This week we’ll look at the the gospel as it was preached from John the Baptist up through Pentecost. We’ll learn of the questions from the Philippian jailer, and of the preaching of Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, and Jesus, and Peter and the 12. We’ll cover the fact that the Bible is almost entirely about the Jews, and that the gospel was first preached to them.
You might ask: “Do I need to keep the 10 Commandments? Do I need to get baptized? Do I need to get circumcised? Do I need to join a church? Do I need to sell all I have and give it to the poor? Does someone need to lay hands on me? What is the gospel anyway? Join us to learn more!
This week we pause to do our duty to preach the gospel to the lost. If you have someone you’ve been witnessing to, please send them a link! We start where the Apostle Paul started, with the issues of sin and death. We don’t mince words about rebellion and guilt. Then we cover the offer of salvation from Jesus Christ, and end with a warning about hellfire and damnation!
Below the video frame are the verses upon which this gospel message is based. Take someone you know through them too! And soon!
Here is a succinct presentation to you unbelievers of your damnable plight, and the way of salvation from certain death. Because someone cared enough about me to tell me, I care enough about you to tell you.
I’m a lot like you. I know you’ve had those moments when you ask the questions every man asks: how did I get here? Where am I going? And no matter what you do for fun, or how you spend your money, there’s always an end to it. And no matter how many people tell you how great you are, you wonder if that’s true sometimes. A lot of the time if you’re honest. And you wonder what your existence is all about. And what’s it all worth once you’re dead.
I know that after you have those moments when you ponder the sneaking suspicion of someone bigger than yourself, I know distractions, and the demands of your very important busy life, and your pride cause you to quickly focus on other things. But every now and again something happens that makes you ask again. And then life goes on for a little while. But something’s always there in the background, whispering to you about God. Am I a good person? What’s the purpose of my life? Why do I have to die? What’s going to happen to me when I die? Am I good enough to get into Heaven?
There is no logical alternative to an eternally existent Creator God. That eternal God created mankind and gave us the gift of life, (Gen 2:7) and His existence and life, are eternal (Ps 90:2). So you will never stop being. You’re either going to exist with Him, or apart from Him forever. (Dan 12:2) The reason God has and will exist eternally is that He is always good. (Ps 136:1) And He can tolerate no bad at all. (Hab 1:13) He hates it. (Prov 6:16-19) Because He knows that anything bad eventually makes everything bad (1 Cor 5:6), and He can never let anything bad into His eternal dwelling place. (Rev 21:27) That place is Heaven, and just as you had hoped, heaven does exist! and it’s wonderful! (1 Cor 2:9)
With all this in mind, there are a few things I need to tell you about yourself. And you might think I don’t know you, or I don’t have any right to judge you, and that my opinion doesn’t matter one bit. And since I’ve never died or went to heaven what makes me think I can tell you anything about it.
And about all that you’ve got a point. So if you think you know better than me just turn this off and go on about your day. But if you think it’s possible that you’re not the smartest person in the room, (1 Cor 3:18-19) that you don’t have it all figured out, and you’re interested in hearing from sources who’ve thought about, and studied these things a lot more than you have, then listen up. I’d like to help you better understand what we both already know is true.
So, let’s talk about you. But before we do, I’ll confess to you that I’m not as good as you might think I am. There are things I think about that I’d never tell you, and that I hope you never find out. And knowing this for sure about me, I also know about you; that you’re not nearly as good as you pretend to be. (Rom 3:23) I know that when other people tell you that your great, you intuitively know it’s not true. (Jas 4:17) It even makes you a little uncomfortable (James 1:15). In fact, if other people knew what was regularly going through your head, they might never come around you again, or they might want to call you a therapist, or maybe even call the police! (Rom 1:32)
And that’s because you’re a reprobate sinner. Now, you do a serviceable job convincing everyone around you that you’re decent. (Job 33:9) But in fact you’re not fooling anyone! (Heb 4:12) In fact, everyone around you is the same as you! And they don’t want to admit it either! And they’re just hoping they’ve got you convinced that they’re decent, even though deep down they know they’re not! (Rom 3:12)
And with all the efforts of everyone trying to convince each other, everyone avoids talking about what should be the most pressing topics for everyone, especially as we grow up and start to grow old: like what’s the meaning of life? And why are we all suffering and dying, even while we tell each other how good we all are, and how everything’s going to be OK.
The fact is everything’s not OK. The reason everyone’s growing old, and getting sick, and suffering and dying is because everyone’s been sentenced to death. (Rom 8:22) How do I know that? Because so far, every single person either has, or is going to die. (Heb 9:27) And no matter what a nice guy I think you are, at the end of the day you are going to die. And the same goes for me. No matter how much you tell me I’m a great guy, I’ve got a death sentence hanging over me. And the sooner we face why that is, the better chance we have of getting ourselves out of our predicament!
