I listen to a lot of preaching and I read a lot of sermons and books,
and I find it surprising how much of it is on the deeper things of God: Deep heavy theological thoughts, on obscure
passages and ideas. For the place where
I’m ministering these things are too deep and complicated to get across with
all the cultural and language barriers.
It’s not because people couldn't grasp it, but because I have a
difficult time communicating it to them within their cultural context. The problem is mine, not theirs.
But in reading these things I realize that the gospel was meant to be
simple. It’s meant to be understood in all cultures and by all people. The Gospel works everywhere it’s tried, but
a failure to reach people is usually the fault of the communicator. So in thinking about this today, I want to
approach the Gospel with some simplicity.
The Gospel is intended to be straightforward; it’s good news.
In the US we have a term for that, it’s called the “Straight Skinny.” That term merely means the unembellished
truth. I’m going to tell a story that I
think will illustrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So here it is, the straight skinny…
In 1991 something took place that rarely happens. Three storm fronts collided to create a
situation that meteorologists referred to as the “The Perfect Storm.” During this storm in 1991, a warm front, a
cold front and a hurricane combined to create 100-foot waves, high winds and
torrential rains.
If you know anything about sailing this is a very bad time to be at sea. However, in this storm a thirty-two foot
sailing vessel, the Sartori by name, found itself in high seas. The crew consisted of a very experienced
captain and two somewhat inexperienced women.
The women became frightened as the vessel slammed its sail against the
sea and then righted itself, and called the US Coast Guard, who came out in a
helicopter to rescue the crew of the Sartori.
What makes this a powerful story isn't that the people needed rescue,
but it was the action of the Coast Guard that’s important. The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter into
the high winds of the hurricane. They
flew out to the Sartori, and then a lone man, called a rescue swimmer, jumped
into the high winds and huge waves to evacuate the crew: A lone man swimming
against the power of a hurricane and 100-foot seas.
This man put his life at risk in order to rescue these people. He was jumping into an extremely dangerous
situation; not for himself; not for the glory or recognition, but selflessly
for other people. He was fully prepared
to give his life to rescue them; he was the first into the water and the last
one out.
John 15:13 (NKJV)
15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
We have a friend that was willing to do exactly that: To give His life for us. That’s what I want to declare to you today
our Lord and Rescuer.
1 Timothy 1:12-15 (NKJV)
1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
God Can Use Us, Even Though
In verse 12 of our text, Paul is speaking of the trust that God has
placed in him. I am often amazed by the
grace of God. God’s gracious, Paul is a
blasphemer and a persecutor, and yet God is using him. I want you to take a moment and think about
this, because we are in the same boat as Paul.
We love Jesus and we’re trying to live out his will…now. But it wasn't always that way, was it? At one point we were as bad as Paul. Look at this scripture.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NKJV)
6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
That pretty much sums most of us up.
We all are at least one, if not all, of those things. We were opposed to the will of God. We were at enmity with God. We were opposed to living the will of God;
in fact, we were opposed to anything other than what made us feel good. Am I right or am I wrong?
Even though we were all that, now God has entrusted us with His purpose
and will on earth. We are God’s plan
for salvation for the world. It’s up to
us to draw others. It’s up to us to
lead others to Jesus. It’s a sacred
trust between God and Christians.
Maybe you’re reading this and you’re not a Christian. Maybe you’re just here, on this website,
exploring what this is all about. Maybe you've been attending church, but you still don’t see the value in
Christianity. The value in it is right
here in what Paul is saying. Even
though we have been a rebel and a sinner, God has had mercy and given us a way
out of the punishment of our sin. The
sin and the filthiness are all taken away.
It’s not just that we are forgiven; the Bible tells us that the sin is
removed; washed away. We’re cleansed,
we’re sanctified, (holy; literally made as saints), and we’re justified; made
innocent. God did that for us, even
though. Even though we were rebels and
enemies of God, because we did those things in ignorance. We didn't know what we were doing.
Isn't that what Jesus said, as he looked at those who brutalized and crucified
Him. In the midst of all that he looked
down from the cross at the people who were murdering Him and called out, “Father
forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” Look at His words:
Luke 23:33-34a (NKJV)
23:33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."…
He said, “They don’t know what they’re doing.” They didn't know what they were doing. Do you think if they knew they were crucifying God that they
would have done it? That’s just like us;
we don’t see our sin from God’s perspective before we have Jesus in our
life. We don’t know we’re offending
God. It just doesn't occur to us. If we knew God was real and that we were offending
the Creator of the Universe, we wouldn't do it, would we? Some of us maybe, but most of us wouldn't want to offend the creator. After all,
we’re ignorant; we’re not crazy.
God used Jesus in the same way the US Coast Guard uses rescue
swimmers. Think about this, rescue
swimmers jump out of the relative safety of a helicopter, into the storms and
troubles that others are facing, risking death, in an attempt to rescue them. That’s what Jesus did. He became man: He took on the troubles and storms of life that we are facing to
rescue us. We face certain death…the
Bible says we are dead in our sin. He
jumped into the world from the safety of Heaven to rescue us from certain
death.
In this same storm, another man, another rescue swimmer, in the midst of
another rescue died. He disappeared
into the storm and was lost at sea. The
people were rescued but the rescue swimmer died. He gave his life for those people. This is exactly what Jesus did.
His death rescued us: His
spilled blood was the payment for our sin, our wrong behavior. Because of his death we are rescued; saved
and then we are entrusted to be a part of the rescue of other people. “The grace of our Lord is exceedingly
abundant.
God’s Mercy is Abundant
That’s what mercy is all about.
The whole thing is amazing to me.
