The Village Church
The Heart of the Gospel - Audio
So therefore, let us give our attention to it. It says, "And you were dead, and the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are His worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. This is God's Word. Let me pray for us, pray for our time this morning, let's pray. Jesus, we do thank you again for this time, we do thank you again for the very breath that we breathe, for the life that you give us even now, for minds that can think through your Word and think of what it is saying to us, and yet Lord, we know that if you are not here with us this morning, that these words will fall on deaf ears, that we will not hear what your Word has to say to us, that we will not see what it has to say to us, that we will not believe, and so God we ask that you would graciously befall on us. We ask God that you by your Spirit would help us to hear your Word and believe it, and Father we pray that you would use me, even me, a sinner to do that, to speak truth to your people, to give the hope of the gospel to your people, to feed your people. King Jesus, you promised that you were always with us, you promised that where two or more are gathered in your name, you are there, and so we pray that you would be with us this time. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, David Platt is a pastor down in Birmingham, some of you may know of him from one of his more recent works, the book called Radical. It's a book that's, you know, for a lot of people it's brought just much revival in their lives, much revival in understanding what the Christian life is about, much revival in what they see that Jesus calls them to the scriptures. But one of the things that he does in this book is he talks about how oftentimes in the church in America we get confused the American dream in Christianity. That is, we kind of confuse these two things and we think these two things are the same thing. So in this interview with this magazine, he's asked the question, how does the American dream clash with God's teaching? How does the American dream clash with God's teaching? And this is the way he responds. He says, "I believe that the gospel and the American dream have fundamentally different starting points. The American dream begins with self, it exalts self, it says you are inherently good and you have in you what it takes to be successful. So do all you can work with everything you have to make much of yourself." The gospel's starting point is completely different. The gospel begins with God, the reality that we were created to exalt His name to the ends of the earth. I am not inherently good. The gospel tells me that I'm inherently evil and I need someone else to save me. The self is crucified from the start in the gospel. So from that starting point, everything changes. Now it is not what I have in me but about what God provides in me. It is not about my life but the life of Christ. It is not about me making much of myself. It is about me making much of God. From those starting points flow two different trajectories for how life looks, how success looks like, what satisfaction and life looks like and if we miss the starting point either self and the American dream or God and the gospel then that changes everything from then on out. I'll read that last sentence. If we miss the starting point either self and the American dream or God and the gospel then that changes everything from then on out. But this passage, what I think it communicates to us is it communicates the heart of the gospel that it starts off with just this horrible news about us that it starts off with bad news for us and yet it communicates our greatest hope in Jesus Christ. It communicates our greatest hope in God's grace and mercy to us. And like everybody in this room I'm sure nobody likes to hear bad news about themselves. Nobody likes to hear of all their faults, of all their failures. Nobody likes to hear how they've failed their children. Nobody likes to hear how they've failed their spouses. No one likes to hear how horrible they did on that test. No one likes to hear how evil they are. And what this passage does is it starts there, it starts with bad news. But it starts with that bad news to bring us to the good news and that is what we have in Christ Jesus. So when we consider this passage I think we should consider it in these three ways that first and foremost this passage is teaching us about who we are apart from Christ. But then secondly this passage is teaching us about what God has done for us in Christ and then thirdly what God has called us to be in Christ. So who we are apart from Christ? What God has done for us in Christ and who we are called to be in Christ. So who are we apart from Christ? Who are we? Well this passage begins by telling us that Paul writes to this church and he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins. That you were dead. And it's a common kind of perception in our culture that this is one of the things that you often hear floating around. That people are basically good. That people can do whatever it is they want because they're basically good and they have the ability they have the capability to do good. In fact it is one of the reasons why people are so focused on I think just kind of figuring out ways to tap into their goodness. That when you think of what sells the most in our culture it's self-help section books. It's the fact that you're always six steps away from losing that weight that you want to lose or you're five steps away from getting that spouse that you want or you're two steps away from achieving high spirituality or whatever it is. And these are all things that are billed and marketed as this is the secret to life. This is all you need and we are striving so hard to believe that and we are striving so hard to run after those things. And what this passage does for us it shows us that you're dead. That when you think about the Bible and all it presents that one of the things that the Bible does over and over again is show us you miss the mark you come up short you are a sinner. That even if you consider just these passages of scripture like Genesis 6 where it says that the Lord looked down at the thoughts of men and saw that their thoughts were only evil continually. That when you consider Romans 3 and it says that there is not one righteous not even one that for all of us that not even one of us is righteous in and of ourselves that is not good news that that is saying you have nothing we have nothing that this man stands before you has nothing before God. We are sinners. We are not good. Not only that Paul drives this home and he says not only are you not good but you are dead. And when you think about somebody who's dead here's one thing you will never see a dead person do they will never perform CPR on themselves they will never resurrect themselves back to life why because they're dead there's nothing they can do about it that even as we watch and consider just kind of that imagery of somebody being dead that we know that not only is there nothing that they can do about this