's grace and our salvation through Christ. The gospel holds paramount importance in the life of a Christian. In the final days of Christ before His crucifixion, He focused on preaching the gospel, demonstrating its necessity for the sustenance of believers. It is through the gospel that we are nourished, taught, and delivered from death. Without it, our worship becomes empty rituals rather than a genuine relationship with God. We, as believers, gather to hear the gospel preached because it is by this powerful word that we are reminded of our sin and God's grace in Jesus Christ, who alone can save us from our sins.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jesus is affirmed as the Son of God through His miracles and the testimony of Scripture. The identity of Jesus as the Son of God is substantiated through His miraculous deeds and the testimony of Scripture. As seen in Acts 2:22-24, Peter proclaims that Jesus, a man approved by God through miracles, was delivered by God's foreknowledge. This divine approval affirms Jesus' identity and His mission to redeem humanity. Furthermore, the prophets and the law bear witness to Him, providing a historical and theological foundation for believers to trust in His divine nature and authority. His resurrection further confirms His identity as the Savior and the Son of God.

Q: Why is Christ's righteousness important for salvation?

Christ's righteousness is crucial as it is the only means by which sinners can stand justified before God. The righteousness of Christ is of utmost significance for salvation because it is through His righteousness that we, as sinners, can be accepted by a holy God. Romans 10:4 states that 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.' Our attempts at righteousness are viewed as inadequate in God's sight, hence we must rely on Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us through faith. In this way, believers stand justified, not based on their works, but solely on the completed work of Christ, who bore our sin and provided the righteousness needed to stand before God.

Q: How does faith relate to salvation in Christ?

Faith in Christ is essential as it unites believers with His righteousness for salvation. Faith is integral to salvation as it is the means by which believers receive the righteousness of Christ. Romans 3:22 underscores that 'the righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.' This faith is not merely intellectual assent but a heartfelt trust in Christ's finished work on the cross. Believers are called to confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, which leads to salvation (Romans 10:9). It is through this saving faith that one is united with Christ, experiencing grace and assurance of eternal life.

Q: What is the role of grace in salvation?

Grace is the unmerited favor of God that brings about our salvation through Christ. Grace plays a foundational role in salvation, being the unearned and undeserved favor of God toward sinners. It is through grace that we come to understand our helplessness and our need for a Savior. The gospel reveals that we cannot achieve salvation through our own efforts, as our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Instead, God responds to our inability by providing Jesus Christ as the way to reconciliation and redemption. Understanding grace encourages humility and reliance on Christ alone, which brings true peace and assurance to the believer's heart, as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Good morning, brethren. Good morning. It's good to be here with you all. We've had a very nice time, as usual. The hospitality of Brother Walter and then the home of Darvin and Yvonne is just beautiful, so comfortable. It's really, really a blessing to come down here. So thank you. This morning, we're going to be in Luke 20, Luke chapter 20. Just looking at the first eight verses, Now, what we're looking at here takes place shortly before our Lord is led away of the Jews and turned over to the Gentiles to be crucified.

And these were self-righteous men. They were religious. They were very religious. And they thought that they could seize upon our Lord and catch him off guard. and that he'd stumble in his words and wouldn't know what to say and they would then be justified to arrest him and to crucify him.

But our Lord turns it all around on them and with a simple question, he shames and embarrasses them and shows them to be the frauds. And so our Lord, well, he's there teaching in the temple He's preaching to the people, he's teaching the people, and they come upon him acting like they don't know who he is, but they do, they know who our Lord is. They know who he is, and they had many proofs given to them that he is the Christ of God, the Father testifying that this is his Son, whom he sent with the authority to save his people from their sins, and to give them life. to do the things that he did, and to say the things which he said to them.

I'll give you an example here. Peter, after the resurrection of our Lord on the day of Pentecost, says in Acts 2, he says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You knew better. You knew who this was, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.

