Gospel Presentation at Liberty Ridge Health & Rehab Center

The Person and Work of Christ in the Gospel

Such a blessing to get to sing these hymns alongside you guys. I wanted to take a moment to talk about this person and work of Christ that we're singing about in these hymns. You know, it's impossible to live in America and to not have heard about this person, Jesus.

And, you know, I'm sure many of you at some point in your life have heard about Christ. But sadly, the truth is so much of the gospel that's preached in America is sometimes far from the gospel that God reveals to us in His Word.

While there are things that people may say about Jesus that sound nice and they sound great to us, sometimes our modern view of who Jesus is in America is different from God's revelation of who Christ is in His Word.

As Paul said in the Bible, we preach Christ and Christ crucified. Our greatest need is to understand Christ as God revealed Him to us through His Word. That we would turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

Creation, the Fall, and Human Sinfulness

I want to take a moment to explain to you this gospel from the Full Council Scripture. You see, the gospel is the greatest news, it's the greatest gift, and it's our only hope. Like we said, the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And the word Christ comes from a Hebrew promise of a Messiah or a Savior. And the entire Bible, whether in the Old Testament or the New, points to this person and work of the Savior. The Bible begins in Genesis with God and His creation of the heavens and the earth.

We learn that God is sinless, God is perfect, He is just, and He is good. And the Bible tells us that God is holy, meaning that He is separate from all else and that He is nothing like us. And God created man, He created us in His image.

But the first man, Adam, in the Garden of Eden, attempted to elevate himself to an insane level of his own, rebelling against Him, in what the Bible calls the Fall. Because of this, sin entered the world, causing a separation between God and man.

And all of us, all mankind, is born with what the Bible says is a sin nature. If all of you were to just turn on your TV or look around you in the world today, it would be so easy to see this. Murder, violence, wars, every injustice that we see around us is all the result of man's innate sin nature.

And the Bible tells us because of this sin nature, we're not born neutral with a choice for good or evil. Rather, the Bible tells us we're born dead in sin and Jesus too. Romans 6 says we're enslaved to sin, and Genesis 6 -5 says that we're only pursuing sin continually.

There's no such thing as a good person. Romans 3 -10 says there's no one good and no not one. And Romans 5 -10 says that because of our sin, we're enemies of God. So every sinful action that we do, no matter how small we think it is to us, is infinitely offensive to an infinitely holy God.

If you were to just look at the Ten Commandments, all of us would see that we have lied, we've stolen, we've lusted, we've committed idolatry, and we've worshipped ourselves. The Bible tells us in Romans 3 -23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

God's Wrath, Human Inability, and the Need for Salvation

And because, like we said earlier, God is good, and because He is holy, He must punish sin. The Bible says that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. In the same way, a good judge cannot let the criminal go free.

A good God must punish evil. He must punish sin. Ephesians 2 -3 says, by nature, we're deserving of God's wrath. And Romans 6 -23 says the wages of our sin is death, meaning that our just punishment for our sin against God is eternal judgment.

And most people know this. Most people know that they're imperfect. But the problem is, with all other ways outside Christ, many people try and work their way back to heaven through their works. They think that they can somehow be a good person and work their way to heaven.

But the problem is, again, the Bible tells us, in our innate sin condition, Romans 3 -12 says we're incapable of producing any good work. And Romans 3 -20 says that no one has been or can't be saved by their works.

In other words, it doesn't matter how good we try to live, how well we follow the law, how many religious practices we think we've kept, how much we go to church, or how often we pray. We're unable to do anything on our own to pay our debt to God for the sins that we've committed against Him.

This means that our only hope for salvation cannot come from us. It must come from God. And the entire Bible hinges upon this one question. How can a holy God reconcile sinful men to Himself, whose justice demands they be punished?

Christ's Sinless Life, Death, and Resurrection

And the Bible answers this question in the person and work of Jesus Christ that we've been singing about. In His rich and infinitely deep mercy, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth, born of a virgin, so as not to inherit our sin nature that we are born with.

And Jesus lived the perfect sinless life that you and I could never live. The Bible said He was tempted in all ways and yet without sin. Because of our imperfection, we could never purchase salvation for ourselves.

But because of Christ's perfection, He could purchase salvation for us. And Christ went to the cross willingly and submitted to death, where He suffered both immense physical and spiritual torment. And on the cross, the Bible tells us that there was a great spiritual transaction that occurred between Christ and all those who believe in Him, so that sinners would be saved.

2 Corinthians 5 .21 tells us, God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. On the cross, Christ took upon Himself every sin that was ever committed by all those who would believe in Him.

They were removed from their account and they were forgiven. And Christ's righteousness from His perfect sinless life was given to His bride, so that they could stand blameless before God. And God's wrath that we talked about, that we deserve for our sin, for all those who will come to Christ, God's wrath was laid upon the Son and satisfied with Him, that all of His bride would never have to taste one drop of this penalty that we deserve for our sin.

And as Christ died, He said, It is finished. Or in other words, paid in full. As all our sins to God, for all those who believe in Him, our debt was canceled. After Christ died, He was buried and He rose again on the third as a declaration that sin and death had been defeated.

And Christ ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God. The Bible says that He is now interceding and praying for His church. Scripture tells us that Christ is coming back to judge the world in righteousness.

All of us, every man, both living and the dead, and you and I will either be found righteous in Christ or guilty apart from Christ. Through faith alone, you can receive this forgiveness of sins and stand reconciled to God.

Repentance, Faith, and the Call to Come to Christ

And Romans 10, 9 says, If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior, you will be saved. And this faith is accompanied by repentance. Jesus said in Luke 13, Unless you repent, you will surely perish.

Repentance is a turning away from sin with a grief and a hatred of it and a turning to God with a new purpose to submit to His authority and live for Him. As Jesus said in Matthew 16, 24, You must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

This is a rejection of living for yourself, of living for the world, to truly follow Christ. John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and that no man can come to the Father apart from me.

The beauty of the gospel is that there is no sinner too far from the grace of God. John 6, 37, Jesus says, All who come to me I will by no means cast out. The grace of God is sufficient to save you from your sin.

And you can stand confident in your righteous standing before God, not because of anything that you've done, but because of what Christ has done on your behalf. As Peter said in Acts, There is salvation in no other name, except by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus Christ alone.

This is the gospel that saves us. There is a lot more that I can say, and the Bible can say infinitely more than I ever can about who Christ is and what He's done. After we finish, we want to give you guys some gospel booklets that point us to Scripture and tell us more magnificent truths of Christ.

I plead that you would turn to Him in repentance and faith, for He is our only hope. We're going to sing now our final hymn.