In the beginning of time, Adam and Eve rebelled from God. They did the one thing He told them not to
do and because of that they lost the Garden.
They lost the place that God gave them that met every one of their
needs, because they chose themselves over God’s will. That’s basically what happened.
They chose to be like God rather than to obey God. That’s the choice that they made and it cost
them the Garden. They were kicked out. God separated Himself from them.
The tree of life was now off limits for them. The thing that gave eternal life was now out of reach. We can’t have eternal life and sin at the
same time. It’s one or the other. So they were separated from God and they
were to remain separated for centuries.
So about now you might be thinking, where’s this mercy, you've been
hearing about; this exceedingly abundant mercy. The mercy is found in the beginning, immediately after they
sinned. This is an interesting moment:
God is laying curses on them.
Eve would have pain in childbirth.
She was crested to be the mother of all, that’s what Eve means, mother
of all. But now that blessing would be
the curse. God had given Adam food,
shelter, and everything he needed. He
even gave Eve to him. Now Adam is going
to have to work for it. What was freely
given before would require sweat and struggle.
There will be thorns and thistles, pain and setbacks.
He said these things after he had cursed Satan. What He told Satan was that an offspring of
Eve would come and destroy his power.
His power was the power to lead us into hell; to keep us in the bondage
of rebellion: A slave to sin. That’s what we all are:
John 8:34 (NKJV)
8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
We all do things that we know are wrong; even though we know we shouldn't do them we do them anyway. We’re slaves
to it. It’s sin and we’re slaves to
it. This is what God’s mercy is all
about; we didn't deserve what God did for us.
What would we do if someone did something wrong that hurt us? We would want to get revenge. That’s what we do when we’re angry…”It would
serve them right if ______________ (fill in the blank with something horrible.)
Look at what God did. He said,
they did wrong and they hurt Me, so I will send someone to make it right. Someone who will pay the price for what they
have done. Someone to take their punishment for them, even though they hurt
Me. Someone who will go to His death so
they won’t have to, just the same way that the rescue swimmer who died to
rescue other people did.
In the storm, the people who were out in the in Sartori shouldn't have
been there. They’d heard about the
storms converging. They knew what was
coming. They were ignorant. They ignored the warning, that’s
ignorance. Even though they knew all
that, a rescue swimmer was sent to go in after them. A man was sent to rescue them…even though.
That’s mercy, they didn't deserve it but a rescuer was sent for them
anyway. That’s mercy. That’s also what God did for us. We didn't deserve it but it was done for us,
anyway…that’s God’s mercy. What makes
it exceedingly abundant mercy is the price that God paid to rescue us.
Think about the family of the rescue swimmer who died trying to rescue
those people who were out where they shouldn't have been. Do you wonder how they felt? “ We've lost a heroic, selfless man, because
he wanted to rescue some idiots who had no business being out there in the first
place. Look what we traded for them.” That’s what they were thinking,
probably. That’s what I would have been
thinking. Look at the price we paid for
them.
Look at the price God paid for us.
Some of us though, we make that sacrifice of little value because we
continue in sin. We remain ignorant of the price that was paid for us, or we
neglect to help others to understand the price that was paid for them.
I was reading something on the Internet the other day that made me want
to throw my computer on the floor: Made
me want to just toss it out the 10th floor window. Some guy, some pastor said he hates when we
say things to people about their sin and the ultimate result of sin…hell. He said we shouldn't do that. He said we should let people just find his
or her own way to God.
That goes against everything I believe as a Christian. There was a price that was paid for that
sin; a heavy price. As a Christian I shouldn't let that price be wasted by not bringing it to people’s
attention. Otherwise, how will people
know they’re doing it?
Jesus confronted the woman at the well.
She’d been married five times and now she was shacking up with another
man. Jesus said, “Bring your husband to
me.” She’s telling him how religious
she is and he says, “Bring your husband to me.” That’s confrontation.
Jesus didn't hold back and neither should we. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t realize that it’s sin and that they will have to pay a
heavy price for it. Somebody needs to
tell them, so they can escape the price.
When we continue to sin or refuse to warn others we make that price that
was paid worth nothing.
What if the people who were rescued through the death of the rescue
swimmer, went into the next storm, and the next, and continued to need to be
rescued. It would mean that that man
gave his life for nothing. Those people
would be frivolous with the lives of those who risk it all to rescue them. When we continue in our si,n or allow others
to do the same we are being frivolous with God’s mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice.
Jesus went to the cross to free us from slavery to sin. He did it to
destroy Satan’s power over mankind. He
did it to rescue us
He Saves Sinners
Finally, here’s the good news.
That what the Gospel is, that’s what I said at the very beginning of
this. Gospel literally means the good
news. So here it is:
1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)
1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Paul says that Jesus’ purpose was to come into the world to save
sinners. Then he says that he’s the
worst of the worst: The Chief of all
sinners. He’s saying that if Jesus can
save him, He can save us, too. You
haven’t killed Christians just for being Christians, have you? Paul did.
He stood by and consented to their death, that’s the same as throwing
the stones. God forgave him and he can
forgive you. In fact, there are many
people whom we would consider to be horribly evil sinners: Murderers and rapists. People who have done horribly evil things
and God forgave them.
They've repented and they’re saved. They've been given a second chance.
They are free from sin. If they
could be forgiven what would hinder you?
I talk to people sometimes and they tell me, “God can’t forgive me.” But the Bible says that if we will confess
our sin, God is faithful to forgive. “But
you don’t know what I've done, is the response.” No I don’t, but I know what Paul has done. I know what others have done and God forgave
them. God can forgive you as well. That’s the good news today. Jesus came to save sinners like you and
I. He came for us. He’s our Lord and Rescuer.
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