And so the crucifixion of our Lord, Him going to the cross is where all this is heading. And our Lord knows this. He knows that they are, going to be shamed here, and more angry, and want to see him put to death all the more after this. And yet he's doing this for his love, for his pride, for his church, for his people. He's willingly laying down his life for the salvation of his people.

And so this is where we are here this morning. This is where we are. Our Lord's in the temple, and he's preaching to the people. And this is just before Passover now, and it says in verse one, let's begin there, Luke 20, verse one. And it came to pass that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel. All right, let's just stop right there. He preached the gospel.

So first we're shown here that our Lord in the final days, just before his crucifixion, in the final days, he does that which is Needful for us It testifies to us the importance of the gospel All right, when you guys give and support and come here as a body You're gathered together that this gospel go forth because this is how you are fed how you're taught how you're delivered from death and destruction and and blessed of God by this very gospel you bring your children here to hear this gospel, not to play games, not to see shows and all kinds of things that religion does, you're here to hear the gospel, to be fed of the Lord. And so our Lord shows and testifies, this is what's needful, what he would do and then the declaration of what he would do in establishing the kingdom, the kingdom of God in your hearts, in our hearts. we would be blessed and fed and helped in our most most eminent preeminent need because we're sinners and cannot save ourselves and so we see the importance of the gospel here and this word of faith which we preach of our lord jesus christ is declared unto you in the preaching of the gospel which is broken down as who he is this is the son of god who came in the flesh took upon him likeness of this flesh and yet is without sin.

Why did he come here? He came here because we are sinners who cannot save ourselves. It's a grand testimony that there's something wrong with us, that God himself has to come into this world in the flesh to save his people from their sins. And what did he accomplish in his coming? He accomplished the redemption of his people. He successfully put away our sins. He finished the work, put it away forever, that we might be reconciled to God and have life, eternal life, with the Lord and Savior, our God and Savior, revealed unto us in the person of His darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's who He is, why He came, and what He accomplished for us.

In fact, go over to Romans chapter three. Let's just see a few things here in Romans that further declare this gospel and the hope that we have. Romans three. And we'll pick up in verse 21. All right, Romans 3.21, but now the righteousness of God, right?

We're not righteous by ourselves. We're not righteous by our works. Even trying to be religious, trying to come to church, trying to do religious looking things, that's not our salvation. That's not my righteousness. That's not your righteousness. God's not pleased with our works of righteousness, which we have done. They're filthy rags in his sight. But now we're looking at the righteousness of God.

How is it that a sinner can stand before Holy God and be accepted of Him as righteous? And how is this possible? By the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, them agreeing with this, declaring this very thing, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, His faith. And our faith is looking to His faithfulness. who loved us and gave himself for us. Unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. In other words, God testifying of you that are his by revealing, manifesting faith, which looks not to ourselves, but to Christ and what he accomplished and did for us.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Turn over to Romans 10. Romans 10. Pick up in verse four. We're all sinners. We all come short of the glory of God. Romans 10, four, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And there's our hope. He's put away that law. We're not saved by the law. We're not sanctified by the law. We're not perfected by the law.

All our perfection, all our justification, all our righteousness, is by Jesus Christ. It's by him. He's everything to the believer. Look down in verse six, there's this little phrase there, for the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. This is what faith speaks of. It confesses Christ. We speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't talk about what we've done for God. We speak about what God has done for me, a sinner, undeserving. Undeserving aren't we're speaking of him.

We're testifying of him Just your love and support of the gospel testifies that it's all of Christ. He's all your hope Otherwise you'd run your pastor out and get somebody else to preach something else to you But you confess Christ and therefore that's who you're gathered to hear you want to hear the voice of God the Lord Jesus Christ the Word of God and And so faith speaks of Christ, speaks of what he's accomplished for me. Look down at verse nine, Romans 10, nine, saying, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. And that's, what that's saying there is, When our Lord came, it was for me, because I'm a sinner unable to save myself.