nothing we can do about it they are dead and when you think about this it is horrible news that that is our condition apart from God we are dead you're not basically good you are dead and he gives us what it looks like he tells us what it looks like that they're dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walk following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience and what he's writing to this church is this is the way you lived before you knew Jesus that for whatever way that you would have thought that you were living that for whatever way that you would have thought that you were serving God you were not you were following the course of this world you were following Satan and so it is no wonder that the Jesus when he talks about his kingdom he would say enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter it that Jesus is saying that this is the way everybody is going this is the way everybody is living apart from me that they are headed for destruction and so the ways that that manifests itself I mean those there are many ways that people do that people say well that Christian stuff that's for you I'm going to do this other thing or they'll say well you believe your Jesus stuff and you know I'm just going to do me you do you I'm going to do me you know that's the way our culture puts it and what this passage is saying is it's that they're following Satan it's that they're running after Satan and this would be you unless God had done something about it that this would be your condition apart from Christ that you would be doing the same thing that your neighbors are doing that you would be doing the same thing that you look down upon and frown upon and you are dead and he explains even furthermore by saying that we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind and this point in saying this is that this is what everybody does that they do things that please themselves they do things that make them feel good that they do things that help them fulfill their purposes or whatever you want to call it and what he says is we were once like that and not only were we once like that but we were children of wrath meaning that God's judgment rightly stood against us they got rightfully could have condemned us to hell and he would have been just in doing so but it doesn't stop there that thankfully this passage does not stop and say well you're children of wrath there's no hope for you so live out your vein and meaningless days in this life and perish forever it does not stop there the bible does not stop there it offers the good news of the gospel that what changes to make these people this church that Paul is writing to to be with God to be children of God is that God does something that in verse four that there's this huge but but God being rich in mercy that it is saying that we were headed for destruction but God who was rich in mercy towards us now that's that's this definitely I think in contrast to what you hear about people when they come to faith in Christ because often times when people say they became a believer what they do is they make this thing that's passive you know an active thing and what I mean by that is you know for example people speak of their coming to Christ it's kind of an achievement you know like um well when I was in 11th grade I got saved um or you know I was saved or I believed and they make it this active thing but when you consider this passage that you think about the fact that this is saying we were dead and God made us alive shall read that in verse four says that but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive with Christ and it's by grace that you have been saved it is by grace that you have been saved and so what that means is that even before you thought about God even before you believed in God God did something in your heart and made you alive so that you a dead person could respond to the call of the gospel so that you a dead person can go I do believe this I do believe in Jesus I do trust in Jesus so that you a dead person who could do nothing for yourself nothing to save yourself could dare worship God this morning that this is the good news that in Christ God has rescued us that Paul in Ephesus one would talk about how it was even before the foundation of the world that you and I were chosen if we are believers in Christ that even before you were even born that God loved you that much to consider you and to show mercy on you and to have mercy on you and to make you alive in Jesus and that is wonderful news that is the reason why we celebrate the birth of Christ that is the reason why your heart should sing this time of the year because what it is reminding you of is that we lay and sin we lay dead and God did something about it amen God sent this son to die for us and made us alive with him and in these verses verses four through nine I could spend hours talking about this I just kind of wanted to really just summarize what it means that we were dead apart from Christ and now are alive in Christ that this passage tells us that it is by grace that God was rich in mercy towards us that when you think about mercy and what it means is you don't get what you do deserve that meaning because of your sin you did deserve hell but God was merciful but when you think about grace it's when you get what you don't deserve and that is God's love we do not deserve it we've just talked about how we are all sinners and we are all dead and yet God is merciful to us God is gracious to us and what that means for us as believers is that this is how much God loves you that he would consider you even before you were dead even before you knew you were dead even when you followed Satan even when you followed the rest of this world that God was merciful to you that for those of you who this morning who are hearing this message who may not be Christians that this is what they're saying it is hope for you that it is God saying you can come to me because I save dead people I come after dead people I came for sinners that Jesus would even say that I came not to call the righteous but sinners and everybody in this room fits that category and so regardless of you know if you are a person who does not believe in Christ today regardless of what we look like on outside regardless of our nice suits or nice clothes or whatever it is that you are impressed with deep down to the core at the heart level we are all dead and as sinful as you are apart from Christ and that this place is the place for sinners that that's what Jesus came for he didn't come for clean people he didn't come for people who are righteous in and of themselves he came for sinners and so this church it is a place for sinners it is a hospital for sinners it is a place for people who are sick not people who have it all together we are not that we are not that we are people who are trusting in and resting in Jesus in the gospel and we put our faith in this word that God is gracious and rich and mercy toward us and he loves us that we are his people and our prayers that you too will walk with us if you have not trusted in Christ this is the