And I’ve already done that. Because I came to understand that couldn’t fool the God who made me. God made mankind and He made everything, and it’s all His, and it’s all accountable to Him, including you. (Mat 12:36) And He decided you must die, because He won’t let any bad into His eternal heaven. Death is separation. When your soul separates from your body, your body drops dead because of the separation. The one can no longer influence the other. And because you’re wicked, God must separate Himself, and His Heaven from you.
You might want to pretend you don’t believe in God, or tell yourself you’re not sure there’s a God, or that you haven’t seen enough evidence, or that you really want to believe in God, but that you’re too logical, and analytical and rational, or your experience growing up, or your education, or what your mom and dad told you… but that’s all hogwash. You already know there’s a God, you just resent His authority over you (Luke 19:14), and you’ve deluded yourself into thinking that maybe by not thinking about Him, or not acknowledging Him, that maybe He’ll just go away and leave you alone. But you know He’s there.
That which may be known of God is visible to you, in you yourself! God has shown it to you. The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made! You know there’s an eternal, all powerful creator God, and you’re without excuse. (Rom 1:20) Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “we hold these truths to be self-evident.” If you went to public school maybe not. That’s from the American Declaration of Independence. Where did they get the idea of self-evident truth? They got it from the God they all acknowledged to exist back when they wrote that.
God is in fact THE only self-evident truth. And all truth emanates from Him, and without Him no truth is self-evident despite what Ben Franklin & Thomas Jefferson wrote. For you to deny you’re aware of Him, is to deny your awareness of truth, and if you deny truth, that denial can’t be true, and so it’s just laughable. God won’t let you get by with that, so neither will I. Every one of us has a conscience that tells us the truth. (Rom 2:14-15) And every one of us has been accused of breaking the law by our conscience. And every one of us, at some point has chosen to push the accusation of our conscience out of our mind so we could have what we wanted, and do what we wanted anyway.
And the day you did that you pushed the Creator who sustains your very life out of your mind so you could indulge yourself. And Even as you did not like to retain God in your knowledge, He gave you over to a reprobate mind. (Rom 1:28). And so, you’re a reprobate. But you’re still alive! And for that you should thank Him. (Rom 1:21) Because if He’d taken you up on your insistence that He just go away and leave you alone? you would have dropped dead right on the spot! (Job 34:14-15)
But He didn’t go away and leave you alone, even when you kicked Him out. So you’re still alive by the grace of God. You’re still alive because He has mercy on you. He’s not willing to do what you wanted Him to do, and just leave you alone, because He knows you’re too foolish to always and fully comprehend the consequences of your own sin. (Rom 7:15) He knows that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth (Gen 8:21) And so he’s giving you another chance, another breath, another minute, another hour, another day.
Because even though in your heart of hearts you know God is real, you deny Him anyway. And it’s irrational really. But God’s not going to render immediate judgment against you, because He understands that you’re at a disadvantage, having inherited corruption in your body from your earthly father. Who inherited it from his father, (Rom 5:12) which is why God had mercy on them for as long as He did. Just like He’s extending mercy to you right now.
And He’s going to stick with you a little longer, but time and chance happen to everyone, (Ecc 9:11) and there’s no guarantee you won’t die in a car wreck next week, or drop dead of an aneurysm, or a heart attack tonight. So you better get this issue separating you and Him out of the way sooner rather than later. And the issue is, you’re a sinner. You’re not a good person. Maybe you do good sometimes, (Mat 12:34) but you’re not good. You’re wicked. And you decided to push God out, and so you don’t deserve His life anymore based on your own action.
You need to listen to your conscience. You know you did Him wrong. (Rom 3:19) And you know you deserve to be separated from Him now. You know you’ve been selfish and prideful in thinking you can just ignore Him, or deny it and that somehow everything will be OK. But you need to stop denying this issue between you and God and face it. You need to admit you’ve been wrong, and selfish, and prideful. You need to admit that He’s the one who sustains your life and ask Him to forgive you for your sin against him, and all your sins against other people.
The same God who gave you the conscience that accused you is the Living God. He’s the creator and judge of all things. And even though you’ve denied Him, he’s willing to forgive you. The first step is to acknowledge that He is. (Heb 11:6) Then acknowledge your position as a wicked, helpless sinner (Rom 3:23) headed for certain death, (Rom 5:12) which you deserve. (Romans 1:32) Then ask him to forgive you. If you’ll humble yourself and ask, He’s faithful to forgive you, (1John 1:9) and He’s made a way for you to live with Him, for ever. (1 Thes 5:9).
His forgiveness is not merely a judicial act, based on a determination of your having rendered the appropriate humility. God’s forgiveness is given to you because of a promise He made to His Son. He promised His Son that if He was willing to give His life as a ransom for yours, that He would forgive you based on His Son’s sacrifice. And the Son of God in fact gave His life for you, even for you, even in that moment when you pushed the knowledge of Him out of your mind in order to indulge your appetites and lusts, even while you were telling Him to go away and leave you alone, inviting the very death you face right now, He was offering to die in your place. And He did it!
Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God, came to Earth. He taught and lived in perfect righteousness. (Heb 4:15) But the powers that be hated Him for it, (Mar 14:55) and so they had Him framed, arrested, beaten and prosecuted. And even though He was found not guilty (Luk 23:4) they condemned Him (John 19:15) and executed Him by nailing Him to a tree, and hanging Him on it all day until He died. (Gal 3:13).
He hung on that cross of wood, suffering for 6 hours, from 9 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon, (Mar 16:33), the whole time receiving in His body the punishment due you and me. (Rom 3:25). Then He died and went to Hell. (Eph 4:9). He didn’t sleep, or cease to exist anymore than you will. The same kind of human life that was in Him is in you. He took upon Himself the same body you have. He lived and died as the same kind of man you are (Phi 2:6-8) but He never pushed Got out of His consciousness to indulge sin like you have. And that’s why He could take His life up again, and He rose bodily from the dead and ascended to His father. (Rom 6:8-11)
And Jesus was conscious after His physical death just like you will be. The only reason human beings lose consciousness is because your body becomes tired and needs to sleep, or you get injured to the point your body checks out to spare you from suffering pain, or you get intoxicated with drugs or alcohol. But when you wake up, and sober up, you’re still the same you. Because your eternal soul was created to be a conscious, self-aware being; (Gen 2:7) a person, in the very image and likeness of God Himself. (Gen 1:27).
And once you shed this mortal coil you’ll be conscious for eternity. Either dwelling with God (1 Thes 4:17) or dwelling in the place God has in store for the devil and his angels. (Mar 9:44). That place is Hell, the Lake of Fire. Where everyone who pushes God away will go. (Rev 20:15) And you will be awake, aware, and endure suffering and torment for ever along with satan. And it’s not that God wants you there. But if you don’t want to be with Him, there’s no alternative. Refuse God’s offer of forgiveness in His Son Jesus Christ, and it’s hellfire and damnation for you, for ever! (Rev 14:11)
You can say I’ve got you all wrong. But God knows that’s not true. He knew it wasn’t true of me. God had me pegged, God knew I was just another rebel, full of pride and wickedness, headed straight to hell with jet rockets. When we get to the other side, I’ll wager we find out that I’ve done more wrong and hurt more people than you. But I faced my conscience’s accusation, and I admitted I deserved God’s judgment. There’s nothing prideful in that. It’s quite shameful and humiliating. I was afraid, and guilty, and ashamed, and I could have just dug in and ignored Him when He accused me. And I did. For a long time. Just like you are.
But on second thought, I considered what another man had told me; about God’s existence, His righteousness, my sin, and God’s forgiveness, and how Jesus Christ was a better man than me, that He was the Son of God. And he told me that Jesus says I can trust Him with the fate of my eternal soul. And all I had to do was believe; believe in what He did on that cross, and believe He’d be faithful to me even though I wasn’t faithful. And what that man told me rang true. And I believed. And I believe now. I accepted the offer. I hope you will to.
And by the way, in that moment that I believed, and God saved my from my sin and certain death, and eternal suffering and damnation? In that moment I believed, I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t give up any of my bad habits. I didn’t clean up my act, or go to church, or read the bible, or give money, or make a confession, or do penance or anything. I just believed. Because that’s all you’ve got to do is believe. (Acts 16:31) Just accept the offer. He’s faithful to take it from there. Believe the Gospel! Go where it leads. It leads to everlasting life in heaven. And I hope to see you there.
We conclude Job in light of the justification by faith of Abraham, David and Job, God’s demand to all men that they declare themselves unto Him. We discuss the inspiration of scripture, God’s preferred method of revelation, and Job’s suffering, (and all suffering) in light of God’s longsuffering plan of redemption.
Hear about the necessity of a freewill offering, the truth about Job’s friends and relatives, the captivity of Job (and others), and the law of double restitution. And finally we contemplate the inheritance of Job’s children, (especially his daughters Jemima, Kezia, and Kerenhappuch) as it relates to the gospel of grace for men today. Conclusions:
Job is not the story of a contest, but a poetic recounting of historical people and events and how God intervened to his glory and our benefit.
Job was a believer, justified by faith, but he sinned, and his sin left him vulnerable to the devil.
God did not curse Job, nor did He allow Job’s suffering any more than He allows anyone’s suffering in a world subject to vanity, not willingly, but in hope. And in His patient waiting, there will be suffering.
The inaccurate and superstitious statements of Job and his friends are evidence that by that time man was in need of God’s Word in written form, so they could refer to it, and meditate on it.
The book of Job is the record of what occurred, and how God responded, in real time, and in wisdom to produce the most potential for faith in the world.