When he was beaten, his stripes were what I deserve. That's what I earned. He was beaten for me. When he died, I died with him. Paul's saying, for our old man is crucified with him. We died with the Lord Jesus Christ that day on the cross. and when his dead body was taken down from that tree and laid in the tomb, I died. I died and I was buried with him. In other words, this body which is full of sin and infirmities of sin, from sin, because of my sin, this body which is subject to the law of sin and death, which must die, all that was taken care of by the Lord. He was beaten with the wrath I deserve. He died the death I deserve to die, that eternal death. He was buried, and in Him I am buried with Him. And when He rose, what that means is when He rose from the dead, I rose with Him, so that you that believe are seated right now in the presence of your Savior.

How so? How do you see Him? How do you know? We see Him by faith. We're confessing, he is my hope, he's my righteousness. That's how I hope to stand before God, accepted of him. He's seated on his throne, holy God, that I can stand before him faultless, before his throne. That is the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what he accomplished for us. He did that, brethren.

And so there's the hope. Brethren, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. You that trust Christ will not stand before him on that day of judgment thinking, well, I should have done this too, and I should have added this, and I should have been more thoughtful and careful to do it this way. Come in Christ.

He is your righteousness. He's your acceptance with the Father. He's all the believer's acceptance. And he is our righteousness. So that's our hope, sinner. That is our hope. It's all found in Christ. You cannot be saved by your works. We are saved by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God testifies that you are his by the faith which looks to Christ and trusts him. That's how he reveals them that are his. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this God-man mediator, who came in the flesh through this man has preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. He has done it all, brethren. And this is to be preached to the people. This is the word of his grace and the word of his salvation, the word of our salvation, which God the Father has pleased to have preached unto all the world, that out of the world he may gather unto himself his chosen elect people, redeemed by the blood of his darling son, Jesus Christ, and that call goes forth effectually onto your hearts. God putting a division between you and the world, which hears the same word and could care less about it. But he's pricked your heart. He's made you to know I'm the sinner. I need his grace. I need his salvation.

And he works that word effectually in your heart, in your heart, and he grows you in Christ, he grows you in this grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, continuing to feed you with this blessed gospel, because this is what you need, and this is what he's promised to do for you, unto salvation, for your good, brethren. Okay, so then in this, our Lord loved his disciples unto the end.

There he is in the temple, all the enemies coming around him, strong bowls of bastion, gathering around him to tear him apart, and he's there faithfully in the house of God preaching the gospel to the people, those that were gathered around him. And while he's preaching that gospel, this interruption by these wicked men come upon him. Let's look at verse one again, one and two.

And it came to pass that on one of those days as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, The chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders and spake unto him, saying, tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? Or who is he that gave thee this authority? So here's the religious Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees, the doctors, the lawyers of the law, right, who studied the word and thought they knew what they needed to know. To stand before God and the elders, which would be the civil judges, those who had authority to arrest him and take him at that time, and they came upon him.

That means they came to surprise him, to take him unawares. Those same words are used in 1 Thessalonians 5, where it says, when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child. All right, the way you women, when you have, When you were pregnant with a child and you're there preparing the home and you're nesting, as it were, and all of a sudden, it comes upon you. You feel the pains, the birth pains, and it comes upon you suddenly.

That's how they came to the Lord, to seize upon him, to take him so that he would be speechless and not know what to say, that they would be justified then to accuse him and say, see, he's a fraud. We caught him. He just doesn't know what to say. They would take him and arrest him and lead him away justly before the people. That's what they were hoping to do, to justify their hatred of him and the murder that was in their heart. And so to do that, they said, tell us by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority? What are they so mad about? Why do they want to take him in this manner? What are they so angry about?

Well, he had just cast out the money changers, and then that sold doves and sold sheep and oxen in the temple, right there in the temple. He had come in there and drove them out and embarrassed them by teaching the people by instructing them, by rebuking them, saying, my house shall be called a house of prayer. And you've made it a den of thieves.