place that you can do that so God made us alive together in Christ and seated us with him in the heavily places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus and again it says for by grace you have been saved it's kind of one of the things that they taught us in seminary that when you read the scriptures and something keeps coming up over and over again but it's important that God is trying to hammer this home that you read that we were saved by grace in verse five by grace you have been saved and then verse eight it says it again for by grace you have been saved through faith and then it tells us and this is not your own doing that it is a gift that even the faith that we professed this morning is not our own doing that God gave us that too and so what it is showing us is that salvation is of the Lord that it really is that none of us willingly come to God unless God works first that Jesus tells us no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws him and so what that means for you believers is that you trust Jesus this morning it's because God gave that gift to you God was gracious to you God was merciful to you so that you might see that Jesus is your only hope and what that does is show you that you don't get to brag about it that you don't get to say oh they're so dumb out there they don't believe in Jesus I wish they were more like me you don't get to say that because what God is saying is I gave you that I gave you that gift and what it does is it causes you to be humble towards people who do not know Jesus and it causes you to be grateful for what God has done so that when you are sharing the gospel that one of the things that you have to be doing is praying that God opens people's hearts and gives the gift of faith it is not of your own doing so that none of us can brag about it but the only thing we boast in is we boast in the God who loves sinners because he's shown that in the fact that he loves us and that is our hope that God is gracious and merciful towards sinners and then finally our last point is what God has called us to do as a result of being in Christ and that is in verse 10 says for we are His worksmanship workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we shall walk in them and it's again most of the time in our culture that what people think about what it means to become a Christian is that you do all these things you clean yourself up and then only then will God accept you and what this passage is showing us is that that is not the case that is showing us that God acts before we do anything and it's only after we have come to terms and come to faith in Christ that we're called to do anything and so what these last verse is saying is is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ then one of the things that means is that you're called to be something you're called to look like Jesus you're called to live like Jesus you're called to love like Jesus and one of the ways that it is done is it is shown in the fact that we are His workmanship that what that kind of means is that you and I who are believes in Christ are trophies of God's grace that when you think about your trophy collection if you have a trophy collection that one of the things that you do is you look at those things you go oh wow I play football or I play basketball and it's kind of the sense of achievement the sense of I'm proud for being on the basketball team or football team or soccer team or whatever it is or placing first place in something that in the same way that God delights in the work that He's done in us that He delights in the work that He is doing in us and it's not just for Him but it's for the world to see that when people look at your lives that they should know wow this is there is something different about this person that when people look at you who profess faith in Christ they should understand that there is something different about what you believe and how you live and it should be attractive which is why our trophies are gold and it should draw people in because what they're seeing is this is not like anything I've seen before and He tells us that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we shall walk in them and so in other words your motivation for obedience your motivation for good works should be that the God was gracious and merciful to you not that you're earning your weight to get God's love not that by doing good things makes you God makes God love you more because you have all of that in Jesus that in Christ it tells us you are seated in the heavenly places that you have immeasurable riches that you have all the rights and privileges of a son or daughter of God that you are right that you lack nothing and your good works are not a means to make God love you more but it is to say that I'm a child of God and this is what the children of God look like and this is how the children of God live and this is what God has called us His people to do and so it will affect the way you raise your children it will affect the way you love your spouse and forgive your spouse it will affect the way you relate to people because you cannot love God and not love people it will affect what you do on your job it will affect the way you do your taxes it will affect everything because this is what God is calling you to do that He has prepared these good works beforehand for us to walk in them and so that sums up what the hope of the gospel is and again what I hope that what we've seen from this passage is the depth of God's love towards us the depth of His mercy to us that if we are believers in Christ Jesus that this is one of the places that you can go and drink deeply of God's love and mercy to you that if you are struggling to figure out what all this Christianity stuff means that if you are skeptical towards this we welcome you Jesus welcomes you and you know we ask that you will consider the things of God the things of Christ this season let's pray Jesus we do thank you again for your word we thank you for the truth of the matter that you love us even us people who sin against you people who will want your enemies people who wants follow Satan we thank you that you not only save us from our sin but you save us for the sins of oppression against us that you promise to be a comforter and healer and we thank you for the hope of heaven that this life is not all there is and not only you work in our lives in here and now but we will be with you forever and that there will be no more crying and no more death and no more mourning it's all the former things have passed away Lord we pray that you would keep us humble that you would help us to see that our faith is a gift that you gave it to us and from that point that we were boast that we were brag about how good God is before a watching world well will we deflect all glory for ourselves and and give it to you because you are rightfully do it we ask God that you would help us to believe the gospel day in and day out that we would not forget where we came from not only that but that we would not forget who we are now in Jesus please be with us we ask in Jesus name amen