They were there by the authority. Those sellers and money exchangers were there by the authority and permission of the religious people. They gave them that license. And they collected a fee for it, of course. And it was all their big business. And so when the people were gathered together to worship God, they made sure to make it about themselves, their own business, to profit themselves rather than the profit of the people to worship God and to know God and to be drawn near to the Lord. And so now they act like they don't know who this is. And yet they knew him. They knew who he was.

As Peter preached on Pentecost, you yourselves also know this. You know this. You saw the miracles. You saw the wonders. In fact, in John chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, if you remember that chapter, we're told that one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, came to our Lord by night and said this, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.

One of the most glorious miracles that we see to this day that our Lord is still accomplishing is that by this word, though we've never seen our Lord or handled Him, but we've received that witness of the Apostles and the witness of the Holy Ghost whereby we believe Him. And that is the miracle, the miracle of His grace that we, 2,000 years later, are hearing these same things, and we believe Him.

He is our hope of righteousness. He is our trust and confidence. The miracle hasn't stopped. We're still miracles of His grace. You that believe Him, and you that trust Him. And so, these men, they knew the truth. They knew that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God come in the flesh. And yet they held the truth in unrighteousness.

And so does everyone who hears this word and refuses to bow to Christ, who refuses to believe Christ, who refuses to follow him. We that believe, it's not that we're suddenly perfect in ourselves, we're still weak and infirmed in the burdens of this flesh. We see testified to us all the time, this heart, like a mirror to us, testifies that we are sinners in and of ourselves. This Word testifies as a mirror to us that we are sinners in need of His grace. It's not that we're claiming to be better than anyone. In fact, we're confessing, I'm worse than you all because I need this grace. I need this salvation. I need His love and His patience and His gentleness with me. Lord have mercy upon me.

And then in that spirit, we go forth ministering these things to the world. Not wanting people to see that I'm holier than thou, but that they would see that same love and glory and beauty in the face of Jesus Christ that he's shown to us. That his grace, that his gospel would be adorned with his fruits brought in us by his grace and power. And so we declare this thing, we preach this gospel to all in the hopes that the Lord will continue to call out his sheep unto himself.

And we grow in these things. The Lord teaching us through strippings and trials and through various tribulations. We see the truth of this word revealed in our hearts. We see him holding us up, keeping us, teaching us, leading us, growing us in faith and grace and in his love.

He does that. And so that's our hope. And so don't look for us to be perfect. Look to him who is perfect. and who loves us, though we ourselves are sinners. And in that same love wherewith he's shown us, by his grace, we'll show it to one another. We'll show it to one another.

And so these men, they thought they could catch our gourd, caught off guard, saying, by what authority doest thou these things? Who is he that gave thee this? authority. But our Lord wasn't silenced or he didn't stutter by their aggression and their violence that they came against him with. He says in verse three, he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing and answer thou me.

You answer this. Now, how often have we been in situations where something comes upon us suddenly and we don't know the right words to say and then later on, You know, when you're in the quietness of your own home with yourself, with your own heart, you think, you know, I should have said this, I should have said that, right? And we think, man, I just can't ever get the right words to say in the heat of the moment. Well, you know who always has the right thing to say? The Lord Jesus Christ.

And when the accuser comes to accuse the brethren and would do us harm, he knows how to provide for his people. And even when trouble comes against you and Difficulties and people accuse you and and you are seen in a bad light. You don't have to defend yourself You can trust the Lord to to speak for you and to work all things out in his time As he will because he does things Way differently from how we would do that We would respond to fire with fire. All right, we would respond to to judgment with judgment And we would be just as hard and cool to others as they are to us. But the Lord has a way of bringing His grace and power and His will to be done as He will have it done and do it well and perfectly. Because when you do know the right thing to say or do, it often ends up hurting people and doing more harm than good. But when he does it, it all works out wondrously by his grace. So he says, I will ask you one thing and answer me.

The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? And that seems like a pretty simple question, right? The baptism of John. And they knew John because We're told that they sent out an envoy from Jerusalem, these Sikhs, our Lord's in Jerusalem now, from Jerusalem to go and ask John whether or not he was the Christ, or who he was. And John chapter one, verse 19 and 20, tells us that they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And then later in verse 23 of that same chapter, he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And that's really what we continue to do. Don't look at me. Don't look at me, look at him, who's called me and helped me and given me this word to declare unto you. Believe him, confess him.

He is the very righteousness of God. In whom you will not be ashamed when you stand before God in that day of judgment The Lord Jesus Christ is all the sinner needs to stand faultless before the throne of God And and everything you do need he willingly graciously Wondrously provides it for you. He gives it freely of his grace brethren and so We confess this same Jesus. John bear record that this is the Son of God, saying, I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit ascending and remaining on him the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. That's the Jesus we preach unto you and declare unto you.

He is the Savior of God. He is the salvation of God, and there is not another. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Believe him. The Father says, he is well pleased in him. In whom I am well pleased, come in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father is well pleased with you. In him, brethren. And so back in our text, Luke 20, verse four, four through eight, Christ asked, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?

And they reasoned with themselves, saying, if we shall say from heaven, he will say, why then believe ye him not? Well, they can't say that. But and if we say of men, well, all the people will stone us, for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. So this is blown up in their face. And they answered that they could not tell whence it was. And Jesus said unto them, neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. That's condemnation. May the Lord deliver us from ever hearing that response, but may he continue to be gracious to us to reveal himself to us in the person and work of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so by this, these men were the ones who were dishonored. These men were shamed before all the people. And this is the condemnation. This is the very condemnation that light That is, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

That's why, if you don't believe today, that's why you don't believe. The scripture is testifying because you love darkness. You will not hear these things. You will not come to Christ that you might have life. It's because you love darkness if you do not believe the Lord Jesus Christ. For everyone that doeth evil hated the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. And that's what the gospel does.

It strips us down. It shames us because we're the sinner. We're the rebels against holy God. We're the ones who are unwilling to hear, to believe, to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to confess him. But if you confess your sin to the Lord, Lord, you're right. You're just, Lord. I am the sinner. I am guilty before you, Lord.

Have mercy on me. Save me, Lord. Please be patient with me. Please wash me in the blood of your darling Son, Jesus Christ. Help me to hear these things. And that's what he brings a sinner to do. It's not that we suddenly just get it. We're made to know he is salvation. I need him. He's able to save me. If anyone can save a sinner like me, it's the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the confession. That's the confession that he gives to his child, and his child unable to do anything Knows nothing, but keeps following after the Lord keeps looking to him and confessing him and asking the Lord for his grace and mercy and He's the one that grows us. He grows us and And it's all of his grace and that's what and that's gonna be your confession till you die is it's of the Lord I'm only a sinner saved by grace and That's what he gives, that's the confession he gives to his child. And sure, we do, we want to contribute and give and serve and be a part of this word going forth because we're made to see this is exactly what I need, this is what he's given to me, I want to give this to my kids, I want to give this to my neighbors, I want to give this to my friends, and even my enemies. That they wouldn't be my enemies. That's the heart he gives.

And you'll keep finding in yourself insufficiency. But that's a good place to be because that's where you're continuing to look to Him. When we find ourselves sufficient for these things, that's when we become judges of men and condemning of others and their burdens. Instead of bearing our brothers' burdens, we begin to condemn because we think we're something when we're nothing. And it's a good place to know that we're nothing and to find our all in the Lord Jesus Christ because that promotes that love and that unity and that fellowship in the bond of perfection, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I pray the Lord bless that word to you all.

A Simple Question

What does the Bible say about the importance of the gospel?

How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God?

Why is Christ's righteousness important for salvation?

How does faith relate to salvation in Christ?

What is the role of grace in salvation?

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A Simple Question

What does the Bible say about the importance of the gospel?

How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God?

Why is Christ's righteousness important for salvation?

How does faith relate to salvation in Christ?

What is the role of grace in salvation?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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